Coming Out

With a city government in tax-increment-financing hock to the tune of tens of millions of dollars and a new stadium that has no tenant, the recent expansion of the Unicorn Theatre stands as a financially and artistically sensible Kansas City development project since someone got the bright idea to open that second Town Topic. This is an expansion that we need.Suddenly, the theater that this rag called 2007's best has shows leaping out of it like clowns from a circus car. The new Jerome Stage debuted a couple of weeks back with 9 Parts of Desire. Tonight at 8, the Unicorn's main stage (3828 Main, 816-531-7529) offers the local premiere of the Off Broadway hit Little Dog Laughed. The lashing Hollywood comedy by Douglas Carter Beane still manages to ask an important question or two, including: Does it matter that, at this point in history, a handful of male movie stars still refuse to come out of the closet? Donna Thomason stars as a high-powered agent contending with photographic evidence of one of her top star's peccadilloes. Nathan Darrow, Rachel Ray Roberts and Michaelangelo Milano also star. Bruce Roach — the unofficial star of every Shakespeare in the Park show — directs, and Tom Cruise's lawyer is probably already filing a cease-and-desist. Unicorn Theatre
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: March 5. Continues through March 30, 2008