It was a Friday the 13th like no other. Friday is normally a big day for the performing arts. But this was not a normal Friday. For theater companies and other arts organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly got real. Kansas City Repertory canceled two world-premier productions, one of which was to have opened that night. […]
Kansas City Repertory Theatre offers a handsomely mounted production of “Fun Home,” the musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir about growing up in uniquely dysfunctional family in Pennsylvania. The show, adapted by Lisa Kron (book and lyrics) and Jeanine Tesori (music) racked up an array of awards in 2014-15, including five Tonys. While the […]
And so once again audiences are invited to bear witness to the spiritual transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from penny-pinching cynic to warm-hearted benefactor to the poor. And again theatergoers fill virtually every available seat to see Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s annual take on “A Christmas Carol,” the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens, who used his […]
Well, now. Kansas City Repertory Theatre dishes up a gleaming Cadillac production of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” deftly directed, elegantly designed and festooned with vivid performances from one of the best casts you’re likely to see on any stage. Unfortunately, “Cat” doesn’t really rank with Tennessee Williams’ finest works, “A Streetcar Named Desire” […]
Virtually every emotional trauma and competitive humiliation we associate with high school is on full display in Jocelyn Bioh’s “School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play,” now running at Copaken Stage, Kansas City Rep’s downtown venue. Precisely directed by Chip Miller, the production showcases superior work by a gifted cast. Bioh’s tight, 75-minute one-act […]
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 drama were arrested for obscenity. The occasion was a performance of Sholem Asch’s “The God of Vengeance,” an English translation of a play that dared […]
