Last week, this column previewed KC Restaurant Week, which began Friday and lasts through Jan. 25. In a line, the event features 150 restaurants in the area offering $15 lunch and $33 dinner options, with a full list of menus viewable at kcrestaurantweek.com.

Sometimes you just want to keep it simple, though, and just order a pizza. One of my all-time favorite places to do just that is Old Shawnee Pizza, which opened in Shawnee in 1969 (operating for many years as The Pizza Shoppe before leaving the franchise in 2003).

Old Shawnee Pizza serves a wide variety of specialty pizzas, sandwiches and pasta dishes, but I’ve honestly never ventured far beyond the dishes served on a large, round platter (along with a side salad, of course).

Old Shawnee Pizza is also a fun, family-friendly place to eat, with seating areas on three levels.

For small children, ask for a complimentary “finger bowl” (grated cheese, ham, pepperoni and crackers). Grown folks should check out the list of beers on tap, which include rotating taps and seasonal offerings. Cans of Tallgrass and bottles of Free State beer are only $3.50. Not bad at all.

The original Old Shawnee Pizza is at 61st Street and Nieman Road, and the second location is at 19617 W. 101st St. in Lenexa. Both restaurants are open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. View a full menu at shawneepizza.com.

‘Help Yourself’

On the performance calendar, a new play by local playwright and actor David Wayne Reed opens this weekend at Paragraph Gallery, 23 E. 12th St. in downtown Kansas City, Mo.

“Help Yourself” takes the audience through a weekend self-help seminar that promises to dramatically alter the lives of the participants. The play explores the industries of self-help, the nature of ambition and the aftermath of personal change.

Mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will perform with tenor Juan Diego Florez on Feb. 1 at the Kauffman Center.

“Help Yourself,” which is presented by The Charlotte Street Foundation, will be performed at 8 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays and 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 2. Tickets are $20 at helpyourself.brownpapertickets.com.

Classical music

At 7 p.m. Saturday, internationally acclaimed 24-year-old pianist Yun-Chin Zhou will be performing a free concert at the Folly Theater.

The concert is being presented by the Harriman-Jewell Series, and up to four complimentary tickets may be reserved by visiting hjseries.org.

Zhou will be performing selections from composers including Liszt, Ravel, Trenet and Rachmaninoff.

The following weekend at the Kauffman Center, mezzo-soprano superstar Joyce DiDonato and tenor Juan Diego Florez will headline the pinnacle event of the Harriman-Jewell series’ 50th season. The duo-recital will take place at 2 p.m. Feb. 1, and the program will include a variety of duets, arias and songs by Rossini, Donizetti, Pacini and Massenet.

Tickets for the gala concert start at $75, and a limited number are still for sale at hjseries.org.

Finally, the Kansas City Symphony is presenting two excellent programs over the next two weeks. From Jan. 23-25, associate conductor Aram Demirjian will take the podium to present Ravel’s “Rapsodie espagnole,” Debussy’s “La Mer,” and Rachmaninoff’s daunting Piano Concerto No. 3.

The following weekend, music director Michael Stern returns to lead the symphony in two dramatic works: Haydn’s Symphony No. 22, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. Stern brings a special energy to his presentations of Mahler’s masterpieces, so check out kcsymphony.org for available tickets.

Performances are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sunday afternoons.

— Lucas Wetzel is a writer and editor from Kansas City, Mo. Know of an upcoming event in Kansas City you’d like to see featured in Kansas City Connection? Email us about it at kcconnection@ljworld.com.