… in music, theater, and dance 

JANUARY-FEBRUARY

January 29-February 23: Coterie Theatre; Just Ask!; The best-selling book by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, which Fran Sillau and Mark Kurtz have adapted into a musical, tells of a group of young people with differing abilities who wonder if they’ll ever be accepted into society; with What If Puppets; Coterie Theatre at Crown Center. Contact: 816-474-6552 or thecoterie.org. 

February 15: Bach Aria Soloists; The Adventures of Don Quixote; Jerry Mañan is narrator/Don Quixote and Justin Barron is Sancho Panza in the reprise of a hugely successful collaboration, with music inspired by Cervantes’ classic; Zhou B Art Center, 18th & Vine Jazz District. Contact: bachariasoloists.com. 

February 22-23: Te Deum; Palestrina: Honoring the 500th Birthday of the Renaissance Master; Kansas City’s newest world-class choir highlights the contributions of the master of 16th-century sacred music; Visitation Church (February 22nd) and Grace Episcopal Cathedral (February 23rd). Contact: te-deum.org. 

February 23: Midwest Trust Center; Imani Winds and Boston Brass; Two of America’s most engaging and diverse chamber ensembles join for a wide-ranging program of music by J.S. Bach, Khachaturian, Paquito D’Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, and others; Midwest Trust Center. Contact: 913-469-4445 or jccc.edu/midwest-trust-center.

MARCH

March 1: International Center for Music at Park University; Stanislav & Friends: Echoes of Spain; The stars come out for the ICM’s sixth annual signature event, this year with a program highlighting the repertoire of the Iberian Peninsula: music of Liszt, Falla, Albéniz, and Ravel; Helzberg Hall. Contact: icm.park.edu. 

March 6-23: Kansas City Actors Theatre; Doubt; John Patrick Shanley’s white-hot play, even more elusive on the stage than on the screen, won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; it stars Kathleen Warfel and KCAT company members Matt Schwader, Christina Schafer, and Teisha M. Bankston; Kansas City United Church of Christ. Contact: kcactors.org. 

March 7: Harriman-Jewell Series; Leonidas Kavakos and Daniil Trifonov in Duo Recital; You will rarely experience anything like this in your life, as two of the most blistering virtuosos of our time, a violinist and a pianist, team up for a sort of unearthly dream team, featuring music of Beethoven, Brahms, Bartók, and Poulenc; Folly Theater. Contact: 816-415-5025 or hjseries.org. 

March 7-9: Lyric Opera of Kansas City; Cruzar la Cara de la Luna; The company takes a giant leap with its first “mariachi opera,” by José “Pepe” Martínez and Leonard Foglia: a story of immigration and endurance that uses a combination of mariachi and traditional operatic styles and features the Grammy Award-winning Mariachi Los Camperos; Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Contact: 816-471-7344 or kcopera.org. 

March 8-9: newEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble; Matthias and Friends; Kansas City’s favorite new-music ensemble brings us music by the Kansas City Symphony’s new music director, Matthias Pintscher: who as it happens is also a world-famous composer; All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church. Contact: newear.org. 

March 10: Kauffman Center Presents; Pink Martini featuring China Forbes: 30th Anniversary Tour; One of the world’s most unusual chamber orchestras, which teams up with singer-songwriter China Forbes, plays jazz, pop, and international styles as diverse as the musicians themselves; Muriel Kauffman Theatre. Contact: 816-994-7222 or kauffmancenter.org.

March 14-16: Owen/Cox Dance Group; Collective: Our Stories of Cancer; Owen/Cox partners with Gilda’s Club Kansas City, the poet Frances Story, and composer Stacy Busch on this evening of music, dance and spoken word, inspired by stories of pain, perseverance, and hope; H&R Block City Stage at Union Station Kansas City. Contact: owencoxdance.org. 

March 15: Folly Jazz Series; An Evening with Branford Marsalis; The three-time Grammy Award winner has become one of the most significant and influential artists in contemporary music, celebrated for his range of styles; Folly Theater. Contact: 816-474-4444 or follytheater.org/jazz. 

March 18-23: Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre; An Alabama Story; Kenneth Jones’ semi-serious play is set in 1959 Montgomery, where a controversial children’s book — in which a white rabbit marries a Black rabbit — stirs passionate outcry; venue TBA. Contact: metkc.org. 

March 21-23: Heartland Men’s Chorus; Y’all Means All; With folks like Dolly, Kacey Musgraves, and the Brothers Osborne on the scene, Country is more accepting than it used to be; Heartland and director Shawn Cullen pay homage to cowboy boots, tight jeans, and the best of Country music; Folly Theater. Contact: hmckc.org.

APRIL

April 1-6: PNC Broadway in Kansas City; Back to the Future: The Musical; The creators of the exuberant film franchise (producer Bob Gale, director Robert Zemeckis, composer Alan Silvestri) contributed to this project; Municipal Auditorium Music Hall. Contact: americantheatreguild.com/kansascity. 

April 4-6: Spire Chamber Ensemble; Mozart Requiem & Marianna Martines Dixit Dominus; Mozart’s barnburner is paired with a piece by one of the few women composers working in Vienna during the time of Mozart and Haydn; Country Club Christian Church (April 5th); locations TBA for April 4th and 6th; Contact: spirechamberensemble.org. 

April 5: Kansas City Jazz Orchestra; Level Up! This program of catchy tunes from video games reveals the extent to which jazz and big band have influenced the growing number of composers for this technology; Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Contact: kcjo.org. 

April 6: William Baker Festival Singers; Bach’s B-minor Mass; Soloists and chamber orchestra join Baker’s 50-voice choir for this Baroque-era milestone, one of the most powerful moments in music history; Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral. Contact: festivalsingers.org 

April 15-19: Spinning Tree Theatre; First Generation; Playwright Victor Wishna created this new play especially for Spinning Tree; it is produced in partnership with Jewish Vocational Service of Kansas City; Johnson County Arts & Heritage Center. Contact: spinningtreetheatre.com. 

April 25-26: Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey; Ailey II; Under Francesca Harper’s inventive leadership, this band of young dancers has grown into one of the most vital companies in America; Folly Theater. Contact: kcfaa.org. 

April 26-27: White Theatre at the J; Golda’s Balcony; Iris Bahr appears in William Gibson’s one-woman adaptation of his 1977 play, Golda, about the life and political career of Golda Meir, one of the first female world leaders; Jewish Community Center. Contact: 913-327-8054 or thejkc.org/white-theatre. 

MAY

May 1: Kansas City Chamber Orchestra; Spring Concert; The program includes the original 13-instrument chamber version of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring; Bruce Sorrell conducts; venue TBA. Contact: kcchamberorchestra.org. 

May 1-10: KC MeltingPot Theatre; Family Sideshow; Brysen Boyd’s morose comedy, directed here by Nicole Hodges Persley, presents a dysfunctional carnival family as it deals with adversity, addiction, and deeply hidden secrets; Just Off Broadway Theatre. Contact: kcmeltingpot.com. 

May 6-25: Kansas City Repertory Theatre; Emma; Kate Hamill’s iconoclastic adaptation of Jane Austen’s drags the novelist’s tale of matchmaking, friendship, and love kicking and screaming into the 21st century; Spencer Theatre. Contact: 816-235-2700 or kcrep.org. 

May 7-11: NAVO Arts; Season Finale Fest with Maria Ioudenitch; The three-program series featuring the award-winning violinist includes a recital with her father, pianist Stanislav Ioudenitch, a chamber program, and a NAVO Chamber Orchestra concert featuring Maria as soloist in Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto; 1900 Building (May 7th and 9th) and Folly Theater (May 11th). Contact: navoarts.com. 

May 8-18: Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City; Thoughts of a Colored Man; Keenan Scott II’s brilliant play features seven men who are identified by the traits they embody: Lust, Love, Anger, Passion, Wisdom, Depression, and Happiness; The Arts Asylum. Contact: brtkc.org. 

May 9: Friends of Chamber Music; Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, piano; The Friends commemorate Maurice Ravel’s 150th birthday in style, with a recital of the composer’s complete works for piano by one of France’s most prominent artists; Folly Theater. Contact: 816-766-1096 or chambermusic.org. 

May 9-18: Kansas City Ballet; Fusion; The annual mixed-repertoire show, always an adventure, includes works by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, William Forsythe, and Lila York, and a world premiere, hold on tight, by Caroline Dahm; Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Contact: 816-931-8993 or kcballet.org. 

May 10: Opus 76 Quartet; Classical Masterworks with David Kim; The concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra joins Kansas City’s premier string quartet for a program of Bach, Brahms, and Tchaikovsky’s roller coaster of a string sextet, Souvenir de Florence; Midwest Trust Center. Contact: opus76.org.  

May 14-June 8: Unicorn Theatre; Fat Ham; The new play by Pulitzer Prize-winning James Ijames, about a gay Black man who is visited by his father’s ghost, is directed by Kansas City’s own Tosin Morohunfola; Unicorn Theatre. Contact: 816-531-7529 or unicorntheatre.org. 

May 15-19: Kansas City Public Theatre; for … girls; In this play-within-a-play by Darren Canady, a misguided director determines to put on an all-white production of Ntozake Shange’s 1976 play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf; Charlotte Street Foundation. Contact: kcpublictheatre.org. 

May 16: Kansas City Chorale; Christopher Tin’s The Lost Birds; The season finale pays tribute to birds that have become extinct, with avian-themed works by Christopher Tin (Lost Birds), Charles Villiers Stanford (The Blue Bird), and Jean Belmont Ford (Murmuration); Village Presbyterian Church. Contact: kcchorale.org.

May 16-17: Kansas City Women’s Chorus; Wild and Tamed Voices: A Choral Tribute to All Creatures; Animals and humans have been inseparable since any of us can remember, and this Kansas City choir, under the direction of Hilary Morton, pays tribute to this meaningful coexistence; The Gem Theatre. Contact: kcwomenschorus.org. 

May 20-25: Starlight Theatre; Mean Girls; The award-winning team of Tina Fey, Jeff Richmond, and Nell Benjamin collaborated on this musical version of the 2004 hit movie, which is just as loopy as the film; Starlight Theatre. Contact: 816-363-7827 or kcstarlight.com. 

May 30-June 1: Kansas City Symphony; Mahler’s Third Symphony; Matthias Pintscher conducts this 100-minute symphony for huge orchestra, choir, children’s chorus, contralto (Jasmin White), and one heck of a principal trombonist — arguably the most emotionally engaging symphony since Beethoven’s Ninth; Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Contact: 816-471-0400 or kcsymphony.org.

Featured in the January 11, 2025 issue of The Independent