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6 Edgy Things To Do in Kansas City This Weekend

Jon Sullivan--CC

The 11th annual Kansas City Fringe Festival kicks off this weekend offering various opportunities to experience edgy entertainment involving theater, comedy, music, dance and more.

Beyond Fringe Fest events, other edge-worthy activities around the metro include participating in a paranormal investigation preceded by cocktails (spirits before spirits!) and witnessing a stage musical based on the weird cartoons of Charles Addams.

See how close you can get to the edge without falling in. Then again, if you do, that would be even edgier.

1. ‘Tease the Rainbow

There are six different burlesque shows to choose from at this year’s Fringe Fest, and “Tease the Rainbow” by Cirque du Risqué is as stimulating a place as any to begin beholding the ancient charms of striptease. Still kinky after all these years, the art of calculated clothing removal gets a kick in the corset with the help of jugglers, magicians, fire eaters and other potentially show-stealing characters. 

Saturday, 11:55 p.m. (show starts at midnight); Sunday, 7:30 p.m.; City Stage, Union Station, 30 W. Pershing Road, Kansas City, Mo.; admission: $10. Rated R for nudity.

2. ‘The Really Funny Comedy Show’

Which city has a better sense of humor – Kansas City or St. Louis? You’ll have plenty of chances to see funny folks from KC at the Fringe Fest, but the only shot to sample Show Me State absurdity from the other end of Interstate 70 looks to be “The Really Funny Comedy Show,” featuring the Creepy Basement Players. Size up some of the “best young and upcoming improv and stand-up comedians” from ol’ St. Lou. Ask them where they went to high school and see if they get the joke.

Friday, 9 p.m.; Saturday, 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 4:30 p.m.; Phosphor, 1730 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo.; admission: $10. Rated R for adult language.

3. ‘The Penis Monologues’

Leave your envy at the door, but bring an open mind to the Fringe Fest’s in-effect answer to “The Vagina Monologues.” They say parts is parts – ‘they’ say a lot of things – but apparently not when it comes to the spiritual underpinnings of one’s nether region. This new play was penned by local alternative thought instigators Heidi Van and Peregrine Honig, who developed the show through discussions with both sexes and say that their message is ultimately about intimacy. If you show me yours, I’ll show you mine. Uh, no I won’t.

Saturday, 8 p.m.; Unicorn Levine, 3828 Main St., Kansas City, Mo.; admission: $10. Rated R for adult language.

4. ‘A Haunting at the Mansion’

A team of paranormal investigators at the historic Longview Mansion will show visitors their ghost-detecting equipment, talk about the spooky things they’ve found there in the past and lead an evening tour in search of who knows what at this eerie get-together for believers and skeptics alike. Whether or not hairs eventually stand on end, appetites will be obliged with gourmet finger food and thirsts slaked with two complimentary drink tickets for each attendee along with a cash bar. Whatever you need to prepare.

Saturday, 8 p.m.-midnight; Longview Mansion, 1200 S.W. Longview Park Drive, Lee’s Summit, Mo. Tickets: $50 (call 816-761-6669 for reservations).

5. ‘The Addams Family’

No matter how mainstream the stage musical version of “The Addams Family” may try to be, it’s based on the idiosyncratically twisted cartoons of the late, great Charles Addams – and that’s edgy material, to put it mildly. Other incarnations of “The Addams Family” include the famous TV series from the 1960s, when monsters and their macabre ilk were at the forefront of pop culture. Worth the price of admission, if only to observe the strange yet sincere passion that the morbid man of the house, Gomez, feels for his bizarrely beautiful wife Morticia – “Oh, Cara Mia!”

Thursday and Friday, 7:35 p.m.; Saturday, 1 and 7:35 p.m.; Sunday, 1:30 and 7:35 p.m.; New Theatre Restaurant, 9229 Foster St., Overland Park, Kansas; tickets: $43-$59.

6. Mo-Kan Cat Club Show

Cats live on the edge in a lot of ways, such as pretending to not care about the loving humans that provide them food and shelter. Unless they’re not pretending. Give kitty extra catnip for being so bold! The one-way street of cat ownership – you give, they take and you’ll like it – is part of the all-breed deal at this cat show affiliated with the Cat Fanciers’ Association, the largest registry of pedigreed cats. The two-day “Kitty Karnival” includes cat adoption, cat training demos and cat gift vendors. If only I could have as much fun with a pen light.

Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.; KCI Expo Center, 11730 N.W. Ambassador Dr., Kansas City; admission: $7 adults, $5 seniors, $4 ages 4-12.

Brian McTavish follows popular culture in the belief that the search for significance can lead anywhere. Brian explains, "I've written articles and reviews ... reviewed hundreds of concerts, films and plays. And the thing is, these high arts all sprang from the pop culture of their day. Don't forget: Shakespeare was once Spielberg."
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