Memphis Belle

FRI 12/31
Despite the faux facades around 18th Street and Vine, Kansas City has no equivalent of Beale Street. But Memphis comes to KC on Friday, when the famed avenue’s queen bee, Ruby Wilson, pays a visit at 8:30 p.m. at the Blue Room, 1616 East 18th Street, 816-474-2929. Tickets are $50. — Jason Harper

Recycled Sounds
Broadway makes Contact with Kansas City.

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Musical-theater purists were a bit irked when Contact won a Best Musical Tony in 2000. Its acclaimed director and choreographer Susan Stroman spotlighted plenty of music and wall-to-wall dancing, but instead of debuting new tunes, the show used existing music to orchestrate its three distinct stories. Contact, which opens at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Music Hall (301 West 13th Street), begins with an 18th-century seduction story set to Rodgers and Hart’s “My Heart Stood Still.” Set in an Italian restaurant in Queens, New York, in 1954, the second piece uses Tchaikovsky, Grieg and Bizet to introduce a woman trapped in an abusive marriage whose dreams prove stronger than her will. And the anonymity of present-day New York City forms the third piece, following a despondent man into the syncopated arms — and legs — of a sultry woman in a yellow dress, to such vibrant tunes as the late Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible.” The show runs through January 9. Call 816-931-3330 for tickets. —Steve Walker

Phreeze Out

FRI 12/31
For 27 years, the Beta Lambda chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity has hosted its scholarship fund-raiser on New Year’s Eve. Not one to knock tradition, the organization presents its 2004 installment, A Winter Wonderland, from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday at the Jack Reardon Civic Center (520 Minnesota Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas). The $50 tickets include entertainment by DJ Phreeze and BET cable network comedian Mike Smith as well as a buffet, party favors, champagne toasts and a cash bar. Plus — hel-lo — guests can book rooms at the adjacent Hilton Garden Inn at a discount rate. Call 816-931-3330. — Annie Fischer

The Doctor Is In

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If anyone were to ask us to name our favorite Dr. Seuss character, we’d have to go with the sweetly insecure Daisy-Head Mayzie — but Horton snags a close second. Luckily we don’t have to choose when the Music Theatre for Young People of Kansas City performs Seussical, the contemporary re-imagining of Seuss’ best-loved creatures, at 7 p.m. Saturday and at 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday at UMKC’s White Recital Hall (4949 Cherry). Tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults; call 816-235-6222 to purchase. — Fischer