RIVER VALLEY Singing, Dancing And Students

UAFS celebrates 30 years of entertainment

The national touring production of “A Chorus Line” will visit Fort Smith’s Arkansas Best Corp. Performing Arts Center as part of the UAFS Season of Entertainment 30. Tickets for the performances go on sale Aug. 6.
The national touring production of “A Chorus Line” will visit Fort Smith’s Arkansas Best Corp. Performing Arts Center as part of the UAFS Season of Entertainment 30. Tickets for the performances go on sale Aug. 6.

FYI

UAFS SEASON OF ENTERTAINMENT 30

SEPT. 29 - The Three Phantoms in Concert

NOV. 2 - “Fiddler on the Roof”

JAN. 21 - “Cirque Dreams Illumination”

MARCH 1 - “A Chorus Line”

The season also includes performances by the UAFS Symphonic Band, the university’s annual holiday concert and campus lighting ceremony, UAFS plays and other local productions. Season tickets, which go on sale Aug. 6, are $145. Individual show tickets go on sale Aug. 9.

For details, visit uafortsmith.edu or call 788-7300.

— If one were to judge by the number of shows in the season, he might be led to believe this is a down year for entertainment offerings at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

Not so, says Stacey Jones, the university’s associate vice chancellor for campus and community events.

This academic year, the 30th for the universitysponsored Season of Entertainment series, “will be the best season yet,” he says.

Jones put together the first Season of Entertainment and remembers what those first few years looked like. Theacts booked for the season - and the resulting crowds - weren’t as large as they are now.

But they did prove there was a market for the type of entertainment UAFS was bringing to the city.

“I wanted it to be successful,” Jones says. “I wanted people to keep asking for more, and they did.”

As it was then, the Season of Entertainment’s goal is to provide entertainment first for UAFS students and second for those who support it. The season is a blend of the talents of UAFS groups such as the Symphonic Band, the Jazz Band, UAFS Theatre, choral groups and national touring acts.

“I felt like we had a mission, not only for the students but for the community,” Jones says.

National touring shows visiting this year include a performance called Three Phantoms in Concert, which includes three men who have played the title character in “The Phantom of the Opera.” The show will take place Sept. 29. The trio will perform songs from “Phantom” and also selections from “Les Miserables,” “Miss Saigon,” “Guys and Dolls” and other Broadway musicals.

The next of the touring shows is “Fiddler on the Roof,” which will arrive for a Nov. 2 performance. It is the classic story of a Jewish family and its patriarch, Tevye. The show includes the songs “If I Were A Rich Man,” “Tradition” and “Matchmaker,” among others.

In the next show, 27 artists will take the stage for the “Cirque Dreams Illumination,” a display of performance artistry. The show, presented by the Cirque Productions company, involves performers lighting objects, balancing on wires, leaping onto structures and other acrobatic maneuvers. “Illumination” will take place on Jan. 21 of next year.

Rounding out the collection of traveling shows is the popular Broadway musical “A Chorus Line,” which focuses on a group auditioning fora show. The musical, which features the numbers “I Hope I Get It” and “I Can Do That,” will take place on March 1.

Other shows on the season roster include performances by the UAFS Symphonic Band on Oct. 25 and April 21, jazz concerts on Nov. 9 and April 14 and the annual season’s greetings concert and campus lighting ceremony on Dec. 6.

All productions take place at the Arkansas Best Corp.

Performing Arts Center with the exception of the UAFS Theatre shows, on stage in Breedlove Auditorium on campus, and the season’s greeting show at the campus’ Stubblefield Center.

Whats Up, Pages 20 on 07/30/2010

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