Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts this weekend:
FUN: Muppet magic
Fans can take a journey with Elmo to discover the "power of yet" in "Sesame Street Live! Make Your Magic," 4 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Saturday at North Little Rock's Theater@Simmons Bank Arena, the arena's reduced audience footprint. Tickets are $17-$57 plus service charges. Visit Ticketmaster.com.
Family Day
Arkansas PBS aims to "encourage community spirit through family-friendly fun, entertainment and educational activities" with Family Day, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the statewide network's headquarters, 350 S. Donaghey Ave., Conway.
Children are encouraged to dress as their favorite PBS KIDS characters and can meet and take photos with special guests, including Alma from "Alma's Way," Buddy from "Dinosaur Train," Clifford the Big Red Dog, Curious George and Daniel Tiger. There will be a chance to meet animals from the Little Rock Zoo, two 20-minute live scientific demonstrations by the Museum of Discovery, music by Momandpop and Papa Rap, arts and crafts with Conway Alliance for the Arts, a giant brain from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission mobile aquarium, story time with Arkansas PBS Education Department staff, tours of the network's studios including a meet-and-greet with Blueberry from "Blueberry's Clubhouse," an instrument petting zoo from the Conway Symphony Orchestra, food trucks and, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., hot dogs, popcorn, cookies and drinks. The network will also kick off the 2022 Mister Rogers' Neighborhood Sweater Drive, collecting donations of new and gently used sweaters.
Admission is free; RSVP at myarkansaspbs.org/familyday.
MUSIC: Quartet concert
The Danish String Quartet — Frederik Oland and Rune Tonsgaard Sorenson, violins; Asbjorn Norgaard, viola; and Fredrik Schoyen Sjolin, cello — performs, under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock, at 7:30 p.m. today at the Center for Humanities & Arts Theater, University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, 3000 West Scenic Drive, North Little Rock. The program includes the "Divertimento" in F major, K.138, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; "Three Divertimentos for String Quartet" by Benjamin Britten; the "String Quartet No. 14" in d minor, "Death and the Maiden," by Franz Schubert; and traditional folk arrangements by members of the quartet. A meet-the-performers reception, including complimentary wine and light snacks, follows the concert. Admission is $25, free for students of all ages. Call (615) 775-6744 or visit chambermusicLR.com.
'All That Viola'
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra violist Timothy MacDuff, with pianist Naoki Hakutani and cellist David Gerstein, will give a concert titled "All That Viola," kicking off the Steinway Piano Gallery Little Rock's inaugural "Close Up! Steinway Salon Chamber Series," 3 p.m. Sunday at 14901 Beau Vue Drive, Little Rock.
MacDuff and Hakutani will play "Two Pieces for Viola and Piano" by Ukrainian composer Borys Lyatoshynsky and "Marchenbilder" by Robert Schumann; MacDuff and Gerstein will perform the "Duet" for viola and cello "With Two Eyeglasses Obbligato," by Ludwig van Beethoven; and the three musicians will perform the "Trio" in a minor, op.114, adapted from the "Clarinet Trio," by Johannes Brahms. Tickets are $25. Call (501) 940-1562 or visit steinwaylr.com/close-up.
Memorial 'Cornucopia'
The North Little Rock Community Concert Band closes its 2022 season with a concert that conductor Rico Belotti calls "A Cornucopia of Remembrances," 3 p.m. Sunday at the Patrick Henry Hays Senior Center, 401 Pershing Blvd., North Little Rock.
The program includes the "United Nations March" by K.L. King; "The Loyal Legion" March by John Philip Sousa (in honor of Sousa's birthday); "Jazzin' It Up," featuring the saxophone section, by Harry Richards (to celebrate the birthday of instrument inventor Adolphe Sax); "Times Remembered" by Charles Booker (in memory of band members' former school and university band directors); Michael Brown's "Symphonic Portrait" (based on the old North Little Rock High spirit song "Our Director" and in memory of the band's founder, J. Raymond Brandon); and, since Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were elected on Nov. 6, 1860 and 1861, respectively, Clare Grundman's "The Blue and the Gray." Closing the concert: Mark Williams' arrangement for wind band of Peter I. Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" in remembrance of the composer's death on Nov. 6, 1893. The concert is dedicated to Janet Gonyea, Ramey Herren and Gail Russell, former band members who have died since its last concert. Admission is free. Call (501) 758-2576 or visit nlrcommunityband.com.
THEATER: 'Sounds & Sweet Aires'
The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre will explore the musicality of Shakespeare's work in "Sounds and Sweet Aires," the first installment of its "Experience Shakespeare at the Max" series, 8 p.m. Friday at The Max Event Venue, 1007 Spencer St., Conway. The program will include live music; actors, including Aidan O'Reilly, Steven Marzolf and Betsy Jilka, telling stories from the stage; and "a special surprise remote performance from one of our favorite [Shakespeare Theatre] alums who is now performing on Broadway in New York City," says Managing Director Chad Bradford, who will also serve as emcee. The theater company will also unveil its 2023 season. Tickets are $20. Visit arkshakes.com.
El Dorado 'Deathtrap'
The South Arkansas Arts Center, 110 E. Fifth St., El Dorado, stages "Deathtrap" by Ira Levin, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Nov. 10-12 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The center hosts an opening-night champagne reception at 7 p.m. Friday; tickets are $20. For all other performances: $15, $10 for center members, $5 for students. Sponsors are Southern Bancorp and Nexans AmerCable. Call (870) 862-5474 or visit saac-arts.org.
ART/EXHIBITS: Military memories
Three veterans share military remembrances for "Lens, Pens, and Lyrics: Remembering War Through Photography, Writing and Song," 1 p.m. Saturday at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock:
• Bruce Wesson, a U.S. Army first lieutenant who led a five-man combat photography film team in Vietnam from 1967-68. A collection of his photographs is on display in the museum's Vietnam Galley.
• Pat C. Hoy II, author of numerous works and textbooks on composition, former Mellon Visiting Professor of English at Hendrix College, who also taught at the U.S. Military Academy, Harvard and New York University.
• Paul Tull, director of Freedom Sings Arkansas, who will discuss how music can help veterans.
Admission is free. Call (501) 772-6636 or visit littlerock.gov/macarthur.
UCA seniors
Works by senior art students at the University of Central Arkansas go on display with a 4-7 p.m. reception today in the Baum Gallery, McCastlain Hall, UCA, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. It'll be up through Dec. 2. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Thursday, with a special viewing, 2-4 p.m. Nov. 13. Admission is free. Call (501) 450-5793 or email bkyoung@uca.edu.
Pine Bluff 'Potpourri'
The 2022 Potpourri Exhibition, featuring work by Little Rock-based artist John Kushmaul, is on display through Dec. 1 in the Loft Gallery of the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas' ARTSpace on Main, 623 S. Main St., Pine Bluff. It previews Kushmaul's artworks that will be in the silent auction that is part of the center's Dec. 3 fundraising gala, "Potpourri: Roaring for the Arts." Gallery admission is free; gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday–Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Call (870) 536-3375, email mhenson@asc701.org or visit asc701.org/potpourri.
Spa City gallery
Paintings by Susan Baker Chambers and paintings and prints by Tony Saladino will be on display starting with a 5-9 p.m. monthly Gallery Walk reception Friday at Justus Fine Art Gallery, 827A Central Ave., Hot Springs. The exhibit will be on display through Nov. 30. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and by appointment. Call (501) 321-2335 or visit justusfineart.com.
COMEDY: 'Queen of Clean'
Billed as "the Queen of Clean," comedian Chonda Pierce debuts new material from her life "that's better than fiction" for "Chonda Pierce: Live in Concert," 7 p.m. Saturday at Independence Hall, University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville, 2005 White Drive, Batesville. Tickets are $26.75-$55.75. Visit tinyurl.com/bdfscxny.
TICKETS: 'Tootsie' in tune
Celebrity Attractions is bringing "Tootsie" (music and lyrics by David Yazbek, book by Robert Horn, based on a story by Don McGuire and Larry Gelbart and the movie of the same name), to Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway, 7:30 p.m. Jan. 13, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Jan. 14 and 1 p.m. Jan. 15. Tickets — $37-$93 — go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at the Robinson Center Box Office, CelebrityAttractions.com and Ticketmaster.com; call (501) 244-8800.