Some outstanding performances and a playwright’s audacious approach to history make the latest production at KC Melting Pot Theatre one that will linger in memory. Michelle Tyrene Johnson pursues an
Part musical and part history lesson, Paula Vogel’s “Indecent” illuminates what, for many theatergoers, is an obscure but fascinating event: In 1923 the Broadway cast and producer of a Yiddish
Even in early twentieth century Russia, raw capitalism was destroying natural beauty and remaking the landscape. But it was doing more than that. It was transforming a class system, forcing
Strong performances elevate the Spinning Tree production of “The Nance,” Douglas Carter Beane’s 2013 comic drama that offers a sobering look at what it meant to be a gay man in New York some 80 years ago. I saw the original Broadway production of “The Nance” a few years back so let me say up […]
If you wonder why some members of the working class became Trump supporters, then check out the Unicorn Theatre’s production of “Sweat,” a drama that won playwright Lynn Nottage her second Pulitzer Prize. Nottage depicts racial animosity, class resentment and economic disparity as friendships are destroyed and lives forever altered in this carefully constructed play. […]
Heat, passion, romantic longing, revenge and sudden violence — these are the prime ingredients of flamenco, Shakespeare and film noir. And all are present and accounted for in the 1957 Broadway classic, “West Side Story.” Kansas City audiences have seen road companies of “West Side Story” at Starlight Theatre and the Music Hall but never […]
The late plays of Eugene O’Neill are his best, even when they seem erratic and forced. But their theatrical power — their ability to sweep an audience up in the lives of the people on stage — are undeniable. That’s the case with “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” now receiving a handsome, well-acted production from […]
I confess that reviewing plays and musicals for decades can leave one feeling a bit jaded. But now and then even a critic who thinks he’s seen it all can stumble into a show that utterly restores his faith in theater. And so it is with “Newsies,” the ebullient co-production marking the first collaboration between […]
The Living Room Theatre not so long ago recalibrated its mission: It would now be a company dedicated exclusively to producing work by playwrights currently or previously based in Kansas City. So I’m happy to report that director Rusty Sneary, co-founder of the Living Room, delivers a crisply performed production of Forrest Attaway’s “The Grave,” […]
