Wicked (photo by Joan Marcus)
In this last gasp of summer, while FIFA crowds roam our avenues and thoroughfares and before school starts up in September, try one or more of these plays and musicals, live! onstage. Nothing like a cool summer night (or matinee) to bring the family together for a cultural connection.
PETE THE CAT
Now through Aug. 2 | The Coterie in Crown Center
The grooviest cat is back! For Pete, life is an adventure no matter where you wind up. When Pete sets out to help Jimmy Biddle conquer second grade art, the two friends find themselves learning a little something about inspiration and friendship. Their musical adventure takes them all the way to Paris and back in a VW Bus! Tickets at www.thecoterie.org.
LEGALLY BLONDE
July 2 – Sept. 6 | New Theatre Restaurant
Overland Park’s own Broadway star Hayley Podschun — so great as Glinda in Wicked in NYC and on tour — trades in her Emerald City wardrobe for the smart attire of a Harvard Law School grad student. Dumped by her high school boyfriend who thinks she’s a dumb blonde, Hayley as Elle Woods follows the cad to Cambridge, where the Malibu princess turns out to be one smart cookie. Tickets at www.newtheatre.com.
A BEAUTIFUL NOISE
July 7 – 12 | Starlight Theatre
The story of Neil Diamond’s remarkable musical career, told in a flashback as the now-retired songwriter looks back on a life not totally well-lived. But, hey, the guy wrote Sweet Caroline… What more did he need to do? That song and several dozen by Diamond are featured in this non-stop rocking show. Tickets at www.kcstarlight.org.
WINK
July 10 – 11 | The Arts Asylum
In a small Kansas town (not Dorothy’s), precocious 10-year-old Rip Van Winkle awakens 20 years in the future, not ready to deal with the challenges of life, loss and love. There he meets Grace, who has travelled a parallel emotional journey after a family tragedy. When the paths of these two lost souls cross, fate steps in where magic leaves off, propelling their whirlwind romance to the unlikeliest of fairy tale endings. Prolific television producer, director and screenwriter (Knots Landing, Paradise and Burke’s
Law among other hit shows) Joel Feigenbaum returns to his hometown to share his first musical with us. Tickets at www.theartsasylum.org.
TAKE IT EASY
July 15 – 26 | Music Theater Heritage
Two of the most iconic bands in music history — the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac — are given the celebration they’re due in MTH’s intimate Ruby Room. Relive the spirit, sound and soul of the ’70s rock revolution and sing along, reminisce and immerse yourself in the sounds that left a lasting mark on music history. Tickets at www.musictheaterheritage.com.
KING ARTHUR AND THE MAGIC SWORD
July 14 – 25 | City Stage at Union Station
Raised by Merlin the Magician, young Arthur’s destiny is put to the test when he must pull the magical sword Excalibur out of a solid stone. A military campaign and the fate of his people hangs in the balance. That’s a lot of weight on the shoulders of a boy barely out of his teens. Tickets at www.tya.org.
SPAMALOT
Aug. 4 – 9 | Starlight Theatre
The Tony® Award winning Best Musical was lovingly ripped off from the film classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail with just the right amounts of shrubbery, killer rabbits, flying cows, taunting Frenchmen, a Lady of the Lake and those indefatigable knights who say “ni.” Tickets at www.kcstarlight.com.
INTIMATE APPAREL
Aug. 5 – 23 | City Stage at Union Station
KC Actors Theatre starts their new season with a piece by acclaimed playwright Lynn Nottage. Esther works as a seamstress in New York City circa 1905, sewing exquisite lingerie for an array of clients. Her skill with needle and thread has led to an absence of a personal life until she begins a forbidden romance with an Orthodox Jewish fabric vendor while being courted via a mail worker building the Panama Canal. Nottage honors a legacy of a woman who history nearly forgot. Tickets at www.kcactors.org.
IT’S ONLY LIFE
Aug. 7 – 30 | Quality Hill Playhouse
Popular Broadway (A Catered Affair) composer-lyricist John Bucchino’s Lincoln Center cabaret revue comes to downtown Kansas City just in time for all of the FIFA folks to move on and give us our city back. Tickets at www.qualityhillplayhouse.com.
WICKED
Aug. 12 – 30 | Music Hall
Stephen Schwartz’s magnum opus and one of the most successful Broadway musicals (and now a two-part film) lands in downtown Kansas City, just east of where the whole Dorothy saga started in Kansas. L. Frank Baum had no idea how far that balloon would travel. Tickets at www.kansascity.broadway.com.
THE RITZ
Aug. 12 – 30 | Unicorn Theatre
The Unicorn kicks off its 2026-27 season with Terrence McNally’s good old-fashioned door-slamming farce, albeit moved into the
eponymous gay bathhouse. It seems that Gaetano, a hapless, middle-aged husband, must hide out form his hoodlum brother-in-law, a quest that takes him inadvertently to the aforementioned public cleaning facility. Towel-clad fellows, bumbling detectives and an over-the-top chanteuse looking for her big break collide for laughs and pratfalls by one of our most celebrated American playwrights. Tickets at www.unicorntheatre.org.
Compiled by Mark Edelman
