Army’s Jazz Ambassadors band to play 3 state shows
The Jazz Ambassadors of the United States Army Field Band, the official touring big band of the United States Army, will give three Arkansas performances this week of its 75-minute show covering the more than 100-year history of jazz. (Except as noted, admission is by free ticket.)
2 p.m. today, Riceland Hall, Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. (870) 9355525.
7 p.m. Monday, Ed Coulter Performing Arts Center, Vada Sheid Community Development Center, Arkansas State University-Mountain Home, 1600 S. College St., Mountain Home. Ticket required for reserved seating. (870) 5086280; thesheid.com.
7 p.m. Tuesday, The Auditorium, 36 S. Main St., Eureka Springs. Free. theaud.org.
‘Emperor’ quartet
The Quapaw Quartet — Charlotte Crosmer and Eric Hayward, violins; Ryan Mooney, viola; and David Gerstein, cello — will play the String Quartet No. 62 in C major, op.76 No. 3, “Emperor,” by Franz Joseph Haydn, for the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s River Rhapsodies chamber music concert, 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock.
Orchestra principal players Leanna Booze Renfro, oboe; Alisa Coffey, harp; and David Renfro, horn, will give the world premiere of the Trio for Oboe, Horn and Harp by the orchestra’s composer of the year, Stephanie Berg. And Trisha McGovern Freeney and Leanne Day Simpson, violins; Geoffrey Robson and Katherine Williamson, violas; and Felice Farrell and Ethan Young, cellos, will play the Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, op.18, by Johannes Brahms.
Tickets are $23, $10 for students and active duty military. Call (501) 666-1761, Extension 100, or visit ArkansasSymphony.org.
Smokey Joe’s Cafe
A cast of nine and an onstage band perform more than 40 of the hit songs by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, among the midwives at the birth of rock ’n’ roll, in the musical revue Smokey Joe’s Cafe, opening Tuesday at Little Rock’s Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. The show runs through April 29.
The lineup includes “On Broadway,” “Spanish Harlem,” “Hound Dog,” “There Goes My Baby,” “Young Blood,” “Poison Ivy,” “Yakety Yak,” “Charlie Brown,” “Love Potion No. 9,” “Jailhouse Rock” and “Stand by Me.”
Doors and buffet open 90 minutes before curtain: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 12:30 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday (Wednesday matinees only, March 29, April 5 and 12). Tickets are $35-$37, $23 for children 15 and younger; show only, $25 and $15. Call (501) 562-3131 or visit murrysdp.com.
Bluegrass Monday
Bluegrass band Chris Jones and the Night Drivers will perform at 7 p.m. Monday at the Collins Theatre, 120 W. Emerson St., Paragould, part of KASU-FM, 91.9’s Bluegrass Monday concert series. Doors open at 6. The station will “pass the hat” to pay the musicians; suggested donation is $5 per person. Call (870) 972-2367, email mscarbro@astate.edu or visit the Bluegrass Monday Facebook page.
Steinbeck drama
Arkansas Public Theatre will stage Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday and April 6-8 and 2 p.m. April 2 and 9 at the Victory Theater, 116 S. Second St., Rogers. Doors and concessions open at 7. A talk-back session with Fayetteville Public Library Reference Librarian Kelly Haley will follow the April 6 performance. Tickets are $35, $60 per table of two for cabaret seating; balcony seats are $23. Call (479) 6318988 or visit arkansaspublictheatre.org.
Fort Smith Giselle
Western Arkansas Ballet’s cast of 55 local dancers and community volunteers will stage Giselle by Adolphe Adam, the story of a peasant girl who dies of a broken heart after discovering her lover is betrothed to another, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. April 2 at the ArcBest Corp. Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St., Fort Smith. Tickets are $25, $15 for children up through university students with university ID. Call (479) 785.0152 or visit the website, waballet.org.
‘Behind the Big House’
Preserve Arkansas explores extant slave dwellings and interprets the experiences of the people who inhabited them in its latest “Behind the Big House” workshop, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. April 29 at the Lakeport Plantation in Lake Village. The workshop, in partnership with the Arkansas Humanities Council, Arkansas State University Heritage Sites, Black History Commission of Arkansas and Lakeport Plantation, will include historical interpretations and lectures. Admission is free; there is a $12 charge for the optional box lunch. Register — deadline is April 14 — and find a full schedule at the website, preservearkansas.org.