Your browser does not support the audio element.
MUSIC
‘Divas of Soul’
Singer CeCe Teneal takes audiences on a musical journey through 50 years of chart-topping hits, “from the powerhouse anthems of Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner to the disco grooves of Donna Summer and the pop perfection of Whitney Houston,” in “Divas of Soul,” 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Center for Humanities and Arts Theatre, University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock. The North Little Rock High School Choir will open the show and also accompany Teneal. Dinner, beer, wine and light concessions will be sold. Tickets are $40 and $50. Call (501) 812-2387 or visit uaptc.edu/charts.
‘Homecoming’
The St. Olaf College Band, with conductor Henry L. Dorn, a Little Rock native and Parkview High graduate, performs at 7 p.m. Monday in the James H. Clark Auditorium at Conway High School, 2300 Prince St., Conway. The concert will also feature students from Conway, Parkview and Little Rock Southwest high schools. It’s part of the band’s winter tour.
The program includes works for concert band that center on the theme of “American Graffiti,” including music by Jodie Blackshaw, Norman Dello Joio, Henry L. Dorn and Eric Whitacre, and the premiere performance of “Amerykahn Graffiti” by Katahj Copley, which the composer describes as “a reimagining of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition,’ painted in sound and soul, … a journey through the Black experience — our joy, our wounds, our beauty, our rage.” Tickets are $10, free for students and educators. Visit stolaf.edu/tickets/band.
Dorn, who played trombone at Parkview, is in his third year as conductor and faculty member at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.
THEATER
‘Beauty, Beast’ at WAC
Disney Theatrical Group’s touring production of “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast” (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, book by Linda Woolverton based on the screenplay for the 1991 animated film) is onstage, 7 p.m. Tuesday-Wednesday and Friday, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Feb. 8 in Baum Walker Hall at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. Remaining tickets are $90.85-$119.60. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
London troupe
Actors From the London Stage will stage three performances of William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday in the Cabe Theatre at Hendrix College, 1600 Washington St., Conway.
The five actors use minimal props and costumes and direct themselves with each actor portraying multiple roles. The actors also lead classes and workshops during a residency week to connect with students, faculty and staff at the host college or university.
The troupe, which recently celebrated its 50th year, was founded in 1975 at the University of California, Santa Barbara, by Professor Homer “Murph” Swander and stage and screen actor Patrick Stewart. Its mission is “to interpret Shakespeare’s text as a blueprint for performance, lifting the words off the page as Shakespeare originally intended,” according to a news release.
The Hendrix-Murphy Foundation and the Department of Theatre Arts & Dance are sponsoring the group’s residency. Admission is free, but reservations are strongly encouraged, via bit.ly/ASYOULIKEITTIX. Call (501) 450-1343 or visit hendrixmurphy.org/aftls.
DANCE
Venue change
Ballet Arkansas is moving “Origins,” the closing production in its contemporary season, May 1 and 3, from its home venue on Little Rock’s Main Street to the North Little Rock Event Center, 120 Main St. The center, completing construction on the site of the former North Little Rock City Services Building, is due to open soon.
The program will feature premieres of entirely new works created by company dancers Murray McCormack, Deanna Stanton, McKenna Ulbrick, Liev Ewart and Kerridwyn Schanck, and also reprising some of the past season’s offerings.
Admission is free; tickets will be required for a season-closing reception that will follow the final performance May 3 and include a dancer meet-and-greet and additional performance repertory. Visit balletarkansas.org/tickets.
ON THE PODIUM
Showbiz stories
Award-winning composer, lyricist and music producer Marc Shaiman, whose work across film, television and theater prominently includes the musical “Hairspray,” will share stories from his new book, “Never Mind the Happy: Showbiz Stories from a Sore Winner,” 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. In the book, Shaiman “looks back on five decades of Broadway triumphs, Hollywood hijinks and unforgettable collaborations — from ‘Hairspray’ and ‘Sister Act’ to ‘Mary Poppins Returns’ and ‘Smash,’” according to a news release, and “charts the personal highs and heartbreaks that have shaped him.”
Shaiman received Oscar nominations for songs and scores for “Mary Poppins Returns,” “South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut,” “The First Wives Club” and “Patch Adams.” He composed the scores for “The Addams Family, “Addams Family Values,” “A Few Good Men” and “The American President.”
The program is in partnership with the Arkansas Cinema Society, Arkansas Repertory Theatre and Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets, $30 plus fees, include a hardcover copy of the book, which Shaiman will sign following the program. Visit clintonfoundation.org/events/clinton-presidential-center/a-conversation-with-marc-shaiman. It will also be available the following day on the Clinton Center’s YouTube channel, youtube.com/@ClintonPresidentialCenter.
ETC.
Education endowment
Arkansas State University has established a new endowed fund — the Dixon, McDonald and Turnbow Sisterhood Endowed Enrichment Fund — to support students pursuing vocal music education. The fund will provide annual financial assistance for full-time vocal music education majors who participate in professional development experiences, including regional or national conferences in choral music or choral music education.
The fund was created through a $25,000 gift and will generate $1,000 annually to support two $500 enrichment awards each year, available to students in the music department. Criteria for recipients include academic standing, financial need and “their pursuit of experiences that enhance their development as future educators,” according to a news release.
The fund honors the lifelong bond of A-State alumnae Venus Dixon Hamilton of Paragould, Janeene McDonald Lee of Brinkley and Sherry Turnbow Phillians of Wynne, who met as vocal music education students in the 1980s, performed in university choirs and participated in Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity. All three went on to teach and perform throughout eastern and northeast Arkansas. Four of their total of five children have participated in the university’s choral music program.
Call (870) 972-3940 or email development@AState.edu.