Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Jim Gaffigan, Farm Family Day bound for Rogers
Comedian, actor and author Jim Gaffigan will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Walmart AMP, 5079 W. Northgate Road, Rogers. Gates open at 6. Tickets are $30-$99 plus fees. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit the website, amptickets.com.
Farm Family Day
Pony rides, activities, games and prizes for all ages, as well as demonstrations and food, will be part of Farm Family Day, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday at the Rogers Historical Museum, 322 S. Second St., Rogers. Admission is free; visitors may park on the street or in the city parking lot at Third and Poplar streets. Call (479) 621-1154 or visit rogershistoricalmuseum.org.
Poet laureate named
Gov. Asa Hutchison has named DeWitt native Jo Garot McDougall as Arkansas’ new poet laureate. In the proclamation, dated April 27, the governor notes that “inspired by her heritage, McDougall captures a sense of place and a Southern way of life through language that is direct and unexpected. Her poems are honest reflections on loss and authentic accounts of everyday life.”
McDougall grew up on a rice farm in DeWitt and lived near Stuttgart for 20 years. She holds a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and has published seven collections of poetry. Her honors include the Arkansas Porter Prize for Literary Excellence and the Academy of American Poets Prize. She was inducted into the Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame in 2006. She and husband Charles McDougall now live in Little Rock.
Blue Star Museums
Seven Arkansas museums and groups — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville; the Calico Rock Museum Foundation; Lakeport Plantation in Lake Village; the Clinton Presidential Center, Historic Arkansas Museum and Old State House Museum in Little Rock; and the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum in Piggott — are participating in the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families’ Blue Star Museums program. They’ll be among 2,000 museums nationwide to offer free admission to active duty military personnel and their families, starting now — during Memorial Day weekend — through Labor Day. Qualified military members must show a Geneva Convention common access card, a Defense Department Form 1173 ID card (dependent ID) or a DD Form 1173-1 ID. Visit arts.gov/bluestarmuseums. Museums wishing to sign up during the summer can email bluestarmuseums@arts.gov.
Dreamcoat auditions
Arkansas Public Theatre will hold auditions for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat (music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice), 7 p.m. Monday-Tuesday June 11-12 at the Victory Theater, 116 S. Second St., Rogers. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Callbacks, if needed, will take place June 12. Auditions will be based upon readings from the script, singing and a dance combination. An audition packet, including audition times, scenes, character descriptions and a rehearsal schedule, is available for download at arkansas public theatre. org. Production dates are July 27-29, Aug. 2-5 and 9-12. Call (479) 631-8988.
Ballet Arkansas
Ballet Arkansas will open its 2018-19 mainstage season, its 40th anniversary, 7 p.m. Oct. 19, 2 and 7 p.m. Oct. 20 and 2 p.m. Oct. 21, with a new Dracula ballet at the Center for Humanities and Arts, University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College main campus, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock.
Artistic Director Michael Fothergill is choreographing the multimedia production, based on Bram Stoker’s gothic classic. Tickets, which go on sale in June, are $30-35, $20-25 for students and senior citizens, $15 for children 12 and younger.
The rest of the lineup: ■ Dec. 7-9: 40th annual “Nutcracker Spectacular,” Robinson Center Performance Hall, West Markham Street and Broadway, Little Rock.
■ Feb. 14-17: “Fire and Rain,” CHARTS Theater, UA-Pulaski Tech. The program features classical ballet (including a Romeo and Juliet balcony scene and a Don Quixote suite) and contemporary dance (including a tribute to the music of James Taylor choreographed by Fothergill).
■ May 3- 5: Ballet Arkansas in Concert Part II, “Forte,” CHARTS Theater. Mixed-repertory program with pianist Drew Mays, featuring a contemporary work by choreographer Ma Cong; Swan Lake Suite; George Balanchine’s
Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux; and a world premiere work by Fothergill. Sponsor is the Stella Boyle Smith Trust.
Tickets for the October, February and May performances, which go on sale in June, are $30-35, $20-25 for students and senior citizens, $15 for children 12 and younger.
Nutcracker tickets will start at $23. Visit balletarkansas.org.
Mountain Home series
The Bacon Brothers — actor Kevin Bacon on vocals, guitar and percussion and his older brother Michael, a songwriter and Emmy-winning composer, on vocals, guitar and cello; plus their band: Paul Guzzone (bass, backing vocals), Joe Mennonna (keyboards, accordion), Ira Siegel (lead guitar, mandolin, and backing vocals) and Frank Vilardi (drums) — kick off Arkansas State University-Mountain Home’s eighth performing arts season at 7 p.m. June 20 in the Ed Coulter Performing Arts Center, Vada Sheid Community Development Center, 1600 S. College St., Mountain Home. Individual tickets (plus fees) are $35, $17.50 for students.
The rest of the lineup (except as noted, all concerts 7 p.m. in the Coulter center; all ticket prices plus fees):
■ Sept. 16: Branson-based pianist David Howarth, 3 p.m. $20, $10 students.
■ Nov. 15: Chicago tribute band Brass Transit, 7 p.m. $30, $15 students.
■ March 14: Evita, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Tim Rice, touring production. $35, $17.50 students.
■ April 7: Doo Wop Project, 3 p.m. $30, $15 students.
Season tickets are $130. Call (870) 508-6280 or visit thesheid.com.
UA performances
Opera singer Sarah Mesko, a mezzo-soprano and University of Arkansas alumna, kicks off the 2018-19 performance season at the university’s Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 7, with a recital program titled “Through the Years.”
The rest of the lineup (except as noted, all performances, 7:30 p.m. at the center, 453 Garland Ave., Fayetteville):
■ Sept. 9: “8 Decades of Smiles with Peter Funt,” quips, clips and notable moments from TV’s Candid Camera, 3 p.m. ■ Oct. 5: Tommy: A Bluegrass
Opry, based on The Who’s classic album, performed by The Hillbenders, with opening act Maybe April
■ Nov. 13: Latin pop singer Gina Chavez
■ Nov. 15: The Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra performs music of Scott Joplin
■ Jan. 29: Folk/blues singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster, accompanied by the UA Inspirational Chorale
■ Feb. 14: Victor & Penny and the Loose Change Orchestra
■ March 7: Sylvia Milo’s one-woman show The Other Mozart ■ March 29: Trout Steak Revival, with Smokey & the Mirror and the Arkansas Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
■ April 19: Sudanese singer Salma El Assal
■ April 26: pianist Ilya Yakushev.
Season tickets are $40$200. Call (479) 575-5387 or visit faulkner.uark.edu.