The grab bag known as weekend fun in Kansas City doesn’t get any grabbier than “Burlesque Revival at the Folly” presented by homegrown striptease troupe Burlesque Downtown Underground at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Folly Theater.The historic downtown venue at 12th and Central hasn’t hosted the old bump and grind since the 1970s, back when stripping was a sweaty palmed ogling exercise rather than an ironic art form with workshops.
Anyone else remember when females taking it off for profit wasn’t something you talked about in polite company? Remember polite company? That’s OK, I’m not sure I really do, either.
Regardless, the pretty things – I’m sorry, artists – in Burlesque Downtown Underground want everyone to know that they’re not merely sexual objects. They also have college degrees. And this matters? It’s not like Saturday’s show will be a lecture from professors Cherry Pop, Foxy Roxy and Crimson Sugar – although that might be kinkier.
Yet it’s not strictly scantily clad performers who’ll be on stage at the Folly. Other talents will be offered by aerial acrobats Thieves of Flight, performance art band Alacartoona, clown group the Flock, jazz singer Emily Frost, fire-eater Jason Divad, Shakespeare comedy collective the Lord Mayor’s Company, comic Lucky Deluxe and belly dancer M’Chelle, who may be getting in over her bellybutton – careful, girl, it’s a fast crowd.
Tickets cost $15 to $52; go to follytheater.com
Signing and Singing
Veteran rock ’n’ roll belter-outer Pat Benatar will not only sing for her fans as the opener for REO Speedwagon at 8 p.m. Sunday at Starlight Theatre. Earlier in the day, she’ll also sign copies of her autobiography, Between a Heart and a Rock Place.
The signing is from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Unity Temple on the Plaza, 707 W. 47th. The price of admission is a copy of Benatar’s book that must be purchased from Rainy Day Books. For details, go to rainydaybooks.com.
Tickets start at $25 to catch Benatar at Starlight. She can be expected to deliver such vintage hits as “Heartbreaker,” “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” and “Love is a Battlefield,” although almost certainly no longer wearing the sort of skin-tight black body suit that went along with her pipes back in the day. Well, there’s always the lecture circuit.God Bless Them, Every One
Do you know of a young lad who might make a great Tiny Tim in Kansas City Repertory Theatre’s 30th anniversary production of “A Christmas Carol”?
KC Rep is holding an open casting call this weekend for potential TT’s and other young actors, ages 7 to 16, who would like to wind up playing a singing, dancing or acting part in the show inspired by the Charles Dickens holiday classic.
Auditions will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Guadalupe Center, 1015 Avenida Cesar E. Chavez; and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Bruce R. Watkins Cultural Heritage Center and Museum, 3700 Blue Parkway.
All auditions will be by appointment. To get on the schedule, call 816-235-6067. For detailed audition info, go to kcrep.org.
Hear More on KCUR-FM
For the audio version of yours truly extolling the merits of even more weekend stuff to do, go to kcur.org and click on Thursday’s “Up to Date” show archive. I promise it won’t sound like a lecture.
Brian McTavish
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