ISIS, Sam Brownback, the water in Flint— there’s a lot out there to make us frown or get down…
To the rescue come a pair of Kansas City’s best theaters, churning out laughter yuge-r than a Trump ego.
Have fun with these happy hits!
OUT OF ORDER, now thru Feb 14 at the New Theatre Restaurant, offers Brit farce king Ray Cooney in fine form — a three door/one window laughfest starring WKRP in Cincinnati‘s Gary Sandy as a philandering Senator who gets caught with more than his pants down. Under the able direction of Joe Fox, who learned his craft from that fine farce facilitator Dennis Hennessy, scantily-clad babes, dead bodies, a badgering bellhop and more skullduggery than a Ted Cruz primary campaign keep things rolling merrily along. New Theatre favorite Craig Benton does a nice job as Sandy’s fixer, who just barley keeps all of Sandy’s balls in the air. Joining the beat-upon Benton are a talented cast of scenery-chewers, notably James Wright as a supercilious hotel manager and Alan Tilson as that fleecing factotum. These folks are pros and the laughter confirms it.
HOW TO STEAL A PICASSO (now thru Feb 21 at the Levin Stage, 3828 Main) is the Unicorn Theatre‘s entry to this week’s comedy cavalcade. A world premier from playwright William Morris Downs, PICASSO introduces us to a dysfunctional family of artists, led by padre Otto (Walter Coppage in a different turn than we’re used to seeing from him), who just won the Yoko Ono Prize for something or other– or not.
PICASSO has more meat on its bones than the dinner theater farce, but it’s not nearly as funny. Maybe that’s because there’s some message in the madness in Downs’ play, which reminded me of the wacky goings-on of John Guare‘s great HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES.
Coppage and Katie Kalarhrka and newcomer Tommy Gorrebeeck, who play his kids, do a fine job with the material, though it’s comely comedienne Cathy Barnett who steals the show, as usual, as the family’s hippie dippie homemaker. Props to Cynthia Levin and the Unicorn for taking on these new plays every year– this one proves more than worth the gamble.
*******
BTW, if you haven’t seen the redo of the New Theatre Restaurant, it is really something to behold. Gone are the old naked sculptures, replaced by a fascinating video landscape of LED lights and projections. It’s fun just to sit there and watch the walls.
The food is great; and, after that little spat with some jerk who sneezed on the buffet last week, New Theatre Restaurant is the cleanest eatery in town (including your kitchen). Fun show, great food, neat atmospherics– they’ve got it down.
Unfortunately, most Kansas Citians got that message long ago, so there are very few seats left for OUT OF ORDER. See it if you can; or STEAL A PICASSO at the Unicorn for more thought-provoking comedy.
Sounds like Fun.
I was laughing so hard, I threw up.
“ISIS, Sam Brownback, the water in Flint—”
The food at New Theater Restaurant
It’s William MISSOURI Downs…
And yes, Cathy Barnett plays it over the top. Fun and funny.
Friday night, at 7pm before the 8 pm curtain, is a free discussion in the conference room with someone from the Nelson, discussing the challenges of avoiding buying or hanging forgeries in museums.
That’s especially timely if you have been following the huge lawsuit re the Knoedler Gallery in NYC the past two weeks. It’s not just Crosby Kemper who got hoodwinked by the art professionals, when he bought 23 fakes he thought were Georgia O’Keefe’s, for the Kemper Museum, but were really done by Juan, her houseboy.
The Unicorn has become cutting edge for promoting new plays. They are a leader in the New Play Network, and they are often part of the rolling premieres, where a new play is staged at three indie theatres around the country over the space of 12 months, allowing the playwright to tighten or tweak his or her script, and see the challenges of actually staging it, lighting it, costuming it, and spitting out the words. The Unicorn has put KC on the theatrical map, far more than the Rep has.
Contaminated, dirty Restaurant. Hasn’t been ‘new’ for a long time, but most recently ‘very dirty’.
Obviously, you haven’t been there in a long time either. I thought the food was great– and very innovative. Polenta, penne with vegetables, chicken, fish, and even burnt ends– alot of great options. Salad and desserts were good, too.
not a patron of NTR, but have to believe Mark when he notes it has to be the cleanest eatery in town. that said, management, head chef and staff (all of them) have to keep it that way. and not just in the kitchen either.