Alan Portner - Page 11

'Do you hear the people sing?' You will if you attend the 25th Anniversary edition of the 'Les Miserables' now on stage at the Kansas City Music Hall through Sunday, December 9. This is an absolutely credible recreation of the show that first hit London's West End theater district way back in 1985 and journeyed across the pond two years later. It has been running pretty much at full steam ever since.

New Les Miz tour features new lighting, new energy, new orchestrations, and new backdrops by Victor Hugo himself with a young cast excited to perform a more personal Les Miz.

Faithful to the original text, what is 175 years old is new again

What you may not have known about Charles Dickens and The Christmas Carol

New version by Director Eric Rosen stresses original Dickens text and humor

Bright, bouncy, expertly produced, and just a tad naughty through Sunday, November 19

The famous animated classic comes to life on stage at The Coterie for children of all ages.

Retells the death of 15 climbers in 1996 as they attempt to summit Mt. Everest.

Mel Brooks would be proud of this rendering of his most complete comic piece.

Musical version of the hit movie satisfies and expands the legend. Allison Jones as Deloris is a new force to be noticed.

Marilyn was called 'the greatest white female singer in the world' by Ella Fitzgerald. Marilyn still has it at age 89.

AC Smith is memorable as Troy Maxson

It is a first ever production of a new play simply titled 'Bastard' by Kansas City playwright and artist Tyson Schroeder presented at the tiny studio theater on the third level of The Living Room Theatre in the Crossroads area. Directed by Living Room co-founder Shawnna Jouragan, 'Bastard' is a screed on the tyranny of making art and the superficiality of those who pretend to appreciate it.

Get deep into the play making process with AC Smith and Ron Parson

Next up at Kansas City Repertory Theatre is a new production of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning 1983 play 'Fences' at the KC Rep Copaken Theatre in downtown Kansas City with an exceptional cast. Directing 'Fences' is Ron OJ Parson Director/Resident Artist at Court Theatre of Chicago. AC Smith plays Troy Maxxson supported by Alfred Wilson as Troy's best friend and co-worker, Jim Bono.

A delightful evening of theater at New Theatre

If you are a lover of the 'Great America Songbook,' Kent Barnhart's latest amalgamation of familiar tunes, 'I've Got A Crush On You,' with their origins in the musical theater of the last century is for you. Barnhart, with his trademark, droll sense of humor, leads a devoted audience at Quality Hill Playhouse through a century of music that has long outlived the shows that first gave them birth.

Kicking off the Unicorn Theatre's 44th season is 'Men on Boats' by Jaclyn Bauhaus (in cooperation with the UMKC advanced MFA program). 'Men on Boats' is an interesting and mostly accurate exploration of John Wesley Powell's 1869 exploration of the Colorado River north of and into the Grand Canyon.

'Grey Gardens,' the 2007 character piece that originally featured a bravura turn and a Best Actress in a Musical Tony for Christine Ebersole, is the current, ambitious, fall offering from the Barn Players Community Theater in Mission through October 1. 'Grey Gardens' tells the story of a Mother and Daughter who struggle through a steep descent from American Aristocracy to poverty and health department threats of eviction from their Long Island mansion. It is a story we may never have heard except for that the Mother in our story was also Aunt to the late Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis.

World Premiere show keeps audience engaged and appreciate - may have a great future in New York