The Northfield, Minn.-based St. Olaf Choir, organist James E. Bobb and conductor Anton Armstrong, on a 17-city national winter tour, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Sanctuary at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church, 4823 Woodlawn Drive, Little Rock.
The program includes premiere performances of Andre Thomas' Credo, Kurt Weill's Kiddush and works by David N. Childs, Herbert Howells, Johann Sebastian Bach, former choir director Kenneth Jennings and Alberto Ginastera and a selection of hymns and spirituals. Tickets are $35, $10 for students. Call (800) 363-5487 or visit stolaf.edu/tickets.
Opal redux
Candyce Hinkle reprises her role as reclusive semi-hoarder and cat lady Opal Kronkie, whose attempt to do a good deed by turning matchmaker ends up involving her with a bunch of shady characters and a lovable old coot in Opal's Husband by John Patrick, onstage Tuesday-March 12 at Murry's Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock.
Laurie Pascale, Roger M. Eaves, Kandy Jones and Don Bolinger round out the cast. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday (12:45 Wednesday matinees only through Feb. 24), 12:45 and 6:45 p.m. Sunday. Buffet opens 90 minutes before curtain. Tickets are $32-$36, $23 for children 15 and under; $25 and $15 show only. Call (501) 562-3131 or visit murrysdp.com.
Red violin
Violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn will play John Corigliano's The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra on her 1720 "Red Mendelssohn" Stradivarius with the Arkansas Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Steven Byess, 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Arend Arts Center, Bentonville High School, 1801 S.E. J St., Bentonville.
Pitcairn and the orchestra's principal oboist, Teresa Delaplain, will team up to solo in J.S. Bach's Concerto for Violin and Oboe in c minor, BWV 1060. The 16 regional winners of the orchestra's Bach Double Ensemble will play, with the orchestra, the first movement of Bach's "Double" Violin Concerto in d minor, BWV 1043. And the orchestra will play Dance of the Goblins by Antonio Bazzini and the "Enigma" Variations by Edward Elgar.
Tickets are $25, $10 for college students, $5 for K-12 students in advance, $5 more per ticket at the door. Call (479) 841-4644 or visit arphil.org.
Pitcairn will display and demonstrate the sound of her violin, answer questions, and show a documentary film on the instrument, 6-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Bentonville Public Library, 405 S. Main St., Bentonville. Admission is free.
Race relations panel
A panel discussion titled "Exploring Race Relations: An Honest Conversation" will kick off Harding University's 2016 American Studies Institute Distinguished Lecture Series schedule, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in Benson Auditorium at the university in Searcy.
On the panel: Fred Gray, former attorney for Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks; Oklahoma state Sen. Anastasia Pittman; Howard Wright, 1968 Harding alumnus and a member of the university's board of trustees; and Elijah Anthony, 1968 alumnus and preacher. Harding President Bruce McLarty will moderate.
Admission is free. Call (501) 279-4497.
David Barton, founder and president of WallBuilders, will speak April 7.
Hot Mamma
The ABBA-based musical Mamma Mia! will be onstage 7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Feb. 14 at Fayetteville's Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. Tickets are $36-$78 plus applicable fees. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
The show then travels to Conway for the University of Central Arkansas' Broadway series, which, having sold out a performance at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15, has added a second, at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17 in the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. Tickets are $30-$40, $10 for students. Call (501) 450-3265 or (866) 810-0012 or visit uca.edu/reynolds.
Farce and parody
The proprietors of an Ozarks fishing lodge past its prime welcome their kin and some oddball guests, including some from Chicago packing pistols instead of fishing lures, in the Southern-fried Farce of Nature by Jessie Jones, Nicholas Hope and Jamie Wooten, onstage 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. Feb. 17-20 and 2 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Fort Smith Little Theatre, 401 N. Sixth St., Fort Smith. Tickets to Thursday's opening night gala are $25; for all other performances, $10. Call (479) 783-2966 or visit fslt.org.
In other Fort Smith theater news, the Theatre at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith will stage The 39 Steps, a comedy/parody by Patrick Barlow based on the novel by John Buchan and the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and Feb. 15 and 2:30 p.m. Feb. 14 in Breedlove Auditorium, UAFS, 5210 Grand Ave., Fort Smith. Tickets are $6, free for UAFS students, faculty and staff. Call (479) 788-7300, email boxoffice@uafs.edu or visit uafs.universitytickets.com.
'Crazy Quilts'
"Crazy Quilts," featuring 10 quilts from the Rogers Historical Museum's collection, will be on display Saturday-July 10 at the museum, 322 S. Second St., Rogers. Gallery hours 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free. Call (479) 621-1154 or visit rogershistoricalmuseum.org.
Banding together
The University of Central Arkansas Symphonic Band will perform at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Donald W. Reynolds Performance Hall, UCA, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. On the program: Esprit de Corps by Robert Jager, Pageant by Vincent Persichetti, Fanfare to "The Hammer" by Anthony O'Toole, Salvation Is Created by Pavel Tschesnokoff (conducted by graduate student Nathan Rakow) and Marche Militaire Francaise by Camille Saint-Saens, in a new edition by conductor Brantley Douglas, associate director of bands at UCA. Admission is free. Call (501) 450-5022 or email bdouglas@uca.edu.
Cantata concert
The University of Arkansas Schola Cantorum will perform the Cantata No. 29, BWV 29, "Wir danken dir, Gott, Wir Danken Dir," by Johann Sebastian Bach and Ralph Vaughan Williams' setting of "The Old Hundredth Psalm Tune" with festival brass, 3 p.m. today at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 224 N. East Ave., Fayetteville. Stephen Caldwell conducts; the organist is Johan Botes. Admission is free. Call (479) 409-5679.
Murder musical
The First National Tour of A Gentleman's Guide to Love & Murder, the 2014 Tony Award winner for Best Musical (music and lyrics by Steven Lutvak, book and lyrics by Robert L. Freedman), will be onstage 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Feb. 14 at the Orpheum Theatre, 203 S. Main St., Memphis. Tickets are $25-$125, Call (901) 525-3000 or (901) 743-2787 (ARTS) or visit orpheum-memphis.com.
Style on 02/07/2016