WEEKEND TEN
1 BAH! HUMBUG!
Ben Barham plays miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge as the Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St. in North Little Rock’s Argenta Arts District, reprises — with some new twists — Judy Goss’ adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A
Christmas Carol, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Dec. 14-15, 2 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Tuesday-Dec. 13. Tickets are $10-$30. Call (501) 353-1443 or visit argentacommunitytheater.com.
2 BALLET
The Sugarplum Fairy, Clara and some pesky mice will welcome Christmas with lots of twirls, leaps and holiday cheer as Ballet Arkansas presents its annual production of The Nutcracker at Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway, Little Rock. It’s the 40th anniversary of what’s being billed this year as the “Nutcracker Spectacular,” featuring the professional ballet company, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and more than 250 local dancers. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $20-$99. Call (800) 7453000 or visit ticketmaster.com.
3 BWAH-HAHA
Comedian, actor, director and producer Martin Lawrence hosts the
LIT AF Tour, featuring comedians DeRay Davis, Rickey Smiley, Michael Blackson, Jay Pharoah, Deon Cole, Bruce Bruce, Adele Givens, Clayton Thomas and Benji Brown, 7:30 p.m. Friday at North Little Rock’s Verizon Arena. Tickets are $39.50-$119.50 plus service charges. Call (800) 745-3000 or visit Ticketmaster.com.
4 BERNICE
Little Rock’s South Main district lights up at the Bernice Garden Tree
Lighting Ceremony, 5-7 p.m. today. School choirs will sing carols before the official tree lighting. There will also be crafts, refreshments, SoMa mascot Cosmo, Santa and Mrs. Claus. Neighborhood businesses participating in the SoMa Holiday Open House will stay open until 8 p.m. Admission is free. Call (501) 681-9073 or visit facebook.com/ events/627875427614172.
5 BAKED
Photos with Santa and some elaborately decorated little edible houses will be on display, with an exhibit of winning entries from the Holiday Coloring Contest, at Treatment Homes’ Gingerbread Extravaganza,
1-4 p.m. Sunday at the state Capitol, 500 Woodlane St., Little Rock. Admission is free. Call (501) 372-5039 or visit treatmenthomes.org.
6 BLESSED
A Christmas miracle ensues as three Eastern kings following a shining star stop for the night in the hut of an impoverished, crutch-bound boy and his mother, in Amahl and the Night
Visitors, a one-act opera in English by Gian Carlo Menotti. A joint production of Praeclara, Wildwood Park for the Arts and Second Presbyterian Church will be onstage 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday in the Cabe Festival
Theater at Wildwood, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, and 3 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Second Presbyterian, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock. There will be caroling, treats and beverages in the theater’s South Lobby an hour before the show, plus post-show receptions with the cast, Santa and his elves. Tickets are $20, $10 for college students and children 17 and younger. For Wildwood shows, call (501) 821-7275 or visit wildwoodpark.org; for the two at Second Presbyterian, call (501) 8599000 or visit praeclara.org.
7 BASSES AND BARITONES
The Arkansas Chamber Singers and conductor John Erwin, with the University of Central Arkansas Chamber Singers, are offering “The Gift of Song,” 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday at the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., Little Rock. The program will include Baroque, British, Italian and Russian songs of the season. Admission is by
free ticket; call (501) 377-1121 or visit AR-ChamberSingers.org.
8 BAND
The Little Rock Winds, with guests pianist Janine Reeves Tiner, tenor Matthew Newman, the McCafferty Academy of Irish Dance, the Little Rock Central High Concert Choir and Santa Claus, will be “Making Spirits
Bright,” 7:30 p.m. today in the Center for Humanities and the Arts, University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College main campus, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock. Israel Getzov conducts. A pre-concert silent auction opens at 6:30. Tickets are $15, $12 for senior citizens 65 and older, free for students. Call (501) 812-2831 or visit charts.uaptc.edu/events.
9 BEASTS
Spend some festive time with some special animals when the Heifer Ranch, 55 Heifer Road, Perryville, presents its annual Holiday Hoopla, 5-8 p.m. Saturday and 3-6 p.m. Sunday. There will be music, gifts for shipping, farm-fresh food and a chance to take pictures with Heifer animals. Admission is free. Call (855) 343-4337. See story on Page 4D.
10 BRIGHT
Get a taste of a very traditional Christmas as Historic Washington State Park presents its Christmas and
Candlelight, 1-8 p.m. Saturday. After dark, thousands of luminaries will light the way to historic buildings decorated in 19th-century style. Starting at 5 p.m., groups and choirs will perform. Admission is $10, $6 for children 6-12. Call (870) 983-2684 or visit arkansasstateparks.com.