On Stage

If you've ever thought, “Say, I'd like to support higher education in Kansas while also laughing and having a good time,” you are just the audience member Gridiron is looking for. This Wichita tradition has been putting musical sketch comedy skewering local leaders and the news on stage for longer than any other show of its kind in the United States.

Nothing says spring is on the way like a musical, and Waitress is a musical that is all about growth and change.

Whether you are blissfully wedded or still pitching woo, the Wichita Grand Opera offers a Valentine's Day celebration unlike any other you'll find in the city.

You could be forgiven if you thought Tom Stoppard, at the age of 81, had given up writing for the stage, but you would also be wrong. Leopoldstadt is his latest and is set in 1900 Vienna, the Jewish quarter, and follows the fortunes of a successful Jewish family who have escaped the pogroms.

When words are not enough, we turn to music to express our deepest, most complicated feelings. Bandstand , an original musical composed by Richard Oberacker, with lyrics and book by Oberacker with Robert Taylor, is just such a musical. Set in post-World War II New York City, the plot revolves around Private First Class Donny Novitski as he tries to fit in and rebuild his life after the war. Donny is a singer and songwriter, and when he hears the news about a national competition to find the next big thing in music, he gathers his fellow veterans to form a band of musicians that will outshine them all, and win them the prize of performing their song onstage in Hollywood. Bandstand was the first musical that achieved 6 Certified, a designation awarded by the veterans group Got Your 6. In 2015, Oberacker and Taylor sought feedback from Got Your 6 in order to provide an accurate picture of the veterans and the issues they faced, including post-traumatic stress and survivor guilt, and, most

Tickets are going very fast for A Very Crown Christmas , onstage at The Crown Uptown. For the price of admission, audience members will select a buffet dinner, then see a musical revue that features the talents of several of our city's favorite performers. Join Madi White, Cindy Summers, Jenny Mitchell, Kyle Vespestad, Ryan Schafer, and John Bates, under the direction of Patty Reeder, in an evening of comedy, music, and fun. A Very Crown Christmas runs through December 28. For me, Charles Dickens will always have a permanent place of honor in the holiday season. His novella “A Christmas Carol” was written primarily in reaction to the conditions of extreme poverty in Victorian England, which he both experienced and observed, and the story is credited with popularizing many of the traditions we enjoy today. This well loved holiday tale of redemption receives a musical treatment from The Forum Theatre, with music by Paul Jackson, book by Conrad Jestmore, and starring Shaun Michael-Morse

As we round the corner of Thanksgiving and head straight into the holiday season, you may be wondering how you're going to manage the sudden influx of calories, but fear not! Studies have shown that an hour of hearty laughter burns around 100 calories—that's about the same as vacuuming for 45 minutes or lifting weights for half an hour. So go ahead and indulge a little, then treat yourself to some comedy. You won't have to look far to find it; laughter is in great supply onstage this season. If you love audience participation, don't miss the Tom Frye-penned melodrama about firefighters, Is Jack Frost Nipping at Your Hose? or Christmas at the Firehouse at Mosley Street Melodrama. This show plays Wednesdays through Sundays, now through December 28; it is rated PG13 for innuendo. If satire is more your flavor, check out A Tuna Christmas , onstage at Roxy's Downtown. This two-man cast plays more than 20 characters in this show about a small Southern town's annual Christmas Yard Display

Fans of science fiction and humor will be pleased to know the Orpheum Theatre is host to Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live: The Great Cheesy Movie Circus Tour . Based on the Peabody Award-winning television hit, the show features original host and creator of the show, Joel Hodgson, as well as trash-talking robots Crow, Gypsy, and Tom Servo, as they joke their way through the cheesiest movies the universe has ever seen. This farewell tour includes songs and sketches for a full evening of entertainment, and might be just the event you want to share with any incoming relatives for the holidays. It's onstage at the Orpheum on November 19th. If you're looking for an all-ages event to kick off your holiday season, the Orpheum has you covered there too with Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker . It's an extravaganza for the eyes, with more than 200 elaborate costumes, fanciful sets, and even high-flying birds and puppets that bring to dazzling life this old, familiar tale that marks the

Wichita State University's Opera Theater is teaming up with the university’s Wind Ensemble for the semi-stage premiere of The Path to Heaven . This one-act opera follows the changing fortunes of a family fighting to make it through the Holocaust. You can see it at Miller Concert Hall on November 15th and November 17th. The holiday season looms, but the Orpheum Theatre has it figured out for you. Kick off Thanksgiving with a dose of improvisational comedy as Whose Live Anyway? takes over the house on November 22nd. This all-ages show features cast members currently performing on the Emmy-nominated television show, “Whose Line Is It, Anyway?” an improv-comedy series that originated in Britain. The present cast includes Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis, Joel Murray, and Dave Foley, who is probably best known for his work on the Canadian comedy series “The Kids in the Hall,” and the sitcom “News Radio.” Whose Live Anyway? is a 90-minute show that uses music, suggestions from the audience, and

From Wichita State University comes the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes , directed by guest artist Bradley Allan Zarr. The idea for a musical set on board an ocean liner came from producer Vinton Freedley. Freedley had left the U.S. to avoid creditors, and at the time, was living on a boat. He asked P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton to write the book, and he wanted Ethel Merman to star in it. There are four versions of the libretto—the original 1934 version, the off-Broadway revival libretto of 1962, the 1987 revival libretto, and the 2011 revival libretto. The book was also revised extensively by the writing team of Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse. The musical gave us such classic tunes as “I Get a Kick Out of You,” “You're the Top,” and of course, “Anything Goes,” and has become a beloved standard in musical theatre. Anything Goes made its Broadway debut at the Alvin Theatre—now the Neil Simon Theatre—in 1934, and it ran for 420 performances. It was directed by Howard Lindsay. The

The Wichita Grand Opera is open for single tickets beginning October 1 st . Their 2019-2020 season includes All is Calm, The Christmas Truce of 1914 ; a Valentine-themed Big Band night; Don Giovanni; and Candide .

Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the score for Cats in 1977, setting to music the poems from T.S. Eliot's “Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats,” published in 1939. Cats began life in 1980 as Practical Cats , a song cycle, which is a set of individual songs that are meant to be performed in a particular order as part of a whole, each one contributing to the central theme. Producer Cameron Mackintosh called in choreographer Gillian Lynne and director Trevor Nunn to help bring Lloyd Webber's cycle into a full-fledged musical. It was a mighty struggle. Perhaps the most famous song from the show, “Memory,” did not have lyrics until previews had already begun. Nunn finally wrote the lyrics, basing them on the Eliot poem, “Rhapsody on a Windy Night.” It was also left to Nunn to cobble together a story that united the separate pieces. Cats debuted in the West End at the New London Theatre in 1981, and in 1982, the show made its way to Broadway. Andrew Lloyd Webber literally bet the house on his

WSU hits the ground running with Second Stage Theatre's production of Love Me or Leave Me , the 2019 winner of the Wichita State University Playwriting Contest. The competition was founded by Dr. Bela Kiralyfalvi in 1974, when he was a professor of theatre at the university. Dr. Kiralyfalvi taught acting, playwriting, and script analysis, and developed a class on improvisation, as well. He also served as the Director of the School of Performing Arts until 2003. Winners of the contest have their scripts workshopped and then produced by the WSU School of Performing Arts. Scripts may further be submitted to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival for playwriting awards. Love Me or Leave Me presents a marriage in trouble: a couple contemplating divorce are given different perspectives by a pair of employees from the organization “Relationships Incorporated.” A trip down Memory Lane through the couple's shared past provides new insights for each of them. Love Me or Leave Me is

The Kechi Playhouse is putting Living on Love onstage Fridays through Sundays from September 6 to the 29 th . This two-act farce from Joe DiPietro is actually a re-working of the play Peccadillo , by Garson Kanin.

Music Theatre Wichita is closing out its season with the much-anticipated production of I n the Heights , the award-winning musical with lyrics and score by Lin-Manuel Miranda and book by Quiara Alegria Hudes.

Over time, the jukebox musical has gathered strength in its ability to entertain through nostalgia and solid scores of pop hits.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, who won for Ruined in 2007 and Sweat in 2017, is the 2020 honoree for the Distinguished Achievement in American Theater Award, presented annually by the William Inge Theater Festival in Independence, Kansas.

In July of 1975, a musical unlike any Broadway had seen before made its debut at the Shubert Theatre: A Chorus Line , directed by Michael Bennett, who also was co-choreographer for the show with Bob Avian. The musical is based on interviews with actual Broadway dancers, and uses their personal stories to introduce each character during an audition process.

Just in time for Riverfest is Mosley Street Melodrama's production of Gone with the Windwagon , an original script by local writer Carol Hughes that follows the tides of changing fortune for one Miss Annie Bellum. Her challenges include finding a way to deal with her dwindling finances without actually working at anything; preparing for the arrival of the legendary Windwagon Smith; and avoiding the attentions of Mr. Frank Lee Scarlet. Audience participation paired with a lighthearted look at our city's quirks and traditions make for plenty of laughs. Gone with the Windwagon is onstage at Mosley Street Melodrama through July 13 th . Meanwhile, at Prairie Pines dinner theatre in Maize, there is the murder mystery Mayhem on the Midway . This lively script was co-written by Wichita's own Scott Noah and Christi Moore, who have worked together for 30 years. Moore directs and Noah stars in three separate roles in this production. You can see Mayhem on the Midway at Prairie Pines through July

Riverfest is upon us: nine straight days of fun in our river city, from May 31 to June 8, with events designed to appeal to a variety of tastes.