M & M

So how far back in the long careers of Bette Midler and Barry Manilow will performers Kristi Mitchell and Cary Mock go in the new musical revue, Celebration in Song: I Write the Songs, the Music of Barry Manilow & Bette Midler? When Barry and Bette first worked together, it was in the steamy Continental Baths in New York's Ansonia Hotel. Manilow often accompanied "The Divine Miss M" clad only in a towel. Be assured, there are no towels (or steam) in director Mark Swezey's revue, which features his wife, Kristi, as Midler and Mock as Manilow. The show, presented in the Lewis and Shirley White Theatre of the Jewish Community Center (5801 West 115th Street, Overland Park), plays at 7:30 tonight and again on September 10 and 12, with a final 2 p.m. performance on September 13. Accompanied by backup singers and dancers, Mitchell and Mock will belt out 30 years' worth of the greatest hits of the Midler and Manilow repertoires. "No, they don't look that much like Bette and Barry," says the show's publicist, Ruth Baum Bigus. "But they sure sound like them." For ticket information, call 913-327-8054.
Wed., Sept. 9, 7:30 p.m.; Thu., Sept. 10, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Sept. 13, 2 p.m., 2009