Untapped salutes hoofers of the Silver Screen tonight

10007062_622178127889071_3909342397882190187_nTonight at the Ron Robinson Theater at 7:15.  Untapped presents Legends of Rhythm.

Join Arkansas’ only professional tap company for a night of entertainment as they take you back in time, highlighting and profiling some of the biggest legends in tap dance history through reenactments and tributes to iconic routines from movies and television.

Audiences will experience the styles of Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, Shirley Temple, The Sandman, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Vera Ellen, Gregory Hines, & more!

TICKETS SOLD AT: Footlights Dance Store, Shuffles & Ballet II, Rock City Dance Center, Dance Dynamics, and Studio One Dance.
*Or email untappedlittlerock@gmail.com to reserve tickets at will call.
Tickets are $20, open seating.

Pay a call on THE ADDAMS FAMILY at the Weekend Theater

twt-Addams-FamilyCue the finger snaps and help the Weekend Theater kick off their 2015-2016 season with the ghoulishly fun Tony nominated musical The Addams Family.  Based on the Charles Addams cartoons and incorporating aspects of the 1960s TV series, this original musical is by the authors of Jersey Boys and The Wild Party.

Two families with vastly divergent cultures, mores, and expectations collide when the Addams hosts a dinner for Wednesday Addams’ “normal” boyfriend and his parents. Trust and fear, love and truth, acceptance and forgiveness are just a few things on the menu in this magnificently macabre new musical comedy created by Jersey Boys authors, Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice and Drama Desk Award winner, Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party).

The cast is led by Drew Ellis, Claudia Moskova Cremeens, Mackenzie Holtzclaw, Victor Basco, Dahren White, Ryan Whitfield, and Xavier Jones as the Addams household.  The guests are played by James West, Kristin Marts and Ethan Patterson.  Rounding out the cast are Emma Boone, Chloe Clement, Brian Earles, Kelsey Ivory, and Payton Justice.

The production is directed by Tom Crone with music direction by Lori Isner.  The show runs through July 28.  Performances are at 7:30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and at 2:30 on Sunday afternoons.  On Friday, June 19 the curtain time is 8pm.

 

Selections from GUYS AND DOLLS tonight at South on Main for Local Live

llsom guysanddollsLuck will be a Lady tonight as songs from Frank Loesser’s Tony winning Guys and Dolls are highlighted!

This week’s installment of our Local Live concert series features The Muses! Presented by the Oxford American magazine, Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent and is always free and open to the public. Call ahead to South on Main to make your reservations and ensure a table: (501) 244-9660. Local Live is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Ben and Jane Hunt Meade.

Join The Muses for a special evening of tunes from the classic musical Guys and Dolls. Featuring a combination of local and national artists, including singers Daleen Davidson, Jeanne Bennett, Scott Lindroth, and Stacey Murdock, with pianist Gloria Kim.

This is a special preview show for the full staged production of Guys and Dolls, by Frank Loesser, June 12, 13, and 14 at the Muses Cultural Arts Center in Hot Springs (428 Orange Street). For more information, visit www.themusesproject.org.

GHOSTBUSTERS scares up the fun at tonight’s Movies in the Park

MITP061015 ghostbWho you gonna call? Thanks to tonight’s sponsor the Clinton School for Public Service, Ghostbusters!

Little Rock’s own Movies in the Park, brought to you by the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and the City of Little Rock, continues its 11th annual season tonight, Wednesday, June 10 at the First Security Amphitheatre.

Movies are shown every Wednesday during the season and begin at sundown.

Ghostbusters is a 1984 action comedy thriller. Directed and produced by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City who start a ghost-catching business. Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis co-star as a client and her neighbor. Others in the cast include Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, William Atherton, Alice Drummond and Reginald VelJohnson.

Families, picnics and pets are invited to the park to enjoy movies under the stars, no glass containers please. A parent or adult guardian must accompany all children and youth under the age of 18 and an ID is required. The amphitheater will open an hour before film showings and movies will start at sundown each week. For more information please visit http://moviesintheparklr.net.

Little Rock Look Back: FDR in LR

FDR Ark100On June 10, 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt visited Little Rock as part of a day-long series of appearances in conjunction with the Arkansas Centennial celebration.  (The actual statehood dates is June 15.)

His day started in Memphis before he journeyed by train to Hot Springs. After events there that morning and lunch at Couchwood (his longtime friend Harvey Couch was chairman of the Centennial celebration).  He then traveled to Rockport and Malvern for appearances before arriving in Little Rock.  He made his remarks at the State Fairgrounds in a structure called “Centennial Stadium.”

Following his remarks, which officially kicked off the six month Arkansas Centennial celebration, he retired to Senator Joseph T. Robinson’s house on South Broadway.  He dined with the Robinsons in the house before departing with the Senator at 8:45 that evening.  The Presidential entourage then journeyed to Texas for the next day.

Little Rock Look Back: Truman visits LR

HST in LR2On June 10 and 11, 1949, President Harry S. Truman visited Little Rock.  He was here to participate in activities connected to the reunion of the 35th Division Association.  He had served in that division during World War I.

While he was in Little Rock, President Truman spoke several times.  He generally was accompanied by Governor Sid McMath and Mayor Sam Wassell.

On June 10, he spoke at Robinson Auditorium as part of a welcome ceremony, at a reception at the Hotel Marion and at a ball held at Robinson Auditorium.  His first address was at 3:48 pm and his final one was at 10:15 pm.  The next day he spoke at a breakfast and at a luncheon at the Hotel Marion.  He took pains at these times to stress he was here as a member of the 35th Division.  He also participated in a parade.

In his Presidential role, he spoke at the dedication of War Memorial Park on June 11.  His address took place inside War Memorial Stadium, which had been opened a few months earlier.  It was not a brief dedicatory speech, but instead was a lengthy treatise on foreign affairs.  The address was carried on nationwide radio.  The text of his address can be found here.

President Truman would return to Little Rock in July 1952.  He was in the state to speak at the dedication of Bull Shoals Dam. He did not make any formal remarks in Little Rock while in the city for that visit.

 

69th Tony Awards wrap up (published on 6/9)

Tony Tony TonyThe 69th Tony Awards have been distributed. The medallions have been spun. Producers are already starting to think about their shows for the 70th ceremony in June 2016. And actors are auditioning for the next jobs.

While Little Rock’s Will Trice did not personally pick up another Tony this year, two of the Tony winners were for shows he produced.  Annaleigh Ashford won the Tony for Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in You Can’t Take It with You.  Christopher Oram won the Tony for Costume Design of a Play for Wolf Hall, Part One and Two.  Catherine Zuber, who won a Tony for her costume design of The King and I will be working with Trice next season on a production of Fiddler on the Roof.

One of the Tony Awards went to Bob Crowley and 59 Productions for Scenic Design of a Musical for An American in Paris.  Ben Pearcy is the American representative of 59 Productions.  Ben’s father grew up in Little Rock, and his grandmother Janet Pearcy was a longtime supporter of Wildwood, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Arkansas Rep.   One of Ben’s first Broadway projects was on the lighting design team of the Broadway revival of Chicago which earned him a mention from Ken Billington in his Tony acceptance speech.

Time will tell, but undoubtedly some of the titles nominated for Tonys will eventually be performed in Little Rock either at the Rep, on tour courtesy of Celebrity Attractions, or as part of one of the seasons of one of the volunteer theatre seasons. This month, on stage in Little Rock are 2008 Tony winning Best Play August: Osage County at the Rep, 2009 Tony nominee 9 to 5 at Community Theatre of Little Rock and 2010 Tony nominee The Addams Family.

A couple of more Little Rock connections to Sunday’s ceremony.  Nick Jonas, who appeared at the Clinton Center 10th anniversary concert, was one of the presenters at the ceremony. Darren Criss, who attended the Clinton Center 10th anniversary events, hosted a red-carpet preview program.

I went 19 for 24 in my predictions.

The ones I got right:

Play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Simon Stephens

Revival of a PlaySkylight

Revival of a Musical – The King and I

Actor, PlayAlex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Actress, Play – Helen Mirren, The Audience

Actor, MusicalMichael Cerveris, Fun Home

Featured Actress, Play – Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It with You

Direction, PlayMarianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Direction, MusicalSam Gold, Fun Home

ChoreographyChristopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Book of a MusicalLisa Kron, Fun Home

Original ScoreJeanine Tesori & Lisa Kron, Fun Home

OrchestrationsChristopher Austin, Don Sebesky, Bill Elliott, An American in Paris

Scenic Design, PlayBunny Christie & Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Scenic Design, MusicalBob Crowley & 59 Productions, An American in Paris

Costume Design, PlayChristopher Oram, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two

Costume Design, MusicalCatherine Zuber, The King and I

Lighting Design, PlayPaule Constable, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Lighting Design, MusicalNatasha Katz, An American in Paris

 

I missed:

Musical – Fun Home (I picked An American in Paris)

Actress, Musical – Kelli O’Hara, The King and I (I picked Kristen Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century)

Featured Actor, Play – Richard McCabe, The Audience (I picked Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall, Parts One and Two)

Featured Actor, Musical – Christian Borle, Something Rotten! (I picked Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century)

Featured Actress, Musical – Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I (I picked Judy Kuhn, Fun Home)