Stage capsules

Songs for a New World More a concert than a musical, Daniel Doss and Sarah Mae McElroy's production of Jason Robert Brown's Songs is essential for fans of Brown, perhaps musical theater's most exciting young composer. It offers loosely related numbers, some grand and some yearning for grandeur; despite strong singing and some thrilling songwriting, it gets wearying. Audience members are asked to invest again and again in the story songs of new characters unrelated to everything that's gone before. Still, Andrea Boswell builds a couple of comic songs into epics, and veteran Damron Russell Armstrong scrapes movingly at the top of his range during a piece set on one of Christopher Columbus' ships (a number that feels wildly out of place because the rest of the show is concerned mostly with the strained romances of modern urbanites). Through Dec. 9 at Union Station's City Stage, 30 West Pershing Rd., 816-460-2020. Reviewed in our Nov. 30 issue.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing The Coterie's streak of thoughtful, inventive children's shows stops dead with this manic and maddening botch of Judy Blume's classic novel. More interested in period music and outfits (in this case the early '70s) than in the story's emotional center, Tales strands the narrator, Peter (a likable Steven Eubank), whose plain-spoken, truth-telling monologues hardly register. And a set constructed out of giant Tinker Toys is, like most of the show, wholly at odds with Blume's realistic portrayal of growing up. Through Dec. 29 at the Coterie Theatre at Crown Center, 2450 Grand, 816-474-6552. Reviewed in our Nov. 23 issue

Terror on the Toyland Express Since its inception, the Mystery Train has staged clever, interactive mysteries set on dining cars headed to or from Union Station in various eras of Kansas City¹s past. This time, things get weirder: The train is a Lionel electric, chuffing around the mayor¹s Christmas tree in front of Union Station, and the murderer, the victim and assorted other passengers are all toys. Was the culprit Post-Partum Barbie, Murder-Me Elmo or just a lack of batteries? Whatever the solution — and, after playing along with the actors, you will be asked to provide one — we¹ve hit on one sure-fire clue indicating this could be good: George Forbes, one of the city¹s most compelling actors, heads the cast. Through Jan. 6 at the Hereford House, 2 E. 20th St., 816- 813-9654.

12 Days of Schtickmas Another silly, all-ages Christmas show from the Martin City Melodrama, that troupe of last-century throwbacks that has for 22 years specialized in over-the-top vaudevillian comedy. Its holiday show is best-known for the set piece "Water Glass Symphony," a musical goof that might have killed on Ed Sullivan. What keeps the shows selling out, though, are the good spirits, the sight gags and the chance to boo and hiss in a way that'd get you booted from the Unicorn. Reservations are recommended. Through Jan. 1 at Metcalf South Mall, 9601 Metcalf in Overland Park, 913-642-7576.