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1 month ago | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
Kansas City Actors Theater presents an exceptional production of DOUBT, A PARABLE by John Patrick Shanley in the unexpected, but perfectly selected sanctuary of the Kansas City United Church of Christ in the Brookside area. DOUBT is definitely a play worth going out of your way to see. Not only is this an excellent drama, but this cast and this director, Gary Heisserer, are outstanding with this material.
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2 months ago | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
A super cast makes the most of Neil Simon’s 1988 word-salad comedy masterpiece entitled RUMORS. This one is played strictly for laughs. RUMORS opened last week at New Theater Restaurant in Overland Park. RUMORS is headlined by TV’s Emmy Award Winning Alley Mills (The Wonder Years) as Claire plus a cast of the usual suspects. All are in fine fettle in this very funny piece directed by New Theatre’s Co-Artistic Director Dennis D. Hennessey.
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2 months ago | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
The new 2025-2026 season schedule for the PNC Bank Broadway Series in Kansas City has been announced by American Theatre Guild Senior Director of Booking Operations Craig Aikman.
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2 months ago | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
HAIRSPRAY, a co-production of the White Theatre and the Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City, is the kind of old-fashioned, joyous, musical theater experience that recalls a PAJAMA GAME, or a DAMN YANKEES, kind of show that is just pure entertainment. Additionally, HAIRSPRAY has a point to make and a super cast with which to make it.
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2 months ago | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre kicks off its 2025 calendar year offerings with an offbeat murder mystery/character study by Lanford Wilson called BOOK OF DAYS performed at The Westport Bowery. The play, originally commissioned by Jeff Daniels in 1998 for his own small town (Michigan) theater company, is set in a southwestern Missouri rural community at a time not specifically named. Lanford Wilson is best known for his naturalistic use of dialogue.
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2 months ago | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
The touring company of PARADE, now playing at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, recounts the sad, but true tale of Leo Frank and Mary Phagan. Mr. Frank was almost certainly falsely convicted of Ms. Phagan’s April 27, 1913 murder due to an early twentieth century eruption of rampant antisemitism. This is a super production of a perhaps slightly flawed show. Starring are an excellent Max Chernin as Leo Frank and an as good Talia Suskauer as Lucille Frank.
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
Chicago, the Musical, now playing at the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts, is a super evening out for you and your significant other. It is a welcome respite from our incredible snow event last weekend. There are multiple, fascinating storylines behind Chicago, but let’s first address the resounding success that is this American Theatre Guild touring production. Chicago, the Musical has been running continuously as a revival since 1996.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
FUNNY GIRL is one of the crown gems of the American Musical Theater. Kansas City audiences will be treated to a first-class production of a show that many theater buffs know about but have never seen. Tuesday night’s performance starred Leah Platt in the lead role of Fanny Brice. Leah has a gangbuster voice fully displayed as she plows through an excellent score with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Bob Merrill.
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Dec 3, 2024 | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
Heating up the boards at New Theatre Restaurant now through February 2, 2025 is a new production of a reliable Off-Broadway Musical Review called NUNSENSE featuring a very funny quintet of comedy Sisters from the “Little Sisters of Olathe.” (The home location of the “Sisters” may vary a bit depending on the location of the theater in which the “Sisters” are performing.)Leading the five “Holy Sisters” is Mother Superior Mary Regina (Vicki Lewis).
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Nov 25, 2024 | 
broadwayworld.com | Alan Portner
Cirque du Soleil’s excellent new Christmas Show, TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE… opens at the Kansas City Music Hall for eight performances beginning THE NIGHT BEFORE…Thanksgiving Day and continues through Sunday, December 1. Cirque de Soleil is a friendly cousin to traditional circuses. Each Cirque production has a unique story to tell. Like a more traditional circus, they consider each dancing or acrobatic or gymnastic performance an act.
