Wicked boast excellent production values, and outstanding performances but it’s lacking something… Wicked certainly has a devoted fan base. That was evident from the moment I entered the Music Hall Thursday night to a packed house. This is the second visit of the touring production to Kansas City since it’s first stop last year for a show that still plays on Broadway since opening in 2003.  Easily one of the most diverse, loyal crowds I have encountered at any production this year. Some were sporting apparel...

As we have covered briefly here at Lost in Reviews, The Kansas City Repertory Theater will be the place for the Broadway bound world premiere of A Christmas Story, The Musical! Rehearsals for the production are well underway and daily updates are rolling out on the Reps own and the production’s twitter feed with daily teases of the highly anticipated production. Some behind the scenes videos of the production, billed The Making of a Musical have appeared as the production begins to take shape. First up is The Cave. Following...

This concert was supposed to happen at the beginning of October, but had to be rescheduled due to Hayley Williams of Paramore getting laryngitis.  Paramore played the Uptown with Paper Route and The Swellers as opening bands.  I had never been to the Uptown before so was pleasantly surprised by the gaudy decor inside.  It gave it more of a theatre feel, more so than the Music Hall.  The concert was general admission, so we (my two friends and I) got there about 30 minutes prior to the start time.  We sat in the balcony which...

Halloween Horror Nights has been scaring people for nineteen years now, and as far as I can tell, they have only gotten scarier and better at their job. HHN is located in Universal Studios Orlando and for a few weeks a year, they transform their family-friendly theme park into the ultimate scare fest. This year they went with the story of The Palace Theater where rumors that the films have come to life are rampant and tales of murder are not far behind. To tell this gruesome tale, Universal used the Character of the usher, a...

Lost in Reviews checked out Worlds of Fun’s Halloween Haunt which is now in it’s third year, Saturday night. We really weren’t sure what to  expect from the Haunt. I personally had heard mostly positive things about it from prior years regarding it being pretty scary and a good value, while Ryan was walking in with little previous knowledge of it. The haunt which begins at 7:30PM with the Overlords Awakening continues this Thursday, Friday and Saturday through October 31 and consist of nine ‘extreme haunts’...

She Wants Revenge is the only band I know that can bring together Spiderman, pregnancy tests, and glowing guitars in a dark, sweaty venue.  Sounds crazy you say?  Believe me, it surprised me too.  Add to those some rockin’ dance beats, a dash of alcohol, and an interview with Adam Bravin (see at the end of the review), and you have one hell of a show in an unsuspecting setting. When I got to The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS, I had some doubts about the location for this show.  Being an Eastern Jackson County Missouri...

Lost In Reviews restrained a zombie to share a few thoughts during the Zombieland zombie walk. The walk, which was supposed to have taken place crossing through the Power and Light District, where even the walking undead are denied access for not meeting the stringent dress code; was a cross promotion for the bloody, gory, fun Zombieland, which opened Friday in theaters, and the Kansas City Zombie walk which takes place Saturday October 10. The Kansas City zombie walk of which there were two this year, is open to any one willing...

I arrived early at The Granada for the show and spent my time watching the random crowd of friendly strangers file in. From moms bringing their daughters, to the cool college kids decked out in plaid and headbands, to the yuppies that just got off work, this crowd wasn’t missing any genre, there was even a Slipknot shirt spotted. Overall, the crowd felt relaxed, and unconcerned, that was until the opening band, Red Cortez took to the stage. The four piece is a recently signed group from Los Angeles and was surprisingly...

Be Careful what you wish for, this journey Into the Woods is fantastic The KC Repertory Theater’s season opening night took place last night before a near capacity audience with Steven Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods. Under the superb direction of Broadway director Moises Kaufman and several stand out performances from the cast  the Rep’s production is a fun turned bleak  and dark journey were the worlds of Brothers Grimm fairy tales collide. When a little boy points his father to a book to be told...

The 5th annual Slash and Bash Horror/Sci-Fi Festival will be taking place September 25-27th in Topeka, Kansas at the Holiday Inn Holidome. Legendary actress Adrienne Barbeau will be in attendance all three days to meet fans and introduce her films such as Swamp Thing, Creepshow and Escape From New York. They are showing Midnight Fright Flicks that will be: Phantasm on Friday night and on Saturday it will be Army of Darkness. Godzilla will be making his first appearance at Slash and Bash in the film “Godzilla: King of the...

I write this review with great sadness knowing that, at least for the foreseeable future, I will not be able to enjoy my favorite band live anymore. Nine Inch Nails had their Wave Goodbye tour sweep through the US through out the summer. With the knowledge that this would be the last of the shows, we quickly picked up tickets to the Kansas City and Chicago stops in May. Not long after that, Trent had decided (while he was touring overseas) he didn’t like the way the US tour had ended for him. There was curfew problems and...

As I continue following the Nine Inch Nails Wave Goodbye tour, weekend two brought me to Chicago for two shows. Since Ryan and Angela were also attending this weekend’s shows, I chose a hotel close to theirs since we were sharing a car. They were staying at the Hyatt Regency O’hare, which is where they flew in. I chose the Aloft Hotel a “vision”of W hotels a few blocks away. After weekend one, in New York where I stayed in a run of the mill, cookie cutter like, however clean Holiday Inn, the Aloft was...

Today was officially dubbed “Avatar Day” and James Cameron let AMC IMAX theatres give the first look of Avatar on the big screen in the form of a 15 minute tease into what the film has to offer. Before seeing this, I had heard tons of talk and hype about the film, not seen any trailers for it yet and only glimpsed at the pictures that have come out so far. My initial thoughts were this will be a nerd’s film (which I am), that will make good money because of the Director being James Cameron. After that, my thoughts...

Kansas City has a couple of interesting and free film related events for two highly anticipated holiday releases in the coming week. First is what Fox is hailing as Avatar day. Taking place this Friday at the AMC Barrywoods, Independence and Olathe Imax screens. 14 minutes of footage from the film will be shown in 3D. Fox wants to showcase what the select few that have seen footage from Oscar winning director James Cameron’s film are hailing as ground breaking. …

Great show last night. I have 2 of their albums, but don’t really know all of their songs. My buddy Joe had seen them before and told me that they put on a good show. Hey, for $25 I was willing to check them out! So, after a quick bite at the Flying Saucer Café ($15 for 2 beers and a dog food burger? But, the waitresses were in school girl skirts, heels and thigh high stockings, so it all evens out) we strolled into the Sprint Center. …