Category Archives: Theatre

Fall in Love with New York City at Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert

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Music from the Big Apple dominates the “Valentines in New York” Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Pops performance. Hear beloved hits from the stage with featured soloists Tony nominated Melissa Errico (My Fair Lady, Amour, High Society, Finian’s Rainbow) and Ryan Silverman (The Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Cry-Baby, Music in the Air). The orchestra will be under the baton of associate conductor Geoffrey Robson.

Saturday is the the 281st birthday of the City that Never Sleeps.  What better way to celebrate it Gotham than by hearing tunes by Frank Loesser, Jerry Herman, Burton Lane & Yip Harburg, George and Ira Gershwin, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse & Lee Adams among others? Joining these great songs and talented singers will be the talented musicians of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

The concert is at 8pm tonight and 3pm tomorrow afternoon at Robinson Center Music Hall.

Errico

Silverman

Wildwood’s LANTERNS continues tonight

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LANTERNS!, Arkansas’ only deep-winter outdoor festival, illuminates Little Rock for a fourth year of family fun and glowing entertainment. Admission includes live entertainment, family activities and a cultural experience like no other in Central Arkansas!  The event concludes tonight from 6pm to 10pm.

LANTERNS! celebrates the first full moon of the lunar year with a variety of indoor and outdoor entertainment. Visitors will take a mystical stroll along paved pathways lit by fire pits and luminaries into Wildwood’s winter woodlands to visit eight cultures around the globe.

From Asia to the Moon, LANTERNS!, is a magical evening designed to delight children and adults alike. This year’s vistas include:

  • China: the Lunar New Year celebrations in this country are the inspiration for the entire festival!
  • Paris: featuring FREE performances of dance (with Ballet Arkansas!), french art song and more on stage in the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre, as well as dessert crepes and champagne for purchase in the lobbies
  • Rio de Janeiro: featuring delicious edibles for purchase from Cafe Bossa Nova, live Bossa Nova music and dancing!
  • India: featuring tasty delights for purchase from Star of India Restaurant and fabulous mango smoothies from Tropical Smoothie Cafe.
  • Shakespeare’s England: featuring fabulous performances by the Arkansas Shakespeare Festival and food for purchase, including Lear’s (Turkey) Legs!
  • Venice: featuring wishing lanterns and splendid desserts for purchase!
  • American Baseball: featuring giveaways from the Arkansas Travelers, baseball games on the radio and hot dogs for purchase from Little Rock favorite Hot Dog Mike!
  • and even The Moon!

General Admission:
$10.00 for adults
$5.00 for children ages 6 to 12
FREE for children ages 5 and under

Member Pricing:
$5.00 for adults
FREE for children 12 and under
Find out More about Membership!

Arkansas Rep’s TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

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Scout, Jem, Atticus, Calpurnia and Boo Radley come to life as the Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents the stage version of Harper Lee’s classic To Kill a Mockingbird. This deceptively simple episodic tale of life in the South was adapted for the stage by Christopher Sergel. All of the drama and humor from the novel and subsequent movie are found in the stage version as well.

Arkansas Rep’s Producing Artistic Director Bob Hupp directs this production.  After previews, opening night is Friday, January 27; the production runs through February 12.

John Feltch portrays the noble Atticus Finch with Abby Shourd and Damon McKinnis as his children. Others in the cast include Spencer Davis, Laura E. Johnston, John-Patrick Driscoll, Lawrence Hamilton, Michael Jones, Sam Kitchin, Kathy McCafferty, Jason Collins, Briana Pozner, Alanna Hamill Newton, Verda Davenport, Jackie Stewart, and Tricia H. Spione.  Will Frueauff and Julia Landfair understudy the children’s roles.

The creative team for this production includes Mike Nichols (scenery), Marianne Custer (costumes), Michael J. Eddy (lighting), Matt Duvall (properties) and M. Jason Pruzin (sound).

Goldilocks and Red Riding Hood take stage at Ark Arts Center

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Bears, a Wolf, and Fun are along for the journey

The Arkansas Arts Center Children’s Theatre will present Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood January 20 – February 5, 2012. Performances are held Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood take the stage together in this exciting musical production. These two classic stories are told by a friendly, ever‐present quartet of singers that perform fun and catchy tunes written by Children’s Theatre composer Lori Isner.

“In this adaptation of Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood, we have approached these two very old stories in a new and fresh way,” said Artistic Director Bradley Anderson. “We have used music as a way to make the wolf and bears less threatening and more, well, just plain humorous. The musical element of our adaptation is more than just a silly way to tell some once‐scary stories. Rather, it gives the play a universal appeal and is a delight for audiences of all ages.”

Rachel Haislip is the flaxen-haired heronie and Katherine Campbell is the crimson-clad leading lady.  Others in the cast include Josh Rice, Anna Holman, Mark Hansen, Mattingly Bartole, Aleigh Morton and Nate Buursma.

Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood is adapted by Bradley Anderson with music by Lori Isner.  Alan Keith Smith directed and designed the scenery for the production.  Others on the creative team include Miranda Young (props), Erin Larkin (costumes) and Adam Britt (lighting).

Tickets are $14 for adults and $11 for children. Call 501-372-4000 or visit http://www.arkarts.com

Clinton School next week features filmmaker, Rep play

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The University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service speaker series brings a wide variety of engaging speakers to Little Rock throughout the year.  For example, next week features an Ambassador and a World Food Prize Laureate.

Two of the programs next week have a cultural bent.

On Monday, January 23 at 6:00pm, Louie Psihoyos will discuss “The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Construction.  He is director of the 2009 Oscar winning film for best documentary, “The Cove,” which uncovers how a small seaside village in Japan serves as a microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide.

At the Clinton School, Psihoyos will discuss the importance of using art to inspire activism and show clips from his next eco-thriller about the sixth mass extinction on Earth. The new film will feature Scientist Roger Payne, who declares that in the near future all the famines and world wars experienced by humanity will be a footnote compared to the destruction humanity is creating on the planet.
Fittingly, the Clinton School will host the Academy Award winner the night before this year’s Oscar nominations are announced.  The day after the Oscar nominations come out, the Clinton School will feature a program about a stage adaptation of an Oscar winning film.
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre is producing the stage version of Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird (which won Oscars when it was made into a film).  On Wednesday, January 25 at 12 noon, Arkansas Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Bob Hupp will host the cast of The Rep’s upcoming production of the play for a panel discussion.
Hupp and the cast will discuss the history of the famous novel, its compelling themes of compassion, justice, integrity and courage and their work to bring the story to The Rep stage. As it is told through the eyes of Scout, the tomboyish young daughter of small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, it becomes clear that To Kill a Mockingbird is a love story: a father’s love for his children, their love for him and a love for the South.
Both programs will take place at Sturgis Hall.   Reservations can be made by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.

Shakespeare’s South

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In partnership with the Arkansas Shakespeare Theater, acclaimed writers Graham Gordy, Trenton Lee Stewart, and Warwick Sabin will bring Shakespeare to the South for a very special Tales from the South on Tuesday evening, January 17, 2012, with stories centered around finding themselves, others, and even the South in the Bard. The live taping of the radio series will be at Starving Artist Café in the Argenta Arts District, Downtown North Little Rock. Live music by The Salty Dogs.

Doors open at 5pm, dinner is served 5pm-6:30pm and the show starts at 7pm. Tickets are $5 for the show, plus the cost of dinner. Seating is very limited. Tickets can be purchased online at www.talesfromthesouth.com.

“Tales from the South” is recorded on Tuesdays during “Dinner and a Show” at Starving Artist Café. The show airs locally on KUAR Thursdays at 7pm and is syndicated by World Radio Network, a satellite radio distribution service, available to more than 130 million listeners worldwide. Shows are also distributed nationwide to multiple public radio stations by PRX (Public Radio Exchange). Podcasts are available on ITunes, the NPR website, the KUAR website, the PRX website, and the “Tales from the South” website.

“Tales from the South” is presented by the Argenta Arts Foundation, with AY Magazine as the official media sponsor, publishing a story each month in the magazine. Additional support provided by William F. Laman Public Library, the North Little Rock Visitor’s Bureau and The Oxford American Magazine.

Weekend Theater: LARAMIE PROJECT, TEN YEARS LATER

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In the wake of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, playwright/director Moises Kaufman and several colleagues visited the site of the crime.  The outcome of their interviews was the performance piece The Laramie Project, which the Weekend Theater presented a few seasons back.

In 2008, Kaufman and colleagues revisited Laramie and revisited some of the interviewees. They also conducted interviews with new people who had been involved in the 1998 incident, including two of young men who attacked and killed Shepard. The result of these interviews was The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later.

Duane Jackson, who directed the Weekend Theater’s production of the previous play, helms this production.  The cast includes David Anderson, Johnnie Brannon, Alan Douglas, Jeremy Estill, Julie Atkins, Sally Graham, Regi Ott, and Roben Sullivant.  Each actor portrays a variety of characters in this tale of a town and an entire nation.

The production opens on Friday, January 13 and plays the next three weekends.  Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Jan. 28. Tickets, $16 for general admission and $12 for students and seniors age 65 and over can be reserved by calling (501) 374-3761 or online at www.weekendtheater.org.

Sponsors for this production are Canvas Community Church, Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church, Open Door Community Church, and New Beginnings Church of Central Arkansas.