Before hunting bugs, enjoy a concert by Dom Flemons
Dom Flemons, billed as “The American Songster” and a founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, headlines a concert at 7 p.m. Friday on the Coca-Cola Stage, North Forest, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville.
Opening the show will be Ashtyn Barbaree and Ayleen O’Hanlon and Friends, in collaboration with House of Songs Ozarks. The concert is in conjunction with the museum’s annual Lightning Bug Hunt.
Sponsor is Gelmart International. Tickets are $10, free for members and children 18 and younger. Call (479) 6572335 or visit the website, crystalbridges.org.
Flemons is touring in support of his new Smithsonian Folkways album Black Cowboys, exploring the role black pioneers played in the United States’ westward expansion. Backing musicians on that album included Grammy Award-winning bluesman Alvin “Youngblood” Hart, Arkansan Jimbo Mathus of the Squirrel Nut Zippers and folklorist and Folkways’ director emeritus Dan Sheehy, who also co-produced the album.
Blytheville season
The Arts Council of Mississippi County opens its 201819 series with Jack Wright’s Tribute to Neil Diamond, 7 p.m. Sept. 20 at the Ritz Civic Center, 306 W. Main St., Blytheville.
The rest of the lineup (except as noted, all shows, 7 p.m., Ritz Civic Center):
Oct. 11: Cellisimo, cellists Ruslan Biryukov and Anne Suda
Feb. 16: Piano four-hand duo Strazzullo and Di Blasi (Gianluca Strazzullo and Steven DiBlasi)
March 14: Sybarite5, playing arrangements of popular music for string quintet
April 19: Bits N Pieces Puppet World’s The Three Billy Goats Gruff, featuring marionettes, hand puppets, shadow puppets and 9-foot-tall giant body puppets, 6:30 p.m.
May 19: The National Touring Theatre Company’s production of Anne of Green Gables, based on the classic by Lucy Maud Montgomery, 2 p.m.
Series tickets are $125. Single tickets are $20, $25 at the door, free for children 12 and younger. Call (870) 762-1744 or visit the website, artsmissco. org.
Weekend auditions
The Weekend Theater, 1001 W. Seventh St., Little Rock will hold auditions for the musical If/Then (music by Tom Kitt, book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey), 10 a.m.-1 p.m. July 28 and Aug. 4. Auditioners need attend only one session; should be prepared to sing from the show or in its style; and provide a head shot and sheet music for the accompanist.
Director Ryan Whitfield and music director Matthew Mentgen will cast four women, ranging in age from 23-49, and four men, 30-45. A complete list of characters and their vocal ranges is available online at weekendtheater.org. Production dates are Oct. 1214, 19-21 and 26-28. Call (501) 374-3761 or email Whitfield at ryanwhitfield43@yahoo.com.