The Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre put on a sweet little comedy of manners in Enchanted April. The production was enjoyable, but faltered at a few points, causing a somewhat lackluster show. The script was an adaption by Matthew Barber from Elizabeth von Arnim’s 1922 novel. Director Linda Ade Brand worked with a talented cast of veterans.... Continue Reading →
Happy Gillis Cafe & Hangout
Cuban: Ham, Swiss, Mustard, Pickles; Foccaccia; Grilled. Alterations made: Add lettuce, subtract mustard, trade swiss for white cheddar. Libby approval rating: AWESOME! Read up on their menu and specials.
REVIEW in KCMetropolis: Joe Lovano & Us Five
Filling the historic Folly Theatre with brilliant riffs and prolonged melodic concepts, Joe Lovano and Us Five were the latest installment for the Folly Jazz Series. Lovano has a heady, esoteric style of building sound, but his eclectic background meant Saturday’s performance was interspersed with Latin, swing, and bebop influences, allowing for accessible moments throughout... Continue Reading →
WE! Collaboration @ Town Pavilion
March 31: WE! This collaboration transformed a ubiquitous floor of a downtown office building into a strange and delightful exploration of the tensions and frustrations of the worker bee's daily grind. Set in a muti-stage, tour-guided format, groups were led by artists dressed in business casual through a maze of cubicles and torn open drywall, plastic straw and yarn installation,... Continue Reading →
REVIEW in KCMetropolis: These “Trousers” need tightening
The musical In Trousers relates a story that falls somewhere between coming-of-age and coming-out-during-a-midlife-crisis. Egads! Theatre Company presented the Kansas City premiere at the Off Center Theatre, a frequent home for edgy, smaller scale productions. Though the lyrics were clever and the music interesting (if derivative), the plot was disjointed, the characters were one dimensional,... Continue Reading →
No-where-near Philly cheese steak for the NCAA, plus the Rules of Basketball
National Basketball weekend - also known as the NCAA men's basketball tournament - is something of a religious holiday for my husband. The first weekend - with its 60 + games, games that happen in simultaneous chunks so that no matter how many times you flip channels there's always a game to watch - is... Continue Reading →
COVER STORY: It’s all Greek
The mad cap staging of The Greek Mythology Olympiaganza left the actors gasping for breath, after an hour-long marathon performance at the Coterie Theatre that covered thousands of years of myth—and the last forty years of pop culture. Following a script by Don Zolidis, the cast channeled cultural superstars from Greek gods and heroes to... Continue Reading →
COVER STORY: Swingin’ start to Christmas season
“We’re going to take the beautiful Christmas tunes you love and play them loud and angry,” was the introduction by Boston Brass’s tubist, Andrew Hitz. Loud, indeed, but the energy from the stage of Johnson County Community College’s Yardley Hall was in no way angry. The Boston Brass, along with the Brass All-Stars Big Band,... Continue Reading →
NEA Arts Journalism Institute Experience (and then some)
I attended the National Endowment for the Arts Arts Journalism Institute at Columbia University in the city of New York in October. I wrote about the experience for KCMetropolis.org. Little did I know, I was pregnant. NEAT!
Proust Eats a Sandwich 