Arts & Entertainment

Theater

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Celebrating its 10th anniversary, this punk-rock valentine pinches gender in a titty-twister and proves that the words rock musical have shit-all to do with Billy Joel. Hedwig is both a slice of life and a one-of-a-kind extravaganza, a long retrospective concert from an East German tranny who's also a small-town Kansas girl who's also a star collapsed to a near white dwarf. As Hedwig, Justin Van Pelt goes from great and powerful Oz — well, a Celine — to little man behind the curtain, all while delivering a musical triumph. The band around Van Pelt is a model U.N. of alterna-styles that accomplishes the impossible: a full-on, glam-trash, puke-in-a-bucket miracle of a rock show at Crown fucking Center. This Hedwig is an evolutionary leap for the Off Broadway drag musical. Through March 23 at the Off Center Theatre in Crown Center, 2450 Grand,816-842-9999. Reviewed in our March 6 issue. (Alan Scherstuhl)

Improv Thunderdome & Tantrum Word is that this week's Improv Thunderdome — the penultimate round of the competition that's the most exciting thing to happen to local comedy since the Glazers first sued each other — is already sold out. That means too many people won't get this chance to catch how creative, vital and hysterical KC's best improvisers are. Fortunately there's a second chance, but it demands that you show up early. At 7 p.m., as a Thunderdome warm-up, newish yet promising troupe Tantrum takes the stage and — for inspiration — an audience member's MP3 player. Made up of current and former Comedy City performers, Tantrum specializes in smart, lively, long-form improv, the kind that's closer to theater than game-show but is funnier than either. Tickets cost $8 each or $12 for both shows. Saturday, March 15 at the Westport Coffee House, 4010 Pennsylvania. Tantrum starts at 7 p.m. and Thunderdome starts at 9. For Thunderdome information, call 816-678-8886. (Alan Scherstuhl)

Miss Nelson Has a Field Day It's phys-ed terror in this Theatre For Young America musical — and not in the typical body-issues and tight-shorts ways. An adaptation of Harry Allard and James Marshall's raucous book about what happens when the worst school in Texas meets the world's meanest substitute teacher, this Miss Nelson promises comic gloom and energetic numbers as well as Valerie Mackey made up into a truly hideous swamp of a coach: black lipstick, a Cardinals cap and a black fright wig that looks like its made entirely of spider legs. Through April 18 at the H&R Block City Stage in Union Station, 30 West Pershing Rd, 816-460-2020. (Alan Scherstuhl)