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6 Last-Chance Things To Do In Kansas City This Weekend

Bernard Spragg
/
Flickr — CC

A last chance can pass you by before you even knew you had a chance.

So as a public service — that's right, folks, I'm not only in this for the glory — allow me to share a weekend's worth of soon-to-be-here-and-gone attractions involving music, comedy, fast cars, fleeting celebrities and the tantalizing yet imperfect dream of eternal youth.

Look away if you dare. Going ... going ... grab on!

1. ‘Broadway's Next H!T Musical’

The final show of this winter’s Starlight Indoors theater series winds up with this whacky improvisational musical that begins with the suggestions of audience members. Those in their seats jot down imaginary song titles, which five performers onstage utilize to spontaneously create Broadway-style show-stoppers. Characters, dialogue and plot of an absurdly effective nature soon take full-blown shape. Who needs a formal book, lyrics and music, when you’ve got ingenious singing comedians able to pull off the zaniest thing they can think of for a laugh? Maybe Rodgers and Hammerstein wouldn’t approve, but they’re too preoccupied with a revival of “Oklahoma” in Halo Land to be bothered. Well, they might be.

Thursday and Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 2 p.m.; Cohen Community Stage at Starlight Theatre, 4600 Starlight Road, Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $26-$56.

2. 2018 Kansas City Auto Show

This year’s downtown auto show includes appearances by Kansas City Chiefs star running back and 2017 NFL rushing leader Kareem Hunt (5-7 p.m. Friday) and new starting quarterback Patrick Mahomes (1-3 p.m. Saturday). While it seems unlikely that you won’t have another chance to meet them in the future, you might have thought the same thing not that long ago about Marcus Peters, the Chiefs former first-round pick and all-pro cornerback who was traded last week to the Los Angeles Rams. If you wanted to chill with Peters, who was an interception machine here in KC, sorry, too late.

OK, I’ll admit it: I’m mentioning the auto show – which will indeed have some nifty new models to inspect – so I can rant about the Chiefs, who sent Peters and a sixth-round pick in this year’s NFL draft to the Rams in exchange for L.A.’s fourth-round pick in this year’s draft and their second-round pick in next year’s draft. Not nearly enough! The Chiefs were robbed! Anyway, who really knows, this might be your last chance to shake hands, chat and get an autograph from Hunt and Mahomes. Don’t miss out.

Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Bartle Hall, 301 W. 13th St., Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $11; $6 ages 8-12.

3. ‘Finding Neverland’

In J.M. Barrie’s 1904 play, “Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up,” the everlasting lad is eventually told by his young playmate Wendy that she wants to leave Neverland – where you never grow old – and return to the real world. It amounts to Wendy’s last chance at staying forever young, but she moves on. The touring Broadway musical of “Finding Neverland,” based on the Oscar-winning movie of the same name, tells the story of Barrie’s last chance at finding the inspiration for the enchanting story he was meant to tell. But before he can, he must transport himself to Neverland. That’s called a win-win.

Thursday and Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1 and 6:30 p.m.; Music Hall, 301 W. 13th St., Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $38-$95.

4. ‘Tuck Everlasting’

Another last-chance-at-immortality tale, “Tuck Everlasting,” examines the pluses and more than a few of the minuses of the notion of eternal life. The stage play charts the same events as Natalie Babbitt’s popular 1970s children’s novel about an 11-year-old girl who discovers a strange spring in the woods, along with the mysterious Tuck family that has remained miraculously unchanged since first drinking from it more than 100 years ago. Is living without aging a gift or a jinx? If you could stop time, would you be cheating it or yourself? Hey, don’t look at me, I just ask the questions here.

Friday, noon and 7 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m.; Coterie Theater; 2450 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo.; tickets: $11-$15.

5. ‘Musical Thrones: A Parody of Ice and Fire’

Here’s a humorous singing-and-dancing stage treatment of HBO's fantasy epic, "Game of Thrones," which may well be your last chance to make big public fun of the favorite TV series of millions before its eighth and final season debuts in 2019. Yeah, that’s a long time to wait, so let “Musical Thrones” expertly mock the mythic heroes, villains, kingdoms and creatures that you, or almost certainly someone you know, have come to know like the back of your broadsword. You have a broadsword, don’t you? On guard!

Saturday, 8 p.m. Saturday, Yardley Hall at the Carlsen Center, Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd., Overland Park, Kan.; tickets: $24-$39.

6. Riot Room 10th Anniversary Weekend

The Riot Room is more than living up to its utterly unruly name in celebrating 10 years in the live rock biz. Friday’s show headlined by Septicflesh and Dark Funeral, as well as Sunday’s gig featuring Watain and Destroyer 666, will deliver no-riffs-barred death metal, black metal and thrash fueled by overarching nihilism and the occasional nod to lycanthropy – mostly hailing from harsh musical strains in Greece, Sweden and Australia, no less. I’ll swear on a dusty stack of Rolling Stone magazines (heavy metal covers, of course) that there will be no such party next year. The music might indeed “go to 11,” as Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap never ceases to remind us, but this weekend will be the Riot Room’s one and only 10th anniversary blowout, so don’t miss it. Unless you’re put off by pseudo-satanic messaging and/or you value your hearing. Your call.

Septicflesh and Dark Funeral with Thy Antichrist: Friday, 7 p.m.; tickets: $22. Watain and Destroyer 666 with Ares Kingdom: Sunday, 8 p.m.; tickets: $25. Both shows at the Riot Room, 4048 Broadway, Kansas City, Mo.

Brian McTavish is a regular arts and culture contributor for KCUR 89.3. You can reach him at brianmctavish@gmail.com

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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