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Walking into the Off Center Theatre for a Musical Monday is like being welcomed into a secret club that most of Kansas City has never heard about. It’s a club where the enthusiasm is high, the jokes are off-color knee-slappers, and the dedication to musicals is endless. Drop your shiny plastic coin-ticket into the basket, pick up a drink, and find a seat among the happily chatting regulars in this theater’s intimate seating arrangement, which has the crowd wrapped merrily around the stage, forming what one clever performer called a “hug from a friendly firing squad.”

Emcee Tim Scott kicked off the night by crooning “Big Spender” to the excited audience, and then launched into his usual banter with the crowd, before introducing the circuit of featured Kansas City performers. As they came up to sing their favorite tunes, the impromptu night of musical fun was underway, with outstanding performances by these talented vocalists.

Colleen Grate put on one of the most varied acts of the night, bouncing from one drastically different character to another with each song. Her rendition of “Popular” was so note-perfect that I could almost picture Kristin Chenoweth in the room with us. She was hilarious as a lovestruck schizophrenic in “Screw Loose,” and I was pleasantly surprised by her performance of “Glitter and Be Gay” from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide—Grate’s chirpy, agile soprano was perfectly matched with comic timing that would have made Voltaire himself giggle.

Molly Hammer’s sultry mezzo filled the room with richness and warmth every time she sang, whether it was to charm us with the crowd-pleasing “Anything Goes,” or tell the story of a woman who could never find the right happy ending in “Stars and the Moon.” Her ease on stage instantly imbued the audience with her relaxed, confident energy, so we could sit back in the comforting pocket created by her consistently gorgeous voice.

If there were an award for “Performer I Could Listen to All Night Without Ever Getting Tired,” it would go to Shelby Floyd. Opening the evening with “Find Your Grail” from Spamalot, she blew me away with a powerhouse voice with beautiful tone and dynamic personality. Her impressive vocal talents wowed the audience again and again all night; she was bouncy and energetic singing “Right in Front of Your Eyes” from The Wedding Singer, and soulfully spunky in “Life of the Party.” Floyd’s performance of “I Can’t Sleep” was one my favorites of the evening, and I think the audience agreed—so taken in were we all by her passion and vulnerability that I think we all forgot how to move until the song was over.

Tom Lancaster and Michael Dragan added some testosterone to the heavily female cast, and while each gave excellent solo performances, they truly shone in partnership. Their rendition of “Schadenfreude” from Avenue Q had the crowd roaring right from the beginning, and their revised version of “You’re Nothing Without Me” from City of Angels (with tongue-in-cheek lyrics detailing the tribulations of their real-life musical “rivalry” in Musical Theater Heritage) brought down the house, or at least rendered us unable to breathe from laughing so hard.

The evening’s performers also included lucky lottery winners, and one in particular stood out. Rachel Pallante owned the stage from the moment she walked onto it, and the energy of her performance of “The Girl in 14G” made her one of the biggest characters in the theater that night. Make that three characters, actually, since she played an opera diva, an Ella Fitzgerald-type scatting enthusiast, and the Johnny One-Note-type girl trapped on the middle floor between them wishing they would just STOP. Rachel’s versatile tone and impressive stylistic range had us all clutching our sides with laughter.

Once again, Musical Theater Heritage provided me with a wonderfully fun Monday night, and I was reminded once again that don’t think we get enough of those. So I highly recommend Musical Mondays to anyone looking to go into Tuesday with a smile on their face.

REVIEW:
Musical Theater Heritage
Musical Monday
Off Center Theatre in Crown Center
September 12, 2011
2450 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, MO
For more information visit www.musicaltheaterheritage.com

Top Photo: Emcee Tim Scott for Musical Mondays

By Karen Hauge

Classical Contributor, Senior Editor

A native of New Jersey, Karen Hauge relocated to Kansas City in 2010 to attend UMKC in pursuit of her M.M. in flute performance. Since moving to Kansas City, Karen has been active as a performer within the Conservatory and as a music educator in the community, working with the Conservatory’s Community Academy of Music and Dance.

Karen earned a B.M. from the University of Delaware, where she studied music education with Suzanne Burton and Robert Streckfuss. During her time at Delaware, Karen was awarded several grants to fund an independent research project over the course of two years. The project and subsequent thesis, entitled “What Does It Mean To Be Musical?,” explored the ways in which people naturally interact with music in their everyday lives, and earned her a degree with distinction upon graduation. Karen has been active as a solo and chamber performer in Delaware, New York, and New Jersey. She has performed for world-renowned flute pedagogues such as Jeanne Baxtresser and Jeffrey Khaner, and has received honors for outstanding performance through her career at both the university and professional level. Her primary flute teachers have been Mardee Reed-Ulmer, Eileen Grycky, and Mary Posses.