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By Lee Hartman   Tue, Nov 08, 2011

Così fan tutte is an infinitely adaptable opera because of the intimate cast of six leads and its timeless, though ludicrous, story. With simple but classy sets, rented from Arizona Opera, the 18^th-century soldiers, their fiancés, and friends were transported to a 1930s seaside mansion and environs. The Saturday night’s near-capacity audience at the Muriel Kauffman Theatre was transported as well, heartily laughing at the shenanigans perpetrated onstage. 

The plot: Soldiers Ferrando (Matthew Plenk) and Guglielmo (David Won) enter into a bet with Don Alfonso (John Stephens) as to whether or not their fiancées, sisters Dorabella (Marie Lenormand) and Fiordiligi (Amanda Hall), can remain faithful. Alfonso is aided by the ladies’ maid, Despina (Susanne Mentzer). The soldiers disguise themselves as “Albanians” in attempts to woo the other’s chosen. At first, the women, not recognizing each other’s partners, spurn their advances with righteous indignation—but as night falls, so do inhibitions. The sisters agree to marry their newfound lovers; as they are signing the marriage contracts, the “Albanians” abruptly leave, returning shortly as the ladies’ original lovers. Rightful accusations are hurled and in the end all are possibly absolved. Mozart left the ending ambiguous, as it is only Don Alfonso, the manipulative bystander, who declares everyone happy and forgiven.

Five of the six singers made their Lyric Opera debuts with this production, but it was the two mezzos, Marie Lenormand and Susanne Mentzer, who stole the show and appropriately earned the most applause come curtain. Lenormand’s Dorabella, though attached at the hip to Fiordiligi for most of the opera’s proceedings, imbued her character with an appropriate amount of ridiculous melodramatics and phenomenal comedic acting to make Dorabella an individual. Her voice was lustrous and agile—well suited to her sex-kitten persona hidden underneath layers of propriety. Unfortunately, though understandable, her second aria was cut from the production for time concerns.

Mentzer’s background antics became one of the highlights of the production, whether drinking straight out of the champagne bottle, sneaking sips of hot cocoa, or emerging from underneath an oversized beach umbrella. Even out of the spotlight, she occasionally upstaged the featured singers with her clowning, but it was so fun it hardly mattered. Her arias were memorable and well executed with her unforced high notes speaking easily and consistent timbre throughout her range.

Amanda Hall had the flashiest of the roles in Fiorgiligi. Playing the straight woman to Lenormand’s pixie, Hall carried herself with poise and dignity even when breaking down. Her vibrato was tight, fast, and took some getting used to. The pitches of her wide leaps were well focused, but her lower register was too weak to carry.  Hall’s ensemble singing was tasteful and balanced, especially when singing with Lenormand.

Plenk and Won hammed it up as the Albanians, and their poisoning scene was hysterically outlandish. Both seemed pressed in their higher tessituras, but their tone was full yet light enough for Mozart. John Stephens, the only singer not making a Lyric debut, did not fare well in this production. Frequently behind and often lacking in diction and focused pitch, he was the one sour note in the otherwise solid and well-cast production.

Kristine McIntyre’s direction was clear and the added levity in the second act was welcome, most notably in the awkward “first date” scene. There seemed to be an overreliance on kneeling and prostrate body positioning, however. Ward Holmquist and members of the Kansas City Symphony served the singers well and did their best to remain under the text. Piano was used on the recitatives; I would have preferred a harpsichord.

Though not flawless and some of the missteps may have been due to opening-night jitters, the Lyric’s Così fan tutte is a surprisingly brisk jaunt, full of zany behaviors that transcends centuries.

REVIEW:
Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Così fan tutte
Saturday, November 5, 2011 (Reviewed)
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Friday, November 11, 2011
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
1501 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For more information, visit http://www.kcopera.org

Top Photo: Lyric Opera of Kansas City's Così fan tutte (Photo by Karen Almond)

By Jessica Showers   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

A writer, isolated at an oceanfront motel, crafts stories of affairs, chance encounters, and secret pasts, all while sandwiched between the rooms of an Australian surfer-cum-motel-clerk and an English folk singer practicing sea shanties for an annual Maritime Festival in California. Though the piece sometimes drags, Cale’s expert character development and subtle, versatile performances make it worth sticking to the end to see how the tales overlap and intertwine.

Joined through a series of traditional sea shanties, written and sung in a beautifully raw, Irish accent by Cale, the tales introduce a motley assortment of characters. These include the aforementioned, emotional songwriter; the sex-crazed but head-over-heels Aussie; the writer in an accidental meet-up with a dentist and fish-tank enthusiast; a woman searching for just one moment of bliss that results in her only child; a business-trip affair featuring a wannabe park ranger with a Brooklyn accent; and a man on a “foolish” night stroll with Judy Garland, among others.

What’s so real about these stories is the characters’ short-lived, sometimes awkward moments of realization or happiness. Life is rarely as tidy as we dream it, but it can also be more tumultuous than we envision, too, and Cale captures this. His ability to delve into the psyche of so many female characters and play beyond caricature and stereotype also strikes a chord. Cale gets both men and women and understands that our conceptions of love or yearning or loss are often not so far apart.

But The History of Kisses isn’t all seriousness. In a moment of wild passion with a Portuguese stranger, all the woman can think about is that she’s never kissed a man with a mustache. The writer dreams up an erotic cooking show hosted by the Aussie motel clerk, who gives a play-by-play recipe for love-making that elicited an “oh my God” from a woman in the audience. And later, Cale runs, whooping, in triumphant circles around a battered lifeguard stand center stage as a woman who’s just been told she’s a “great fuck.”

The set (Eric Southern), lighting (Beverly Emmons), sound (Andre Pleuss) and costume (Laura Bauer) provide a sparse backdrop that complements Cale’s multilayered stories. Cale wears khaki cords, blue slip-on shoes and a casual blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up—a blank slate for the many characters he embodies. The stage is covered in sand, a lonely lifeguard stand sits center, an easel with cards featuring story titles and characters’ names stands stage left and a large rock sits stage right. Stone steps lead down into the auditorium from the stage, ready for an epic moment in which Cale enters the audience. A particularly subtle and effective moment of lighting occurs when one character looks out a plane window at night, blue light awash on her face. The far-away sounds of splashing surf and foghorns accent but don’t intrude upon each tale.

Criticisms are few, but the show isn’t perfect. Cale’s accents, ranging from American to Irish to English to Australian, aren’t always consistent. Some of the jokes try a little too hard, are out of touch, or fall flat, such as, “That kiss could’ve had its own zip code!” or when a character’s son tells her “Facebook is for little girls.” In today’s world, he would never say that, as he would be obsessed with stalking his friends. The pace dawdles occasionally, and some stories are more fleshed out than others. Still, none of this is enough to take away from Cale’s overall vision or impact.

Ending on the slow, bittersweet shanty, “See Ya by the Sea,” the songwriter sings, “I’ll hover ‘round the edges of your life.” Cale’s The History of Kisses hovers around the edges of love and yet begs its audience to dive in.

The History of Kisses runs through Nov. 27.  The show is 90 minutes without intermission.

REVIEW:
Kansas City Repertory Theatre
The History of Kisses
October 21–November 27, 2011 (Reviewed Friday, October 28) 
Copaken Stage
13^th and Walnut, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.KCRep.org
 
Top Photo: David Cale in The History of Kisses (Photo by Don Ipock) 

By Laura Vernaci   Tue, Nov 01, 2011

The Owen/Cox Dance Group began the 2011–12 season Saturday night at a new location and in the company of a new group of musicians. Collaborating with Park University’s International Center for Music, Owen/Cox debuted at the Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel tucked into the university’s quaint Parkville campus. A perfect setting for Halloween weekend, the chapel was slightly dark and ominously old. The lofty arched ceiling and stained-glass windows provided great scenery for the new partnership’s performance. Attendees sat in pews either on ground level or in choir risers, comfortably dispersed throughout.

The evening highlighted instrumental compositions from six composers, played by the Center’s musicians, three of which incorporated choreography from Jennifer Owen. Violinist Magdaléna Mašlaňová played a beautiful interpretation of three movements from Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E Major. She stood in a downstage corner, playing for both the audience and the five female dancers. The choreography of the first movement did not harmonize well with the strings, but once Lisa Thorn began the second movement, breathing in new life to the piece, everything seemed to fall into place. Laura Jones shined with her voluminous gestures and abounding charisma. In juxtaposition, Rose Taylor moved timidly, rarely making eye contact with the congregation. The third movement, “Giga,” was brisk, light, and brief, but favorable.

Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8 in C Minor, Op. 110 also was by far the most interesting of the night, mostly because it was so dissimilar to what Owen usually presents. Largo introduced the somber tone and modern foundation, featuring an abundance of both sweeping and protruding arm movement that was accented by the red sleeves of the otherwise all black costumes. The remainder of the quartet was frantically fast and very staccato, which created a slight anxiety for each observer who wondered if the dancers and musicians would make it or not. The group sections were well synchronized but Thorn and newcomer Jamal Story stood out for their controlled execution of the harsh and chaotic style.

The last collaborative work again was a set of three movements, this time from Igor Stravinsky’s classic Pétrouchka. Despite the familiar music, Owen’s choreography had a modern theme with some narrative twists. Set in a commonplace office, Pétrouchka is head-over-heels for the administrative assistant who much to his despair is smitten by her boss. Latra Wilson, the assistant and a fine tease, initially toyed with Pétrouchka’s emotions before abandoning him for Nathan Bland. Wilson was much more convincing than Bland who appeared tense and a bit shaky. Story embodied poor, innocent Pétrouchka; he balanced emotion with technique while executing both at a superior level. The remainder of the company danced pleasingly in the background.

The other three works in the joint program were aurally stimulating, especially with the chapel’s acoustic setting. At most dance performances with live music, one rarely gets to see the musicians who are often stuffed away in a cramped orchestra pit. It was eye-opening to see how much they move and emote when given the spotlight.

In Pezzo capriccioso in E minor, Op. 62, pianist Lolita Lisovskya-Sayevich and cellist Sunnat Ibragimov had a great connection. Although they were both sitting, it was evident how alive they were and how the notes they played reverberated throughout every part of their bodies. Influenced by his friend Nikolay Kondratyev’s serious illness, Pezzo capriccioso strayed away from some of Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s more well-known themes and embodied a somber, methodical temperament with a few sudden, upbeat phrases.

Violinist Maria Ioudenitch took the foreground in Aram Khachaturian’s Violin Concerto in D minor. Accompanied by Lisovskya-Sayevich on the piano, the two musicians were less in sync and the Allegro Vivace, though upbeat, was a bit repetitive and long winded.

The last instrumental selection was the most well-known excerpt of the evening from Pablo de Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy. Lisovskya-Sayevich, who had a busy night, was joined by Cristian Fatu on the violin. The couple displayed perfect timing, exhibiting the story’s passion and emphasizing the sharp accents in comparison to the smoother, sultry sections.

The majority of Park’s musicians gave memorable performances and have impressive bios, making it apparent how distinguished the university’s music program is both nationally and internationally. Owen/Cox Dance Group has become known for their quirky, unique style, which always makes for a pleasing array. This program in particular was less stereotypical for Owen and more exciting because she pushed her creative envelope in the Shostakovich work. If she can continue on this path, Kansas City will be lucky to see some more great works from her to come, hopefully in alliance with Park’s International Center for Music or other similarly skilled artisans.

REVIEW
Owen/Cox Dance Group
Park University’s International Center for Music
Collaborative Concert
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel, Park University Campus
8700 NW River Park Dr., Parkville, MO
For more information, visit http://www.owencoxdance.org/ and http://www.park.edu/icm/

Top Photo: Lisa Thorn, Rose Taylor, Latra Wilson, Laura Jones, and Jennifer Owen (Photo by Charles Stonewall)

By   Sat, Sep 22, 2012

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By Topher Levin   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

In their second program at the Kauffman Center, the Kansas City Symphony and the Symphony Chorus took to the stage together to present Brahms’ Ein deutches Requiem, along with some Messiaen and Beethoven, before a sold-out audience Friday evening.

Opening the concert with Beethoven’s brief Elegischer Gesang, Op. 118, the strings provided a warm, mellifluous introduction to the chorus’ lovely, refined sound. The elegy for Eleanore Pasqualati, the wife of a baron who took on the composer as a lodger from 1804–14, was well paced and lovely, despite egregiously garbled “s” sounds (a small defect which nonetheless plagued the Chorus).

Kansas City Symphony Chorus Director Charles Bruffy took the stage next in an unannounced reprisal of Mark Hayes’ This Moment, which the Chorus had performed at the Kauffman opening gala in September. The a cappella song displayed the full range of the chorus from ppp soli passages to divisi forte textures.

Messiaen’s Les offrandes oubliées gave the chorus some respite before the Requiem. The triple-wind orchestral work opened with slow, restless string leaps, made more eerie by a pair of horn long-tones at the interval of a minor second. The second movement opened with a fiery transition and featured strong percussion accents before the third movement returned to the unearthly, wintry textures of the first movement.

In the Requiem, the symphony and chorus came together perfectly to present Brahms’ masterpiece on the human experience. The work is set with German text from the Lutheran Bible, setting it apart from the Catholic Requiem Mass for the Dead. Brahms’ text is carefully chosen, eschewing direct mentions of Christ in favor of a kind of spiritual humanism.

The first movement opening was sublime, the orchestral and vocal forces were well balanced and diction was good. Lovely intonation and color from the chorus highlighted Brahms’ beautiful, intricate part-writing. The second movement’s assent to a brilliant fortissimo was powerful, yet somehow the music became even more heroically moving with a second fortissimo crest in the movement.

The third movement was the first of two featuring baritone soloist Christopher Feigum. Feigum brought a rich, cultured voice to the text which was delivered with excellent diction. For me the energy waned somewhat in the fourth movement, with a weaker tone by the male choir partly at issue. Soprano soloist Layla Claire restored some of this lagging energy in fifth movement. Text was difficult to discern at times, but Claire brought a beautiful lyric tone to the text and her high notes soared and sparkled about the orchestra and chorus.

Feigum returned as soloist on the sixth movement, which had many of the most impressive moments of the piece. Feigum delivered another solid performance, though it was the powerful choral refrain accompanied by furiously sawing strings and bright piccolo embellishments which were most impressive. The fugal finale was well executed with excellent energy. The final epilogue of the seventh movement seemed dwarfed by the climax of the sixth, and uncoordinated “s” sounds became especially noticeable again.

For the audience, it was an incredibly compelling performance. Whether one knew what the texts were or not became unimportant, the music communicated Brahms sentiments directly. 

REVIEW:
Kansas City Symphony
Brahms' German Requiem 
Friday, October 28, 2011
Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
1601 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For more information visit www.kcsymphony.org

Top Photo: Layla Claire

By Calli Parker   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

Under the direction of Mark Robbins, God of Carnage magnifies the idiosyncratic behavior of two couples as they attempt to resolve a schoolyard fight between their children. What begins as an obligatory, polite social interaction quickly deteriorates into incivility and irrational, inebriated insults for all involved.

Within the first 15 minutes, the inciting event is forgotten by the audience; sides are taken and assuredly you find yourself rooting on of these couples to maim each other or at the very least craft a well-worded insult.

Meet the Novaks, Veronica (Cinnamon Schultz) an eccentric bleeding heart and Michael (Brian Paulette) a cynical pragmatist. This real-life married couple has an infectious energy that drives each scene with fits of tangential dialogue. Playing opposite of the Novaks are the Raleighs; Annette (Melinda McCrary) has an air of rigid aristocracy and her husband Alan (John Rensenhouse) exudes a masculine pomposity. Of course these archetypes are torn to shreds as the discussion ensues, becoming less and less about resolution.

Liquor is shared among the agitated families eventually spurring exaggerated spousal assaults onstage while invoking uproarious laughter from the audience. The play becomes a shrewd reminder to audiences that facades are just as quickly destroyed as they are built. The performers play it up, careful not to cross the line into the realm of melodrama.

From the sound to the costuming, the production succeeds with the ambitious design, the majority created by UMKC Theatre graduate students. In particular, the players make a well-choreographed entrance onto Jordan Jonata’s high contrast set, to Radiohead’s “National Anthem”, allowing the audience a glimpse of the ensuing conflict facilitated by Brandon Clark’s clever lighting design.

Clocking in just under the 90-minute mark the hurried dialogue and bombastic action flows as effortlessly as the liquor in a social comedy that is anything but polite. 

REVIEW:
Unicorn Theatre with Kansas City Actors Theatre in partnership with UMKC Theatre
God of Carnage
Unicorn Theatre
October 22–November 13, 2011 (Reviewed October 25)
3828 Main St, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 531-PLAY or online at www.unicorntheatre.org

Top Photo: God of Carnage cast (Photo by Cynthia Levin)

By Kristin Shafel Omiccioli   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

The venerable Herbie Hancock was warm and affable on stage, speaking comfortably to the audience between each piece with insight and humor. In his introduction, he compared the pros and cons of performing with a band versus solo, professing his love of interacting with other musicians but admitting to enjoying the freedom of playing alone… despite having a “virtual band” on stage with him courtesy of pre-recorded, manipulated, and looped backing tracks. Unfortunately, Hancock’s arsenal of electronics increasingly distracted from his virtuosic playing throughout the evening, proving to be more of a hindrance than an enhancement.

Hancock displayed his unfailing improvisational skill with his opening piece, the Wayne Shorter tune “Footprints,” performed entirely on acoustic grand piano. A free-form interpretation, Hancock’s inspired exploration of the melody featured syncopated rhythms contrasted with understated, airy harmonies. His spry technicality and lyrical creativity—shifting seamlessly from one idea to the next—left the audience in rapt attention. Numerous false endings and occasional snippets of the original melody and bass line kept the audience engaged.

“Dolphin Dance,” a Hancock composition, followed. Beginning this tune on acoustic grand, Hancock again meandered around the main theme, transforming the smooth and lovely original into something else entirely. He made full use of dynamics and all octaves of the keyboard, injected colorful dissonances in harmonized phrases, and went off on imaginative yet somewhat tense tangents.

Hancock began introducing electronic elements here, morphing without pause from “Dolphin Dance” into an untitled spontaneous experimentation. Shifting his body from the acoustic grand to a synthesizer, Hancock recorded short riffs of different timbres on the spot and played them back over speakers on a loop. Before long he had a bass line, pointillistic high pitches, a clicky percussion sound, and so on, looped ad infinitum over which he soloed on electronic keyboard and acoustic grand. This voice layering resulted in a soothing, atmospheric groove, and created a highly intimate moment between artist and audience.

Next, Hancock teased the orchestral piano concerto version of his “Sonrisa,” which opened with a trembling, mysterious introduction on acoustic grand. Several genre influences were apparent, from funk, modern jazz, post-bop, and even a little rock. The recorded, looped orchestral ostinatos were tedious—dramatic hits and vamped sequences—and made me wish I were either hearing the full actual orchestral version, or an arrangement for solo acoustic piano. Electronics overwhelmed this piece; I strained to hear what Hancock was playing on the acoustic grand often, an issue that persisted through the next piece, “Canteloupe Island.”

The classic “Canteloupe Island,” however, was more well received by the audience, as was his final song, “Rockit,” which he gleefully performed on keytar. “Rockit” was fun, electrifying, and pure old school hip-hop. His use of the “ghettoblaster” vocal sample sound bank was a clear highlight of the night, simply for its sheer entertainment value. For the encore, Hancock brought the keytar back onstage and performed his funky-as-hell Head Hunters hit, “Cameleon.”

REVIEW:
Lied Center of Kansas
Herbie Hancock
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Lied Center of Kansas, University of Kansas
1600 Stewart Drive, Lawrence, KS
For more information, visit http://lied.ku.edu

By Erik Klackner   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

Convenience is an element of modern life that we now take for granted. We don’t need to drive into the city to go a popular restaurant when they build something similar out in the suburbs. Sometimes, though, life hands you a reason to make a journey, and Saturday’s Topeka Symphony concert, featuring three fine works from the last three centuries was reason enough. I ventured into the great beyond known as SomethingWestOfHere and came back with questions that I still haven’t answered.

Benjamin Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem opened the program. Britten was a devout pacifist and a conscientious objector during WWII. Commissioned in 1940 by the Japanese government (who were neither pacifist nor conscientious about objecting to much of anything), Britten was to write a piece celebrating 2600 years of the Mikado dynasty. Needless to say, writing a “plea for peace” with Roman Catholic Mass movement titles didn’t exactly thrill the Japanese government, and they rejected it, so John Barbirolli and the New York Philharmonic premiered it in 1941. And of course, by the end of 1941, the US and Britain would be allied in the great and terrible war against Japan. History!

The performance underscored several common themes for the evening, chief among them a lack of emotional range that still has me confused as I write this. Maestro John Strickler’s tempo for the first movement was ponderous, but that can work in a heavy, plodding processional. It did not work here, and the movement ended up being rather lethargic. Strickler controlled the textures nicely, and there was remarkable clarity throughout, but it lacked punch, especially on the movement’s climax. The tempo in the second movement was problematic in spots, notably when the trumpets exchange the triplet figure, which was very disjointed (in fairness, that spot is brutally difficult to pull off). Ultimately, the pace seemed to unconsciously slow, and it ended up settling down in time for the disintegration music that bridges movements two and three. The final movement was a fundamentals clinic, the ensemble displaying good blend, intonation, and dynamic contrast. Still, it lacked the transcendence that should come with music of such profound peace, and like the rest of the piece, ultimately left me wanting more.

Christopher Theofanidis has become one of the most popular contemporary composers in the world, with his works being performed around the globe. Rainbow Body, in the composer’s words, is “the coming together of two ideas—one, my fascination with Hildegard of Bingen's music (the principal melody of Rainbow Body is loosely based on one of her chants, "Ave Maria, O auctix vite"), and two, the Tibetan Buddhist idea of "Rainbow Body," which is that when an enlightened being dies physically, his or her body is absorbed directly back into the universe as energy, as light.”

Rainbow Body sounds to me, like music heralding Winter Olympics coverage mixed with the score to which Tom Hanks loses his volleyball in Cast Away, and in no way is that bad. I can’t help but wonder if the strings had a Hollywood conception in their minds, because they played with a richness and flair reminiscent of a film soundtrack. There were some tremendous individual efforts, particularly the cello solos in the opening section and the snarling muted trombones in the middle. Unfortunately, like the Sinfonia, the energy was lacking in spite of the polish and clarity throughout, and the brilliant finish to the work proved underwhelming.

After intermission the program shifted to something a bit more popular. For all the amazing symphonies composed by music's all-time heavyweights, from Haydn to Penderecki, none can match the ruthless perfection of form, development, and drama of Beethoven's Symphony no. 5.

Though a popular piece, Topeka’s performance of the Fifth was deficient in intensity and passion. Part of the problem was a lack of cohesion, especially at the beginning of movements. Strickler’s tempi were not outlandish, but they seemed to catch the orchestra off guard in each and every movement, none more so than the first. The exposition was incredibly choppy as eighth notes disagreed with eighth notes, though it improved in the recapitulation. In spite of problems getting off the ground, the second movement had a simple grace, and the celli showed off their smooth side on the theme and subsequent variations, including the tricky sixteenth-note one.

The scherzo felt a bit hurried, and the poor basses never stood a chance on the furious opening to the second theme despite their best efforts. Strickler demonstrated nice control of the melodic contour, and the orchestra was at its most precise during this movement. The finale again started roughly, but it picked up momentum as it went along. After a frenzied coda, the orchestra was rewarded with a standing ovation, a nice if undeserved gesture.

This concert was perhaps the best example in recent memory of the completely ineffable quality of a great performance. As much as I try to understand what makes a performance click, ultimately it is often something beyond expression that is the secret. I cannot explain why I felt that there was a distinct lack of emotion in this concert. Overall the execution was very good, and Strickler coaxed a very refined sound from the ensemble for much of the evening. But the mysterious force that holds you in its grip during a great musical journey was nowhere to be found, and I’m left wondering why. 

REVIEW
Topeka Symphony Orchestra
The 5th! 
Saturday, October 29, 2011
White Concert Hall, Washburn University Campus
1700 SW College Ave, Topeka, KS
For tickets call 785-232-2032 or visit http://topekasymphony.org 

Top Photo: Topeka Symphony in performance 2010

By Karen Hauge   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

I have never been a comic book kind of girl. Aside from a brief and probably unnecessary stint with anime during middle school, I skipped over the graphic novel phase entirely. And though comic book-based movies are certainly entertaining—far be it from me to object to sitting through two hours of the athletic adventures of guys willingly wearing tights—I still always end up pestering my fellow moviegoers with totally moronic questions like “Why does it seem that there are no evil villains until Peter Parker actually turns into Spiderman?” and “How many different ways can directors choose to explain how Batman began?” and “I thought that the Justice League show was pretty good. Can we just watch that? At least then I could go to the bathroom during commercial breaks.”

Well, I’ve decided that if I could have all comic books presented the same way as The Intergalactic Nemesis, I’d be a comic convert for sure. The Intergalactic Nemesis combines the big-screen projection of a classic comic book with narration by three talented voice actors, a special effects expert, and a pianist. This multimedia experience effectively achieved a real-time representation of the adventure that usually just happens in your head when reading a comic book, complete with rapidly advancing images, dramatic character voices and booming-zooming sound effects, and theme music to match each heroic/blundering/dastardly character and situation.

The Intergalactic Nemesis is based on an original idea by Ray Patrick Colgan. Set in 1933, it follows the adventures of Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Molly Sloan and her assistant Timmy Mendez, as they travel the world (and space) with time-traveler/hero Ben Wilcott, who is on a mission to stop an evil race of aliens from taking over Earth. The show is the offspring of a radio drama; the radio version was adapted for the stage by Jason Neulander, who went on to write, direct, and produce the live-action graphic novel interpretation that was presented at KU’s Lied Center. KU was the fourth stop on this unique show’s first-ever tour, which originated in Austin, TX, but the show was so polished that it almost seemed as though a) live-action graphic novels were actually a standard style of performance, and b) Neulander and company had perfected it. Each frame of the comic book (with original illustrations by Tim Doyle) advanced in perfect synchronicity with the actors’ lines and sound effects, and the underlying piano score unified the action so precisely that it sometimes felt as though we were watching a movie instead.

The three voice actors, Danu Uribe, David Higgins, and Christopher Lee Gibson were incredible, playing almost thirty characters (by my count) between the three of them, running the gamut from sassy Molly Sloan, to the timid yet telekinetic Timmy, to the evil alien Zygonians, to the strange Frenchman Desperois, and many others in between. The cast were able to change characters on a dime, often having witty repartee or angry arguments with themselves, and between the three of them and the added sound effects, they were able to achieve the busy volume needed for the climactic high-action scenes.

Keyboardist Kenneth Redding, Jr., playing a score written by Graham Reynolds, evoked a feeling of a silent movie house, lending the story a mood of campy melodrama. Sound effects performer Buzz Moran stole the show for me, pulling off every possible crash, bang, ding, slam, shuffle, and thunderclap with his extensive array of toys—er, tools, including cinder blocks, shoes, a miniature door, and much more. His contribution helped make the performance that much more entertaining and exciting. The interplay between the sound effects, dialogue, and music, was as sensitively balanced as it would be in a film.

The Intergalactic Nemesis may just have made a comic book believer out of me, and if they find their way to a city near you on their 2011–12 tour, make some time for this overwhelmingly cool experience.

REVIEW:
Lied Center of Kansas
The Intergalactic Nemesis
Lied Center of Kansas, University of Kansas
1600 Stewart Dr, Lawrence, KS
For more information, visit http://lied.ku.edu.

Top Photo: Production still of Intergalactic Nemesis

By Topher Levin   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

Opening her program with Mozart’s Sonata for Piano and Violin in E-flat major, K. 380, Midori and Özgür Aydin displayed well-coordinated ensemble playing despite some significant balance issues. The opening Allegro movement of the Mozart was the worst offender. With the lid of the Folly’s Hamburg Steinway at full stick and not a single moment of una corda pedal, this sounded more like a sonata for piano with violin obbligato that the delicate interweaving textures of the violin part just weren’t able to overcome.

Balance improved in the second movement, partially due to a more stratified texture, and the players themselves settled into the piece. Midori was much more engaging, offering plenty of passionate physical expression with bent posture and tip-toe moments to accompany lovely graceful phrasing.

The piece picked up yet more energy in the third movement, though balance remained an issue in spots. The humor and conversational style between the violin and piano parts of the Rondeau came across well.

Arguably the most moving and best performed piece on the program, Shostakovich’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 134, was not light-hearted fare. Rather it was like an existential play, wherein two characters in a sparsely dressed set examine their own eternity. In the opening slow movement, the violin’s passionate lines were set against the stoicism of the piano. Midori displayed an impressive palette of tone color changes in a sinuous opening, from timid and tenuous, to strong and bright, to gravelly darkness. The double-stop passage just after the opening gesture was equally enthralling and virtuosic. Later, a pizzicato episode was supremely crisp and an amazing journey of character development for both the violin and piano.

The rollicking danse macabre of the inner Allegretto movement opened with bell-like piano licks and thundering bass tones, against which Midori offered sharply accented frog passages and painfully sharp-looking pizzicato chords. There was no difficulty hearing the violin here and it was an impressive display. A few sul G moments followed where Midori elicited growling Hendrix guitar sounds from her 1734 Guanerius del Gesu violin.

The slow-paced third movement found Midori pulling disparate pitches out of her instrument with ease in a striking opening. A stark, sparsely accompanied pizzicato soliloquy was spellbinding and provided a perfect trajectory through the later wispy moments. The audience, which began the half-hour sonata seeming a bit squirmy, was captivated by the end of the performance.

Midori and Aydin retook the stage in the second half to offer a pairing of Schumann and Schubert works. Both were well played and sensitively paced, though the formulaic Romantic works felt mundane coming on the heels of a weighty and lengthy Shostakovich offering.

In the Schumann Sonata in A minor, Op. 105, Midori offered another rich color display in the first movement. Aydin’s piano work continued to improve throughout the performance with a well-balanced undulating texture supporting the violin. The second movement displayed more long, sonorous phrasing amid a few intonation gaffs. The third movementm with streams of 16th notes, gave way to a swirling start of the theme in conversational entrances between the pair.

Schubert’s Fantasie in C major, D. 934, saw more Romantic swelling textures with a strikingly clean high harmonic in the violin part. A lovely pastoral dance section was well played by both. It later returned as an enthralling, joyous, soaring bucolic melody.

Midori offered two encores, both significantly more technically showy than her recital repertoire. The first was a lovely, glitzy waltz by Wieniawski with sparkling harmonics. The second was Carl Engel’s Sea-shell, originally for voice and piano, in an arrangement by Efrem Zimbalist. 

REVIEW:
Harriman-Jewell Series
Midori
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Folly Theatre
300 W. 12^th St., Kansas City, MO
For more information, visit http://www.hjseries.org

Top Photo: Midori  

By Lee Hartman   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

The Metropolitan Chorale consists of students and community members from the metropolitan community college network. In the first half of Saturday evening’s performance at the Stone Church in Independence, the group performed a “madrigal soap opera” with narrated program notes and other audience-friendly antics peppered throughout. Though the presentation was cheeky, the music was standard.

The madrigal set was structured around three Luca Marenzio sixteenth-century madrigals set to the story of Tirsi, a shepherd, and his nymph lover. Conductor Rebecca Johnson rightfully reduced the choir’s numbers for this first half of the program, serving the delicateness of these madrigals to good effect. Mixed with the Marenzio pieces were works by Thomas Morley, Claudio Monteverdi, and Pierre Certon. The highlights of the delightful set were Morley’s fa-la-la Fyer, Fyer, Marenzio’s Freno Tirsi il desio, Monteverdi’s Amor de lamento della ninfa, and Certon’s Je la vous dirai! The final two were polar opposites. Monteverdi’s ground bass upon which the three soprano soloists glided over was gripping. Pairing it with Certon’s tongue-in-cheek gossipy ditty, however, added an extra layer of musical understanding.

Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century sacred works accounted for the second half of the program. Of the six pieces performed, Tallis’ If Ye Love Me, Praetorius’ Sing dem Herrn, and Palestrina’s Alma redemptoris were the most successful. The Tallis was a prime example of an English chorale. Sing dem Herrn, in this canonic treatment and performed antiphonally from the balconies, was especially vibrant. The choir reveled in the accented leading tone on “Herrn.” Alma redemptoris had moments of brilliance, most notably a subtle crescendo near the ending which was controlled by the altos.

It was an ambitious program and, like in the Palestrina, moments of brilliances shone through. Intonation and sagging pitch plagued the sacred works; I posit it was the unusual placement of the choir in the upper balcony as those problems weren’t nearly as noticeable in the secular half. The bass section produced some of the best sounds of the night when in chest voice. I hope the Metropolitan Chorale continues courting an audience with accessible and insightful notes for standard repertory and continues to improve their collective music making.

REVIEW:
Metropolitan Chorale of Kansas City
Of Peasants and Princes
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Stone Church
1012 W. Lexington Ave., Independence, MO
For more information, visit http://mcckc.edu/blueriver/humanities/music/

By Nihan Yesil   Wed, Nov 02, 2011

The Comedy of Asses (Asinaria) is a musical comedy by Roman playwright Plautus who was considered "The Father of Comedy." The stock characters raunchy humor plays to the audience the entire time. The characters’ lack of ethics and outrageous proposals test moral limits while generating bursts of laughter.

Set in Athens, an old man, Demaenetus, conjures a plan with his two slaves, Libanus and Leonida, to cheat his homely wife out of some money to help his son Argyrippus secure a year with the seasoned procuress’ daughter, Philaenium.

Two mischievous slaves manage to get the money with improvised trickery, but as it turns out the supportive father has some atrocious stipulations; he demands a night with lovely Philaenium. The hilarious and shameless rollercoaster comes to a halt when Artemona, the duped wife, intervenes with a determined hand.

UMKC Theatre production of Comedy of Asses makes the humor of ancient Rome relevant, proving that with insightful adaptation modern audiences can still laugh at the same basic deficiencies of human character.

Sitcom mannerisms blended with historical demands of the play make the humor accessible. The play opens with a musical interlude played by a mixed group of musicians and actors. Players filled the small area reserved for the band one-by-one until what looked like the entire cast was crammed in a tiny music box. What comes next is two acts of comedy played in dizzying speed and fascinating synergy.

The absurdity of characters as a group of unruly merrymakers was emphasized by the variety of builds and accents in the cast. As the tradition required, each stock character portrayed exaggerated stereotypes. However, endearing personality traits and the obvious talents of the actors steered away from cliché pitfalls.

The stars of the night were Greg Brostrom (Libanus) and Grant Fletcher Prewitt (Leonida) who portrayed the typical slave characters found in Plautine theater. They maintained the cardio-workout-like momentum without missing a beat. The wickedly charming duo inspired not only as artists but also as athletes.

Molly Kate Banks (The Mute), a freshman theater student with her first appearance on a UMKC Theatre stage, was the source of sweetness in the production. She stood in the middle of absurd chaos exuding innocence.

The musical numbers were written by the directors Stephanie Roberts, Theodore Swetz, and Cynthia Postlewait; the original words and music were unpretentious, clever, and highly entertaining. Actors performed the musical numbers, ranged from quasi-Romanian gypsy music to gospel with varying degrees of gusto and skill.  

Quoting Plautus, "The purpose of comedy is to lift the burden of the world off the spectator for a moment." UMKC Theatre, with their production of The Comedy of Asses managed to lift that burden for the entire night. What a rare treat to see a cast that enjoyed themselves on the stage as much as the audience did from their seats.

REVIEW
UMKC Theatre 
Comedy of Asses
October 26–30, 2011 (Reviewed Wednesday, October 26)
Spencer Theatre, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, UMKC Campus
4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO
For more information, visit www.umkctheatre.org

Top Photo: Rufus Burns as Demaenetus in Comedy of Asses (Photo by Gabe Hopkins)

By Michael D. Smith   Tue, Nov 01, 2011

Over three years have passed since the greatest economic collapse in America since the Great Depression. In 2010, Inside Job examined brilliantly the causations of the financial meltdown via a serious documentary style. In no-less brilliant fashion, Margin Call utilizes a fictional investment bank suddenly teetering on the edge of an abyss as the setting for a dialogue-rich drama, which rivals Wall Street as an instant classic about corporate greed.

Margin Call, which debuted in January at the Sundance Film Festival, takes place over a 24-hour period circa 2008 at a Wall Street investment bank. One morning, a soulless human resource team walks into a trading floor and conducts a massive layoff, including longtime risk management boss Eric Dale (Stanley Tucci), who is bewildered by his sudden misfortune.

Just before he makes his final departure from the floor, Dale hands over to junior employee Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) a zip drive containing a project he wasn’t allowed to finish with a warning to “be careful.” With an office pep talk ringing in his ears from Sam Rogers (Kevin Spacey), the grizzled head of trading, Sullivan stays late to complete Dale’s mysterious project.

What Sullivan discovers sends shock waves that first put senior trader Will Emerson (Paul Bettany) in near-panic mode followed by Rogers, then slick senior executive Jared Cohen (Simon Baker) and risk management head Sarah Roberston (Demi Moore). The trouble? the firm’s assets in mortgage-backed securities are about to plunge to the point that the firm will owe more than its market capitalization.

Gordon Gecko once said, “Greed is good,” but not for Rogers as he struggles with CEO John Tuld (Jeremy Irons) over the morality of dumping their poisonous assets onto an unsuspecting market.

First-time feature film writer/director J.C. Chandor manages his supremely talented cast with all the skill of a Joe Torre during the 1990s heyday of the New York Yankees. No one tries to upstage the other as egos seem to have been checked in at the door, but it shouldn’t have been difficult for Margin Call’s stars since each actor has equally rich dialogue to work with.

Credit should also be given to Chandor for not overwhelming us with so much technical jargon that we have to take an economics course at a local community college to understand it all. Chandor avoids getting bogged down in developing what the relationships have been like over the past few years between the major characters. The script contains enough subtle nuances and allusions to give us enough to go on.

Terrific performances abound, but the strongest scenes involve the moral tug-of-war between Tuld and Rogers. Spacey is on top of his game playing a man whose moral compass tries hard to steer him towards a noble path. Tuld threw away his compass a long time ago and Irons, who can sometimes be melodramatic in his roles, delivers a delicious, even-keeled performance that ranks among the best of his career.

Margin Call is a sure bet for dramatic entertainment and is a must-see.

On a letter grade scale from “A” being excellent to “F” for failing Margin Call receives an A-.

Margin Call is rated R and has a running time of 109 minutes.

Now showing through November 3 @ 

Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square
4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com, or call 913-383-7756 for more information.

Glenwood Arts
9575 Metcalf Ave.
Overland Park, KS
Visit www.fineartsgroup.com, or call 913-642-4404 for more information.

By Lee Hartman   Tue, Nov 01, 2011

John Tavener’s music has gone from Stravinsky-light to overtly Orthodox to an amalgam of religious and non-Western tropes. Throughout these periods, he has maintained clarity in musical and emotional expression of which 2003’s Lament for Jerusalem is a prime example. Setting various texts (Christian Matthew, Judiac Psalms, and Islamic Masnavi) with the strictest adherence to formal construction, Tavener composed an evocative and moving work that does justice to the texts and religions involved.

Cast in seven stanzas, each followed the same pattern of movements (chorus—countertenor solo—soprano solo—chorus).  These movements shared the same musical material with slight alterations across each stanza.  For instance, the countertenor solos were accompanied by a flute/alto flute duet with strings after an achingly gorgeous tintinnabuli introduction by oboe/flute/violin trio; the soprano solo was doubled with flute; the final choruses ended with the phrase, “Éklafsen ep aftéen,” [He wept over her] repeated three times by a trio of singers. Over the course of an hour, the degree of predictability became an asset. When Tavener wanted to highlight a moment of text, he would ever so slightly alter the orchestration. With ears so attuned to the previous patterned occurrences, these variations were aural neon signs seemingly reading, “PAY ATTENTION NOW.”

Not only was the composition effectual, but Sunday afternoon’s performance at the cistern-level-reverberant Redemptorist Church by the combined choirs of Village Presbyterian Church and William Jewell College led by Matthew Christopher Shepard was equally strong. The choirs navigated Tavener’s omnipresent harmonic planing with grace, luxuriating in the boomy hall’s sound. Though they sang the same musical material throughout, like a Taizé service, the piece can become taxing. The first sopranos, whose lines were frequently in the stratosphere, could have benefitted from a few younger, more supple voices but nowhere in the combined choirs was there any indication of “church lady vibrato.” They were clean, they were precise, and they were wonderful. The orchestra was equally fine and well balanced. Harpist Katie Wychulis, oboist Meribeth Risebig and the flute duo of Adrienne Garstang and Judy Johnson were the orchestral stars, playing with supple, shimmering nuance. Their string compatriots were consummate team players. It is exhausting to play pedal tones for nearly an hour on end.  Brass and percussion added nobility and added punch to the more climatic passages without ever overpowering.

Soloists Sarah Tannehill Anderson and Jay Carter have never sounded better; not surprisingly since Carter was the countertenor soloist for the US premiere in Washington D.C. His text was from the Muslim poet Jalal ad-Dīn Muhammad Rumi and spoke to Divine love. Stellar throughout, his shining moment came in the final stanza when the flutes dropped out to leave him soloing above a string pedal on the text, “Now listen to this tale / it is the very marrow of our souls / the very marrow of our souls.” Tannehill’s effortless soprano soared through each of her movements but it was her penultimate stanza that was most affective. On the text, “Clash thine infants against the rock,” she went into a resonant chest voice, adding microtonal inflections and portamendi. With these Middle Eastern affectations, her singing became marvelously otherworldly and beautifully creepy.

Appropriately , the program asked for silent reflection, instead of applause, at the end of the work.  As I sat there in silence, I reflected on this hour-long musical journey and came away feeling renewed and fulfilled.

REVIEW:
Greater Kansas City Festival of Faiths
Village Church Endowment Trust
Lament for Jerusalem
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Village Presbyterian Church
67^th and Mission, Prairie Village, KS

Sunday, October 30, 2011 (Reviewed)
Our Lady of Perpetual Help—Redemptorist Catholic Church
3333 Broadway St., Kansas City, MO

For more information, visit http://www.festivaloffaithskc.org

Top Photo: John Tavener

By Lee Hartman   Wed, Oct 26, 2011

Lee Hartman: Thanks for coming to Kansas City to play Despina in Così fan tutte. Così has one of the most ridiculous plots in all of opera and Despina, the maid, is one of the instigators of the shenanigans. Could you speak to her motivations?

Susanne Mentzer: Well, I think Don Alfonso is the one who first gets the idea and gets her into it, but she’s the one who comes up with the wacky ideas—not so much dressing the guys up; they come to that on their own—but she comes up with ways to make it more complicated. She stands to gain from this if Don Alfonso wins, if [the girls prove unfaithful]. There are many times throughout the opera that the guys think they’ve won; they think that the girls are really faithful. Despina’s pretty earthy and pretty practical and has also probably been jilted. She tends to put the doubt in their minds. It’s about human nature and what the power of suggestion can do to a person.

But the tables turn on her, because at the very end […] she gets revealed as the notary. So the girls hate her, and then the guys hate her, and then everybody hates her. It’s not driven home, but I think she’s pretty much lumped by herself again and pissed off at the whole lot of them.

LH: So the poor jilted maid becomes even more ostracized from those she is supposed to serve.

SM: Right! There are all these different ways to look at it, too. She may have had a relationship with Don Alfonso. [In the opera,] Don Alfonso comes off as a very asexual type person—very academic—cynical and jaded himself.

LH: He’s just doing this bet to prove a point?

SM: Yeah, I think that’s one way to look at it. Who knows why he’s doing it?  He reminds me of a professional gambler, someone who will take any opportunity to place a bet and go all the way with it.

LH: This isn’t your first Despina, is it?

SM:  I’ve done eleven different productions of Così fan tutte. This is my fourth Despina; the rest of them were Dorabella [one of the fiancés].

LH: What differences do you highlight as you approach these two roles?

SM: Oh, they are totally different! Despina is more independent. I feel that when I’m Dorabella, which I love to sing, you’re always connected to Fiordiligi. It’s like you’re almost twins. You don’t have a unique identity and it can drive you crazy. The second aria—which they will cut here—when that is cut, you feel like the character is hard to develop, whereas Despina has a lot of different scenes to play and you don’t feel as lost.

LH: Those scenes involve Despina taking on different personas, correct?

SM: She gets to be a notary and a doctor.

LH: So her doctor role is where the infamous magnet comes into play.

SM: I don’t think we’re using a magnet in this show; I think we’re going to have a crystal ball. Despina refers to Mesmer, so it must have been the science of the times. Early in the opera, the girls are reading each other’s palms. I think there must have been a lot of Ouija board action going on back then! [Laughs.] There was this fascination with the mystic. That’s why [the characters] would actually believe that some wacky doctor could come in and do this, whereas nowadays it makes no sense. 

LH: As Despina embodies these different characters, do you bring anything extra to the parts to differentiate the characters?

SM: I’m always Despina doing a character. She loves to be the center of attention and she’s sick of being the maid to these spoiled girls. So this is payback time. They are there for the summer and she has no patience with them because they are very spoiled. I think it is fun for her and she has the monetary motivation, because Don Alfonso is going to pay her really well if she can get them to go away with the other’s [fiancé].

LH: How are you handling the comedic aspects of Così? Are you using physical comedy or letting the story with translations work its magic?

SM: It’s a combination. It’s one of those pieces that can be very dated. If you look at the story, it’s totally implausible. But if you get it down to its bare bones, it’s a couple of girls who are in love with a couple of guys, and they end up falling in love with someone else who turns out to be the same person, just disguised. I think in reality it’s hard to go back to that [original] relationship. There’s a trust factor that gets violated. Don Alfonso and Despina keep themselves from ever getting involved at that level. […] They are not emotionally involved, whereas the other four are emotional characters. So you can apply that to any period, any age. Of course, the disguise mechanism is used in lots of theatrical works. I think everyone should come away with a different opinion, whether they feel sorry for the girls or sorry for the guys, or whether they feel everything is going to be fine or not so fine. There are many ways to play it, and it’s not defined at the end. It’s up to the director and performers and I’ve played it many ways.

Most people as an audience like to see a happy ending and the music is upbeat at the end. So it’s better for the audience to go home thinking it’s jolly and wonderful and all is forgiven. But we know that’s not ever the case.  […]

Whenever I’ve done comedy I’ve used the models of Lucille Ball and Mary Tyler Moore. Those actresses I find very interesting.

LH: They are classic, lasting comediennes.

SM: Exactly. And they are so good at physical comedy and I grew up with that type of comedy so I can relate to it. I try to apply that to the comic roles that I do.

LH: What’s next for Susanne Mentzer?

SM: […] I’m at a time in my career when I’m not an old singer and I’m not a young singer. I can’t really get away with [playing] young boys any more, and I can’t get away with old ladies yet. It’s a weird age to be in terms of opera. I will be doing Marcellina in Figaro and the Beggar Lady in Sweeney Todd, though.

LH: Break a leg in Così and the upcoming productions!

SM: Thanks! I’m happy to be here! I’ve never sung [in Kansas City] before; I’ve only been once, very briefly, to judge a Met competition. It’s such a neat town and it’s so different from what I expected. I lived in Chicago for 19 years and it’s just nice to be back in a Midwestern town.

Susanne Mentzer appears as Despina in the Lyric Opera of Kansas City’s production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, November 5–13 in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. She is joined by cast mates Amanda Hall, Matthew Plenk, Marie Lenormand, and David Won as the four fiancés. Kristine McIntyre directs. For tickets, visit http://www.kcopera.org.

Top Photo: Susanne Mentzer (Photo by Marty Umans)

By KCM Staff   Tue, Oct 28, 2008

Wed, Nov 02, 2011

Harriman-Jewell Series
Sir James Galway and Lady Jeanne Galway, flutists
Thursday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Folly Theater
300 W. 12^th St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 415-5025, or visit online at www.hjseries.org.

For decades James Galway has been known as one of the outstanding flute performers in the world, and for this concert he is joined by his wife, also an accomplished flutist. The two of them will perform flute concertos or arrangements of music by Fauré, Debussy, Doppler, Morlacchi and others, in addition to a number of traditional folk tunes arranged for double flutes.

Both of the Galways have been praised internationally for the excellence of their performances. James Galway in particular has greatly popularized classical music in general and the flute in particular with dozens of classical and crossover albums which have sold over thirty million copies worldwide. This concert marks his seventh appearance on the Harriman-Jewell Series, and it is Lady Jeanne Galway’s second.

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Fall Dance Concert
Thursday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 4 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 5 at 2:30 p.m. (free) and 7:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, UMKC Campus
4949 Cherry St., Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 235-6222, or online at http://conservatory.umkc.edu

The UMKC Conservatory’s excellent dance division presents a variety of dance offerings in its fall concert this weekend. The featured choreography is by Antony Tudor, Jamal Story, and Augustus Bournonville, with additional choreography by UMKC Dance Division faculty DeeAnna Hiett, Sabrina Madison-Cannon, Ronald Tice, and Paula Weber.

To be performed are Tangent, choreographed by Ronald Tice; Rite Remixed (Notes on Rite of Spring), choreographed by Jamal Story; “Pas de trios” from La Ventana, with choreography by Augustus Bournonville; To Each Her Own, a number by dance department chair Paula Weber; Suite Etta, with dances by DeeAnna Hiett; Continuo, with choreography by DeeAnna Hiett; and Revisit, by Sabrina Madison-Cannon. The talented student dancers at UMKC generally give polished, nuanced performances.

Kacico Contemporary Dance Company
6 Impressions
Friday, November 4 at 8:00 p.m.Yardley Hall, Carlsen Center, JCCC Campus
12345 College Blvd, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call (913) 469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series or www.kacicodance.org

The Kacico Contemporary Dance Company is one of Kansas City’s finest young contemporary dance companies and schools. In this performance, the company will present its annual repertory concert. Among the modern dance numbers will be works by co-artistic director Maggie Osgood Nicholls, Holly Noel Harmison and Allison McKinzie, as well as a reprise of a 2007 work by founder Michelle Diane Brown.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Così fan tutte
Saturday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, November 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 13 at 2:00 p.m.
Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
1601 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For tickets, call (816) 471-7344, or online at www.kcopera.org.

In stark contrast to the spectacular grand opera production of Turandot which marked the Lyric Opera’s debut performances in the Muriel Kauffman Theatre at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, the Lyric Opera is turning to a more intimate opera by Mozart for its second production of the season. Now that we know how the Kauffman Theatre handles lots of noise and action on stage (pretty well), this will be a more nuanced test of the theater’s acoustics and sight lines for smaller scale works.

The third of Mozart’s collaborations with the brilliant librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, Così fan tutte was for years disparaged by critics and opera house managers alike for its scandalous libretto. Time seems to tame all things, however, and finally, more than a hundred years after it was born, Così fan tutte began to make its way through the great opera houses of the world and now stands as one of the composer’s most popular works.

Supposedly recounting true life events which took place during the lifetime of the composer, Così fan tutte tells of two sets of young lovers whose attachment is tested by a world-weary and cynical friend of the two young men. He challenges them to a test of their respective fiancés’ fidelity by inducing them to don disguises and woo each other’s lover. Bizarre though the plot sounds, it offers plenty of opportunity for great arias, duets, and two of the most classic vocal trios in the operatic repertory.

The Lyric Opera is bringing a talented and new-ish cash to the production. All four principal artists are making their Lyric Opera debuts: soprano Amanda Hall and French mezzo Marie Lenormand as the ladies, and tenor Matthew Plenk and Korean baritone David Won as the men. The saucy maid Despina is played by famous mezzo-soprano Suzanne Mentzer, making her Lyric Opera debut, and longtime Lyric Opera favorite John Stephens sings the bass role of Don Alfonso, the cynical gambler.

The production is being updated to the 1930s era with suitable costumes and sets. Così fan tutte is one of those operas that can easy be relocated in time and space without damage to the basic plot, so it should offer an interesting contemporary look to this classic comedy.

Friends of Chamber Music
Chanticleer
Saturday, November 5 at 8:00 p.m.
Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
1601 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For tickets, call (816) 561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org.

The stellar male vocal group Chanticleer gives luminescent performances of choral works from ancient music to modern, and it is always a treat when they are in town. The Friends of Chamber Music is bringing them back this weekend to perform a program called “Love Story.” According to the publicity material, the program spans six centuries and includes music by de Victoria, Vivanco, R. Strauss, Whitacre, Paulus, Tavener, Ellington and more.

The concert appears to be the same as that which was recorded for compact disc release in the group’s home base of San Francisco last year. Copies of the CD will undoubtedly be available in the lobby for purchase and possible autographing…maybe it would make a good holiday present for the love interest in your life!

newEar Contemporary Music Ensemble
Concert 2: Strange Nonsense
Saturday, November 5 at 8:00 p.m.
All Soul’s Universalist Unitarian Church
4501 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 235-6222, or online at http://www.newear.org

The second concert of newEar’s season “invites you to experience our take on ‘nonsense’—which is most decidedly more sense than non,” according to the group. A piano trio by Jeremy Podgursky is entitled Nonsense or Sorcery?#%!  The group will also perform Turkish-American composer Kamran Ince’s Strange Stone.

Other works on the program are Olge Neuwirth’s 5 Daily Miniatures, scored for countertenor, bass clarinet, piano, violin and cello, along with works by Jay Batzner and Henri Lazarof.

Heritage Philharmonic
Music to Lift Your Soul
Saturday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Tri-City Ministries
4500 Little Blue Parkway, Independence, MO
Free admission. For more information visit http://www.heritagephilharmonic.org/ 

The Heritage Philharmonic, one of our fine community orchestras, under the direction of James Murray III, is presentation Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1 in this concert, along with vocal selections by sopranos Sarah Tannehill Anderson and Nicole Murray.

Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College
Munich Symphony with Gloriae Dei Cantores
Sunday, November 6 at 7:00 p.m.
Yardley Hall, Carlsen Center, JCCC Campus
12345 College Blvd, Overland Park, KS
For tickets call (913) 469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series

The Munich Symphony Orchestra appears at Yardley Hall in the Johnson County Community College Performing Arts Series, conducted by Philippe Entremont.  The Symphony will be joined by Gloriae Dei Cantores chorus in performing Mozart’s Requiem. The concert will also include Verklarte Nacht (Transfigured Night) by Arnold Schoenberg.

The Munich Symphony Orchestra is one of the world’s great ensembles, and this writer does not remember its appearing in the Kansas City area before.  A review in the Washington Post of a different performance recently said that “Entremont and his orchestra conjured up a joyous whirlwind of sound that ultimately launched the music blazing into the ether.”

Gloria Dei Cantores is an American group, whose home base is in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, but which frequently tours the country and makes recordings.

William Baker Festival Singers
A Festival of Hymns Benefit
Sunday, November 6 at 2:00 p.m.
Faith Lutheran Church
67^th Street and Roe Avenue, Prairie Village, KS
Free admission, but good will donations will be collected.  For more information visit http://festivalsingers.org/

The William Baker Festival Singers, along with Steve McDonald on the 33-rank Nordlie Pipe Organ, perform a benefit concert for the Feast of All Saints, for the victims of the 2011 tornado in Reading, Kansas.  The concert will include selections by Gibbons, Bruckner, Brahms, Parker, Thomas, and a number of favorite hymns including For All the Saints, Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, Now Thank We All Our God, Tell Out My Soul, and others.

Heritage Choir, MidAmerica Nazarene University
Great Choral Masterworks
Sunday, November 6 at 3:30 p.m.
Bell Performing Arts Center, MidAmerica Nazarene University
2030 East College Way, Olathe, KS
For tickets call (913) 971-3636 or online at www.mnu.edu/events

The Heritage Choir of Mid America Nazarene University in Olathe joins with the Symphonic Choir and Orchestra in a concert of choral masterworks. Detailed programming is not available at press time for KCMetropolis.org.

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
UMKC Fellowship Brass Quintet
Monday, November 7 at 2:30 p.m.
Central United Methodist Church
5114 Oak Street, Kansas City, MO
Free admission. For more information, visit http://conservatory.umkc.edu

For its fall concert, the UMKC Fellowship Brass Quintet, consisting mostly of graduate students at the Conservatory, will play selections by Gabrieli, Maurer, Weelkes, Kamen and Previn, and also an arrangement of The Plow That Broke the Plains by Kansas City native composer Virgil Thomson, who grew up just blocks from the current location of the Conservatory.

University of Kansas School of Music
University of Kansas Wind Ensemble
Monday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Lied Center, University of Kansas
1600 Stewart Drive, Lawrence, KS
For tickets call (785) 864-3436 or online at www.music.ku.edu

The University of Kansas Wind Ensemble performs at the Lied Center in the group’s premiere of Michael Torke’s Mojave featuring Professor Ji Hye Jung, marimba.  The concert also includes Aaron Copland’s Quiet City with trumpet professor Steve Leisring and professor Margaret Marco playing the English horn.

Harriman-Jewell Series
Vienna Symphony Orchestra with Eroica Trio
Wednesday, November 9 at 7:00 p.m.
Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
1601 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 415-5025, or visit online at www.hjseries.org.

The Orchestra of the City of Vienna has an outstanding reputation throughout the world as one of the leading touring orchestras, and under the direction of Fabio Luisi it has already given three prior performances with the Harriman-Jewell Series; this presentation is its fourth.

For this concert, the Orchestra is joined by the Eroica Trio who are carving out a deserved reputation as one of the fine piano trios (violin, cello, piano) of today. The trio will join the orchestra for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, to be followed by the Brahms Symphony No. 2. 

Please note the earlier than usual start time for this concert! Also please note that Fabio Luisi has recently been appointed the principal conductor of the Metropolitan Opera and is almost fully booked with Met performances this fall following the sudden cancellation of Met artistic director James Levine. There has been no announced change of conductors for this concert, but don’t be surprised if it happens.

Kansas City Metro Opera
The Merry Widow
Friday, November 11 and Saturday, November 12, 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 13 at 4:00 p.m.
Congregation Kol Ami
7501 Belinder, Prairie Village, KS
Free admission. For more information visit http://www.kcmetroopera.com/

The Merry Widow, Franz Lehar’s evergreen Viennese operetta, is one of the most tuneful and attractive works in the canon, featuring comic situations, romantic interludes and a hummable score that contains some of operetta’s greatest hits. Patrick Buckley’s Metro Opera gives you an opportunity to enjoy it free of charge, as performed in a semi-staged version with local talent.

Lawrence Chamber Orchestra
The Strange Eyeless Heavens
Friday, November 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Lawrence Free Methodist Church
3001 Lawrence Avenue, Lawrence, KS
Tickets available at the door. For more information visit http://www.lawrencechamberorchestra.org/

The Lawrence Chamber Orchestra launches its 2011–12 season in a concert featuring English music for string orchestra from the first two decades of the 20^th century, including works by Sir Edward Elgar, John Ireland, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Frank Bridge.

Kansas City Wind Symphony
All That Jazz
Sunday, November 13 at 2:00 p.m.
Lakeview Village
9100 Park Street, Lenexa, KS
Sunday, November 20 at 2:00 p.m.
Village Presbyterian Church
6641 Mission Road, Prairie Village, KS
Free admission. For more information visit http://www.kcwindsymphony.org/

Director Philip Posey takes his Kansas City Wind Symphony to Lenexa and then back home to Prairie Village for two Sunday concerts which apparently will feature jazz favorites orchestrated for wind symphony.

Northland Community Choir
On With the Show
Sunday, November 13 at 3:00 p.m.
Graham Tyler Memorial Chapel
Park University, Parkville, MO 
Free admission. For more information visit http://www.northlandcommunitychoir.org/

The Northland Community Choir opens its season Sunday afternoon with a performance of what looks to be Broadway and show tune favorites.

Musica Vocale
Uplifting Music Born of Grief
Tuesday, November 15 at 7:00 p.m.
St. Therese North
7207 North State Route 9, Kansas City, MO
Sunday, November 20 at 3:00 p.m.
St. Elizabeth Church
2 East 75th Street, Kansas City, MO
Tickets available online at www.musicavocale.org.

Vocal conductor Arnold Epley, one of this area’s most sensitive and accomplished choir directors, brings his Musica Vocale group to two locals for this interestingly themed concert which will feature the works of Bach, Brahms, Hawley, Mäntyjärvi, and Moore. Performances by Epley’s groups always present a shimmering sound and a depth of detail.

UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance
Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
Thursday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, November 19 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 20 at 2:30 p.m.
White Recital Hall, James C. Olson Performing Arts Center, UMKC Campus
4949 Cherry Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 235-6222, or online at http://conservatory.umkc.edu.

For fans of Mozart operas, November is a glorious time.  If you enjoyed Mozart and Da Ponte’s Così fan tutte at the Lyric Opera near the beginning of the month, just two weeks later you can catch the first of the pair’s collaborations, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) at the UMKC Conservatory as performed by fine student undergraduate and graduate students.  Figaro is an ideal opera for student voices, requiring fine technique and nuanced acting, yet making no particularly strenuous vocal demands. Marciem Bazell, the Conservatory’s director of opera, will stage the production.

University of Kansas School of Music
The Beggar’s Opera
Thursday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, November 20 at 2:30 p.m.
Murphy Hall
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
For tickets call (785) 864-3436 or online at www.music.ku.edu

John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera of 1728 is one of the early masterworks of opera, and one of the few prominent English operas between the times of Henry Purcell and Benjamin Britten. These performances will offer you an opportunity to enjoy this tuneful classic performed by the spirited and talented students of the University of Kansas School of Music.

Kansas City Symphony
Miraculous Mandarin, Plus Rachmaninoff
Friday and Saturday, November 18 and 19 at 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 20 at 2:00 p.m.
Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts
1601 Broadway, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 471-0400 or online at www.kcsymphony.org.

Behzod Abduraimov, a student of Van Cliburn medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch at the Park University International Center for Music, is one of today’s leading young pianists, and the Symphony will feature him for the first time, playing the Paganini Variations of Rachmaninoff.

Abduraimov has already posted an impressive win at the London International Piano Competition and has performed with the London and Royal Philharmonic Orchestras. His solo dates this season include performances with the symphonies of Tokyo, Atlanta, Ottawa, Monte Carlo, and the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Zurich.

Also on the program are the Miraculous Mandarin Suite of Bartók, a suite from A Love for Three Oranges by Prokofiev, and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis.

Friends of Chamber Music
REBEL with Rufus Muller
Friday, November 18 at 8:00 p.m.
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
415 West 13^th Street, Kansas City, MO
For tickets call (816) 561-9999 or online at www.chambermusic.org. 

It sounds like a rock music group, but actually REBEL is a New York-based vocal ensemble which specializes in Baroque and classical repertoire, which it performs with a “distinctive, active” approach utilizing a “flamboyant, interventionist style” (The Los Angeles Times) and is known for “performances that lack nothing in inwardness, charm, or brilliance” (The Boston Globe).  The St. Paul Pioneer Press has reported that in the playing of the group “there was none of the bloodless artificial elegance of many early-music performers. They played beautifully, with a force and intensity that was invigorating.”

In this concert REBEL is joined by English-German tenor Rufus Müller known for his performances in both oratorio and Baroque opera, with appearances in the Netherlands, France, Portugal, Canada and the United States, among other countries.

The program is entitled “Out of the Eclipse: Music of Transformation & Revelation,” and includes cantatas, arias and instrumental music by Handel, Vivaldi, J.S. Bach, Blow, Telemann and Purcell. The concert is part of the Friends of Chamber Music’s Early Music Series.

Harriman-Jewell Series
Alek Shrader, tenor
Friday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m.
Folly Theater
300 W. 12^th St., Kansas City, MO
Free Discovery concert, but tickets are still required. For tickets call (816) 415-5025, or visit online at www.hjseries.org.

Several years ago the Metropolitan Opera released a film called The Audition, which told in documentary format the stories of several young singers who were engaged in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, a nationwide process which results in just a few winners who sing in a concert onstage at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and go on to sign contracts with the company. Many of the world’s finest opera singers are winners of the Metropolitan Opera auditions.

One of the stars of the documentary was young tenor Alek Shrader, who is now following up his audition success with engagements in some of the world’s leading opera houses. This Harriman-Jewell concert offers you an opportunity to hear him for free.

The program has yet to be announced, but with critical acclaim on his side and an outstanding career just beginning, this recital should be a treat, regardless of what he sings.

Kansas City Civic Orchestra
2011: A Classical Odyssey
Friday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Atonement Lutheran Church
9948 Metcalf Avenue, Overland Park, KS
Free admission. For more information visit http://kccivic.org

Christopher Kelts leads the Kansas City Civic Orchestra in its fall concert, featuring the music of Richard Strauss, Gustav Holst, Johann Strauss, Claude Debussy and John Williams, and especially featuring the Also Sprach Zarathustra theme made famous from the opening of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.   The John Williams compositions are themes from popular movies. Sounds like an enjoyable light-hearted evening of popular numbers.

Wed, Oct 26, 2011

For complete Theatre listings through 2011, click here to visit the KC Events calendar.

Egads Theatre Company
Evil Dead: The Musical
Runs October 7 through November 4
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online at www.egadstheatre.com
Call or visit the website for performance days and times 

It’s back (by audience demand)—resurrected just in time for the 2011 Halloween season!  Evil Dead: The Musical is an all-singing, all-dancing, gory extravaganza!  You don't have to like zombies, horror movies or even musicals to love this show – you only need to like having a "bloody good time"! And you don't have to know Sam Raimi's cult classic horror film series to enjoy this hard-rocking musical comedy as it follows five friends to an old abandoned cabin in the woods where they unwittingly unleash an ancient evil force hell-bent on converting them to Candarian demon zombies.  That is, until Ash Williams (an unassuming S-Mart employee) wields a sawed-off shotgun and chainsaw to become a demon killing hero!  Evil Dead: The Musical also features a “Splatter Zone” for people who want to truly engage in the real 3-D experience.  Join us!  For mature audiences only.

Read the KCM review here.

Kansas City Repertory Theatre
The History of Kisses
Copaken Stage
Runs October 21 through November 27
For tickets call 816-235-2700 or online at www.kcrep.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Obie Award-winner David Cale’s Palomino was a critical and audience hit in 2009. He now returns to the Rep with his newest work, The History of Kisses. A writer who sequesters himself in an oceanfront motel to finish his collection of seaside stories is drawn into the romantic and sexual goings-on around him. From the tender confessions of lost lovers, to an obsessed sea-shanty singer, to the surprising encounters that define modern love, The History of Kisses is a passionate and hilarious exploration of what it means to fall in love by the sea.

EMU Theatre at the Lawrence Arts Center
Horrorshow V: “The Last Call of C’thulhu at the Old Arkham Saloon”
Runs October 21 through October 31
For tickets, visit www.emutheatre.com
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

EMU Theatre of Lawrence is proud to present our fifth annual Halloween production: HORRORSHOW V: “The Last Call of C'thulhu at the Old Arkham Saloon.” The production is a collection of locally written short plays adapted or inspired by the works of seminal horror author, H. P. Lovecraft.

UMKC Theatre
Comedy of Asses
Runs October 21 through October 30
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.umkctheatre.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

This Roman comedy classic still has audiences laughing 2,200 years after it was written by the "Father of Comedy," Titus Maccius Plautus. There will be singing, dancing, pranks, and puns as audiences see the world upside down in this tale of greed and debauchery.

Park University Players
Almost, Maine
Runs October 21 through October 30
For tickets call (816) 584-6450 or (816) 584-6452
Call for performance days and times 

The Park University Players will present a production of Almost, Maine, by John Cariani, on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 21-22, and Friday-Sunday, Oct. 28-30, in the Jenkin and Barbara David Theater inside Alumni Hall on the University’s Parkville Campus. The curtain rises at 7:30 p.m. for all dates except for Sunday, Oct. 30, which begins at 2 p.m. Almost, Maine was developed at the Cape Cod Theatre Project in 2002 and was a popular production in New York during the 2006 season. The play is set in Almost, an unincorporated township in Aroostook County, Maine, but the nine tales of love won, lost, abandoned and remembered could happen anywhere in the world. Still, there is a magic that the aurora borealis (Northern Lights) imbues to the unexpected and often hilarious romances of the characters.

Unicorn Theatre
God of Carnage
Runs October 22 through November 13
For tickets call 816-531-7529, ext. 10 or online at www.unicorntheatre.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

2009 Tony award winner God of Carnage makes its Kansas City debut at Unicorn Theatre.  Two couples meet to have a well-mannered discussion redarding a schoolyard fight between their sons.  What results is a wildly hysterical night of tantrums and tears before bedtime-and the kids aren't even there!

University of Central Missouri Department of Theatre and Dance
Ribbit
Runs October 28 through October 29
For tickets call 660-543-8888 or online at www.ucmo.edu/theatre
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

It's Princess Rina's wedding day, but her betrothed, Prince George, is weighed down by his own ego and doesn't have room for real love. Rina rejects George, and now the king must decree a contest for his daughter's hand. Suitors come from near and far to compete, and one of those suitors is a frog, who is deeply in love with Rina. Will the beautiful princess five a chance to an unattractive frog? Come see this musical version of The Frog Prince story to find out. 

Leawood Stage Company
Four One-Act Plays
Runs October 28 through October 30
For tickets call 913-339-6700, ext. 157, or online at www.leawoodstageco.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times 

Dramatic readings of four one-act plays by Morgan Allen, Cathrine Filloux, David Hanson, and Rich Pauli.  Event is free to the public and will be held in the Oak Room of Leawood City Hall, 4800 Town Center Drive, Leawood, KS 66211.  A question and answer session with the playwrights will follow each performance. 

The Coterie Theatre
Seussical
Runs November 1 through December 31
For tickets call 816-474-6552 or online at www.coterietheatre.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

The plot of Horton Hears a Who and Horton Hatches the Egg are tunefully interwoven in this widely celebrated and critically acclaimed celebration of Dr. Seuss. The Coterie was credited in the New York Times for originating this version "for all ages"... a true family classic! 

Paul Mesner Puppets
Go, Dog, Go
Runs November 2 through November 27
For tickets call 816-235-6222 or online at www.paulmesnerpuppets.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Big dogs, little dogs, yellow dogs, blue dogs. Dogs at work, dogs at play, dogs in hats, dogs in cars! It’s an all out dog party in this colorful hilarious adaption of P.D. Eastman’s beloved book. Come and unleash your inner dog. 

American Heartland Theatre
The Marvelous Wonderettes
Runs November 4 through December 24
For tickets call 816-842-9999 or online at www.ahtkc.com
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Everyone wants the perfect prom night, but when the Crooning Crab Cakes from the Glee Club fail to show up to the 1958 Springfield High Prom, it's up to The Wonderettes to save the night! Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy and Suzy, four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their crinoline skirts and voices to match!  You've never had so much fun at the prom as you're treated to classic 50's and 60's songs as "Lollipop", "Dream Lover", "Stupid Cupid", "Lipstick on Your Collar," "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me", "It's My Party," "It's In His Kiss (The Shoop Shoop Song)" and so many more! 

The White Theatre at the Jewish Community Center
Avenue Q
Runs November 5 through November 20
For tickets call 913-327-8054 or online at www.jcckc.org
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Avenue Q is a laugh-out-loud musical that tells the timeless story of a recent college grad named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. There, he meets Kate (the girl next door), Rod (the Republican), Trekkie (the internet sexpert), Lucy the Slut (need we say more?), and other colorful types who help Princeton finally discover his purpose in life!  Don't miss out on the chance to see the Kansas City premiere of this Broadway hit! 

Jewell Theatre
A Man for All Seasons
Runs November 10 through November 12
For tickets call 913-415-7590
Call or visit the website for performance days and times

Jewell Theatre Company at William Jewell College presents its main stage production of Robert Bolt’s A Man for All Seasons at 7 p.m. November 10 and 11 and at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. November 12 in Peters Theater inside Brown Hall on the William Jewell campus in Liberty, Mo. Tickets are priced at $8, or $5 for seniors, students, or members of the William Jewell community. In Robert Bolt’s play, Thomas More, Chancellor of England, remains silent when Henry VIII demands that More support Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn. More’s integrity is tested to the extreme in the presence of ‘yes’ men and the common throng that follows the flow of history. The play was a hit in London when it opened in 1960 and on Broadway in 1961. A 1966 film version won six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor (Paul Scofield), best director and best screenplay. 

Johnson County Community College Music and Theatre Department
Anatomy of Gray
Runs November 11 through November 20

The Music and Theatre Department at Johnson County Community College will present Anatomy of Gray from Nov. 11-13 and Nov. 18-20. The academic production is free and open to the public. It will be held in the Polsky Theatre in the Carlsen Center; seating is first-come, first-served. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11-12 and Nov. 18-19. It will begin at 2 p.m. on Nov. 12-13 and Nov. 19-20. The story, set in Indiana during the late 1800s, deals with death, loss, love and healing. When June's father dies, she prays for a healer to come to the small town of Gray so no one will ever suffer again. The next thing she knows, there's a tornado and a man in a balloon blows into town claiming to be a doctor. At first, the doctor cures anything and everything but soon the town's preacher takes ill with a mysterious plague. And then the plague spreads. 

One Night Only
Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College
Aquila Theatre Company presents Shakespeare’s Macbeth
Thursday, October 27, at 7:00 p.m.
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series/events/2011-2012/aquila-theatre-company.html

Aquila breathes fresh life and fire into classic theatre. Shakespeare’s tragic Macbeth centers on a meeting between the victorious Scottish general and three mysterious witches. They promise that he will one day become King of Scotland! What follows is a wild and maddening descent into war, insanity and demons. 

One Night Only
Westport Center for the Arts
Henry James’ Turn of the Screw
Friday, October 28, at 7:30 p.m.
For tickets call 816-931-1032 or online at www.westportcenterforthearts.org

Westport Center for the Arts presents Henry James’ classic “ghost” story “The Turn of the Screw” at 7:30 p.m.  Friday, Oct. 28 at Westport Presbyterian Church, 201 Westport Road. Actors Robert Gibby Brand, Suzanne Welch and Nancy Marcy will recount the 1898 tale set in a rural English house of a young governess, two adorable and precocious children and the ghosts of a valet and former governess, which display a keen interest in the children. Organist Geoffrey Wilcken will provide musical accompaniment for the performance. 

One Night Only
Lied Center of Kansas
The Intergalactic Nemesis
Saturday, October 29, at 7:30 p.m.
For tickets call 785-864-2787 or online at www.lied.ku.edu/events/intergalactic.shtml

The year is 1933. Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Molly Sloan, her intrepid assistant Timmy Mendez, and a mysterious librarian named Ben Wilcott face the most serious threat Earth has ever known: an impending invasion of sludge monsters from the planet Zygon. This period-sci-fi-horror-suspense-comedy-romance for the whole family is performed in an innovative, multimedia presentation. While three actors, one Foley artist and one keyboardist provide all the voices, sound effects and music, more than 1,250 hand-drawn, full-color, blow-your-mind comic book images are projected on a screen, telling the larger-than-life story. 

One Night Only
Performing Arts Series at Johnson County Community College
69° South – The Shackleton Project
Friday, November 11, at 8:00 p.m.
For tickets call 913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/performing-arts-series/events/2011-2012/69-degrees-south.html

This new work by puppet theater company Phantom Limb re-enacts the extraordinary events of 1914 when Ernest Shackleton and 27 others set out to be the first team of explorers to cross Antarctica. The plot combines a dark aesthetic with fantastic music to lead us to the ultimately happy ending.

For complete Theatre listings through 2011, click here to visit the KC Events calendar.

Wed, Oct 12, 2011

Musical Theater Heritage announces online auditions

We've already had our first round of auditions for our 2012 season, but it's not too late to still be considered!  If you haven't already auditioned, please send an ONLINE AUDITION with two contrasting songs, no more than 32 measures each (songs from the shows are welcome), and a one minute monologue would be a nice bonus, too, if you have one.

PLEASE SEND THE LINK TO:
sarah@musicaltheaterheritage.com

If you don't have anything online, you may send a head shot and resume. Please note...in our email address, theater is spelled "er".  We spell it the American way!  =)

Online auditions will be accepted until November 1st.  Please do not expect a return reply, as we are unable to do so in a timely manner.  Thank you so much!

2012 Season
Sweeney Todd - (April 2012)
The Music Man - (August 2012)
Spectacular Christmas (December 2012)
Musical Mondays (ongoing, 2012)

5-week contracts will be offered.  Rehearsals are two weeks, and the run is 3 weeks.

Egads! Theatre Company's Zombie Prom

EGADS THEATRE COMPANY announces auditions for ZOMBIE PROM a musical comedy by John Dempsey and Dana P. Rowe.

Appointments are available from 5–8 PM on both Monday, November 7th and Tuesday, November 8th :: Open Dance Calls will be held at 8 PM on both night.

Call (816) 769-5480 or email steven@egadstheatre.com.

Seeking:
• 4 girls and 4 boys with strong musical theatre voices (legit and belt) and excellent movement skills (in theatre jazz) to play high-energy 1950s high school seniors Toffee, Candy, Coco, Ginger, Jonny, Jake, Joey and Josh.
• One man (late 30s or early 40s) with a strong musical theatre baritone voice to play charismatic tabloid news reporter Eddie Flagrante.
• One man or woman (mid to late 30s) with a strong musical theatre mezzo (belter with legit upper) to play outlandish and sharply comedic high school principal Miss Delilah Strict.
• All shapes and sizes are welcome.
• All performers must have excellent physical and vocal stamina.

Please prepare two separate musical pieces (preferably one that is musical theatre and one that is a golden oldie circa 1950s) – both pieces should showcase range and character choices. Selections should not exceed 4 minutes in total length. Please bring sheet music (clearly marked for the accompanist -- no Sondheim or Jason Robert Brown please) or musical tracks without vocals. No a cappella auditions please and thank you. You do not need to prepare a monologue.

Everyone auditioning must attend one of the two open dance calls at the end of each night. Please come dressed and ready to dance. You will learn and perform a quick theatre jazz combination in 30 minutes. Ladies should bring both flats and character heels.

If you cannot attend auditions, special arrangements can be made on a case by case basis. Email steven@egadstheatre.com or call (816) 769-5480.

Those who have previously been hired by Eubank Productions or Egads Theatre Company may simply submit an email indicating interest and availability. Please include an image file (e.g. jpeg) of your latest headshot and most recent résumé of work.

Perusal copies of the Zombie Prom script and cast recording can be available upon request.

Zombie Prom will rehearse the month of February and perform March at the Off Center Theatre. All performers will receive a stipend to be paid in two installments – one at the end of the rehearsal process and one after the final performance.

Topeka Symphony announces Youth Talent Auditions

The Topeka Symphony will hold its 59th annual Youth Talent Auditions on Saturday, December 17, 2011 at White Concert Hall on the Washburn University campus. Students in grades 9 through 12 are invited to compete for the opportunity of soloing with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra. Applications must be postmarked by November 17, 2011. For more information or to obtain an entry form, visit www.topekasymphony.org or contact the Topeka Symphony office at 785-232-2032 or tso@topekasymphony.org .

Contestants may enter in any of four divisions: vocal; piano; wind and percussion instruments; and string instruments. Entrants may perform one or more movements of any standard work for solo and orchestra which has a readily available orchestral accompaniment and lasts from a minimum of 7 to a maximum of 15 minutes performance time.

Capitol Federal, sponsor of the auditions, will present a scholarship award to the winner in each division. The overall winner of the auditions will perform with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra on Thursday, January 12 and Saturday, January 14, 2012. The first runner-up will appear at the Sunday afternoon, March 4, 2012 concert featuring the Topeka Symphony Youth Orchestra.

The Topeka Symphony is sponsored in part by Washburn University and Arts Connect.

By KCM Staff   Mon, Jun 16, 2008

Many thanks to ArtsJournal.com's editor, Douglas McLennan
~ Formerly an arts columnist and arts reporter with the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer and the Seattle Weekly. Doug writes on
the arts for a number of publications (in his abundant free time)
and is currently acting director of the National Arts Journalism
Program while it reinvents itself ~

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