The Kansas City Star from Kansas City, Missouri • 22

'll i Saturday September 12 1998 The Kansas City Star METROPOLITAN ONSTAGE The Si Inform Name of rest death sugge contrll: to con ore rui who additli colum For fui consu dl recta cast tries hard to overcome limitations By ROBERT TRUSSELL Theater Critic In the first act she flirts with the idea that Liz is in some ways an incomplete woman who begins finding herself under rough tutelage In the second act relationship with Bette allows her to come to terms with memories of her own grandmother These ideas articulated very well and it seems clear that if Fuller had tried a more straightforward narrative or at least one not so choppy she might have been able to flesh out the characters and their relationship with more satisfying bluster and foul-mouthed arrogance But the actors have their hands full with script which has some funny lines but seems awkwardly structured One of the rules of creative writing is to show not tell In this play plenty of telling and not enough showing The script began life as a long monologue and it shows Valentine enthusiastically faces the challenge of playing Liz and several other characters including young son but the play never really gives us a satisfying scene between Liz and Bette part of the family In the New Theatre production directed by Richard Carrothers Karen Valentine plays Liz with her customary perkiness opposite an impressive performance by Kelly Moore as Davis Moore happens to be a man but male actors often play Davis in productions of this play including one two years ago at Quality Hill Playhouse Moore offers a skilled physical performance but avoids doing an outright impersonation This is no caricature but an interesting portrait of an aging vulnerable and insecure Davis despite her What we get is a series of vignettes: Liz taking Bette to lunch Liz taking Bette to the beach Liz taking Bette to When Bette is offstage Liz speaks directly to the audience describing scenes that are never enacted on stage Yet there are moments that deliver a real emotional punch particularly in a memorable scene which Bette and Liz watch a television appeararfce by the daughter who has written a tell-all book about her destructive ways And there are a couple of undeveloped ideas in script The New Theatre Restaurant scores points by veering away from standard dinner-theater entertainment with and a two-character play that strives for a delicate balance between comedy and poignancy Elizabeth script is an adaptation of her own book about her true-life encounter with film legend Bette Davis In 1985 when the crusty star was up in years but still full of vim and vitriol she went to house in Westport Conn for dinner Because of a New York hotel strike Davis wound up staying a month and temporarily becoming an awkward and unnatural Singer Marilyn Maye masterful in paying homage to Blue Eyes MUSIC REVIEW Who: Marilyn Maye Whan: Sept 9 through Sept 20 Where: Quality Hill Playhouse Audience: 100 Sinatra standards as Summer The and I Was Maye received solid backing throughout from Rodby at the keyboard and from bassist Andy Hall and drummer Tommy Ruskin One word of warning: The singer prefers that the air conditioning be turned off during her performance 50 advisable to dress accordingly atmospheric renditions of Small Birth of the and in the must have looked ridiculous in my teens and twenties singing those heart-rending Maye remarked "But now lived Like Sinatra Maye is a master at interpreting lyrics and telling stories through song Nowhere Was that gift more evident than in her sensitive readings of such nightclub performer of them all with Way: A Tribute To In a series of incredible medleys Maye and musical conductor-pianist John Rodby have arranged thematically some of Frank most recognizable tunes There are songs about cities including "My Kind of which the singer took a few liberties with in the lyric department as she substituted Kansas City for Chicago and invited audience members to provide local color Songs about heartbreak played a pivotal role in career and Maye does full justice to such tunes as Got You Under My and Take That Away From Then there were what Maye called the and you could almost hear the ice cubes clinking and smell the cigarette smoke as the singer offered By ROBERT EISELE Contributing Reviewer What a homecoming it was for singer Marilyn Maye at the Quality Hill Playhouse on Wednesday night of my best friends are here Maye told the crowd early in her two-hour set if I know Kansas favorite lounge singer paid homage to the greatest Holiday topping Man 1 8 pleads guilty in slaying Raceway could face another delay Property owner files lawsuit to hold up settlement payments By STEVE NICELY Staff Writer Alex Althc Bade Boeh Brltti Dyer Fortl Frlsz Gadfa Grlffl Gudd Hays Hein: Hend Hlnrl Howe Huer Kava Kuo Limb Linde (V Listei Lundl Marti Maso Matsi McCc (R McMi Morr Pike Pitch Potte Rayn Ruth Schaf Scion Slvlls We Thorn Youn Mrs Marl MO passed 1998 at Tru side servlo September 1 sas City Ml 1:30 pm Watkins Bi (Arrangemi morlal Chap BARI Barbaro MO passed lp 1998 at Kansas City be It am Wallace Fa Pleasant Hit Cemetery Monday at I flowers ton the charity Wallace Fu MO) PA1 Paul Jos MO passed liome Fune Monday Set Freeman Fi Rd burial li Holmes Kai call at the hi may be mm elation of City 1100 MO 64105 Mr Bad 1937 In Kan by Julie Bac Bader Paul Bac Betsy Knapt Beth Badei gtandchlldi (Arrangeme Funeral Hon A Mary I passed away terey Park Ices will be 1 at St Bernai lal In Mt Oil Friends mac tember 13 Home Mem made to th Chestnut Ka Mrs Boehi In Kansas secretarybo Catholic Ch come a horr In death by In 1997: pare tnan brothe ter Wilma i ter Mary I brothers MO and Ra MO 33 nleci less relatives A A Cyril September 1 Hospital Go will be 3 prr Forrls-Feuer the Rev Ga ferment In (Arrangeme morlal Chap He avoids possible life term after charge is amended By TONY RIZZO Staff Writer A Shawnee man avoided a possible life prison sentence by pleading guilty Friday to second-degree murder for killing another man Prosecutors and defense attorneys will recommend an eight-year prison term for James Luke Russell according to the plea agreement reached Friday Russell 18 never denied that he shot James Whitaker in the neck with a 20-gauge shotgun on Feb 21 Russell said the shooting was an accident He told Shawnee police detectives that the breechloading weapon discharged accidentally when he slammed it shut Whitaker also 18 was shot while visiting apartment in the 7500 block of Garnett Street Russell left the apartment after the shooting He later told Shawnee detectives he left because he "freaked out" Johnson County prosecutors charged Russell with premeditated first-degree murder At a preliminary hearing in April a firearms expert testified that the shotgun could not have gone off the way Russell had described Russell would have faced a life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder On Friday Scott Toth an assistant district attorney filed the amended charge of reckless second-degree murder The new charge alleges that the killing was unintentional but that it was done recklessly with indifference to human Toth said Russell who was experienced in handling firearms was reckless by grabbing the weapon and pointing it toward Whitaker State sentencing guidelines call for a minimum sentence of 11 years but defense attorney Tom Erker said he would file a motion to depart from the guidelines to the eight-year sentence Toth agreed not to oppose the request Russell will remain in the Johnson County Jail where he has been since he was arrested in March Sentencing will be Nov 12 FRED BLOCHERThe Star Holiday lights are reappearing on Country Club checked bulbs on the Helzberg Tower at Nichols Plaza buildings On Friday Ivan Hendrickson Road and Broadway The lighting work takes (left) and Joe Buffa (top) of Broadway Electric about three months Missouri taxpayers to receive refunds totaling $319 million Area Ethiopians to protest abuses in their homeland need a significant tax cut that benefits everybody that keeps us under the Hancock Daryl Duwe Republican Party spokesman As earth-moving equipment is about to start moving onto the site of the proposed Kansas International Speedway another property owner has filed a lawsuit that threatens to delay the project On Thursday Donna Laughery asked the Wyandotte County District Court to intervene in a lawsuit that she contends has been settled That lawsuit was filed several weeks ago by several other property owners Laughery asked for an order holding up any settlement payments until the court decides on her plea to intervene On Friday Wyandotte County District Court Judge Muriel Harris granted the restraining order but later in the day Administrative Judge Philip Sieve set the order aside Sieve said Harris was unaware of a local rule prohibiting restraining orders against governments without giving them the opportunity to be heard Laughery could not be reached for comment Friday David Carson her attorney said the suit seeks to learn the terms of all contract agreements with property owners looks like the city is paying certain people more than others" Carson said Friday looks like discriminating against some but we don't know it until we get the contracts on the Carson had a copy of an unsigned settlement he said backed up his claim But Joseph Bonch III attorney for the property owners involved in the lawsuit said no settlement had been "executed" and that negotiations continued The pla ntiffs contend that offers of moving and relocation payments were insufficient and violated and Kansas law The lawsuit has prevented the sale of S95 million in revenue bonds needed to acquire property and build the speedway International Speedway Corp of Daytona Beach Fla recently allocated $13 million to buy key tracts in the heart of the speedway site northwest of Interstate 70 and Interstate 435 to allow construction to begin Jeff Boerger director of operations for Kansas International Speedway Corp said 32 properties had been acquired as of Thursday He said the company still planned to start excavating next week enue growth once projected at 33 percent hit 5 percent this year A spokesman for the Missouri Republican Party scoffed at Ward's attnbuting the overcollections to a robust economy "They continue blame the strong economy when anyone can understand we are collecting too much in taxes because taxes are too said the Daryl Duwe Duwe noted that the amount of excess revenue soon to be refunded about $319 million not a number if you're the governor that you want thrown out That figure is roughly the amount of revenue generated by a 1993 tax-raising package pushed into law by Democratic Gov Mel Carnahan without submitting the measure to a public vote the same amount within a few dollars as the 1993 tax increase and Duwe said need a significant tax cut that benefits everybody that keeps us under the Hancock limit By the time the fourth round of checks are mailed a year from now Missouri will have refunded total overcollections of about $940 million Ward said Lawmakers in recent sessions have taken tax-cutting steps that together will reduce revenue by about $1 billion Ward would not say Friday whether there would be an adequate reduction to head off future overcollections Continued from B-1 region is first because it has highest ZIP code numbers When the first and second rounds of refunds for fiscal 1995 and fiscal 1996 were shipped in a single multiweek mailing St Louis taxpayers received their checks first because they have lowest-numbered ZIP codes This round the St Louis area gets its checks last The final checks are to be mailed around Oct 30 The fiscal year 1998 refund checks to be sent one year from now will average $56 said Mark Ward state budget director The checks arriving in the next five weeks mark the third consecutive round of refunds required by ihe Hancock amendment in the Missouri Constitution Revenue growth cannot exceed by more than 1 percent the growth in the personal income of Missourians Quentin Wilson state revenue director said that about 217 million income taxpayers would receive refund checks some quite large many very small be there in time for the holiday shopping season boosting the Missouri Wilson said Taxpayers curious about the amount of their check for fiscal 1997 will get a fairly close number by figuring 9 percent of their calendar 1997 state tax liability Wil-son said By DOYIN ADEDEJI Staff Writer Kansas Ethiopian community will hold a rally Sunday to protest the incarceration of thousands of of conscience" and other alleged acts of injustice by the government of the East African nation Spokesman Daniel Fikru said the rally would be from 5 to 9 pm at the JC Nichols Fountain near the Country Club Plaza The 1 000-strong community has invited people from all sections of society Fikru runs the Blue Nile Cafe 1715 39th St with his wife Selam He said the world especially the United States needed to be sensitized to what he called the brutal regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi He likened the regime to the one in Rwanda before the 1994 genocide in which an estimated half-million ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed by Hutu rebels is a big human rights violation going on in Ethiopia" he said need to sensitize the world to it before we have another Rwanda He said the protest march pri marily was aimed at gaining the release of political prisoners in Ethiopia among them Asrat Woldeyes a professor of medicine and opposition leader Woldeyes was convicted in three trials in 1994 of conspiring to incite an armed rebellion making an mciU mg speech and arming bandits other goals are to stop the flow of support for Ethiopian dictators and entrench genuine democracy in he said US government should stop supplying the Zenawi government with The rally has the backing of the Ethiopian National Congress an opposition group based in Swarth-more Pa Yehenew Agazie a member of the executive committee said members had held several rallies to protest injustices in Ethiopia held demonstrations in Washington last he said have been negotiating with governments and human-nghts groups over the situation at home To us an ongoing process" There is a lengthy lag between overcollcctions and refunds because the last tax collections for calendar 1997 were not until June 30 Ward noted The state then did the math to arrive at the amount that total state revenue exceeded the Hancock lid Because calendar 1998 tax collections will not be complete until June 30 1999 Ward said those refund checks cannot be cut until September 1999 It takes that much time to compute and process the checks he said Ward attributed the excess revenue to booming state and national economies low unemployment and stock market growth that boosted capital gains reflected in higher individual income tax collections Also he said interest on invested state funds increased by 11 percent over the prior fiscal year "The Missouri economy continues to perform better than expected" Ward said He said state rev Fur I Music makes 1 8th and Vine District swing with jazz aril 18th and Vine the public seemed to enjoy the event Clyde McQueen sat outside and enjoyed the concert on a big-screen monitor McQueen said entertaining and it feels A free outdoor event for the public begins at 1 pm and ends at 7 pm today on sera outdvr stages in the district him he was at 1 8th and Vine told him it as all 1 thought it would be and so much he said a person been exiled to Los Angeles from Atlanta I have to say you have so much to be proud of You have so much to give to the Whether it was inside the Gem Theater or in the several hundred seats outside along Continued from B-1 Austin performed a medley of tunes that included the A and Austin invited singer James Ingram onstage to perform their award winning duet Do You Keep the Music Michael Greene president and CEO of the National Academy of Recording Ar and Sciences announced that his organization was taking steps to bring a branch office to 18th and Vine like to have our logo bn some building down here someday" Greene said in the second show hoping that takes place You all can be a part of that Greene told the audience that he called his father Friday on a cellular pljtine and told Dim 53 Buy self trade morning and Sundays with Star Classified Ads To place your adA dial 234-4000 Adv.