Two Central Arkansas theaters will be alive with "The Sound of Music" (music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, book by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse):
◼️ Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, with previews at 7 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and shows at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Nov. 12, 2 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Tuesday-Nov. 11 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13. (The Nov. 11 show is sold out.)
◼️ The Lucy Lockett Cabe Theatre at Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, where the run resumes and concludes, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18-20 and 3 p.m. Nov. 21.
The musical focuses on a young novice at an Austrian convent who becomes governess to the seven children of a severe widowed naval officer on the edge of the Nazi Anschluss, the 1938 German takeover of Austria.
Claire Wilkinson Rhodes plays Maria Rainer, with Ben Barham as Captain Georg von Trapp and Satia Spencer as the Mother Abbess. Playing the children: Elizabeth Dawson as Liesl, Alex Harkins as Friedrich, Lauren Lasseigne and Ella Tappe as Luisa, Piper Wallace as Brigitta, Brandon Lisowe as Kurt, Blythe Keating and Lily Hirscheider as Marta and Hope and Ivy Hinton as Gretl.
Ben Grimes plays Max Detweiler, Kira Keating as Elsa Schrader, Rex Easter III as Rolf, P. Jay Clark as Franz and Jenn Hartman as Frau Schmidt. At the convent: with Elizabeth Riddick as Sister Margaretta, Jane Mages as Sister Berthe and Shea Williamson as Sister Sophia, plus Valerie Arnold, Dariane LyJoi Mull and Adriana Napolitano as "unnamed" ensemble nuns.
Vince Insalaco directs, with music direction by Bevan Keating.
Tickets are $35. Visit argentacommunitytheater.org/buy-tickets; for Wildwood shows, visit web.ovationtix.com/trs/cal/34337/1635739200000.
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Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
'Small Works' at HSU
The Arkansas Arts Council's 2021 Small Works on Paper touring exhibition, 38 pieces no larger than 18-by-24 inches by 26 Arkansas artists, opens at 9 a.m. today in Henderson State University's Russell Fine Arts Gallery, 1100 Henderson St., Arkadelphia. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday through Nov. 30. Admission is free. Call (501) 324-9767 or email cheri.leffew@arkansas.gov.
Rep auditions
The Arkansas Repertory Theatre will hold local auditions, by appointment, for its spring 2022 season Nov. 13, with Nov. 14 callbacks, in the third-floor rehearsal hall at the theater, 601 Main St., Little Rock.
The three shows and their run dates:
◼️ "Designing Women" by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Jan. 18-Feb. 6
◼️ "School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play" by Jocelyn Bioh, March 1-20
◼️ "Into the Woods," music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine, April 19-May 8, with a possible extension to May 22.
Performers of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are encouraged to audition. Actors should prepare a very brief monologue for "Designing Women" and/or "School Girls," and/or a monologue and a brief song for "Into the Woods." Take a headshot, resume and sheet music in the correct key for the piano accompanist. Character descriptions are available at therep.org/auditions.
Appointments will be scheduled 10 a.m.-6 p.m. with a 1-2 p.m. lunch break. Covid-19 protocols include social distancing; masks are required to enter the theater. The Rep will require proof of full vaccination against covid-19 upon casting.
To schedule an appointment, email casting@therep.org; put "2022 Season Local Auditions" in the subject line.
Comedy tours
◼️ Comedian, podcast host and author Bert Kreischer is adding 50 stops on his "Berty Boy Relapse Tour," including North Little Rock's Simmons Bank Arena, in its Theater configuration, 7 p.m. Feb. 6. Tickets — $39.75-$99.75 plus service charges — are on sale at the arena box office and via Ticketmaster.com. There is an eight-ticket limit per household.
Kreischer's most recent stand-up specials "Hey Big Boy," "Secret Time" and "The Machine" are currently streaming on Netflix. His story about robbing a train with the Russian Mafia is being turned into a film. He also hosts "The Go Big Show," described as "an extreme talent show with celebrity judges," on television's TBS.
◼️ Comedian Leanne Morgan, a stay-at-home mother of three, brings her "Big Panty Tour" to Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St., Little Rock, 7 p.m. Aug. 19, and to the ArcBest Performing Arts Center, 55 S. Seventh St., Fort Smith, 7 p.m. Aug. 26. Tickets for the Little Rock show — $29.75-$49.75 — are available at the Robinson box office and via Ticketmaster.com. Ticketmaster had not yet released prices for the Fort Smith show by deadline.