Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts this weekend:
COMEDY: Engvall's farewell
Comedian Bill Engvall, on his "Here's Your Sign, It's Finally Time" farewell tour, performs at 7 and 9 p.m. Friday at the Oaklawn Event Center, 2705 Central Ave, Hot Springs. Tickets are $40-$55 for the early show, $40-$65 for the late one; there is a six-ticket limit. Visit oaklawn.com. Masks are encouraged for guests who are not vaccinated.
THEATER: 'Little Mermaid Jr.'
The Studio Theatre, 320 W. Seventh St., Little Rock, stages "Disney's The Little Mermaid Jr.," a 60-minute stage adaptation of the Broadway musical (music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Glenn Slater, book by Doug Wright), 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and March 17-19 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and March 20. Tickets are $25 in advance at CentralArkansasTickets.com, $30 at the door; for more information, call (501) 374-2615 or visit studiotheatrelr.com. The theater will have 85 seats per performance and requires face coverings for all.
Blakely White (left) and Berkeley Courtney-Moore divide the role of Ariel in "The Little Mermaid Jr." at the Studio Theatre. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Matthew Sewell)
True 'Robin Hood'?
An egocentric hero tries his best to swagger his way through a never-ending quest to aid the needy while encountering a host of unusual characters in "The Somewhat True Tale of Robin Hood" by Mary Lynn Dobson, onstage 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff. Tickets are $18, $13 for center members and senior citizens, $10 for students. Sponsor is Relyance Bank. Call (870) 536-3375 or visit asc701.org/2022-season.
Wonka 'bars'
Jonesboro's Foundation of Arts stages "Willy Wonka Jr." (music and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley, adapted for the stage by Bricusse and Timothy Allen McDonald from the 1971 movie "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and Roald Dahl's book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"), 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Forum Theater, 115 E. Monroe Ave., Jonesboro. Presenting Sponsor is the East Arkansas Insurance Agency. Tickets are $15, $10 for senior citizens, children, military and Arkansas State University students, faculty and staff; pay what you can for the Sunday matinee. Call (870) 935-2726 or visit foajonesboro.org.
MUSIC: Coterie concert
Little Rock Musical Coterie scholarship winners perform for the coterie's meeting, 2 p.m. Sunday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1101 N. Mississippi St., Little Rock. Clarinetist Alan Sun, winner of the Coterie's Wang Award, joins pianist Cesar Blass for selections from Gioachino Rossini's "Introduction, Theme, and Variations." Pianist Stephen Graham, winner of the Coterie Award, plays the second and third movements of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Piano Sonata No. 8" in c minor, op.13 ("Pathetique"), and "Papillons" by Robert Schumann. And pianist Holly Farrah, winner of the Virginia Queen Piano Award, will play Scene No. 2 from "Romeo and Juliet" by Sergei Prokofiev; "Prelude" in c-sharp minor, op.3 No. 2, by Sergei Rachmaninoff; "The Girl with the Flaxen Hair" by Claude Debussy; "Nocturne," op.9 No. 1 by Frederic Chopin; and "Prelude No. 3" by Kent Kennan. Admission is free.
Community band
The North Little Rock Community Concert Band opens its 2022 season at 3 p.m. Sunday with a concert that conductor Rico Belotti calls "The Empire Strikes Back," featuring tunes connected to the British Empire, at the Patrick Henry Hays Senior Center, 401 Pershing Blvd., North Little Rock. Admission is free. Call (501) 758-2576 or visit nlrcommunityband.com.
Six-string trio
The 6-Wire piano trio — (from left) Cathy Yang, erhu; Xiang Gao, violin; and Matthew Brower, piano — performs Saturday at Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
6-Wire, an unusual piano trio — Xiang Gao, violin; Cathy Yang, erhu (Chinese two-stringed violin) and Matthew Brower, piano — performs at 7 p.m. Saturday in Riceland Hall of Arkansas State University's Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro. The program: "Sunshine over Tashikuergan" by Gang Chen; "Meridian Flux" by Mark Hagerty; "Funk Attack" by Adam Baumol; and 6-Wire's arrangements of works by J.S. Bach, Claude Debussy, William Bolcom and George Gershwin. Tickets are $18-$33. Call (870) 972-2781 or visit yourfowlercenter.com.
OBU Band
The Ouachita Baptist University Symphonic Band with conductor Jim Lloyd performs at 7:30 p.m. today in OBU's Jones Performing Arts Center, 409 Ouachita St., Arkadelphia. The program includes "Gabriel's Oboe" by Ennio Morricone from the score of the 1986 film "The Mission" with Brock Wade, a junior instrumental music education major from Plano, Texas, as oboe soloist and works by Frank Ticheli, John Mackey, David Holsinger and A.J. Weidt. Admission is free; the concert will also stream live at obu.edu/band. Call (870) 245-4197 or email lloydj@obu.edu.
ETC.: CALS book sale
The Central Arkansas Library System is going back into the basement for the first of three 2022 Friends of CALS Used Book Sales, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the system's Main Library, 100 Rock St., Little Rock. (Friends of CALS members can shop early, 5-7 p.m. today.)
Price for most books is $1 for paperbacks, $2 for hardbacks. Book totes will be for sale as well. Proceeds go to the Friends of CALS fund to support the Six Bridges Book Festival, book club kits, Arkansas Sounds concerts, branch programs, Summer Reading Club, youth programs and various library activities. Masks will be required for the shoppers and volunteers.
Members, by the way, also receive 50% off gently read books at the Galleries & Bookstore at Library Square today during regular business hours, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Buy memberships anytime online at cals.org/about-friends, in-person during the book sale or at any CALS branch.
Summer and fall book sales are tentatively set for July 7-9 and Nov. 17-19. Call (501) 918-3000 or visit cals.org.
Magic couple
Illusionist Jonathan Hawley puts on a show today in Heber Springs. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Jonathan and Trisha Hawley, husband and wife illusionist team, present "Hawley Magic's Jonathan Hawley — The Man of Magic Show," 7:30 p.m. today at the Heber Springs Performing Arts Center, 1100 W. Pine St., Heber Springs. It's part of Arkansas State University-Beebe's 2021-22 Lecture-Concert Series. Admission is by free ticket; visit asub.ticketleap.com/hawleymagic. The Hawleys were finalists on the television show "America's Got Talent." Visit hawleymagic.biz.
Shamrockin'
Live music, a chili cook-off, a cornhole tournament, crawfish, inflatables, kids activities and a vendor market are set for Main Street El Dorado's "Shamrockin' on the Square," 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, centering on Washington and Elm streets in downtown El Dorado.
The "Grill Wars Chili Cook-Off" starts at 9 a.m.; judging starts at noon for more than $2,000 in cash and prizes in three categories (Traditional Red, Verde and Homestyle) and an invitation for the top three cooks to the World Championship Chili Cook-Off in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The public can eat the results, 1-3 p.m., $10, and vote for favorites.
The event also features an 11 a.m.-4 p.m. vendor market, a fun zone with games and contests for kids and adults, a beer garden, music and food from downtown restaurants. The event is a partnership with Ken's Discount and Blackmon's Furniture. Admission is free; some activities require a fee. Call (870) 862-4747 or visit mainstreeteldorado.org.