This month’s musical guest for 2nd Friday Art Night at the Old State House Museum will be Runaway Planet, the 2019 Bluegrass Artist of the Year winner at the Arkansas Country Music Awards!
You’ll love the sound of the band’s unique “mix of hard-driving bluegrass, three-part harmonies, complex arrangements and original songs.”
Free Admission!
Join Historic Arkansas Museum for a preview of “Sleepy Hollow” presented by Ballet Arkansas.
The multimedia ballet, designed in collaboration with the creative team at Cranford Co., features projected video and photo backdrops filmed at HAM. This unique take on Washington Irving’s classic tale combines the beauty of visual art with breathtaking original choreography by Executive and Artistic Director, Michael Fothergill, and local scenery. Come experience a first look of the first production of Ballet Arkansas’ 41st season, and enjoy a Q/A with the choreographer after the preview.
In addition to the ballet performance…
🍂 Autumn activities on the Historic Grounds
🎶 Live music by The Marchese Hendricks Project
🧼 Sawmill Gap Mercantile in the Museum Store highlighting a selection of their products
The reception is sponsored by the Historic Arkansas Museum Foundation, with special thanks to 107 Liquor. Beverages and appetizers will be served in the Stella Boyle Smith Atrium including beer from Stone’s Throw Brewing. The exhibits and reception are free and open to the public.
Little Rock’s cultural organizations THRIVE on community outreach programs. Below are just a few examples of organizations going out into the community or bringing community members to them. So many more photos could have been shown.
Ballet Arkansas performing at a school as a preview for an upcoming performance.
Students participating in the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s Petting Zoo giving them a chance to play musical instruments. This event took place in conjunction with the Museum of Discovery.
Mentors and participants in the Arkansas Cinema Society’s Filmmaking Lab for Teen Girls. Two films written, directed, designed, edited, and scored by these teenage female filmmakers were shown at ACS’s 2019 Filmland.
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre has student matinees for most of its productions. Here are just a few of the students who have attended in 2019. For many of them, a trip to the Rep is the first live theatre they have seen.
In a triple partnership, ACANSA Arts Festival of the South, Little Rock’s Arts+Culture Commission and the Central Arkansas Library System sponsored a free opening night art exhibit in September which drew hundreds of people of all ages.
The Arkansas Arts Center’s Super Sunday Family Free Fun Day is a monthly program offering free arts activities for children. While the MacArthur Park location is closed, it will be at the CALS Hillary Clinton Children’s Library. Next one is October 13.
Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s production of Million Dollar Quartet will wrap up its extended this Sunday, October 13. Tickets are available online at TheRep.org or by calling the Box Office at (501) 378-0405.
Million Dollar Quartet, a Tony Award-winning smash hit Broadway musical, is the current production in The Rep’s 2019 Season.
Based on the book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux, Million Dollar Quartet chronicles the epic 1956 recording session of young rock ‘n roll stars Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins.
“It’s more than just a jukebox musical,” said Director Hunter Foster. “It’s a dramatic play. But, the music is still the star and by the end people are usually dancing in the aisles.”
Showcased hit songs include “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “Walk the Line,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Hound Dog,” and more.
“All the music that audiences will hear is actually being played by the actors,” Foster said. “Most audiences can’t believe they are playing because they are so good! We’re bringing some of the best actor/musicians in the country to Arkansas.”
The Arkansas Rep cast includes Trent Rowland (Elvis Presley), Bill Scott Sheets (Johnny Cash), Skye Scott (Carl Perkins), Brandyn Day (Jerry Lee Lewis), Karack Osborn (Sam Phillips), Alyssa Gardner (Dyanne), Brian Wolverton (Jay Perkins) and David W. Lincoln (W.S. “Fluke” Holland).
The design and creative team includes Lauren T. Roark, costume designer; Erin Reed, associate costume designer; Adam Koch, set designer; Steven Royal, associate set designer; James Barry, music supervisor; Kirk Bookman, original lighting designer; Steve O’Shea, lighting designer; and Luke Mitchell, sound designer. The stage manager is Colin JB and Merit Glover is the assistant stage manager.
Tickets start at $20. Discounts are available for full-time students, season subscribers, seniors and military personnel. For complete information, visit TheRep.org.
Tickets
May be purchased online at TheRep.org, by phone at (501) 378-0405 or by visiting the Box Office at 601 Main Street in Little Rock. Performances run now through Oct. 13.
Little Rock has a thriving music scene from jazz to blues to r&b to rock to soul to gospel to, well, you name it.
For over 50 years, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has been playing a pivotal role in that scene. While they play programs that are largely classical music, they also incorporate many different styles of music into their offerings. Last night, they played a concert with Tony and Grammy winner Heather Headley which spanned numerous musical genres. The ASO is led by Interim Music Director Geoffrey Robson and Executive Director Christina Littlejohn.
Incorporated in 1966, the ASO now performs more than 60 concerts per season, which includes the Masterworks and Pops Concerts. In addition, the orchestra has a Chamber Series, River Rhapsodies, at the Clinton Presidential Center, ASO, I.N.C.: Intimate Neighborhood Concerts, and a busy schedule of statewide touring and educational performances in numerous venues, along with collaborations with Ballet Arkansas and the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Integral to the ASO’s activities are its resident string quartets, the Rockefeller and Quapaw Quartet; The ASO Brass Quintet, ASO Big Band, and the Arkansas Symphony Youth Ensembles, which comprises two string-only ensembles and two full orchestras. Through ASO education programs over 40,000 children each year experience the magic of music.
Distinguished guest artists including Bill Clinton, Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Mignon Dunn, Marilyn Horn, Andre Watts, Maureen McGovern, Bernadette Peters, Maya Angelou, and Doc Severinsen, among others, have appeared in concert with the orchestra in Arkansas.
Comprised of the state’s most sought after professional musicians, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra is heard by more than 165,000 Arkansans each year, and consistently plays to high critical praise.
Join South on Main for an evening of reggae, soul and gospel with Katrice “Butterfly” Newbill. Show begins at 9 pm. Tickets are $12 cover day of show. Tickets do not guarantee you a seat. Please call (501) 244-9660 to reserve a table.
Butterfly has been singing professionally for over 35 years both local and abroad.She is known for her vocal range, diversity and energy. Currently residing in Little Rock after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, she regrouped and started over and losing most of her immediate family right before and shortly after Katrina. Needless to say it has been some of the hardest times imaginable but music is her therapy and way to express and so she does it with a passion!
Butterfly started singing about the age of 7 when her Father (a producer for CBS Records) and Mother realized her singing ability and vocal range to hit Minnie Rippleton notes and encouraged her to do talent shows to develop her craft and lose the shyness of performing in front of people.By the age of 12, she was in her first band Fantasia and The Fantasy Connection.They were known for there harmony and original material. By the age of 19 she was introduced to a local Reggae DJ who not only exposed her to Reggae but thru her first Reggae Concert at a local popular club in which her name Butterfly was born.
She joined her first Reggae Band, The Brothers Crucial and went from background vocalist to a feature vocalist.Shortly thereafter a spin off from that band and she became one of the lead vocalist for The Revealors Band.It was time for something new and different so she began the group all-female group the Irie Dawta’s who toured and became a hit. As a result she has opened for several artists inclusive of Pato Banton, Shaggy, Burning Spear, Ziggy Marley, SteelPulse, Eeka Mouse,The Wailers, Chante Moore, and many more while touring and being one of the headliners forTheBob Marley Fest that traveled to different states.
Some of her other credentials include singing professional background for Chairmaine Neville, Irma Thomas, Ndea Davenport (Brand New Heavies), Pato Banton besides singing on various rappers albums, movie soundtracks such as featured originals on the Fox Series Dark Angel, a recording with Iris May Tango featuring George Clinton , Charmaine Neville’s Mardi GrasAlbum, Live on Frenchmen Compilation CD ,Judah Clan Productions , and several other recordings. She also has done features with New Orleans Opera Association along with various stage plays.She is a songwriter, producer and event organizer and great in production behind the scenes.
So when you come to a Butterfly show expect a little bit of everything from belting out a Prince tune, Reggae joint,RB, Gospel, NOLA 2nd line, Old School or some Original. Butterfly is also currently working on her project that will feature a wide variety of music. Her mission is to give her testimony and spread love, healing and unity thru her performances.
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents A Broadway Evening with Heather Headley, Saturday, October 5th at 7:30 p.m. in the Robinson Center. The ASO is proud to collaborate with Headley and her special guest, NBC’s The Voice finalist, Chris Mann. Headley and Mann will be joined on stage by the Parkview High School Lab Singers and Madrigals in Little Rock for one night only.
From her role as Broadway’s original Nala in The Lion King and her Tony Award-winning role as Aida in Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida to her recurring role as Gwen Garrett on NBC’s Chicago Med, Headley is one of the most talented artists of this generation. In 2016 she returned to the Broadway stage as Shug Avery in the Tony Award-winning revival of The Color Purple.
Headley will perform selections from The Lion King and Aida as well as selections from Broadway favorites like “For Good” from the award-winning musical, Wicked and “My House” from Matilda. Headley will also perform selections from classic hits like “Amazing Grace” and Elton John’s “Your Song” for a well-rounded musical evening.
Tickets are $19, $39, $59, and $79 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Robinson Center street-level box office beginning 90 minutes prior to the concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 