Tag Archives: Mark Edelman
The Play’s The Thing this Fourth of July
Something old, something new, borrowed and blue… take your pick this holiday weekend on Kansas City stages.
You’ll even find some fireworks– the emotional kind– going off in this round-up of what’s happening in live! theater.
BUDDY—the New Theatre Restaurant rolls out its summer musical, now playing at the popular Overland Park dinner theater. Continue reading
Edelman: Girl Power this week at Starlight
If Laura Ingalls Wilder had been around today, she’d have kicked butt on Survivor.
That’s the message I got from the touring Broadway musical LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE, playing now thru Sunday at Starlight Theater. The talented touring company of this pre-Broadway try-out kicks butt, too.
LITTLE HOUSE moves the popular TV show’s premise forward a few years. The Ingalls family is homesteading in Godforsaken, South Dakota (look it up on Mapquest), and the girls are closing in on womanhood. Laura, big sister Mary and spunky little Carrie tackle the travails of the endless prairie under the watchful eyes of Ma and Pa. There’s hormones in them thar hills– probably why they never got this old on network television.
Edelman: Jazz Time – Celebrate Women in Jazz This Week
Strike up the band: Marilyn Maye’s back in town, tonight through Friday (with Thursday off) at Jardine’s.
Our Fabulous Miss M (not to be confused with the Divine, Hawaiian one) knows her way around the great American songbook better than anyone around these days. It’s an education in phrasing, delivery, style and grace that you aren’t gonna see on American Idol. Miss Maye is the real deal.
Working on all of those years on KC club stages, Marilyn has blazed a trail that a number of other local chanteuses have made their own. Check out these boites for vocals from the distaff side: Continue reading
Edelman: Got a Gently Used Bra?
Take your gently-used bra to the Unicorn Theatre this week and get a half-priced ticket to my new play CUPS.
Yeah, CUPS…as in bras.
“We’re collecting them for Hope House,” explained Theater League spokeslady Reida York. “They distribute them to their residents who may have had to leave home quickly, to escape an abusive situation. The women and their children usually stay there until the situation stabilizes or is resolved.”
CUPS is a poignant comedy about one woman’s life based on the bras she’s worn. From training to strapless, push up to nursing, the bras hold her memories, too. Playwright Joni Sheram will be attending this weekend’s opening performances. Continue reading
Edelman: Inside or Out, Summer Theater’s Here
I know– summertime means outdoor theater
. And if you like your culture humid with a couple of bugs thrown in, Kansas City’s the place to be.
Richard III will be dragging that hump of his around the Shakespeare Fest’s Plaza-area stage starting June 15. Continue reading
Edelman: Unicorn’s hair (and consciousness) raising new work a winner
Two Sistahs talking trash in a beauty parlor somewhere in the hood.
No, it’s not Tyler Perry’s latest money-spinner. Continue reading
Edelman: Tony Award Time is Rocking on Broadway
If you’re a fan of the New York theater season, you’re undoubtedly handicapping the Tony Continue reading
VENICE: “That’s a rap” for KC Rep’s 2009-10 season
KC Rep wraps up its 2009-10 season with an ambitious work in progress.
For VENICE (now through May 9 at the Copaken Stage downtown), Artistic Director Eric Rosen calls on rap master Matt Sax to serve up a high-energy vision of a dark, depressing future, then find the ray of hope hiding therein. While the point of this enterprise could use some clarifying, VENICE is chock full of first class performances and a terrific physical production. If you like your graphic novels live! on stage, sung full-out by a great looking (and sounding) cast, by all means check out this one. Continue reading
Jazz Time — This week, try some Wine and Roses
The great composer Henry Mancini would have been 86 this Friday. I had the pleasure of presenting him years ago with the Kansas City Symphony, back when the Midland had those big red rocking Continue reading
KC Rep Offers Another Great Work, So Close to Home
A freak snowstorm blankets the highway to Topeka. Stranded souls stop to share coffee and bear the pain of empty love and loneliness.
No, it’s not this weekend’s edition of “Real Housewives of Johnson County.” KC Rep’s revival of the William Inge play BUS STOP (now through April 4 at the Spencer Theater on the UMKC campus) goes that show and the rest of the reality TV genre one better– it’s real AND a timeless work of art. Forget “Road Rules” and “Real World”–Inge’s characters show us what being a survivor is really all about. Continue reading
Edelman: New Play at Rep Has it All Down
Solzhenitsyn (among others) said “write what you know.” Though it’s a long way from the Gulag, the Kansas City, KS Nathan Louis Jackson knows– and serves up in his new play BROKE-OLOGY (now through March 21 at KC Rep’s downtown Copaken Stage)– rings every bit as comically and poignantly true as the Russian literary giant’s wind-swept Siberia.
Though it may be cold outside, indoors the warmth and even joy of life drives us forward, hoping for mo and better.
Jackson’s tale is a simple one. Two brothers have to deal with their father’s failing health. An exceptional dramatist can turn this simple prescription into a mine field or a love fest. The really exceptional ones– Jackson included– get it all.
Jazz Time: Happy birthday Angela Friday Night at Jardine’s
Our town’s favorite chanteuse Angela Hagenbach celebrates a birthday Friday night at Jardine’s. Beena’s cozy room is the place to be for an evening that’s bound to serve up Ms H’s brand of sultry jazz stylings with some of KC’s best sidemen along to blow (and blow out the candles).
But that’s just one stop on this week’s jazz meanderings. Tuesday belongs to piano masters Bram Wijnands also at Jardine’s (with the burlesque and comedy of Lucky DeLuxe with special guest comic Continue reading
Edelman: KC Kid Holds Her Own With Broadway Stars
How many times do you get a call to work with Catherine Zeta-Jones on Broadway? For Kansas City kid actress Katherine McNamara, once was just enough. She shines in the new revival Continue reading
Edelman: Shtick with Mel Brooks for Laughs
From 2,000 year old man and “Your Show of Shows” to “Spaceballs” and that monster hit Broadway musical about two conniving Producers, Mel Brooks has more than proven that he knows how to make us laugh.
The first-class production of his latest oeuvre “Young Frankestein” (now through Sunday at the Music Hall) caps that career– though I hope he’s not finished yet– with a yuck-fest that’ll make you forget about all about winter weather and the state of the economy. It’s two and a half hours of mindless fun that should be on top of everybody’s stimulus list.
Unicorn’s Excellent Grey Gardens Grows on You
“Bold New Plays,” the Unicorn Theatre advertises. The company’s fine production of the fascinating new musical “Grey Gardens” (now through February 28) makes that slogan a promise. Producing musical theater about a deranged debutante and her hopelessly wacky mother is one of the bolder things you’ll see on a Kansas City stage this season.
That they carry off the task so effectively– and entertainingly– is a credit to the work of two of our town’s most gifted actresses, Cathy Barnett and Kathleen Warfel. Working with a fine cast under the well-paced direction of stager Nedra Dixon and musical director Anthony Edwards, this “Grey Gardens” team–against the odds and without most musicals’ six figure budget–makes it work.
Jazz Time: Celebrate the Gypsy King
Saturday is Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt’s 100th birthday. Remember the Woody Allen film “Sweet and Lowdown”? The character Sean Penn played was obsessed with this genius of the six strings. Forget about that Guitar Hero on your Wii at home; Django is the genuine article.
Two shows celebrate Reinhardt’s life on Saturday night. Check out one or both. The Djangofest starts at the Folly Theatre, where Mark O’Connor’s Hot Swing holds forth starting at 8 (a Q&A precedes the concert at 7PM). Continue reading
Jazz Time: Make Your Own Jazz Crawl Thursday Night
Perusing the calendar of KC jazz goings-on this week, I noticed a heady confluence of some of our town’s best come this Thursday, January 14…
Since the temperature’s supposed to be on the rise by then, 14 Jan may be the best night to break out of your cabin fever and crawl around to some great jazz spots. Herewith is my Rx for what ails ya, circa this Thursday:
6-7PM: Start out with an early supper to the tunes of that sure-handed keeper of the KC jump jazz flame Bram Wijnands at Chazz, Continue reading
Edelman: Jazz Time; This Week, Resolve to Get There
Tis the week for parties and nights on the town. You’ve got a metro chock full of great music– jazz, the All-American art form. Whether it’s mulled wine, some booze in your coffee or the regular refreshment on ice, tilt your head back and down a few in some of these great rooms, where the music is happening:
The Majestic Steakhouse— Downtown’s quaint on old publick house is back with KC Jump Jazz afficiando Bram Wijnands on the 88s Monday through Wednesday and 7 to 11 on Saturday. News Years Eve, Bram follows pianist Michael Pagan into almost 2010.
Jardine’s— Beena’s Place is always the most comfortable jazz and music room around. Tonight you can say welcome back to bassist and Paseo Academy grad Solomon Dorsey, who shares the bandstand with percussionist Pablo Senhueza. Tuesday night it’s the Beach Nuts from 7 to 11; Wednesday Lonnie McFadden shows up for an R&B show from 7:30-11:30. New Years Eve at Jardine’s belongs to the distaff side with the Wild Women of Kansas City in the early show from 6 to 7:30 p.m. and Ida McBeth at 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. Ida’s back on Saturday night, too Continue reading
