Arts notes

Puppets to take stage in ‘101 Dalmatians’

Kansas City, Mo. — Coterie Theatre, a Kansas City youth and family theater, will present “The Hundred and One Dalmatians” Tuesday through Aug. 3.

The play, based on the beloved children’s novel (which inspired the classic Disney film) will feature life-sized Dalmatian puppets created for the play by Paul Mesner Puppets.

Some animal characters also will be played by actors performing a Japanese style of puppetry inspired by Bunraku, in which both actor and puppet move together. Each production will use more than 100 puppets.

The show is aimed at adults, teens and children older than 4. Tickets are $6-$8, and the theater is on level one of the new Crown Center shops. For tickets or more information, call (816) 474-6552.

Antique dealers converge for Crown Center festival

Kansas City, Mo. — The third annual Crown Center Antique Festival will be held June 21-22 at 2450 Grand Blvd.

Antiques dealers from across the Midwest will be on hand, with more than 300 booths of hard-to-find items, furniture, jewelry, toys, glassware and more. Certified appraisers also will give free verbal appraisals between noon and 4 p.m. Sunday.

The festival will run 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. For more information, call (816) 274-8444 or visit www.crowncenter.com.

Missouri Rep to stage ‘2 Pianos, 4 Hands’

Kansas City, Mo. — Missouri Repertory Theatre will close its 2002-2003 season with “2 Pianos, 4 Hands.” The show opened Friday and continues through June 29 at the Spencer Theatre, UMKC Performing Arts Center, 4949 Cherry St.

The show includes a variety of piano music, featuring everyone from Bach to Billy Joel.

First performed in 1996, the show is a semi-autobiographical comedy about writers/pianists Ted Dykstra and Richard Greenblatt pursuing their love of piano. The Kansas City performance stars Mark Anders and Carl J. Danielsen and is directed by Bruce K. Sevy.

Tickets are available by calling (816) 235-2700. Tickets are $10-$47, with senior, student and group discounts available.

Washburn University to stage ‘Lobby Hero’

Topeka — The expectations of ethical behavior and the course of human nature create humorous situations in the comic drama “Lobby Hero,” which opens Friday at the Andrew J. and Georgia Neese Gray Theatre on the Washburn University campus.

Performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday, June 21, 27 and 28. A 2 p.m. matinee will be June 29.

Written by Kenneth Lonergan, “Lobby Hero” is a comic drama fashioned as a modern morality tale. Set in a New York City high-rise apartment lobby, the story focuses on a hapless young security guard, his straight-laced supervisor, a veteran police officer and his feisty rookie partner who are confronted with personal ethical dilemmas and challenged to “do the right thing.”

The show contains adult language and themes and is not recommended for persons younger than 17. For ticket information, call (785) 231-1010, Ext. 1639.

Jazz pub crawl to take over Westport

Kansas City, Mo. — The Annual Jazz Lovers Pub Crawl will be transformed into a street fair when the Kansas City Jazz Ambassadors and Westport clubs present the first Westport Jazz Lovers Pub Crawl from 8 p.m. to midnight Thursday.

Eleven to 13 bands will play at 10 Westport clubs, UMKC jazz students will serve as street musicians, and food vendors and the Jazz Ambassadors will hock their wares.

The streets will be barricaded from traffic for the evening.

Tickets are $10 and include a wrist band that allows automatic entry to all 10 clubs. Tickets are available at participating clubs, through TicketMaster (816) 931-3330 or at the Jazz Ambassador tent the night of the crawl.

For more information, call (816) 561-3747 or visit www.jazzkc.org.

‘Boheme’ cuts short its New York run

Baz Luhrmann’s Broadway staging of Puccini’s “La Boheme,” which won two Tony Awards last Sunday, will close June 29 after 228 performances and 12 previews.

Producer Jeffrey Seller said he had hoped the Broadway production would play through 2003. But projections of ticket sales haven’t panned out. “Its appeal is to sophisticated theatergoers, (and) we don’t have confidence that they will be in town during those tourist weeks of the summer,” he said.

Although the production won Tonys for scenic and lighting design, it lost to “Nine” in the best revival category. Seller brushed aside the Tonys as a factor, saying the only award categories in which wins have any impact on the box office are best musical and best play. He added that the appearance of the “La Boheme” cast in a number on the Tony broadcast generated some additional ticket sales.

The Broadway production cost $8.5 million. Only a quarter of the capitalization has been earned back, Seller said, but he hopes the production’s subsequent life will benefit its bottom line.