Kansas City Blog

Corners Grove is a play that has nothing new to say–and that's the point. Corners Grove is a modern play that pays homage to the American classic Our Town.

Our Town is a play about what it means to live a life. It is a hard thing to comment on the human experience. Humans are messy and the world is big. Stories are comparatively neat and rather small. Thornton Wilder knew this and his play is told not in the arc of a story but in the arc of lives. What is presented is normal people’s lives as they live them. The play follows them as they grow up, work, gossip, marry, die, and mourn. He aims for realism and typicality. To create such verisimilitude, he delves deep into the setting. Our Town is set in a small New Hampshire town near the turn of the 20th century. Corners Grove is set in a small California town near the turn of the 21st century. Corners Grove takes heavy inspiration from Our Town. Many of the same story beats are repeated and the basic structure is kept. Act 1 is about the young cast growing up. Act 2 involves a marriage. Act 3 depicts a funeral for someone who died too young. The details differ, but the broad strokes are the same.

Is he truly just a barber on Fleet Street? Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street was composed by the well-loved Stephen Sondheim. A story that seems ordinary at first glance but there are a few details that seem off. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street is such a deep and emotional story. Spinning Tree Theatre portrayed this story so well in every aspect. 

The entire cast of this show was stacked with the skills to portray a story that is so dark and twisting. Each character had such a distinct personality; I could always understand the tone and intent of every one. Sweeney Todd is a show about a barber with a dark side. The aspiring love of a young couple. Learning how some things changed. A few actors made choices that specifically stood out in the best ways possible. Patrick Lewallen, who played the leading man Sweeney Todd, put his all into this character. From the moment Lewallen came on stage, I was immediately drawn to his performance, even when he wasn't the main focus of a scene. The mannerisms he gave his character always showed you how he was thinking. Another stand-out character to me was the yearning lover Anthony Hope, played by Charlie Tietjen. The emotion that Tietjen poured into every song was admirable, and the way he interacted with every character in such a unique way. This entire cast was amazing and I was pulled into the story from the moment the music started at the top of the show. 

On October 13th, 2026, my stepmom and I drove down to the Country Club Plaza to attend the celebration of Veronica Roth’s newest release, The Sixth Faction, moderated by fellow author Adib Khorram and hosted by Rainy Day Books. 

Roth has written several bestselling books, including When Among Crows, Seek the Traitor’s Son, Poster Girl, Chosen Ones, the Carve the Mark duology, and the hit Divergent trilogy. Likewise, Khorram is the author of bestselling books I’ll Have What He’s Having, Darius the Great Is Not Okay, Darius the Great Deserves Better, Kiss & Tell, The Breakup Lists, Seven Special Somethings: A Nowruz Story, and Bijan Always Wins. 

The Wizard of Oz is a story in every Kansan’s backyard. The familiarity and universal story of The Wizard of Oz, especially for someone from Kansas, made this ballet so wonderful. It is easier to understand the depth of Kansas City Ballet’s costumes, dancers, and choreography when you know the story.

Something that audiences will be able to identify immediately is the excellent distinction between Glinda's Munchkinland and the Wicked Witch's home. The color choices, costume details, and music all helped to create this contrast between the two witches.

(Photo by Don Ipock)

Red Like Fruit is an introspective play that directly questions the nature of memory and consent, especially in an era directly following the #MeToo movement. Written by playwright Hannah Moscovitch, Red Like Fruit features a cast of only two characters, Lauren and Luke, and their exploration of Lauren’s memories and her childhood experiences of varying types of sexual assault. All of Lauren’s life experiences are delivered by Luke in a third-person narrative. As he reads from Lauren’s own notebooks, he begins to wonder why Lauren asked him to read her story in the first place.

Working is a musical about people who work and it is really that simple. Through monologues and songs, we learn about what various people do for work.

I recently got the opportunity to visit the Kemper Museum and see the stunning Awestruck collection by Barbara Takenaga. The collection was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time. I have a personal soft spot for abstract art, so this one really spoke to me. 

Voces 8 puts on a spectacular performance in concert. As a singer myself, I admired their efforts greatly. They not only excel when it comes to technical aspects of music, but also generally appeal to a varied audience by way of their harmonious sound and overall togetherness of the singers. Despite the many different age groups packed into the Village Presbyterian Church during a recent performance put on by the Friends of Chamber Music Kansas City, their 80-minute performance was met with complete silence and awe as they performed. This Grammy-nominated group is truly captivating.

The name “Voces8” comes from the Spanish word for voices and the fact that there are eight singers in the acapella group. The theme of their show is Towards Paradise, and this is reflected in the song selections as they all carry a spiritual message. As the Voces8 group sang, they traveled through various eras of composers and styles; all while maintaining a clear, resonant tone. Some songs they sang were Buccinate in neomenia tuba (a hymn in Latin) by Giovanni Croce, and O Clap Your Hands (a gospel song) by Orlando Gibbins. Additionally, in between sections of the concert they explained the origins of what they were singing in an informative way, with a bit of humor sprinkled in. The singers were very friendly and passionate during and after their performance. Voces 8 has a clear love for the art of music.

The world is so used to the man getting the final say… It can blind us to who is truly the villain, and it’s time for us to open our eyes. John Proctor Is the Villain is a play about high school girls reading and debating whether or not John Proctor is truly a hero in The Crucible. Little did they know they were enacting a modern-day retelling.

Taking place in a one-stoplight (soon to be two) town, every scene in John Proctor Is the Villain had tension, making the crowd hold their breath unconsciously. The girls hope to open a feminist club, but the school’s guidance counselor, played by Elaine Elizabeth, says it's “not the right time” for a girls-only club. Mr. Carter Smith, played by Shane Kenyon, convinces her that if there were some male students in the club, it would work. This problem-solving makes the girls idolize him.

I got the chance to interview Amari Lewis, who is performing in KCRep’s production of John Proctor is the Villain. Lewis plays Nell, one of the five girls in a high school in a small southern town at the center of the play. These girls decide to form a feminist club after deciding that The Crucible is rather sexist.

When I spoke to Lewis, I hadn’t yet seen the show, so I asked for her opinion of the play. “There's some twists and turns, so I can't give away too much,” she told me. “I would say if you love a story about girlhood, it can get a little intense, a little chaotic, a little scary even maybe, It's very much like a suspense, almost thriller type. I love it. I would say it's kind of a hocus pocus vibe. It's very witchy, but like something you see with your best friends.”

Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing V.E. Schwab speak about her newest book at Unity Temple on the Plaza in an event facilitated by Rainy Day Books. Schwab’s newest book is titled Victorious and is the final book in the Villains trilogy. 

Upon arrival, attendees received their signed and embossed copies of Victorious. I’ve never owned an embossed book before, but owning this copy makes me feel like I need more. We then made our way into the nave and took our seats. A detail I loved inside the temple was the beautiful stained glass window that included a book.

When I look back on The Baladeer Theatre Company’s original adaptation of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, one snapshot sears itself into my mind: four young ladies kneeling beside a worn armchair, listening to their mother read a letter from their father and wondering if he’ll ever come home. The firelight dances across the backdrop, and the stage lights illuminate Jo’s reassuring smile, a complement to Meg reaching for Amy’s hand. I have seen this picture before, I realize, on my copy of Little Women, but to see it brought to life on a stage, until recently, seemed impossible. 

Little Women follows four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—as they lumber through their adolescence, set against the backdrop of the Civil War. As their father serves in the army, the story focuses on the ways the girls’ paths create friction against their “castles in the sky” and the shenanigans that they get up to along the way. The play adaptation by Will Gurley, Savannah Dove, and Kayli Gurley was a faithful adaptation with a few impactful changes. 

You’ve seen the movie—but have you seen the musical? If you haven’t, you need to now. Beetlejuice: The Musical takes every absurdity and quirk from the movie that we know and love and cranks it up to one hundred. With every moment amplified for the stage and usually accompanied by a ridiculously weird song, this musical is hysterical, high-energy, and, of course, strange and unusual.

If you haven’t seen the iconic 1988 Tim Burton film that Beetlejuice: The Musical is based on but you want to go see the show, good news. You don’t have to! The titular character, Beetlejuice, played by Ryan Stajmiger, interacts frequently with the audience, and almost every scene comes with a hilarious explanation.

Have you ever been in love? Love is a form of art. And without it there would be no passion and beauty. This is what La Boheme teaches us. “The most beautiful poems teach us how to love,” states Rodolfo, played by Jose Simerilla Romero in Lyric Opera’s production, currently onstage at the Kauffman Center. Thanks to the director Garnett Bruce, we truly feel the story come to life, both through the words as well as other theatrical elements.

As we first see Rodolfo and Mimi meet, their love is instant. Mimi, played by Gabriella Reyes, is portrayed as a gentle spring and bright like a sunrise. Her love for flowers brings out her personality and the character she is. Rodolfo is so infatuated with her and sings, “For I am the poet, she the poetry,” and “I’m a millionaire in dreams, and you are all of them.” Through words we can feel their love so obviously. There's power not only in words but also in their voices. The power of their voices is ear-ringing–literally. These amazing actors have so much voice control, whether they need to be “whispering” or be as dramatic and loud as possible. Yet words are not everything. We also need to see love through actions and body language. Though these actors have amazing voices, I didn’t feel their faces always matched the words. As Rodolfo and Mimi are speaking of their love for each other, I saw distressed looks. Love should be easy and joyous, but I saw expressions that were stressful and dark.

“Exactly! Protect your child by educating yourself!” — Eureka Day quote

Eureka Day is a play about the argument surrounding how important vaccines are. The play uses the setting of a private school in 2018 in Berkeley, California that is dealing with an outbreak of Mumps and a comedic spin of satire to make an argument about why you should take the time to learn and seriously consider vaccinations. 

The hit Broadway musical Come From Away, written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein and directed by Stuart Carden, carries forth a powerful message of acceptance and the importance of community in times of crisis. Running from September 1st to the 20th, the musical features 22 spectacularly written and choreographed songs, as well as a diverse cast of characters. The story follows the Canadian town of Gander and nearly 7,000 passengers who were grounded there during the airspace closure in America that directly followed 9/11. Even as the residents of the town scramble to find a place for the passengers to stay and food for them to eat, they still welcome the residents with open arms.

Come From Away, despite having some changes made for the sake of theatrics, (such as some characters being a blend of multiple people, rather than one specific person) maintains a strong historical accuracy. The musical being performed on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 helps emphasize how long-lasting the impacts of such an event were. When I walked into the theatre, there were barely any open seats, and many of those were filled by the time the lights went down. It is clear the story behind the musical is incredibly impactful to many, bringing in enough people to fill KC Rep’s entire Spencer Theatre in one night.

The performance of Wicked at the Kansas City Music Hall was a thrilling end to the American Theater Guild’s 2025-2026 Broadway season. I managed to go the first week it was open on August 12th. With the impressive original set design, costuming, and script, this show never fails to amaze audiences worldwide.

This musical is an adaptation of a book, based on a movie that was adapted from another book, which is one of the things that makes Wicked so unique and Popular (Laar). The original book (Wizard of Oz) follows Dorothy and her adventures in Oz. Wicked, on the other hand, gives us the morally grey villain arc of the Wicked Witch of the West known as Elphaba (Aline Myagoitia) and the full backstory of Glinda the Good (Claudia Bennett).

In a time of declining media literacy, Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage is a welcome break from plays, musicals, and movies where everything is presented to the audience on a silver platter and explained in perfect detail. I personally believe the title refers to not only the occupation of the main character but also to the intimacy of every relationship in this show, which are complex and interwoven with one another.

Intimate Apparel is set in 1905 and follows a woman named Esther, played by Chioma Anyanwu, who works as a seamstress making intimate apparel for women. It showcases her relationships with everyone in her life and how they evolve and change drastically through the two-hour play. 

Slick your hair and wear your buckle shoes! The World Goes 'Round sweeps audiences into a vibrant, nostalgic, and emotionally rich journey through the legendary catalog of John Kander and Fred Ebb. Featuring songs that have defined Broadway for decades, the revue celebrates every high, every low, and everything in between.

The World Goes 'Round is a musical revue celebrating the iconic works of Kander and Ebb, the legendary songwriting duo behind some of Broadway's most beloved musicals. Rather than telling one continuous story, the production weaves together songs exploring love, loss, ambition, humor, and resilience. Through heartfelt ballads, comedic numbers, and energetic ensemble performances, the revue reminds audiences that no matter what life throws our way, the world keeps turning.

From London’s Globe Theatre to Kansas City’s Southmoreland Park, Macbeth continues to captivate audiences even in the modern day. A staple of high school English classes, this Shakespearean tragedy is a timeless expression of the dangers of ambition, whose message remains relevant even hundreds of years after its first performances. 

The play begins with three witches and their prophecy: that Macbeth will one day become King of Scotland. Emboldened by their prediction and his wife’s encouragement, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne. As king, Macbeth becomes a violent tyrant, whose unstable reign leads to his own demise. Before seeing the show, I had read the play, but watching it live brought so much more to the story.