Stage Capsule Reviews

Clue: The Musical Though a long-forgotten film version probably didn't help sales of the classic board game all that much, it's logical to think that Clue: The Musical couldn't hurt. Variety called it "saucy, bright and loony," surely in reference to such songs as "Corridors and Halls" and the fact that, at each performance, there can be one of 216 different endings. Through March 26 at Olathe Community Theater, 500 East Loula, Olathe, 913-782-2990.

Everybody's Hero: The Jackie Robinson Story Mad River Theater Works of West Liberty, Ohio, created and cast this premiere play with music that chronicles Jackie Robinson's ascent from the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues to the Brooklyn Dodgers of the Major Leagues. Theatre for Young America stepped up to the plate a couple of seasons ago with its own version of the story, naturally highlighting more of Robinson's Kansas City connection than this adaptation probably will. Still, there's much in Robinson's life about risk and dignity that continues to inspire theater audiences of all ages. April 4 at 9:45 a.m. and noon at the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd. in Overland Park, 913-469-4445.

Hairspray With the national tour of the musical adaptation of John Waters' 1988 film, Kansas City will see that rare breed: nonstop entertainment laced with a meaningful message. As chubby hipster Tracy Turnblad topples the barriers against fat kids and black kids on a '60s-era TV dance show, she also enjoys the added benefits of a newly glamorous mom and a hot boyfriend. If the cast of the touring version is half as good as the Broadway production, audience members will be walking around with goofy smiles for days on end. March 29-April 10 at the Music Hall, 301 W. 13th St., 816-931-3330.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch The one performance of the past couple of years that has elicited unanimous raves from the local theater crowd is that of Justin Van Pelt in Eubank Productions' version of the rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Van Pelt (who made an impressive Unicorn debut in December's Convenience) is back for three weeks as the bitter yet lovable "internationally ignored song stylist." The genius of John Cameron Mitchell's creation is that Hedwig's a perpetual victim -- of copyright infringement, thwarted love, and botched sexual-reassignment surgery -- but you pity her at your own peril. March 25-April 10 at Just Off Broadway Theater, 3051 Central, 816-224-3004.

Kansas City Kong The old joke about where the 900-pound gorilla sleeps is being appropriated by the Martin City Melodrama & Vaudeville Co., which claims it has had to renovate its performance space to accommodate the big lug. Though snapshots of the show reveal the kind of ape suit Ed Wood might have used in one of his tawdry B-pictures, there is the promise of a climactic shimmy up the shaft of Kansas City's own Liberty Memorial. In addition, the company performs its new musical vaudeville, called TV Tomfoolery. Through March 27 at Metcalf South Shopping Center, 9635 Metcalf in Overland Park, 913-642-7576. Miss Saigon Big, bulky special-effects musicals like Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon look almost passé today. But in their time, they were the most talked-about shows on Broadway. That's not to detract from the beautiful score and exciting staging of the latter, Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's Vietnam-era twist on Madame Butterfly. Set during the fall of Saigon, the show is both stirring and tragic, never flinching from its dark themes of political suicide, rampant prostitution and the abandonment of the children of Vietnamese women and American soldiers. April 5-6 at the University of Kansas' Lied Center, 1600 Stewart Drive in Lawrence, 785-864-2787.

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle The irrepressible, eccentric heroine of Betty McDonald's series of children's books is brought to life here by local actor Bonita Hanson. What makes the show doubly intriguing is the challenge her upside-down house must have been to the set designer and the show's co-star, Bat Boy's unforgettable Seth Golay. Through April 15 at Theatre for Young America, 5909 Johnson Dr. in Mission, 913-831-2131.

Omnium Gatherum An incompatible, and thus highly combustible, group of folks -- from a Martha Stewart clone to a traumatized firefighter -- gather for a drawn-out dinner party in Theresa Rebeck and Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros' biting comedy of manners. As a shining example of post-9/11 theater, the play addresses that day in both subtle and direct ways. The dinner conversation veers from food trends to anti-Semitism, but there's a certain mood that something dreadful hovers about. The play may really be about the human foible of having too much to say and no time to listen. Through April 3 at the Unicorn Theatre, 3828 Main, 816-531-7529.

Smoking Kills Unfolding on three continents over a decade, this new drama by British playwright Dominic Leggett premiered at the 2003 O'Neill Playwrights Conference in Connecticut. UMKC's MFA production is directed by Rosemary Andress, who's been involved with the play through several versions. The result follows an Iraqi doctor, a British soldier and a television journalist through the 1991 Gulf War and beyond. Leggett says he's examining the physical and psychological damage of war and asking "whether and how it can be healed." Through April 10 at UMKC's Performing Arts Center, Studio 116, 4949 Cherry, 816-235-6222.