Kansas City Missouri

Music Hall

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Theatre enthusiasts never die, apparently.

Ill-mannered people don’t gain any new manners after they pass.

DESCRIPTION

The Kansas City Music Hall is described as being “a large proscenium theatre with a striking Streamline Modern interior that is still most impressive in 2018.”

Known as one of Kansas City’s “shining jewels,” the Kansas City Music Hall is a first class theatre with an auditorium and balconies which provide seating for 2,363, orchestra seating for 1,185, Loge and Box seating for 260, and Balcony seating for 918 patrons. The theatre has an impressive “orchestra pit, chorus dressing rooms, star dressing rooms, green room, and high-quality lighting and sound systems.”

The ’30s era decor inside is beautiful and impressive to behold. It features a spectacular 3,600-square-foot foyer and grand staircase. The walls and floors are made of Italian marble, which go along beautifully with the “magnificent floor-to-ceiling murals and elaborate art deco chandeliers.” (kcmo.org) The Music Hall’s Art Deco lighting fixtures are the inspiration for the Sky Stations atop Bartle Hall’s four pylons.

The Music Hall has a glorious, antique, 1927 pipe organ, originally used to provide background music for silent movies. The organ has an ivory and gold console, with more than 2,000 pipes, and has the ability to create a variety of special effects.

It was built by the Robert-Morton Organ Company of Van Nuys, CA, during the time when theatres were built like palaces.

Though it was first installed in 1935, at the height of the Great Depression, it wasn’t operational until the music hall agreed under pressure from the Kansas City government to allow a mutual use of the hall for the Robert-Morton’s rebirth.

HISTORY

It opened in 1936 as a glorious musical entertainment hall that was beautifully designed in the Streamline Moderne style, created by the architectural firm of Alonzo H. Gentry, Voskamp and Neville, with a mix of Art Deco architecture and architectural details.

The Kansas Music City Hall was created to be a spectacular place to go where one could escape the pain and troubles of this world and enjoy the performing arts in a first-rate theatre with all the bells and whistles of the time. The creativity of the architects has lasted many years with careful maintenance.

Throughout the years, The Kansas City Music Hall has always been maintained to be at its best, to remain relevant and successful as a performing stage location and never suffered a “long in the tooth” moment.

The lack of money to do small and big renovations has never been the case here. Massive overhaul projects are funded whenever they are needed.

Because they have always updated their facilities, The Music Hall has long offered a variety of the arts. They have presented “touring Broadway shows, as well as visiting symphony orchestras, opera and ballet companies, and other events. It was the main hall of the Kansas City Philharmonic for several decades.” (Theatre website)

HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS

People who have enjoyed a favorite place of entertainment, sometimes like to keep going there to enjoy the activities even in spirit form.

General Wayne Inn, PA (The spirits of Hessian soldiers who found the tavern a fun place to be while alive, continue to do so, finding new ways to entertain themselves).

The Harvard Exit Theater, WA (Former patrons now in spectral form love to come and see the films).

Stanley Theatre, NY (In the row of theatre seats not sold in the balcony on purpose, spectral theatre patrons have been seen sitting there to enjoy all the entertainment).

The Kansas Music City Hall, MO ( As there are no recorded deaths, suicides or murders committed in this building, one can assume from deduction or studying other theatre hauntings, the entities who come to enjoy the variety of performances now, loved coming to this theatre while alive and wish to continue to come and enjoy this piece of heaven found here).

MANIFESTATIONS

Spirits of Theatre Enthusiasts

These spectral patrons are wearing a variety of clothes styles from the 20th century.

Most of these theatre spectral enthusiasts are well-mannered, not wanting attention from the living, but have come to enjoy the performances.

Personal Appearances

All these spectral patrons make themselves visible to the living as they sit down in their seats.

Living patrons and perhaps some staff have noticed see-through theatre goers discreetly take empty seats near them to enjoy a musical production or concert.

The Rude Patron

There is one in every crowd, who thinks too highly of himself/herself.

The spirit of an older gentleman is dressed all in gray, with a fedora.

He isn’t quite as polite as the other spirits. Doesn’t mind scaring the living.

Stands in the middle of a row of seats and sits down, whether there is someone living already sitting in the seat or not.

His spirit only appears to women.

PARANORMAL FINDINGS

Many patrons and some staff have experienced both the polite theatre enthusiasts and the one spectral patron who insists on picking a seat, whether taken or not.

While no professional paranormal investigators have posted any hard evidence, a building manager did manage to photograph some interesting light anomalies that suggest the presence of spirits, but don’t necessarily prove their existence.

The manager had the personal experience of a Music Hall employee who was scared to death working in the Music Hall to the point of refusing to do so, even if she was fired. She may have seen the spirit of the older gentleman, not known for his manners.

STILL HAUNTED?

Probably so! The reports of so many personal experiences probably point to spectral theatre enthusiasts.

They still come to enjoy the performances perhaps to forget their issues for a while, which keep them from going to the other side. Or, perhaps they are just visiting.

LOCATION

301 W 13th St
Kansas City, Missouri 664105

The Kansas City Music Hall can be found in the Kansas City’s Art Deco Municipal Auditorium complex. It is one of 4 “versatile special event and banquet venues”:The Arena, the Exhibition Hall and The Little Theater. This massive Municipal Auditorium complex can’t be missed, unless your GPS gets the vapors, like ours did! Tom and I eventually found it just down a block or two from The Folly Theatre.

The Kansas City Music Hall, while sharing a wall on its right side with the Kansas City Municipal Auditorium, has its own entrance on the south side of 13th Street, complete with lighted marquee, and box office.

Patrons can also find their way to the entrance to the Music Hall through the Municipal Auditorium’s Grand Foyer, or from the Auditorium Plaza Garage, by way of what is described as “a beautiful underground walkway.”