RHYTHM, RHYME, RAGTIME
Three disparate views of turn-of-the-20th century America — those of a white suburban family, a black ragtime pianist and a Jewish immigrant from Latvia and his daughter — overlap "in riches and rags and in rhythm and rhyme" in Ragtime: The Musical, opening Friday at the Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock. Curtain times are 7 p.m. for a friends-and-family preview today and Tuesday-Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Feb. 28-29, 2 p.m. Sunday. The script includes explicit derogatory and racist language and epithets that director Vincent Insalaco notes are integral to the nature of the play and are not gratuitous. Tickets are $30. Some shows have already sold out. Call (501) 353-1443 or visit argentacommunitytheater.org.
SOUP IT UP
A couple of thousand soup sippers are expected to consume consommes, chowders, broths and bisques from a selection of Central Arkansas restaurants and other area food purveyors as Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families hosts the 39th annual Little Rock Soup Sunday, 4-7 p.m. Sunday at the Statehouse Convention Center, Markham and Main streets, Little Rock. The featured chef for this year's fundraiser, Trace Munday of Sauce(d), will spoon extra goodies in the Patron Room; there will also be silent and live auctions, kids' activities and live music. Best to bring your own muffin tin, but cardboard carriers will be available. A list of participating restaurants and caterers is available at tinyurl.com/uafdoms. Tickets are $35, $10 for children 5-17, free for children under 5; Patron Room tickets, $60, also include complimentary beer and wine. Visit tinyurl.com/tg99rso.
REEDY TRIO
The Poulenc Trio —Alexander Vvedenskiy, oboe; Bryan Young, bassoon; and Irina Kaplan Lande, piano — performs at 7:30 p.m. today at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, 310 W. 17th St., Little Rock, under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock. The program: Francis Poulenc's Trio for piano, oboe and bassoon; Viet Cuong's Trains of Thought (a mixed-media project featuring a hand-animated film by artists Elizabeth and Alden Phelps, paired with a commissioned work by Cuong that premiered at the National Gallery in May 2019); Dmitri Shostakovich's Romance, op.97a; Ludwig van Beethoven's "Gassenhauer" Trio, op.11; and Gioacchino Rossini's Fantaisie Concertante sur des themes de l'Italiana in Algeri. Tickets are $25, free for students and Easterseals clients, students, and caregivers. A hors d'oeuvres-and-wine reception will follow. Visit ChamberMusicLR.com/tickets.
GLASS POINTE SHOES?
Ballet Arkansas dancers probably won't be donning glass slippers, but they are staging a world-premiere production of Cinderella, choreographed by Executive/Artistic Director Michael Fothergill to music by Jules Massenet, Eugen d'Albert, Adolphe Blanc and Anton Reicha and featuring, in addition to the company members, a community cast of 60 dancers, 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Center for Humanities and Arts, University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College main campus, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock. Tickets are $30-35, $25 for senior citizens and military, $10 for student rush. Call (501) 812-2710 or visit charts.uaptc.edu/ballet-arkansas-438d.
CANADIAN GUITARIST
Canadian fingerstyle guitarist Calum Graham performs at 7:30 p.m. today at the Joint, 301 Main St., North Little Rock, part of the Argenta Acoustic Music Series. Tickets are $30. Call (501) 372-0205 or visit argentaacoustic.com/calum-graham.
EMERALD AND YELLOW
The Royal Players traverse the Yellow Brick Road from Munchkinland to the Emerald City as they stage The Wizard of Oz, through March 1 — 7 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday — at the Royal Theatre, 111 S. Market Street, Benton. Two casts ("Emerald City" and "Yellow Brick Road") divide the principal roles. Tickets are $15; $12 for senior citizens, college students and military; $6 for children in 12th grade and below. Visit theroyalplayers.ticketleap.com. For more information, call (501) 315-5483 or visit theroyaltheatre.org.
— Compiled by Eric E. Harrison
Weekend on 02/20/2020