Tag Archives: Nicole Capri

Final Weekend to go SINGIN’ ON A STAR

Posted on by

Tonight at 7 and tomorrow at 2 and 7 are the final three times to catch the Arkansas Rep Young Artist production of Singin’ on a Star. The show is all about the actor’s journey from stardust to stardom, set to a toe-tapping soundtrack of modern song selections from the top pop charts and the Great White Way.

The production is directed by Nicole Capri, who is the Rep’s Resident Director and Director of Education.  Karen Q. Clark serves as Music Director.  Choreography is provided by Capri, Stacy Hawking, Marisa Kirby and Stephen K. Stone.  The design team includes Mike Nichols (sets), Shelly Hall (costumes), Dan Kimble (lighting), Lynda J. Kwallek (props) and Allan Branson (sound).

The cast is composed of of over 50 junior high and high school students who will literally fill the stage with their acting, singing and dancing.  They include: Skylar Bartlett, Cross Brandon, Matthew Carey, Calvin Chester, Cayla Christian, Jacob Clanton, Drew Clark, Andrew Curzon, Drew Dame, Spencer Davis, Anna Bliss Dean, C.J. Fowler, Jennifer Fuller, Melody Garrett, Zach Graham, Kayla Gray, Katie Greer, Christian Hickingbotham, Matthew Hugg, Sydney Ippolito, Mary Kate Jackson, Grace Jackson, Nia Jackson, Jackson James and Dalton Johnson.

Others in the cast include Riley Knight, Bailey Lamb, Julia Landfair, Maddie Lentz, Malik Marshall, Cass Martin, Annie McCurdy, Damon McKinnis, Elena McKinnis, Helen Melhorn, Henry Melhorn, Ella Moody, Angela  Morgan, Michael Myers, Annie Niswanger, Yasmin Newman, Caroline Osborn, Adrianne Owings, Cassidy Ratliff, Marina Redlich, Molly Russ, Kennedy Sample, Sterling Saul, Allie Scott, Jake Scott, Abby Shourd, Heidi Sohl, Alyssa Sowers, Sheffield Spence, Shelby Spooner, Mary Katelin Ward, Mia Waymack, Jhonika Wright and Charl Young.

For some observations from one of the summer performances of this production, click here.

Ark Rep’s Young Artists go “Singin’ on a Star” this week

Posted on by

This past summer, the Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive (SMTI) presented workshops of Singin’ on a Star.  This week, the final version of Singin’ on a Star opens for a two week run on the Rep’s stage.

The show is all about the actor’s journey from stardust to stardom, set to a toe-tapping soundtrack of modern song selections from the top pop charts and the Great White Way.

The production is directed by Nicole Capri, who is the Rep’s Resident Director and Director of Education.  Karen Q. Clark serves as Music Director.  Choreography is provided by Capri, Stacy Hawking, Marisa Kirby and Stephen K. Stone.  The design team includes Mike Nichols (sets), Shelly Hall (costumes), Dan Kimble (lighting), Lynda J. Kwallek (props) and Allan Branson (sound).

The cast is composed of of over 50 junior high and high school students who will literally fill the stage with their acting, singing and dancing.

There is a preview performance on Wednesday the 24th with opening night on Friday, October 26.  Performances will continue with evening performances at 7 on Saturday, October 27 as well as November 1 – 3.  There will be 2pm matinees on October 27 and 28 as well as November 3.

For some observations from one of the summer performances of this production, click here.

 

Four Reps Farewell tomorrow night

Posted on by

THE FOUR REPS: Askew, Melhorn, Morley, Dowden

Fittingly, the farewell will take place where it all began.

Since their introduction in the 2009 SMTI production of Follie Holidays, The Four Reps have been entertaining audiences with their  accappella/rock/doo-wop/barbershop group sounds.  For those who don’t know, The Four Reps are Charlie Askew, Henry Melhorn, Jack Dowden and Matt Morley.

Since 2009, they have representing The Reps’ young artists program and the Arkansas Repertory Theatre as they have performed all over Central Arkansas including the Clinton Library, the Governor’s Mansion, Little Rock City Hall, Barton Coliseum and The Rep’s Saints and Sinners Ball.

The Four Reps have also spent time cutting two albums, winning the Arkansas Democrat Gazette’s Pops on the River competition to sing the National Anthem with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and recently opening for the nationally recognized Yale University Whiffenpoofs.

But all good things must come to an end.  The Four Reps will give their farewell concert on Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s MainStage on Sunday, July 29 at 7 p.m. 

Produced by Nicole Capri, Karen Q. Clark and Arkansas Repertory Theatre, The Four Reps will entertain with audience favorites from their repertoire as we say goodbye to two of their members, Jack Dowden and Matt Morley, who recently graduated from high school.

Following the concert will be a screening of the film “Cain and Abel” (mentioned on yesterday’s Culture Vulture entry).
A few tickets still remain, but they are going fast.  Call the Arkansas Rep box office at 501-378-0405 or visit www.therep.org.

Rep SMTI Performers go SINGIN’ ON A STAR

Posted on by

Tonight and two times tomorrow, the performers from the Arkansas Rep’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive will perform Singing’ on a Star.  It is this year’s Young Artists’ Production, an annual performance by The Rep’s SMTI (Summer Musical Theatre Intensive) theatre training program. The Summer Musical Theater Intensive, under the direction of Nicole Capri, The Rep’s Resident Director and Director of Education, is an audition-based theatre training program designed for motivated young artists who are serious about musical theatre.

The SMTI staff is comprised of professional directors, choreographers, musicians and designers. Daily rehearsals are structured similarly to a professional summer stock experience and include instruction in musical theatre techniques, multi-media, costume and stage makeup, dance and vocal coaching. Each session culminates in a public workshop performance of a selected musical or musical revue on the Arkansas Repertory Theatre MainStage.

Following the summer workshops, the production is refined, reworked and remounted at The Rep in the fall for patrons of all ages. This fall’s production is conceived and directed by Capri, and it’s all about the actor’s journey from stardust to stardom. With song selections from the pop charts and the Great White Way, The Rep’s young artists sing about big dreams in the Big Apple this fall!

Arkansas Rep’s NEXT TO NORMAL

Posted on by

Deb Lyons in NEXT TO NORMAL. Photo by Dero Sanford

One of the best lines in the American Theatre in the 21st century is “Valium is my favorite color.”

It comes from the musical Next to Normal which opens tomorrow night and runs through May 27 at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  In addition to winning the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (one of the few musicals to nab that prize), it also won three 2009 Tony Awards.

With music by Tom Kitt and a book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal is a powerful rock musical about a mentally ill suburban mom who struggles with worsening bipolar disorder and the effects that illness has on her family. The Arkansas Rep production is directed by Nicole Capri. The cast features Deb Lyons as Diana — the mother of the family, Jonathan Rayson as her husband Dan, Kristin Parker and Will Holly as their children, Mo Brady as a friend of the family and Peter James Zielinski playing a pair of physicians.  Zielinski was last seen at the Rep in The Full Monty.

Helen Gregory is the Musical Director. Other members of the creative team include Mike Nichols (scenic designer), Shelly Hall (costume designer), Michael J. Eddy (lighting designer), M. Jason Pruzin (sound designer) and Lynda J. Kwallek (properties designer).

In conjunction with this production, there are several special events.

MainStage Sponsorship Night

Tuesday, May 8 | 7 p.m.

Preshow Panel, Foster’s | 6 p.m.

Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main Street, Little Rock

Chenal Family Therapy has purchased a “Night at The Rep” and will host a MainStage Sponsor Night on Tuesday, May 8. A portion of the ticket sales for this performance will benefit a number of local non-profit ministries in the Little Rock area. Prior to the show, Chenal Family Therapy will host a panel discussion in Foster’s on the overlap of faith and psychology, featuring prominent local therapists, ministers and professors. Tickets are $35 for general admission seating. For more information or to purchase tickets to this night, contact Chenal Family Therapy at (501) 781-2230 or email Events@ChenalTherapy.com.

SIGN INTERPRETATION

Wednesday, May 9 will be sign interpreted for the hearing impaired.

Reel Classics with The Rep: “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf”

Monday, May 14 | 6:00 p.m.
2801 Orange, North Little Rock 

Reel Classics With The Rep runs the second Monday of every month at Laman Library, 2801 Orange in North Little Rock and is free to the public. Call the Laman Library at (501) 758-1720 for more information.

MainStage Sponsorship Night

Tuesday, May 15 | 7 p.m.

Preshow Reception, Rep Lobby | 5:30 p.m.

Conversation with Clinicians after the Performance

Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main Street, Little Rock

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Psychiatric Research Institute has purchased a “Night at The Rep” and will host a MainStage Sponsor Night on Tuesday, May 15. This event is open to the public. Tickets are $40. For more information or to purchase tickets to this night, contact Cary Wilson at (501) 526-8100 or visit the first floor reception area at the UAMS Psychiatric Research Institute.

MainStage Sponsorship Night

Tuesday, May 22| 7 p.m.

Preshow Reception, Rep Lobby | 6:00 p.m.

Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main Street, Little Rock

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s Young Artist Guild has purchased a “Night at The Rep” and will host a MainStage Sponsor Night on Tuesday, May 22. This event is open to the public. Tickets are $25. For more information or to purchase tickets to this night, contact The Rep Box Office at (501) 378-0405.

Last Chance for 80s Blast

Posted on by

The 80s come to an end tonight with the final performance of That ‘80s Show.  The Arkansas Repertory Theatre’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive (SMTI) has been affectionately nicknamed “Smitty.”  Since 2005, SMTI has been offering Arkansas youths the opportunity to experience a two week summer conservatory which culminates in a staged performance.  Many of the SMTI youth then return for the production during the school year.

This fall, The Rep’s Young Artists are performing That ‘80s Show” which they have subtitled “We Built this “SMITTY” on Rock and Roll!” (Some might argue that not only is the pun a groaner, but the song title it references is one of the 1980’s nadirs.) Though none of the performers were even born in the 1980s (some probably weren’t even born in the 1990s), these scores of kids will sing, dance and charm the audiences.  Nicole Capri, who recently received the Governor’s Arts Award for Arts Education, has again devised and directed this musical, which features musical direction by Karen Q. Clark.

Performances are NOT on stage at the Rep this year.  Instead they are at Wildwood Park for the Arts in the Lucy Lockett Cabe Theatre.

So hop in your DeLorean or Chrysler K-Car, flip up the Izod collar, slip into the vans, put the Ray-Ban Wayfarers on and relive the decade of New Coke, cassette tapes, TRS-80 computers, Reaganomics, This Can’t Be Yogurt, Dynasty, The Preppy Handbook, Yuppies and MTV actually playing music.

Arts & Humanities Month: Arkansas Repertory Theatre presents The Second City

Posted on by

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre brings The Second City troupe back to the Rock for another rollicking visit.  To kick things off, The Rep’s popular “Brew-Ha-Ha” event is tonight at 6pm.  Tickets are $30 and include beer, pizza and the performance. The event is sponsored by Sync Weekly.

The Second City plays Wednesdays through Sundays from October 12 (tonite) through October 23 on stage at the Rep.  On Friday, October 14 and October 21, they’ll be joined on stage for a portion of the evening by Little Rock’s own Improv Little Rock. 

In conjunction with the Rep’s production by The Second City, 10Horse Johnson will appear at Argenta Community Theatre for four performances from October 20 – 22.  

Later this month, the Rep’s Young Artists take the stage with That ’80s Showfrom October 25 through November 5. This production will be on stage at Wildwood Park for the Arts. 

Favorite 1980s songs are pulled together in a lively revue by performers from The Rep’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive or SMTI (pronounced Smitty). Nicole Capri is the conceiver and director of the production while Karen Q. Clark is musical director.