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BRAVE NEW HALLS: Kauffman Center is poised to infuse Kansas City with cultural treats
By Paul Horsley
Some day Kansas Citians will be able to drive downtown into a sleek, well-lit underground parking garage, walk directly into a glittering, glass-encased lobby overlooking the Crossroads District, mingle with fellow arts lovers and finally, with great anticipation, walk into one of two state-of-the-art concert halls to hear some of the greatest artists in the world. Guess what? That “some day” is just around the corner. This September 16th through the 18th, the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts opens its doors for all, and through the upcoming season it will be host to nearly 275 presentations of music, dance, opera, theater, speakers, and multi-media presentations.
“Everything that we’ve been talking about for years, is really happening,” said Jane Chu, Kauffman Center; recently, as she led me on a personal tour of architect Moshe Safdie’s dramatic $413 million structure, which was more than 12 years in the planning. “We know what we have to do, and it’s just making sure that every piece is checked off, because there are so many moving parts.” With two months to go, Jane’s checklist is on target. “We’ve studied so many performing arts centers, we analyzed them from every angle, so we do know what we have to do.”
It was a blistering summer day outside, but all was cool inside the glass canopy of the Brandmeyer Great Hall. Jane was gracious enough to show us as much of the building as we could get access to. Inside Helzberg Hall, where the Kansas City Symphony and others will perform, the stage was littered with thousands of organ pipes currently being installed by the Casavant firm of Montreal – 5,548 in all, so that they spilled out into the hallway. (Some are as big as telephone poles.) Helzberg will boast one of the world’s greatest concert organs: It will be in place in time for the Grand Opening, Jane says, then carefully “voiced” in preparation for the inaugural recital in March by Boston-based organist James David Christie (who has also served as organ consultant).
In the dizzying backstage corridors, we were able to find our bearings thanks to color-coded walls – designed so that artists always know where they are. “There are three ‘way-finding’ colors,” Jane says. Blue walls mean you are behind Helzberg Hall, whose seats are blue and purple, red means you are behind the Muriel Kauffman Theatre with its red-and-orange seats. Yellow means you are between the halls.
One’s first view of the inside of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre is a visual feast: The rich reddish seat covers are offset by dazzling Mylar panels covering the upper box seats, with lights behind each to create a sort of shimmering effect all across the room. The slightly differing colors of the seats are meticulously arranged so as to look random, Jane says. On each side of the hall, bold murals by Kansas City Art Institute students shine through. Everything has been addressed with infinite detail. In front of each seat, for example, blinked the Figaro Systems screens, which will provide each patron with a personalized translation of an opera text – in lieu of the clunky old projections above the stage.
As the tour continued, we saw the three-bay loading docks, the giant approximately 30-foot doors through which oversized scenery can be loaded. “These are the reasons why they can do Nixon in China,” Jane says of the John Adams opera that opens with an enormous airplane landing onstage. There also are the dressing rooms large and small, the meet-and-greet areas, the box office ticket windows, the patron drop-off and garage entrance, and the green-lined plaza leading down to the sloping garage surface. “If you look at the entire building, there is not a single empty space,” Jane says. “It’s very efficiently organized.”
In the meantime, now is the time to make sure you have tickets to the Grand Opening celebrations:
KAUFFMAN CENTER OPENING WEEK EVENTS:
SEPTEMBER 16TH: GRAND OPENING NIGHT IN THE MURIEL KAUFFMAN THEATRE: Plácido Domingo in An Evening of Theatrical Wonders: The tenor’s Kansas City debut performance also includes appearances by Broadway stars and by the Kauffman Center’s resident organizations – the Kansas City Symphony, the Kansas City Ballet and the Lyric Opera. All guests will enjoy a Welcome Reception; dinner and dancing in the Bartle Hall Ballroom will immediately follow the performance.
SEPTEMBER 17TH: GRAND OPENING NIGHT IN HELZBERG HALL: An Evening of Acoustical Delights features violinist Itzhak Perlman and jazz great Diana Krall, performing separately and together, and with Michael Stern and the Kansas City Symphony. Other celebrated artists will also present a musical tribute to Kansas City’s cultural history. All guests will enjoy a Welcome Reception, and Platinum Level guests will be invited to a gala post-concert dinner on the stage of the Muriel Kauffman Theatre.
For ticket information call Estela Fennel at 816-994-7231 or look for the online application form at www.kauffmancenter.org.
SEPTEMBER 18TH: OPEN HOUSE: While Kansas City artists perform on both stages of the Center, members of the community are invited to explore, from noon to 5 p.m. Come and go as you like!
Recently the Kauffman Center announced its full lineup of offerings for the 2011-2012 season, which includes the programs of the Symphony, the Ballet, the Opera, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Harriman-Jewell Series, the Friends of Chamber Music, Heartland Men’s Chorus, the Kansas City Broadway Series, UMKC Conservatory, and the Youth Symphony of Kansas City. In addition, the Center itself will present four new series: American Legends (Lily Tomlin, Aretha Franklin), Destinations Series (Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the Chieftains), the Vanguard Series (Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass) and the National Geographic Speaker Series. For tickets, call the existing arts groups above or, starting August 30th, the Center’s box office at 816-994-7222 – or go to www.kauffmancenter.org.
To reach Paul Horsley, performing arts editor, send email to phorsley@sbcglobal.net.
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| Public space outside the Kauffman Center | Jane Chu with Casavant organ pipes |
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| Organ installation in Helzberg Hall | Brandmeyer Great Hall |
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| Muriel Kauffman Theatre |
