By Paul Horsley We may be a tad hidebound in our cultural tastes at times, but here in KC we do a lot of things right and we don’t put on airs about it. Here are some Fall highlights to watch for. AUGUST 20-September 5 Spinning Tree Theatre; West Side Story; This plucky young company […]

By Paul Horsley We selected some of the best KC summer events in music, dance and theater. JUNE Through 14: Metropolitan Ensemble Theatre; The Full Monty; The outrageous comedy concludes the group’s season. 816-569-3226 or metkc.org. Through 14: Moonshine Variety Co.; Mother Freaking Hood; This musical comedy celebrates the joys and challenges of being a […]

By Paul Horsley NOTE: Since having to file my “Top 10” for the year 2014, I heard a concert Saturday (Dec. 6) featuring Park University faculty and students that was without question one of the best chamber-music performances I’ve ever heard. (And I’ve heard a lot.) At the risk of seeming “insider” (full disclosure: I […]

By Paul Horsley The season is upon us! To help you plan your holiday arts schedule in advance, here’s an early list of some of the highlights of the literally hundreds of concerts, theater productions, church programs and other important events happening between now and the end of the year. There’s no better way to […]

By Paul Horsley Kansas City is becoming one of the coolest cities in the U.S., at least from a performing-arts standpoint. Looking for ideas for your busy arts season? Here are some top events, which taken as a whole make you realize you really don’t have to live in New York or Chicago after all: […]

By Paul Horsley The best of the 2013-2014 performing-arts season has been saved for the second half, it seems: the LA Philharmonic, stage works that have garnered Tonys and Pulitzers, a vampire ballet, a rare Stravinsky chamber masterpiece, top-drawer soloists and a Van Cliburn tribute – pretty darned impressive. Here’s our somewhat opinionated selection. February […]

By Paul Horsley Can anything good, to paraphrase scripture, come out of Prairie Village? Many around the world have proclaimed Joyce DiDonato the greatest mezzo-soprano of our time. The peerless world-renowned star, who appears in the Lyric Opera’s The Capulets and the Montagues, is just one standout in a fall arts season that also includes […]

The year 2012 was a golden one for performing arts in Kansas City, part of an incredible flowering that has been going on for more a decade. This is not so much a “best of” list as it is a collection of performances that struck a nerve with me. The Mousetrap (Kansas City Actors Theatre, August 4st through […]

The 2011-2012 performing-arts season is one of the most exciting in Kansas City’s history, thanks partly to the inauguration of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. But the new downtown icon is not the only game in town: In fact its presence seems to have spurred other groups to new heights, in the spirit […]