Organ trios are often dismissed as disreputable offshoots of proper jazz that belong in smoky taverns rather than in respectable concert halls. The artistically astute performance by the James Carter Organ Trio at the Folly Theater on Friday discredited that assumption.
At times in “Blacktop Sky,” which had its world premiere at the Unicorn Theatre, Christina Anderson’s writing is vivid and compelling. Sometimes the fragmentary narrative makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t. But Anderson deserves props for her willingness to write a play in the style of a free-verse poet.
Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” is rightly considered a classic, but it has been criticized roundly through the years. The Kansas City Repertory Theatre produced the show once in the ’90s and now is tackling it again. Artistic director Eric Rosen is staging it for the first time. He considers it a great American play that has been on his bucket list a long time.
In a high-tech world, designers use models to test airplanes, buildings and hundreds of other products for endurance and safety. Unhindered by such practical considerations, Kansas City artist Anthony Baab makes models — and images of what he calls moments of their life — to test the limits of the imagination.
The Kansas City Symphony this season has been featuring music inspired by the visual arts. Next weekend the orchestra will perform a 20th-century classic based on Italian Renaissance art and the world premiere of a work the Symphony commissioned inspired by art contained in the Nelson-Atkins Museum.
“The Way of the Dog,” 72-year-old Sam Savage's fourth novel, is a deeply felt meditation on the ability to find peace as we age and how our existential dread can be turned into something sublime and meaningful.
With coming “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” films reportedly to be made by a director under the same Bad Robot Productions roof, J.J. Abrams is going, yes, where no director has gone before.
“Parker” roars into a dull January and enlivens the movie landscape, and thank the action-movie gods because we needed a little something to wake us from our winter slumber.
At the sumptuous Beecham House for elderly musicians, each room comes alive with the sounds of singing, brass, woodwinds, strings and petty bickering.
Its name may seem ludicrous, but the band Trampled by Turtles can evoke the sound of a stampede. The five-piece acoustic band hails from Duluth, Minn., yet its sound is drawn from Appalachia country blues and bluegrass. Unlike the critter in its name, however, there is rarely anything shy or slow-moving about the results.
World premieres aren’t so unusual at the Unicorn Theatre, but “BlackTop Sky,” runs through Feb. 10 on the Jerome Stage, is in a special category. The extended one-act is by Christina Anderson, a native of Kansas City, Kan., who began to write plays in her teens and never stopped.
If longevity is a function of consistency and change, then there’s little mystery about why Sweet Honey in the Rock, which performs Wednesday at the Kauffman Center, is about to celebrate its 40th anniversary. The African-American, all-women a cappella group has engaged in a variety of projects that involve more than just keen vocal prowess.
James Carter, the saxophonic whiz who brings his organ trio to the Folly Theater on Friday, has a long memory. And the whole history of the saxophone comes out in the roars and whispers of Carter’s playing.
Walking into Laura De Angelis’ exhibit “Pearl Diving,” on display through Feb. 23 at Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, is akin to entering a magical kingdom gone askew. Hyper-realistic ceramic sculptures of wild animals, all sprinkled with pearls, exude an almost palpable life force.
“Billy Elliot the Musical,” which opened Tuesday at the Music Hall, did what it had to do to earn a standing ovation: It softened us up with easy laughs, tugged at our heartstrings with sentimentality, pumped us full of high-octane arrangements of generally forgettable Elton John melodies and dazzled us with some exceptional choreography.
If the creators of ABC’s “The Middle” have their way, poor Sue Heck’s teeth will never be fixed. Actress Eden Sher wore a set of removable braces to her audition to play the daughter on the ABC comedy, helping her win the job. She hasn’t taken them off since, at least on camera. They’re the signature of the geeky, lovable loser that is high school soph Sue Heck.
Callie Thorne has often found herself just one of the boys. On “Homicide: Life on the Streets,” she held her own with a crew of cops. On “Rescue Me,” she was the gutsy paramour among a crew of macho firemen. Now on USA’s “Necessary Roughness,” she plays the psychotherapist to a pro football team who clearly calls the plays. But Thorne admits it’s all an act.
Bloc Party is accustomed to playing for massive crowds on outdoor stages in Europe and Asia. The British band crammed its gear into Lawrence’s Liberty Hall on Sunday. In spite of the venue’s relatively intimate size, the venue wasn’t nearly full. If the members of the band were disappointed by the sparse turnout, they didn’t let it show.
In the eight years since Keane’s last trip to Kansas City, the four-piece from East Sussex, England, hasn’t strayed much from its songwriting formula: tight 3- to 4-minute pop ballads about love and growing up. It’s a blueprint that has helped the band sell more than 10 million albums worldwide.
The first evening of the fourth edition of the Jazz Winterlude festival offered a breathtaking glimpse of the music of the future and two satisfying re-creations of the music of the past. A performance by the innovative duo of Julian Lage and Jorge Roeder at Yardley Hall was bookended by bands led by David Basse and Deborah Brown.
