ENTERTAINMENT NOTES
ERIC E. HARRISON ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
‘Fame Jr.’ on film
Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School students dance down hallways and on top of picnic tables while learning about the ins and outs of performing for the camera as the school’s fine arts department stages “Fame Jr.” (music by Steve Margoshes, lyrics by Jacques Levy, book by Jose Fernandez, conceived and developed by David de Silva), streaming digitally on demand Friday-Sunday via ParkviewTheatre.com. Tickets are $10, $25 for a family pass (two or more viewers). The show, focusing on teens experiencing the highs and lows of four years at New York’s High School for the Performing Arts, used the entire school building as the set and Trace Thurman, the school’s cinema arts teacher, filmed it for the stream.
Thesis exhibit
“Suspension,” a series of 15 thesis-exhibition paintings and mixed-media works by graduate student Sarah Lassiter, goes on display Monday in the Maners/Pappas Gallery, Windgate Center of Art and Design, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. The exhibit is up through May 7. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday; call (501) 916-3182 or email becushman@ualr.edu to confirm a campus visit. The exhibition is also available virtually through the UA Little Rock Art Gallery website (artexhibitionsualr.org).
Rogers quilts
The Rogers Historical Museum is offering special guided tours of the Hawkins House, 322 S. Second St. at Cherry Street, Rogers, for its “Quilts in Victorian Homes” exhibit, May 1-July 31. The tour focuses on the museum’s collection of plain and fancy quilts from the turn of the 20th century. Admission is free. For current hours or more information, call (479) 621-1154 or visit rogershistoricalmuseum.org.
‘Pippin’ at Argenta
Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, will reopen for live theater Aug. 18-28 with a production of the musical “Pippin” (music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, book by Roger O. Hirson with additional material by Bob Fosse).
“Pippin” will have two “friends and family” preview performances Aug. 18-19; opening night is Aug. 19. Curtain time for all performances is 7:30 p.m. except for a 2 p.m. Aug. 22 matinee. Tickets are $25-$35. Vince Insalaco will direct, with musical direction by Bob Bidewell and choreography by Allison Stodola Wilson. The theater will hold auditions June 5. For information and audition appointments, visit argentacommunitytheater.org.
The theater will kick things off with an Aug. 17 grand reopening outdoor banquet and celebration, which theater co-founder and producing artistic director Insalaco describes as reminiscent of the theater’s original 2010 grand opening dinner that featured former President Bill Clinton. The theater will hand out its third “Patron of the Year” honor and the cast of “Pippin” will perform selections from the show. Details and ticket information are pending. Covid-19 protocols will be in place.
Summer music
Two young Arkansas musicians — Connor Cowart of Bentonville, French horn, and Alan Sun of Conway, clarinet — will be among the more than 200 orchestral and jazz musicians taking part in a monthlong residency this summer at Purchase College, State University of New York, under the aegis of Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute. As members of the NYO2 youth orchestra, they’ll engage in musical activities including private lessons, master classes and performances with a faculty of principal players from top American orchestras.