KC Strings' Anton Krutz interview on KCUR

Anton Krutz worked in prestigious shops around the country before he opened his own here in Merriam over twenty years ago. KC Strings is now is the only American shop making professional level violins, violas, cellos and basses. Krutz sat down with KCUR's Tim Bridgham to talk about the art of making a metal string and a wooden box into an instrument. 

more at KCUR

Preview of the 2010 Broadway season

It seems producers are picking them younger and younger these days. Whether they're seasoned enough to hit the Broadway stage does not seem to be a consideration. It's youth. Youth reigns supreme. If you weren't born in the 1980s, you're old news, past your prime.

more at Playbill

Ward Holmquist's talent search in New York

It’s a sunny morning in midtown Manhattan, and another singer has just filled Studio A of the Nola Rehearsal Studios with a powerful operatic voice. As she and her manager leave the windowed and mirrored room high above 54th Street, Ward Holmquist, artistic director of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, says quietly, “That’s a lovely sound, but there’s no color.” Holmquist and Evan Luskin, the Lyric’s executive director, are spending three days here to audition singers for future seasons.

more at kansascity.com

Folly director Doug Tatum interview by Robert Trussell

Doug Tatum used to think of the Folly Theater as a sort of outpost on the edge of downtown Kansas City. It was a brave little playhouse, at 12th and Central streets, standing watch over an unrevitalized part of the city in the waning years of the 20th century. Directly west of the historic venue was a parking lot. Beyond that, along Broadway, was another huge field of asphalt.

more at kansascity.com

Gladstone Theatre in the Park seeking directors

Gladstone Theatre in the Park is now accepting applications for director positions for their 2010 summer musical productions of Annie Get Your Gun, July 9-11, and South Pacific, August 6-8.

Director interviews to be conducted Saturday, January 30. Please submit your resume by January 20. Interested candidates should submit their resume to:

email to gladstonetip@sbcglobal.net (preferred)

or

City of Gladstone Parks and Rec Dept
Attn: GTIP, Michelle Coon
7010 N. Holmes
Gladstone MO 64118

Director job description available on their website http://www.gladstonetip.com

Five local music acts to watch in 2010

Here are five local music acts — some young, some not, but all prodigiously talented — to watch in 2010.

more at The Pitch

January 2010 issue is online

The January 2010 issue is online for subscribers to KC Stage.

• Spotlight on Carole Ries by Angie Fiedler
• Robert Altman: The Oral Biography by Deborah Ground Buckner
• 2009: The Year in Review by Bryan Colley
• Inspiration Grants
  
• NEA Grants for 2010
  
• Film Clips by Larry Levenson
• Showbiz

"Holiday Entertainment" by Bryan Colley

from the December 2009 issue of KC Stage

My favorite season is the holiday season, and here it is again with all its grand traditions: cutting down a beautiful tree to cover it with plastic lights and watch it wilt, emptying the bank account in a futile effort to thrill once-a-year relatives, and baking with ginger. There’s one tradition, however, that can’t be beat, and that’s bundling up and heading down to the Kansas City Repertory Theatre to see the venerable and never-changing holiday show, A Christmas Carol.