Playhouse Celebrates 25 Seasons By Revisiting Its First Production

Quality Hill Playhouse launches its Silver Anniversary Season by revisiting the show that established the intimate downtown theatre company’s cabaret revue-format and its place as Kansas City’s original home for the American Songbook: THE MELODY LINGERS ON.

 

Intimate, original, funny, and exciting, THE MELODY LINGERS ON is a cabaret revue celebrating Irving Berlin, considered by many to be the father of the American Songbook. His career spanned six decades and touched every aspect of popular song, including standards (“Always”, “Blue Skies”, “How Deep Is The Ocean”), comic novelty songs, Broadway (“There’s No Business Like Show Business” and others from ANNIE GET YOUR GUN), Hollywood (“Cheek To Cheek”, “Puttin’ On The Ritz”), and patriotic songs including “God Bless America”. These songs and more from the company’s inaugural production are given a fresh look, including contemporary vocal jazz arrangements of standards, as well as Berlin’s signature songs that led Jerome Kern to say, “Irving Berlin has no place in American music; he IS American music.”

 

Tim Noland, a cast member of the original 1995 production, returns to the Playhouse for this new incarnation of the Berlin revue. Noland has become a favorite of Playhouse audiences, having appeared in a number of productions the past few seasons. He is joined by Sarah LaBarr, a locally-based soprano who also has appeared in at least one show each season the past few years, and Molliann McCulley, a young singer-actor who made her Playhouse debut earlier this year. J. Kent Barnhart, QHP’s Founder and Producing Artistic Director, arranged and directed the production; he also performs in the show as pianist, vocalist, and emcee.

 

THE MELODY LINGERS ON runs through November 3 at Quality Hill Playhouse, 303 W. 10th Street, Kansas City, Mo. Single tickets are $42, with discounts for students, seniors, and groups. For tickets, call 816-421-1700. Visit www.QualityHillPlayhouse.com for more information or to purchase tickets online. Season tickets for all six shows in the company’s Silver Anniversary Season are available for $216.

 

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