Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts this weekend:
THEATER: 'If you please, sir ...'
Wildwood Park for the Arts and Praeclara are staging "Oliver!" (music, lyrics and book by Lionel Bart, based on Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist"), 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Oct. 21-22 and 3 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 23 in the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre at Wildwood, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock. Tickets are $35. Call (501) 821-7275 or visit wildwoodpark.org.
'American Voices'
Ozark Living Newspaper Theatre Company stages "American Voices: Shepherd, Chaikin, Wilson, Kushner," a collection of short pieces by American playwrights, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday and 20-22 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Oct. 23 at New Deal Studio and Gallery, 2003 Louisiana St., Little Rock. Adam Frank is directing Sam Shephard's one-act play "Chicago" and a scene from Tony Kushner's "Angels in America, Part I." Steven Jones directs the Shephard/Joseph Chaikin collaboration "Savage/Love" and Keith Harper directs August Wilson's short play "The Janitor" and a scene from his "Fences." Admission is pay what you can (suggested $15 donation). Visit OzarkLivingNewspaper.org.
'Tomorrow' Jr.
Jonesboro's Foundation of Arts stages "Annie Jr." (a shortened adaptation of the full-scale musical, music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, book by Thomas Meehan, based on the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie"), 6 p.m. Friday, 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Forum Theatre 115 E. Monroe Ave., Jonesboro. Sponsor is Centennial Bank. Tickets are $15 and $16, $13 and $14 for children, senior citizens, military and Arkansas State University students, faculty and staff; the Sunday matinee is "pay what you can." Call (870) 935-2726 or visit foajonesboro.org.
FUN: Celtic Festival
The Little Rock Celtic Festival celebrates Celtic culture, including an Irish hurling tournament, Scottish Highland Games and a 7-on-7 soccer tournament, music and Irish dancing, 7:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Burns Park Soccer Complex, 1 Soccer Ave., North Little Rock. There will also be food trucks and Diamond Bear will set up a beer tent. Visit facebook.com/LRCelticFestival.
Comedic Preacher
Comedian Preacher Lawson, who made it to the final rounds in season 12 of NBC's "America's Got Talent," performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Reynolds Performance Hall, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. Tickets are $30-$40, $10 for students. Call (501) 450-3265 or (866) 810-0012 or visit uca.edu/reynolds.
MUSIC: 'Life, Love & Light'
The Arkansas Chamber Singers open their 2022-23 season with a program titled "Life, Love and Light," 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday at St. James United Methodist Church, 321 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock. Lorissa Mason, director of choral activities at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, conducts. Tickets are $15, $10 students in advance, $18 and $12 at the door. Call (501) 377-1121 or visit ar-chambersingers.org.
'Song and Dance'
The Little Rock Winds open their 2022-23 season, 7:30 p.m. today at Little Rock's Second Presbyterian Church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive. Israel Getzov conducts a program titled "Song and Dance," including the Suite No. 2 in F major by Gustav Holst. Tickets are $15, free for students. Call (501) 666-0777 or visit lrwinds.org.
Brass band
The Natural State Brass Band will perform at 3 p.m. Sunday at Immanuel Baptist Church, 501 N. Shackleford Road, Little Rock. Jessica Payne, euphonium, solos in Philip Sparke's "Pantomime" and Heather Thayer, tenor horn, in Roy Newsome's "The Carousel." The program also includes as a tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II an adaptation for brass band by Rico Belotti of Stan Kenton's arrangement of "God Save the Queen." Nevada Mills conducts. Admission is free. Call (501) 758-2576 or visit nsbb.org.
The Lovestruck Balladeers perform at 8:30 p.m. Friday and 1:45 p.m. Saturday as part of the Stringband Music & Arts Festival at Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
Stringband Festival
Ozark Folk Center State Park, 1032 Park Ave., Mountain View, hosts the Stringband Music & Arts Festival, 10 a.m. Friday-Saturday. Acts appearing in music and dance shows, 6-10 p.m. Friday and 1-10 p.m. Saturday, include the Lovestruck Balladeers, Sad Daddy, and Mountain View-area performers, among them veteran fiddler Roger Fountain, folksinger-songwriter Grace Stormont, Blackberry Summer and Love Holler, and many of the region's best square dancers. Sponsors are Stone Bank and the Arkansas Arts Council. Tickets are $50 both days, $25 (Friday only) and $35 (Saturday only) — save $5 by ordering in advance — and include all-day admission to the park's craft shops, gardens and entertainment in the Craft Village, open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. each day. Family passes (two adults and anyone under 18) are available. Visit tinyurl.com/48nw9zem.
ART & EXHIBITS: 'Moments & Memories'
"Moments and Memories," photographs that Arkansas native Ray Scott describes as capturing "ordinary subjects or scenes in creative ways," goes on display with a 5-7 p.m. reception Friday in the Parish House Gallery at Christ Episcopal Church, 509 Scott St., Little Rock. The exhibition will remain up through the end of December; hours are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-noon Friday (call the church office at (501) 375-2342 to confirm office personnel are available for building access) and 7:30 a.m.-noon Sunday. Email LallyRBrown@gmail.com.
'Plein on Main'
Artists from around the state will create works in their medium of choice in Batesville's Main Street residential and business districts as Gallery 246, 243 E. Main St., Batesville, holds the the fifth annual "Plein on Main" open-air art competition Friday and Saturday. The gallery is offering more than $1,500 in cash prizes. Abigail Smithson, a faculty member at Lyon College, will be the judge. Call (870) 262-8066.
Also in Batesville, artifacts, history and stories from Independence County and surrounding counties, will be on display Friday-Oct. 23 at the Old Independence Regional Museum, 380 S. Ninth St., Batesville, marking Lyon College's sesquicentennial celebrations. Hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Admission is $5, $3 for senior citizens over 55 and military, $2 for children over 6, free for kids 6 and younger. Call (870) 793-2121 or visit oirm.org.
ETC.: Pride Parade
The 2022 Pride Parade, noon Saturday through North Little Rock's Argenta district, starts east of Dickey Stephens Stadium and proceeds west on West Broadway to Maple Street, north on Maple to West Sixth Street and east to Main Street. It concludes at Argenta Plaza, where a festival will feature food trucks, vendors, music and drag performances. Sign up at tinyurl.com/4cuhnyeh.
Arts and finances
Elaine Grogan Luttrull, founder of Minerva Financial Arts, a company that builds financial literacy and empowerment through education and coaching, will lecture on "Financial Wellness in the Arts," 6 p.m. Friday in Room 101 of the Windgate Center of Art and Design at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. It's is part of the UALR art and design department's artWORKS 2022 lecture series. Visit facebook.com/ualrart.
Poets Roundtable
Tyrone Jaeger, winner of the Porter Fund Literary Prize and a faculty member at Hendrix College, will be the featured speaker at Poets Roundtable of Arkansas' annual Poetry Day Conference, Saturday at Parkview United Methodist Church, 514 N. Border St., Benton. Registration begins at 9 a.m.; the conference starts at 9:30. There is no registration fee. An $8.50 barbecue lunch will be available. Call (501) 305-9972, email mcpherson8391@gmail.com or visit poetsroundtableofarkansas.org.