Stage Capsule Reviews

A Christmas Conundrum Yet another murder mystery staged by the Mystery Train, ensuring the following: a death aboard a train, which audience members will be charged with solving; a whimsical script with plenty of puns, many of which audience members will be charged with delivering; a bevy of characters with silly names and offbeat histories, several of whom audience members will be charged with becoming; and dinner from the Union Station Café, which audience members will simply be charged with. This one's set in 1952, at Christmastime, so expect a background of Kansas City history taking full advantage of the Union Station surroundings. Reservations are required. Through Jan. 7 at Union Station Café, 2200 Main, 816-813-9654.

Christmas in Song This rousing, savior-centric cabaret revue — hatched by director, singer and dryly funny master of ceremonies J. Kent Barnhart — is split between a holy first half and a wholly secular second. Both have plenty of highlights and come blessed with sterling arrangements, Barnhart's tasteful accompaniment, a (mostly) fresh crop of songs and Quality Hill Playhouse's reliably spectacular voices: those of elegant Melinda MacDonald, fine tenor Matt Leisy and soprano Stacey Uthe, who sets the air tingling about her. The pre-pop songs stir deeper than the lighter fare, and occasionally the show slumps into pop-classical doldrums. But mostly it's a treat, caroling to thrill to instead of endure. Through Dec. 24 at Quality hill Playhouse, 303 W. 10th St, 816-421-1700. (Reviewed our Nov. 17 issue.)

Disney's Beauty and the Beast This version of the old don't-judge-monsters-because-they-might-be-princes story dates back to just 1991, when Disney technicians planed off the rough edges and set the second act all a-clatter with singing flatware. The last Disney musical to achieve any amount of grace whatsoever, this one features the rousing Gaston song, at least four other memorable numbers and a plot point or two cribbed from Measure for Measure. Added plus: One of the heroine's parents actually survives! Through Dec. 11 at the Lawrence Community Theatre, 1501 New Hampshire, 785-843-7469.

The Eight: The Reindeer Monologues The reindeer get their scabrous say in this burst of yuletide deviance from the new (and wonderfully named) theater company Sparkle Peanut Productions. Santa, we learn, is a sort of bestial Bob Packwood, who sexually harasses his livestock and is at his jolliest only when engaged in carnal practices that alarm whether you rock the north or south side of the pole. Needless to say, this isn't for the kids. The decade-old script is steeped in O.J. and other '90s ephemera — "When the doe says 'No,' it means no" is a typical gag. Let's hope it's still tart. Fridays and Saturdays through Dec. 17 at the Corinth Dance Center Studio, 4047 Somerset Drive in Prairie Village, 816-679-5514.

Fool for Love When William Jewell College describes this as a "senior theater production by Megan Grimes," the school means seniors in college, not senior citizens taking it easy on account of the hips. (Kind of a shame; for a moment, we thought the seen-it-all characters in this Pulitzer-nominated Sam Shepard play might, for once, actually have seen it all.) Starring and directed by the young Grimes, the show is encouragingly ambitious. This being Shepard, be ready for tough talk and much mourning the fate of this country's open spaces. Dec. 2-3 at William Jewell's Peters Theater, 500 College Hill in Liberty, 816-415-7590.