http://www.kansascity.com...169.htm?1c

One thing you can count on, dear readers, is this: You never know what you're going to get when you walk through the door of Late Night Theatre.

The current exercise is called “The Show Formerly Known as Purple Rain,” an original script by Late Night regular David Wayne Reed. As the title suggests, the show aims a huge broadside at the popularity achieved in the 1980s by the artist then known as Prince and his rotating system of satellite music stars.

But there's always a twist with a Late Night show. This time it's an all-female cast, several of whom are making their Late Night debuts. The results are generally impressive and occasionally stunning.

The goal of Late Night Theatre is, of course, to recycle American pop culture through the perverse collective lens of the theater company's family of writers, directors and actors. This show is a fine example of what you can expect from Late Night when all cylinders are firing — most of the time, anyway.

Like other Late Night productions, this one is full of calculated ad-libs and amusingly low-tech props and scenic elements. But it also offers two extraordinary physical performances: Jessalyn Kincaid as Prince and Kimberly Queen as Morris Day.

It's a toss-up as to which of them is most successful in conjuring memories of Prince and his entourage; if pressed I would give the nod to Queen with her indelible evocation of Day (which is all the more impressive when you consider that Day himself was indulging in something bordering on self-parody).

But Queen and Kincaid are mesmerizing, and Kincaid's fine singing voice is icing on the cake.

Director Kara Armstrong is responsible for bringing Reed's script to the tiny Late Night stage and manages to move things along at a breakneck pace. Reed and Late Night founder Ron Megee also contribute choreo

graphy.

The R-rated script follows the storyline of “Purple Rain,” more or less, and at moments goes off on crazed tangents. Corrie Van Ausdal, fitted with a black wig, scores as Apollonia, the Prince protégé who seemed to drop quickly out of sight after “Purple Rain” came and went. Van Ausdal clearly enjoys playing a dim-bulb wannabe in a potent physical package.

Shannon Michalski is double cast as Wendy, Prince's guitarist, and as the Kid's abusive father, and she earns big laughs in both roles. Lauretta Pope, doubling as Lisa, the keyboard player, and Prince's alcoholic mom, works well as a straight man, if you will, to Michalski's over-the-top energy. Pope is also assigned the soul ballad “Nothing Compares 2 U.” She performs it without a trace of irony and turns it into a virtual showstopper.

Filling out the cast is Laura Frank, a veteran of local avant-garde theater, who serves as a nice foil as Jerome to Queen's Morris Day.

We hear a roster of at least parts of well-known Prince songs — “Little Red Corvette,” “When Doves Cry,” “I Would Die 4 U,” “Let's Go Crazy.” The list goes on.

Needless to say, this show defies simple categorization. It's not strictly a drag show. It's not just a parody. At times it has the flavor and aesthetic sensibility of burlesque. Its main business is to provoke laughter, but you can detect kernels of serious intent underneath all the madness. It's a musical, but not of a sort you're likely to see anywhere except Late Night.

The principal cross-dressing actors, Kincaid and Queen, are not really doing impersonations; the performances might qualify as “impressions,” but they are so carefully conceived and executed that their “accuracy” becomes a moot point.

All I can say is this: Early in the show, when Queen began performing “Jungle Love,” I realized I was watching something utterly unique. It was audacious, absurd, fascinating and inspiring. And if your humble theater correspondent reacted that way every time he took his seat in a playhouse — well, he might need to adjust his medication.

now this i gotta see!!


move over Rocky Horror!!

That's just wrong.

I just smell lawsuit. Prince is gonna have people after that too.

....yo SquarePeg, how long does this run? i'm definately an old'skool thesbian & KC is just up the road from B....any other local reviews? think it'll tour?

This is just not right