Tag Archives: Next Fall

ROCKing the TONY AWARDS – Billy Joel and Elton John

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Rock the Tonys

Joel and John in photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com

Joel and John in photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com

BILLY JOEL and ELTON JOHN

Little Rock Connection: Both have performed in Little Rock over the years.  In 1995, they played a joint concert at War Memorial Stadium which brought in $1.6 million. An additional Little Rock connection for Joel – who’s birthday is today – is in his song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” there are references to South Pacific (which had a fictional Little Rock heroine), Little Rock resident Winthrop Rockefeller, and the 1957 integration crisis at Little Rock Central High.

Tony Awards Connection: Billy Joel won a Tony Award for his orchestrations of Movin’ Out which featured his songs as a backdrop of dances choreographed by Twyla Tharp.  Elton John won a Tony Award for his score to Aida.  He has received additional Tony nominations for The Lion King and Billy Elliot for Best Score.  He additionally was a producer of Best Play nominee Next Fall.

NEXT FALL this spring at Weekend Theater

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The next offering of the Weekend Theater opens this Friday evening.  Geoffrey Nauffts’ Next Fall is a charming, heart-warming, gut-wrenching look at relationships, religion, and the choices we all have to make in our lives. It and runs Fridays and Saturdays through April 21. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $16 for general admission and $12 for seniors age 65 and older as well as students. Tickets can be purchased at www.weekendtheater.org or, based on availability, at the door. Reservations are no longer taken by phone; for more information only call (501) 374-3761.

“These are real people, but they’re also bigger than life,” says director Ralph Hyman about the play, which he describes as a “comical tragedy.” He saw it during its initial Broadway run and was captivated by the conflicts raised in the script – fundamentalism versus atheism, parents versus children, the family we make versus the one we’re born into.

The cast includes Harold Dean, Jackson Stewart, Hannah Blackburn-Parish, Ryan Whitfield, Allison Pace and Byron Taylor.