Starlight Theatre announces $40M renovation, with a new feature to expand showtimes

Eric Adler
·3 min read

Expect for it to be just a tad harder to see actual starlight at Starlight Theatre in coming years. Of course, those theatergoers also won’t get rained on or seared in the summer sun.

On Monday morning, leaders of the outdoor amphitheater that has served Kansas City for 73 years announced the beginning of a $40 million capital improvements campaign, of which $24 million has already been raised from major donors.

Part of that money is set to go toward the construction of a giant, arching and opaque canopy to span the theater’s front 3,200 seats — 40% of its nearly 8,000 — protecting patrons attending concerts and musicals from the rain and sun and, on baking summer days, allowing the theater to provide more afternoon performances.

Construction is expected to begin in the fall of 2024.

Rendering of the canopy at Starlight Theatre, which will cover the front 3,200 seats in the outdoor venue, allowing for more matinee performances out of the sun. Construction is slated to start in 2024.
Rendering of the canopy at Starlight Theatre, which will cover the front 3,200 seats in the outdoor venue, allowing for more matinee performances out of the sun. Construction is slated to start in 2024.

“The biggest reason,” Lindsey Rood-Clifford, Starlight’s president and chief executive officer, told The Star, “is that it allows us to expand programming. Right now, when we have, for example, a Broadway tour that comes through. When you have a week of Broadway, you pay for eight shows. We may only present six of them because nobody wants to sit outside in July at 2 o’clock for a matinee.

“So the canopy structure will allow us to have matinee programming, which is something we continue to hear is what people want — especially families with young children and seniors.”

In the evenings, visitors can always peek beyond the canopy to see the stars.

Of the first $24 million already raised, $5 million came from the Sunderland Foundation, $2.5 million from the Hall Family Foundation, $3 million from city of Kansas City, with other major gifts coming from the William T. Kemper Foundation and Morgan Charitable Foundation.

Rood-Clifford said $4 million of the money raised will also go into expanded programming.

Rendering of a new canopy to span the front 3,200 of Starlight Theatre’s nearly 8,000 seats in Swope Park. The canopy is part of a $40 million capital improvements campaign.
Rendering of a new canopy to span the front 3,200 of Starlight Theatre’s nearly 8,000 seats in Swope Park. The canopy is part of a $40 million capital improvements campaign.

Construction of the canopy, along with other major improvements, will come in two phases.

Phase 1: The canopy, along with a new production truss and light bridge for the stage.

Phase 2: Restrooms on the west side will be renovated and tripled in capacity. Starlight’s kitchen for food and beverage services will be renovated and expanded.

Construction is expected to be completed by April 2026, some 75 years after Starlight’s first performance in 1951.

“So just in time for our 75th anniversary and the World Cup,” Rood-Clifford said.

Starlight, in Swope Park, has seen numerous improvements over the years. In 2017, the theater began streaming its Broadway productions on large LED screens installed on both sides of the stage. Giant cooling fans, standing 35 feet tall and blowing air at 4 miles per hour, were installed in 2018.

Beginning in 2005, the theater expanded restrooms, added an indoor air-conditioned rehearsal space and, in 2007, enclosed the theater’s north lawn, creating two open-air pavilions and the Anita B. Gorman Court of Honor. The court recognizes major donors and the service of Gorman, who was the first woman to be named to the Kansas City Park and Recreation Board of Commissioner and served as its president.

Starlight Theatre’s $40 million capital campaign includes a canopy over its front 3,200 seats, a truss, light bar, renovated bathrooms and renovated food service kitchen.
Starlight Theatre’s $40 million capital campaign includes a canopy over its front 3,200 seats, a truss, light bar, renovated bathrooms and renovated food service kitchen.

Starlight each year also hosts the area Blue Star Star Awards, modeled on Broadway’s Tony Awards, recognizing the highest achievements in musical theater among some 4,000 students in 50-plus high schools across the Kansas City area.

Local performers have gone on to professional careers, including Justin Cooley, a 2021 graduate of Olathe East High School, who this year was nominated for a Tony Award for best actor in a feature role in the Broadway production of “Kimberly Akimbo.”