Culture News Blog

Martin City Jr., the children's theater arm of the venerable Martin City Melodrama, aims to make learning fun with its new musical entry, "Harriet Hopperdoodle's Hair-Brained History Test!"

Written by director Jeanne Beechwood and Jon Copeland, with original tunes by Copeland, the satiric comedy tells the story of the ornery titular character (Beechwood). The only thing about school she likes is recess.

As she reluctantly studies for her test, Harriet musically laments, "I'd rather get an incision, or watch cartoons on television." She then falls asleep and dreams of encounters with some of the people she's studying, including Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, Madame Curie and the Wright Brothers (all played by Copeland).

The lively, fast-paced musical gives youngsters a tongue-in-cheek look at these famed individuals, and Beechwood and Copeland seem to be having a ball.

Goofy and irreverent, "Harriet" shows kids that learning can be fun.

"Harriet Hopperdoodle's Hair-brained History Test" runs through Nov. 20 at the Martin City at Metcalf Theatre, 9601 Metcalf Ave., Overland Park. For information, call 642-7576.

There's been a grisly murder committed on a Kansas City bound train called The Blue Goose on Oct. 31, 1914. There are several suspects. Whodunit?

The riddle is yours to solve in the interactive production "Who's In First?" a dinner theater experience in Kansas City's Union Station, written and directed by Wendy Thompson.

Torrie Heathcoat is Polly Pullman, sweet young lass who was raised on the train by the conductor, Thaddeus Cornstall (Curtis Smith). A fast-talking entrepreneur named Ellis T. Croom (Toby Crawford) is annoying the passengers with his fund-raising efforts. When one of the passengers is killed, a novice sheriff, Eliot King (Crawford), tries to unravel the mystery.

All of the suspects are loony (Thaddeus often speaks through a rabbit hand puppet) or inept (Eliot got his lawman's degree from a correspondence school).

As in previous productions, volunteer audience members play additional characters. While enjoying a meal in the "dining car," passengers are given packets of clues from which they are to discern the identity of the killer.

At the end of the evening's production, a champion "sleuth" is selected from among the audience members who correctly names the culprit.

So, all you wannabe detectives should take your appetite and your thinking cap on board the Mystery Train.

"Who's in First?" runs through Nov. 19 at Union Café in Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City, Mo. For information, call (816) 813-9654.

The latest pop culture satire from the gender-bending folks at Late Night Theatre pushes the envelope and then mails it to Mars.

"Supermodels in Space" was written and directed by David Wayne Reed and Jon Piggy Cupit. It's a bawdy send-up that plays like a collision of "Star Trek" and "Fashion Week."

In the distant future, the crew of the SS Ubermodel goes on a mission to promote fashion and beauty in the galaxy. The four-lady crew (Cupit, Chadwick Brooks, Johnny Bowles and Justin Van Pelt) encounters resistance to their efforts.

A villainous space queen named Ikahana (Jessalyn Kincaid) plans to spread flesh-eating bacteria that will make all other women ugly, ensuring that she will be the fairest of them all. Her underlings (Shannon Michalski and Darryl W. Jones) aid her in her dastardly plan, while she toys with the affection of a handsome spaceman (Cory James Dowman).

As usual, there are a few musical numbers thrown into the zany mix, including songs from the B-52s, Madonna, and a rousing version of Elton John's "Rocket Man" by Dowman and Cupit.

The sets, costumes and video sequences achieve an admirably high level of camp that celebrate their "fabulousness."

"Supermodels in Space" is a genial, adults-only trek into territory where no man has gone before.

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