Fayetteville professional company TheatreSquared opens its 12th season Wednesday with Fun Home (music by Jeanine Tesori, lyrics and book by Lisa Kron, based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel) at Walton Arts Center's Nadine Baum Studios, 505 W. Spring St., Fayetteville. The show runs through Sept. 17; curtain times are 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday, with an additional 7 p.m. show Sept. 17.
The 2015 Tony Award-winner for best musical, which focuses on Bechdel's childhood memories of playing with her brothers around the caskets in the family funeral home, contains adult language and mature themes, so the theater recommends it for audiences 13 and older.
Tickets are $17-$48; $10 for patrons under 30; $5 for recipients of SNAP benefits through the theater's Lights Up! For Access program. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit the website, theatre2.org.
Rogers railroading
Model railroad displays in various gauges and sizes will be part of the Sugar Creek Model Railroad & Historical Society's model railroad show, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the Rogers Historical Museum's Education Annex, 120 W. Poplar St., Rogers. Admission is free. The show is part of Rogers' annual railroad-centered Frisco Fest. Call (479) 621-1154 or visit rogershistoricalmuseum.org.
'18 art lineup
Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville, will mount an exhibition with the working title "Georgia O'Keeffe and Contemporary Art," May 26-Sept. 3, 2018, pairing "significant" works by O'Keeffe with pieces by contemporary artists Sharona Eliassaf, Monica Kim Garza, Loie Hollowell, Molly Larkey and Matthew Ronay. Visit crystalbridgesmuseum.org.
The rest of the museum's 2018 lineup (all working titles):
• Feb.3-April 23: "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power," organized by the Tate Modern, London, making its U.S. debut at Crystal Bridges, examining how the work of black artists during the 1960s-'80s reshaped American culture.
• Oct. 6. 2018-Jan. 7, 2019: "Native North America," charting the development of contemporary indigenous art from the United States and Canada since the 1960s.
Messiah rehearsals
The Arkansas Choral Society starts rehearsals for the 2017-2018 season at 7 p.m. Sept. 11 (continuing at 7 p.m. Mondays) in the choir room of Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. (The church's sanctuary building is actually a block up at R and Pierce streets.)
Fall rehearsals will point toward the society's 87th annual performance of portions of George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Dec. 1 with members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra at the church. The schedule also includes a fundraiser "pops" concert in February or March, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Requiem April 27, with members of the Arkansas Symphony and the University of Arkansas at Monticello Concert Choir. Kent Skinner is the music director and conductor.
The chorus is open to all singers without auditions; membership dues are $50 per year plus the cost of music. Call (870) 820-9645 or visit lovetosing.org.
Ballet auditions
Western Arkansas Ballet will hold combined open auditions Sept. 23 for two ballets -- its 32nd annual performances of P.I. Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker in December and Snow White (with music by various classical composers) in March -- at its studio, 4701 Grand Ave., Fort Smith.
Candidates should be at least 6 years old with at least two years' experience in dance and/or gymnastics; parts are also available for adults and boys with little or no dance experience.
Registration begins a half hour before the audition times -- for girls ages 6-8, 10:30 a.m.-noon; 9-10, 12:30-2 p.m.; 11 and up, 2:30-3:30 p.m. For boys 6-8, 11 a.m.-noon; 9-10, 1-2 p.m.; 11 and up, 3-3:30 p.m. Wear appropriate dance clothing. Audition fee for both ballets is $40 ($20 is refundable if you are not cast); for one ballet, $30 ($20 refundable).
Nutcracker performances will be Dec. 16-17. Snow White will have two performances March 3. Call (479) 785-0152 or visit waballet.org.
Ballet season
Arkansas Festival Ballet will stage a full-length storybook ballet version of Beauty and the Beast, which Artistic Director Rebecca Miller Stalcup will choreograph primarily to music by Pierre Adenot and Alan Menken, May 18-20 at the Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre in MacArthur Park, East Ninth and Commerce streets, Little Rock. They'll hold auditions Nov. 11.
The rest of the 2017-2018 season:
• Dec. 9-10: Gian Carlo Menotti's one-act opera Amahl and the Night Visitors and portions of The Nutcracker with the Conway Symphony Orchestra and conductor Israel Getzov, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday, Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. (Tickets: conwaysymphony.org.)
• Spring 2019, TBA: "Dance Melange," a mixed-bill concert with guest Paula Weber, choreography by Kirt Hathaway, Mary Trulock, Katie Greer and Meredith Short Loy.
Call (501) 227-5320 or visit arkansasdance.org.
Jonesboro season
Jonesboro's Foundation of Arts' 2017-2018 season opener, Little Women (music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Mindi Dickstein, book by Allan Knee, based on the Louisa May Alcott classic), continues its run with shows at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday at Stage Too, 328 S. Main St., Jonesboro. Tickets are $10.
The rest of the lineup (except as noted, shows are at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Monday; 2 p.m. Sunday, The Forum Theatre, 115 E. Monroe Ave., Jonesboro; tickets: $17, $8 children 12 and younger, discounts available for senior citizens, college students and military):
• Sept. 8-11: A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry. $15, $8 age 12 and younger
• Oct. 21-24, 26-27: Peter Pan (music by Morris "Moose" Charlap, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh, additional music by Jule Styne, additional lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green)
• Nov. 17-21: The Nutcracker (ballet)
• Dec. 15-19: A Charlie Brown Christmas, based on the television special by Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson, stage adaptation by Eric Schaeffer, based on material by Charles M. Schulz
• Feb. 10-16: Seussical, music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics and book by Lynn Ahrens, based on stories and writings of Dr. Seuss
• March 15-18: Exodus the Ballet, arranged and composed by Raphael Xavier, originally choreographed by Rennie "Lorenzo" Harris
• April 27-30: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by Joseph Robinette, dramatized from the stories of C.S. Lewis
• June 23-26, 28-30: The Producers, music and lyrics by Mel Brooks, book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan
Season ticket packages are $65-$115. Call (870) 935-2726 or visit foajonesboro.org.
Style on 08/20/2017