The Hills Are Alive . . .
. . . with The Sound of Music, from November 4 through November 12 when this popular musical delights Lyric Opera audiences at Kauffman Center.
With a big production and live music, the hills really will come alive, telling the story we all know and love. Captain George von Trapp, a widower with seven children, needs a governess. His children have made short work of the previous nannies. Enter Maria, a novice in a nearby convent who brings her guitar and her love of music. She charms the children, then their brusque father, all when Hitler has invaded Austria during World War II.
Edward Watts, who recently played the lecherous professor in this summer’s Legally Blonde at Starlight, returns to Kansas City as Captain von Trapp. Soprano Mikaela Bennett plays the spirited Maria. Alexandra Loutsion, whose powerful voice wowed as Brünnhilde in Wagner’s opera Siegfried, will send chills down your spine when the Abbess sings Climb Every Mountain.
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An Evening with the Late John Cleese
No, John Cleese is not really late, in the sense of no longer living. But the British funnyman, actor, producer, and writer is long overdue to perform again in Kansas City with his acerbic humor as a person who does not suffer fools gladly. In a long and varied career, he has appeared in several TV series, films including A Fish Called Wanda and the Harry Potter and James Bond series; he has also cowritten two books on family dynamics.
On November 9, Cleese takes the stage at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts with a stop on the world tour of this show that sometimes includes film clips of Fawlty Towers and The Holy Grail, sometimes not. Likewise with a Q & A afterwards—maybe, maybe not.
So, go, expecting a little bit of the unexpected. It’s a free-flowing evening of funny bits and life stories by this intelligent, sometimes politically scathing raconteur and comedic icon. The man is 83, so he is allowed to relive his childhood, young adulthood, the Monty Python years, all that alimony he has had to pay, and the loss of his longtime friend and cowriter/Python Graham Chapman.
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Mark Morris Dance Group and The Look of Love
On November 17, the Mark Morris Dance Group performs The Look of Love as part of the Harriman-Jewell Series at Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. The Brooklyn-based contemporary dance group was founded in 1980 by choreographer Mark Morris, who has created over 150 works and was named a fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1991, among his many honors.
Inspired by the musicality of the late Burt Bacharach, who was born in Kansas City, The Look of Love features original choreography by Morris and new musical arrangements by Ethan Iverson. The two channel Bacharach’s chart-topping songs, with poignant and unsentimental lyrics by Hal David, that helped make Herb Alpert (This Guy’s in Love with You), Dionne Warwick (That’s What Friends Are For), and B. J. Thomas (Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head) famous. Bacharach’s music combined jazz, pop, and Brazilian beats.
An ensemble of piano, trumpet, bass, and drums accompanies actress, singer, and Broadway star Marcy Harriell, the lead vocalist.
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Make Your Own Glass Ornament
If you’ve always seen, admired, and perhaps collected those beautiful colored glass orbs for your holiday tree or winter window, now you can take a class and make your own.
On Saturday, November 25, in 2½-hour sessions that begin at 9 a.m. through 5:30 p.m., you can try blowing glass into your own keepsake at Belger Arts. You don’t need any experience, but you do need a reservation at $75 per person. Children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
Professional glass blowers will guide you through the process of adding color and shaping molten glass. Of course, your finished piece will need to cool down—way down—before you can take it home. Come back to pick up your finished ornament at Belger Crane Yard Gallery on November 30.