Robert Trussell

May 5, 2018

“Brother Toad” at KC Rep is a serious play that needs a sharper edge

Where’s the heat? That question began resounding in my head as I watched the world-premiere production of Nathan Louis Jackson’s “Brother Toad,” the most recent..

April 30, 2018

Musical Theater Heritage Brings “Cats” Up to Scratch in New Production

You can detect a tone of defiant pride when Tim Scott tells you he has never seen “Cats.” “Not once,” he said. “And I think that’s why I’m perfectly suited to direct it.” That Scott somehow made it this far in life without actually sitting through Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show (that at one time held the record for the longest-running musical in both London and New York), might strike you as odd.

April 22, 2018

‘Vietgone’ at the Unicorn is a Trip in More Ways Than One

I’ve always been a sucker for audacity and Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone” is nothing if not audacious. This raucous, time-jumping saga about the legacy of the..

February 4, 2018

British Invasion: Actor/writer Pip Utton Brings Hitler to Life

Hitler makes his case. Or doesn’t. In “Adolf,” Pip Utton’s solo performance about the reality and legacy of the modern world’s most murderous dictator, the..

February 3, 2018

“Curious Incident” at KC Rep Showcases Good Actors and Impressive Designs

Sleek, visually spare and populated with hard-working actors, the Kansas City Repertory Theatre production of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” is..

January 28, 2018

Up from the Streets: “Project Dawn” at the Unicorn

The Unicorn Theatre scores points for timeliness with its well-acted production of “Project Dawn,” a social-awareness drama based on a real court in Philadelphia that..

January 14, 2018

Kansas City Actors Theatre’s ‘Sea Marks’ Elevated by Good Performances

Depictions of the Irish onstage come with a certain amount of stereotypical baggage — including the notion of Ireland as a place where poetry and..

January 2, 2018

Bold, Audacious, Artist-Led

By any conventional measure, the theater company run by a committee system should have years ago blown up in a supernova of egos. But it didn’t. And the quality of KCAT’s work is better than ever. As someone who has been reviewing plays in Kansas City for more than two decades, I can say that KCAT has mounted some of the best shows I’ve seen, going all the way back to its very first production in 2005.

December 3, 2017

Acerbic and Sweet: ‘Milking Christmas’ at the Living Room

The clever writers and gifted actors who make up Friend Dog Studios are now two for two. Anyone who saw the “The Ballad of Lefty..

Author: Robert Trussell