Entertainment options in Arkansas this weekend:
SEASONAL: Candlelight on tour
The Hendrix College Choir’s Candlelight Carol Service moves to North Little Rock and Little Rock this weekend, 7:30 p.m. today at Lakewood United Methodist Church, 1922 Topf Road, North Little Rock, and 7:30 p.m. Friday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1101 N. Mississippi St., Little Rock. Admission is free; attendees are required to wear masks. Visit hendrix.edu.
‘Wonderful’ screening
The North Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau hosts a free, public screening of “It’s a Wonderful Life” at 6 p.m. Sunday at Argenta Plaza, 510 Main St., North Little Rock. Take your own lawn chairs and blankets; concessions will be sold. Visit northlittlerock.org or the Facebook events page, facebook.com/events/447042697152112.
Tapping the spirit
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 4106 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock, hosts “Tapping Out the Holidays,” 7 p.m. today. Seven dancers from professional tap dance company Untapped perform in a program of holiday classics, including “Jingle Bells,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Carol of the Bells.” It’s part of the church’s Festival of the Senses. Admission is free. The show will be livestreamed at facebook.com/frcarey. Call (501) 753-3578 or email baxternan@aol.com.
MUSIC: Windy celebration I
Soprano JoAna Rusche joins the Little Rock Winds for a Christmas concert tonight at Little Rock's Second Presbyterian Church. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
The Little Rock Winds and and conductor Israel Getzov celebrate the season with “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!” with the Arkansas Chamber Singers and artistic director John Erwin, 7:30 p.m. today at Second Presbyterian Church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock.
Soprano JoAna Rusche will perform a medley of holiday pop songs accompanied by a jazz combo, as well as “O Holy Night” by Adolphe Adam. The Chamber Singers will perform John Williams’ anthem “Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas” from the “Home Alone II” movie score; “A Christmas Portrait,” arranged by Jerry Nowak; and “A Winter’s Night” by Rick Kirby. The program will also include music from “Frozen” and “The Polar Express,” “A Christmas Festival” and “Sleigh Ride” by Leroy Anderson; “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” arranged by Julie Giroux; “March of the Toys” by Victor Herbert; and the concluding “Christmas Sing-Along” by David Lovrien. Brent Walker will be the concert moderator.
Dr. Richard Brown, winner of the conductor’s baton auction, will be on the podium for “Sleigh Ride.” Santa is expected to make an appearance; the “Selfies with Santa” photo booth will be open during intermission and after the show. The annual “Stocking Stuffer Silent Auction” opens at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20, $5 for students. Visit lrwinds.org/merry-christmas. Masks and social distancing are required. Call (501) 666-0777 for more information.
Windy celebration II
The Natural State Brass Band will provide a double offering of Christmas music in the British brass band style, 7 p.m. Friday at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 4106 John F. Kennedy Blvd., North Little Rock, and 3 p.m. Sunday at Immanuel Baptist Church, 501 N. Shackleford Road, Little Rock.
The program includes “Fanfare: Christians Awake” by Paul Lovatt-Cooper; Lovatt-Cooper’s arrangement of “Carol of the Bells”; “Three King Swing” by William Himes; “Candlelight Carol” by John Rutter (arranged for brass band by Chris Mallet); “A Christmas Suite” by Stephen Bulla; an arrangement of “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” with cornet soloist Courtney Swindler; “The Kingdom Triumphant” by Eric Ball; and arrangements of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and Mel Torme’s “The Christmas Song.” Tim Gunter, former Razorback Band director, conducts.
Admission to both concerts is free. Call (501) 758-2576 or visit nsbb.org.
THEATER: Double feature
Lucy (Skyler McKinley, left) counsels a depressed Charlie Brown (Baylor Groomes) in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
The Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff, stages a “holiday double feature”: “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (adapted for the stage by Eric Schaeffer from the classic 1965 animated TV special, with credits for Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, director Bill Melendez and executive producer Lee Mendelson) and “A Seussified Christmas Carol,” Peter Bloedel’s interpretation of a potential treatment by Dr. Seuss of Dickens’ classic, 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the center’s Catherine M. Bellamy Theater. Tickets are $18, $13 for center members and senior citizens, $10 for students. Sponsor is Simmons Bank. Call (870) 536-3375 or visit artssciencecenter.tix.com. Covid-19 protocols require visitors 2 and older to wear masks that cover the nose and mouth at all times.
COMEDY: Carrington onstage
Comedian Rodney Carrington performs Saturday at the Hot Springs Convention Center. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Comedian, actor, singer, and writer Rodney Carrington, on tour supporting his new single, “Let Me In,” will be onstage 8 p.m. Saturday in Horner Hall at the Hot Springs Convention Center, 134 Convention Center Blvd., Hot Springs. The show is being billed as for mature audiences only. Tickets are $46.50-$66.50. Visit ticketmaster.com.
Stickney comes home
Arkansas native actress/comedian Phyllis Yvonne Stickney is coming “Home for the Holidays” with an evening of “Laughter & Lyrics,” 7 and 9 p.m. Sunday at the Loony Bin Comedy Club, in the Breckenridge Village Shopping Center, 10301 N. Rodney Parham Road, Little Rock. She’ll be blending “conscious” comedy, spoken word and a splash of music and song. Tickets are $30. Call (501) 228-5555 or visit lr.loonybincomedy.com.
Stickney, a member of the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame, recently appeared in the Showtime series “Shameless” and counts among her film credits “New Jack City,” “Malcolm X,” “What’s Love Got to Do With It?,” “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” “The Women of Brewster Place” and “Die Hard With a Vengeance.”
ART: Painting workshop
Hot Springs artist Richard Stephens is offering a three-day painting workshop he is calling “Watercolor Painting and Design,” 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Feb. 1-2 and 9 a.m.-noon Feb. 3 at the South Arkansas Arts Center, 110 E. Fifth St., El Dorado. Cost is $175. Register at saac-arts.com or call (870) 862-5474. Stephens requests that participants bring some photographs with them for inspiration. He will also show his work Jan. 7-Feb. 2 in the center’s Merkle Gallery.
ETC.: Irvin honored
Musical America magazine has included Arkansas Symphony Orchestra co-concertmaster Andrew Irvin among its Top 30 Professionals of the Year, honoring individuals in the performing arts “whose leadership helped navigate the covid-19 pandemic,” according to a news release. Irvin and his ASO colleagues initiated an online pandemic performance series they called “Bedtime with Bach,” which garnered coverage from local and national media, including the Washington Post, CNN and “The Kelly Clarkson Show.” More than 1 million people in more than 30 countries viewed the performances by solo performers and small ensembles. Other Top 30 honorees include violinist Jennifer Koh; Heather Noonan, vice president of advocacy of the League of American Orchestras; and New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill.
Tebow’s talk
NCAA champion, Heisman Trophy winner, former NFL quarterback, ESPN commentator and author Tim Tebow speaks as part of Harding University’s American Studies Institute distinguished lecture series, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 18 in Benson Auditorium at Harding, 915 E. Market Ave., Searcy. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance, via hardingtickets.com. For more information, call (501) 279-4497 or visit harding.edu/asi.