The show opens with a bustling dressing room full of energy, conversations, and the one performer in the corner warming up in sweats and headphones. It felt realistic and exciting, the audience wants to see more. The dancers feel a pull to a mysterious sheet covering something in the back, someone pulls the cover off to discover a golden mirror. Unable to stop themselves, the girls reach out their hands and are suddenly transported in time, to multiple eras of showgirl history.
The Kansas City Canaries are a local chorus troupe dedicated to honoring the rich legacy of the art form. Life of a Chorus Girl teaches the audience about the joy and troubles of American history and the ways showgirls have helped to shape and reflect that history. From 1920s flappers to musicals on the big screen, showgirls have always been there.
The show is full of lively music, impressive costuming, and performers who clearly love their craft and give us their all. We visited the streets of New York during the Harlem Renaissance, supported our troops on USO tours, and enjoyed 70s go-go dancers in white knee high boots. Costuming really reflects each era, including big feather head dresses in Las Vegas and plenty of sparkle on Broadway. We had acrobatics, tap dancing, and an impressive number of kicklines that seemed impossibly high. One of the closing lines, ‘The art form reflects a living history’ is a perfect summation of the hour the audience enjoyed with these showgirls, and the thoughtfulness that was put into the crafting of this show.
Theatre lovers appreciate live art and the trials and mishaps that come along with it. There is no fixing it in post, we do the best we can in that moment. This performance started with some gaps in audio, which I believe likely was a tech problem. We started with just music, then silence, then music. About ⅓ of the way through those silences started to fill with pre-recorded audio. I believe it is likely that audio was intended to set up each musical performance. To the credit of these artists, they never looked flustered or confused. They gave excellent performances each time, and I hope the tech issues are resolved for future shows. It’s clear the show was written and choreographed with intentionality, and that deserves a huge round of applause! If you appreciate musicals, rhinestones, talented performers, and American history- this show will be a KC Fringe 2026 must see.
KC Fringe would like to thank the following sponsors:
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