Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Lecture about architecture, Nutcracker in week’s lineup
Elysse Newman, head of the architecture department at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, will give a lecture titled “New ( Old) Directions in Architecture,” under the auspices of the Architecture and Design Network, 6 p.m. Tuesday in the lecture hall at the Arkansas Arts Center, East Ninth and Commerce streets, Little Rock. A 5:30 reception will precede the lecture.
Admission is free. Email ardenetwork@me.com.
Fort Smith Nutcracker
Professional dancers and Western Arkansas Ballet alumni — Alyssa Grimsley, in her second season with Ballet Nebraska, as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Jammie Walker of Jessica Lang Dance as her Cavalier — will lead the company’s 30th annual performance of P.I. Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Dec. 13 at the ArcBest Corp. Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St., Fort Smith.
Guest artist Matthew Morley will dance the role of the Nutcracker Prince. Tickets are $25, $15 for children and students (with a valid ID). Call (479) 785-0152 or visit the website, waballet.org.
Met Magic Flute
The Metropolitan Opera will mark the 10th anniversary of its The Met: Live in HD series with an encore performance of the first ever Live in HD “cinecast,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute,com/event/met151612:55 p.m. Saturday at the Razorback 16 Cinema in Fayetteville, Breckenridge Village 12 and Colonel Glenn 18 in Little Rock and Tinseltown in Benton.
Visit the website, fathomevents. the-magic-flute-encore, for ticket information.
Circus and acrobats
The Beijing-based National Circus and Acrobats of the People’s Republic of China will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St., part of the center’s Family Fun Series. Tickets are $15-$35 plus applicable fees. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
Hashtag Carol
Arkansas Public Theatre will stage #AChristmasCarol, a modern-day adaptation by Ed McClure of Charles Dickens’ tale (involving a mega-star who gets more than he bargained for when he agrees to participate in a television reality show for the holidays), at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Dec. 17-19 and 2 p.m. Dec. 13 and 20 at the Victory Theater, 116 S. Second St., Rogers.
Doors and concessions open an hour before curtain. Cabaret seats are $30, $50 per two-seat table; balcony seats are $17. Call (479) 631-8988 or visit the website, arkansaspublictheatre.org.
The theater will also hold auditions for Monty Python’s Spamalot (book and lyrics by Eric Idle; music by Idle and John Du Prez), “lovingly ripped off from the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” at 7 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Victory Theater in Rogers. Doors open at 6:30; auditions will be closed except to those auditioning, based on readings from the script, music from the show and a dance combination.
Audition packets, including audition scenes, character descriptions and music and rehearsal schedule, are available at arkansaspublictheatre. org. Callbacks, if necessary, will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 15. Production dates are Feb. 5-7, 11-14 and 18-21.
Conway ‘Wintersong’
The Conway Men’s Chorus will give its 18th annual “Wintersong” concert at 7 p. m. Tuesday in Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. Sam Huskey will conduct the 55-plus voice group in a program that includes “Frosty the Snowman,” “Born, Born in Bethlehem,” “Sure on This Shining Night,” “There Is Faint Music,” and “Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” plus the chorus’ traditional audience sing-along.
Piano duo Paul Bradley and Dustin Summey will be the opening act. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free. Call (501) 472-8758, email info@conwaymenschorus.org or visit conwaymenschorus. org.
Springdale Pageant
The Arts Center of the Ozarks, 214 S. Main St., Springdale, will stage The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, 7: 30 p. m. Friday- Saturday and 3 p. m. Dec. 13. Tickets are $20; students $10, with discounts for center members. Call (479) 751-5441 or visit acozarks.org.
Island auditions
The Weekend Theater, 1001 W. Seventh St., Little Rock, will hold auditions for the musical Once on This Island (music by Stephen Flaherty, book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens), 10 a.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Dec. 13.
Auditioners need only attend one session; be prepared to sing up to 32 bars of music from any song in the show or from something in a similar style and provide sheet music for the accompanist; there will also be cold readings from the script and may include movement as well.
Director Monica Clark-Robinson (gregmonica@ yahoo. com) will cast four males and six females of all ages and ethnicities; one will be a young girl, age “6 to 10-ish.” Production dates are Feb. 12-14, 19-21 and 26-28. Call (501) 374-3761 or email info@ weekendtheater.org.