THEATER: Play is showpiece of flower-focused festival

By Eric E. Harrison

LITTLE ROCK — Cliff Fannin Baker is blossoming in his debut as artistic director of what is now being called the Wildwood Park for the Arts with a two-day flower-centered festival and a performance piece with music remembering Arkansas' first ladies.

As part of the "Blooms" festival Saturday and Sunday, Wildwood will premiere The Bottle Tree, which Baker conceived and directed, with six Arkansas actresses, four Arkansas musicians and former U.S. Sen. and Arkansas Gov. David Pryor as narrator at 5 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday in the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre at the park, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock.

The piece mostly deals with Arkansas' first century, from territorial times through early statehood and up to about the Civil War, Baker says.

"It's a collection of profiles, and a tribute to some amazing ladies," he adds.

That's also the period of the popularity of "bottle trees," Baker explains, which were garden ornaments popular in the South in the 19th and early 20th centuries, in which folks hung brightly colored bottles in tree branches.

The ornament has Caribbean-African roots and started among slaves who believed that the bottles held evil spirits and blessings, Baker says.

Much of the material comes from First Ladies of Arkansas: Women of Their Times by Anne McMath, wife of late Gov. Sid Mc-Math (August House, 1989). "She's the only person to have done extensive research," according to Baker.

Actresses Candyce Hinkle, Vivian Morrison, Christina Munoz, Conley Basham, Alana Newton and Nicole Capri will recount first ladies' personal stories "reflecting the prevailing cultural and social values of their day," and touching upon the music, dress and manners of the period.

Musical director Stratsimir Pavlov will head up a four-piece musical combo from the keyboard.

"There will be a lot of Stephen Foster," Baker promises. "I've always wanted to do a show around that."

Tickets are $30, $15 for children under 12. Call (501) 821-7275 or visit the Web site, www.wildwood park.org.

You can also indulge in the Governors' Brunch or Supper - supper at 6 p.m. following Saturday's performance or brunch at 1:30 p.m. preceding Sunday's - with dishes based on menus from former Governor's Mansion cook Liza Ashley's cookbook, Thirty Years at the Mansion. Admission is $60, $40 for children under 12, which also includes a ticket to The Bottle Tree and a two-day festival pass.

Sponsors are the Department of Arkansas Heritage, Chip and Cindy Murphy and the Mitchell Law Firm.

Most of the rest of what Baker calls "a little jewel of a festival, although there is a lot going on" will take place outside on the park grounds, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and noon-6 p.m. Sunday.

The festival ostensibly "celebrates the return of springtime to central Arkansas during the blooming season of Wildwood's natural azaleas," although Baker diplomatically notes that because of all the spring rains, the azaleas bloomed long ago and are no longer in flower.

Jazz bands and regional musical and dance groups, including Lark in the Morning, Old School Bluegrass Band, classical guitarist Danny Fletcher, flutist William Worden (who will also be selling his American Indian flutes), the Arkansas Brass Quintet and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Saxophone Quartet will perform in concerts by the lake near the festival theater, and open-air artists will be painting within the park. In the Children's Storybook Garden, a collaboration among the Central Arkansas Library System,the Little Rock Zoo and Wildwood, children can create May baskets, listen to readings from the works of Beatrix Potter and wind a traditional maypole.

Also within the children'sarea will be storytellers, a puppet show, a petting zoo and crafts. Arkansas Opera Theatre's Operato-Go Company will perform the children's opera Pinocchio by John Davies.

A flower market will offer springtime bouquets, nosegays, blooming plants and other Mother's Day gifts. Other vendors will offer antique and contemporary garden furniture and ornaments, gardening tools, books, soaps, food items and gifts.

Festivalgoers can follow paved walking paths along the lake and through the park's arboretum, dogwood trail and wildflower glen. Horticulturists and naturalists will present seminars.

To be in style, you can have high tea in the festival's lakeside Azalea Pavilion for $35, $25 for children under 12; price includes a two-day festival pass (reservations are required). Picnic lunches and a variety of foods will be for sale throughout the park.

Two-day festival tickets are $10, $5 for children in advance, $15 and $10 at the door. Call (501) 821-7275.

Weekend, Pages 99 on 05/09/2008