Night & Day Events

29 Thursday
As Artrain, a traveling art museum on a train, rolls into Union Station at Pershing and Main at 2 p.m., Kansas City’s science geeks and artsy types come together in a beautifully quirky space-cadet convention of sorts. The train is filled with the paintings, drawings and prints of Artistry in Space, which celebrates artists who captured the spirit of space exploration, such as Peter Max, Robert Rauschenberg and Andy Warhol. It also depicts some of the first attempts to put earthlings on the moon (a happy thought for scientists and artists who have heard their names uttered after the phrase “earth to …” a few too many times) as well as such recent endeavors as the Mars Pathfinder mission. For more information, call 816-460-2020.

30 Friday
At 8 tonight at the Old Chelsea, located in what once was Kansas City’s red-light district at 205 W. 4th Street, Late Night Theatre puts on a gender-bending performance of Sweet (Underground) Charity, much like Sweet Charity only with the “prostitute with a heart of gold” played not by Liza Minnelli but by Ron Megee. No, that’s not a typo. Yes, Sweet Charity is being portrayed as a man. To summarize: Charity keeps falling for the wrong kind of man, first Charlie Dark Glasses, then baseball player Georgio Brettorio (with all due respect to Kansas City’s number five). Then he falls for an accountant named Oscar, and things get hairy (twice as hairy in this version of the story) when Oscar finds himself incapable of accepting Charity’s racy past. This is the first show in which Late Night’s male and female troupes perform together, so this run is full of firsts — for the musical and for the company. For more information, call 816-474-4568.

31 Saturday
Elvis impersonations come a dime a dozen, but Roy Orbison impersonations are slightly harder to find. Tonight should be a real treat for fans of the art of impersonation, with a Midwest Singles Dance at Finnigan’s Hall, 503 E. 18th Avenue, from 8 to midnight. For anyone who’s turned on by either pop star, it’s an unusual opportunity to meet that special someone dressed up as either Presley or Orbison — all the ingredients necessary for a memorable first encounter. And $4 to $6 isn’t too high a price to pay if a lifetime of that great smell of hair pomade mixed with daredevil hip gyrations comes with the package. For more information, call 816-254-6493.

1 Sunday
Today isn’t just April Fool’s Day; it’s also Opposite Day. At the Kemper Museum, 4420 Warwick Boulevard, the blind and visually impaired have a chance to “see” art for what might be the first time, and visitors who are used to using their eyes to view art can try experiencing it with their fingertips. A dozen works — including pieces by Dale Chihuly and Jacques Lipchitz — have been taken from the permanent collection for this session of In Touch With Art. Museum personnel will be on hand to make sure everyone uses protection when making contact with the works, supplying gloves — latex, we hope — so that the museum doesn’t end up paying for art lovers’ moments of guilty pleasure — just a few all-too-short caresses — for a lifetime. This rare opportunity lasts from 1 to 5 p.m., and reservations are recommended. For more information, call 816-753-5784.

2 Monday
A day trip to the Supreme Court of Missouri in Jefferson City ought to prove worthwhile for anyone interested in learning more about a little-known Missouri court case that is described by archivist Joe Benson as “the most celebrated dog case in the world” and is credited with coining the phrase “dog is man’s best friend.” More than 130 years ago, when Old Drum, a hunting dog, was shot, his owner sued. At the trial, the owner’s lawyer delivered such a moving canine eulogy for Old Drum that the jury returned a verdict against the man who killed him, and the dog’s owner was awarded damages. This little piece of Midwestern irony, in which a man who kills a dog pays damages to a man who used that dog to hunt deer, is just part of The Verdict of History exhibit, which also includes cases related to slavery, women’s suffrage and political corruption. The Supreme Court of Missouri is located at 207 W. High Street in Jefferson City. To schedule a guided tour of the exhibit, or for more information, call 573-751-4144.

3 Tuesday
Mark Morris, who brings his Brooklyn-based dance troupe to Lawrence’s Lied Center, 1600 Stewart Drive, has been described by a dancer as having been “loud before he was famous.” Now he’s both. Musicality is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Mark Morris Dance Group, performing Silhouettes (1999), Mosaic and United (1993), Pecadillos(2000) and Sang-Froid (2000). In this last selection, titled with the bold French phrase meaning “cold blood” and set to music by Chopin, dancers wear black and look somewhat aloof, doing justice to a number of the cultural stereotypes the French have worked hard to earn for themselves. But more often, the dancers appear joyous, and it looks as though they’re having fun making the noise that made their choreographer famous. Tickets range from $22 to $27; the show starts at 8 p.m. For more information, call 785-864-2787.

4 Wednesday
Shinehead grew up in Jamaica, but he started his commercial career in New York at a time when the Big Apple was giving birth to rap. As a result, he became one of the first artists to blend reggae and hip-hop, setting the blueprint for KRS-One and other Boogie Down Bronx crossover artists. A gifted lyricist, he infused tunes such as “Rough and Rugged” and “Gimme No Crack” with socially conscious optimism and streetwise grit. Rocker T also emerged from the early-’80s New York scene, embracing the dance halls and DJing, or selecting, at such esteemed New York clubs as the Lion’s Den. Rocker T’s half-chanted, half-sung vocals add a unique flavor to his songs, on which he plays a number of instruments (guitar, bass, melodica). For his more recent recordings, he’s added drum machines and samplers to the mix. Newcomer group Black Roots opens this eclectic edition of the Grand Emporium’s Wednesday reggae night. For more information, call 816-531-1504.