Venue: Starlight Theatre (Kansas City, Missouri)
Address: 4600 Starlight Road Kansas City, MO 64132
Town: Kansas City, US
Capacity: 7,739

Starlight Theatre is a 7,739-seat outdoor theater in Kansas City, Missouri, United States that presents Broadway shows and concerts. It is one of the two major remaining self-producing outdoor theatres in the U.S. and Starlight's Cohen stagehouse also permits it to present many national Broadway touring shows. Starlight Theatre's history starts in 1925, the year Romania’s Queen Marie paid a visit to Kansas City. To celebrate her arrival, the Kansas City Federation of Music organized a showcase of local talent for the Queen that was also open to the public. Profits from the showcase were then placed in the city trust and proposals for the location of Kansas City’s outdoor theater began. One suggested site was where Kansas City Art Institute now stands, but area residents disapproved of building such a large structure in their neighborhood. Another possible location was just north of University of Missouri-Kansas City, although these plans were also shelved because officials feared the theater would compete with the newly completed Municipal Auditorium. After 15 years of proposals, the need for a venue to house celebrations commemorating Kansas City’s 100th birthday sped up the process. A committee was quickly chosen, Swope Park was deemed the location, and construction began in December 1949. On June 3rd, 1950, in a facility not yet fully complete, the historical revue, Thrills of a Century, opened at Starlight Theatre in celebration of Kansas City’s 100th birthday. The show played nightly through July 10. Hundreds of local citizens participated in the pageant, and thousands turned out each night. Show highlights included the staging of the Battle of Westport, and the original locomotive that crossed the Hannibal Bridge 81 years before chugging across the stage on specially built rails. Following the success of Thrills of a Century, the Starlight Theatre Association of Kansas City, Inc., was formed as a 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization. John A. Moore was elected as th