Entertainment briefs

Acoustic concert, workshop Saturday

The Thomas/DeLancey Band with Larry Conger will play traditional acoustic music at 7:30 p.m. March 20 in GEB 233 at Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd.

Band members Linda Thomas, Dan DeLancey and Larry Conger will offer workshops on hammered dulcimer, flatpick guitar and mountain dulcimer from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. March 20 at JCCC.

Workshop tuition includes concert admission.

For more information about either event, call (816) 519-3840.

Jazz ensemble performs Monday

The Airmen of Note, the premier jazz ensemble of the U.S. Air Force, performs at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 22, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park.

Theaters offer musical ride from Broadway to England

BROADWAY’S BEST

The Tony Awards started honoring Broadway’s best musicals in 1949.

In their latest revue, the folks at the Quality Hill Playhouse offer a sweeping historical overview, presenting tunes from the past 60 years of Tony-winning shows.

As usual, "Broadway’s Best" features Artistic Director J. Kent Barnhart as emcee as well as handling duties on piano and vocals.

Gypsy Emporium features art, music

Gypsy Emporium will feature the work of area artists and artisans from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, March 20, at the Madrid Theatre, 3810 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.

More than 30 artists will display and sell their work in a variety of media, including watercolors, weaving, photography, jewelry, music and soap.

"The Madrid Theatre offers a beautiful event location," organizer Therese Livella, Merriam, said, "and there will also be a wedding section, tasty snacks, a fashion show, a drum circle, and other live performances."

'Green Zone' offers nothing new

 GREEN ZONE

2 stars

Rated R

The trailers, clips and promotional advertising would make you believe this movie is a Jason Bourne-style action adventure set in post-9/11 Iraq. It stars Matt Damon (“Invictus” and “The Departed”) and is directed by Oscar-nominated director Paul Greengrass (“United 93” and the last two installments of the Jason Bourne series).

The script by Brian Helgeland (“Mystic River” and “L.A. Confidential”) used as inspiration the 2006 non-fiction book “Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq’s Green Zone” by Rajiv Chandrasekaran, a journalist on assignment in Baghdad for The Washington Post.

The movie is full of political rhetoric and has the advantage of crystal clear hindsight. It force-feeds mainstream audiences the lies about the weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) that triggered the war and the elaborate cover-up of the truth.

March 17 Entertainment Briefs

JCCC presents play about black Kansas town

"Flyin’ West," a play about Nicodemus, Kan., an all-black town settled by former slaves in 1877, will be performed at 7 p.m. March 11, in Polsky Theatre of the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park.

In this frontier drama, playwright Pearl Cleage tells the tale of three black women struggling to keep their land and preserve their way of life, fighting the greed of white speculators and some of their own black townspeople only 20 years after the end of the Civil War.

"Flyin’ West" will be followed by a brief presentation by Angela Bates, Nicodemus Historical Society executive director, and, in advance of the play, Bates will give a lecture, "Blacks and Black Towns in the West – The Nicodemus Story," from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Thursday in Craig Community Auditorium.

The play and lecture are free and open to the public. For information, call 469-8500, ext. 3673.

Cast brings humor to edgy material in ‘Green Whales’

The late, great comedian Richard Pryor peppered his standup routines with foul language and sexually explicit references. Still, even conservative audiences seemed willing to look past the offensive content.

Why? Probably because he was so funny that he made the crass material seem downright profound.

A daring new romantic comedy titled "Green Whales," the latest offering from the Unicorn Theatre, will probably get a pass for the same reason.

While it deals with edgy subject matter – alcoholism and pedophilia – its genuinely funny script and sharp acting make the vexatious elements easier to abide.