2014 kc fringe fest coverage

Posted on 1 August 2014 by kristin @ my little heart melodies

Well, it’s been a crazy couple of weeks here at mylittleheartmelodies, starting July 18. I drove Nick out to Columbia for the Mizzou International Composers Festival, and as soon as I got back to Kansas City it was time for Fringe Fest! This year, Fringe’s 10th, I was ridiculously excited for some reason and wanted to beat my personal previous coverage records (3 in 2013, 4 in 2012, 3 in 2011). I did—a few times over, even! I saw 15 shows, reviewing 14 of them. I’m also really proud of KCMetropolis.org and my cohorts there—I believe we had some of the best coverage in the city. It was a great way to spend my week but there was no way I could do it all and keep up with my blog posts. Life is a little more back to normal for a while here, so expect to see more from me in the coming days!

Here’s a complete list of my reviews of Fringe Fest shows. Click the links to read the full text over on KCMetropolis.org!

Bad Auditions … An absurd, completely hilarious slice of theatre life!
Green Fish … Four one-acts on pregnancy, parenthood, and the feelings therein.
Jelly Rose … Young, über-talented local singer-songwriter. This girl’s got PIPES!
Intermission … Two broken people keep meeting “between acts” at the theatre.
Where the Hell’s the Bridesmaid????? … Silly whodunit comedy of errors!
DIRTLEGS … Sex and the City meets East Texas. Women rule.
Drunks … Two actors. One writers. LOTS of booze. Wha happen!?
Shakespeare’s Histories … “Ten epic plays at a breakneck pace!”
Br. John Sings Sam Cooke … Fun retrospective of the Father of Soul.
Mighty Mo Combo … Local LGBTQ jazz band, amping up musical cheez.
…Fear Itself … Theatrical reading of four short gothic tales of horror.
Hard Travelin’ with Woody … “Appreciation session” of the great Woody Guthrie.
Right Between the Ears … Good ol’ fashioned comedy radio show, live on stage!
A-Cop-Alypse … Buddy-cop meets zombie apocalypse comedy. Cool, zombies.

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reading recap: june 2014

Posted on 29 June 2014 by kristin @ my little heart melodies

monthly recap image

I’ve been wanting to get into monthly reading recaps like I’ve seen on other book blogs, but so far this year I haven’t felt like I’ve been reading enough to justify it. So, I’m giving it a try for June. Hopefully I’ll be able to turn this into a regular feature!

In June I read six books:

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey
Unintimidated: Wisconsin Sings Truth to Power
Bird Box by Josh Malerman
We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
Wave (audio) by Sonali Deraniyagala, read by Hannah Curtis

The only clunker for me was Atwood’s Blind Assassin. Normally I LOVE Atwood, but this one just slogged and fell flat. Wool and Bird Box were both post-apocalyptic sci-fi thrillers, and We Need to Talk About Kevin and Wave were enough to put anyone off parenthood for a while (I still enjoyed both books, though).

My favorite non-fiction of the two I read was Unintimidated, and my favorite of the four fictions on the list was Bird Box, with Kevin coming in a close second.

In the last week of June I also started (but haven’t finished) two books: The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver (off my TBR Pile Challenge list, and to lighten the mood after Kevin and Wave) and also Our Divided Political Heart by E.J. Dionne on audio… although I think that one might take me forever to get through (not much time for listening coming up in the next week or so). I don’t know. It’s a fascinating subject I’m interested in and the book has been on my radar for a while, but maybe audio isn’t the right format for me, at this time.

How was your reading in June? What was your favorite book you read this last month?

heartland mens chorus: vegas, baby

Posted on 18 June 2014 by kristin @ my little heart melodies

In this week’s new issue of KCMetropolis.org I have one review, a Kansas City choral favorite: the Heartland Mens Chorus in its season finale, Vegas, Baby! I always enjoy HMC’s concerts—they always pull out all the stops with great guest artists, dancing, costumes, high-quality production value, and smart themes. Sometimes I wish the arrangements for the chorus were a little more complex and challenging, because they could totally handle it! But overall the shows are so much fun, completely memorable, and this one in particular was quite the spectacle!