MUSIC
The Listeso String Quartet will play for "Candlelight: Holiday Special Featuring 'The Nutcracker' & More," 6 p.m. Friday in the William Grant Still Ballroom, Robinson Center, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway, Little Rock.
The tentative program: two holiday medleys ("Hark the Herald Angels Sing," "The First Noël," "Deck the Halls," "Joy to the World," "Angels We Have Heard on High" and "Away in a Manger"); "O Holy Night" by Adolphe Adam; "The Snow Is Dancing" by Claude Debussy; January: "By the Hearth" and December: "Christmas" from "The Seasons" by Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky; Violin Concerto in g minor, "Winter," from "The Four Seasons" by Antonio Vivaldi; "The Skaters' Waltz" by Émile Waldteufel; "Greensleeves" ("What Child Is This"); and from from Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker," the "Miniature Overture," "March," "Trepak (Russian Dance)," "Waltz of the Flowers" and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy."
The concert is open to attendees 8 or older; anyone under 16 must be accompanied by an adult. Tickets are $29-$52, with a $69 VIP table-seating option. Visit tinyurl.com/yahd2h98.
AUDITIONS
Argenta 'Grease'
The Argenta Community Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, holds auditions for the musical "Grease" (music, lyrics and book by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey), 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Jan. 20, with callbacks at 2 p.m. Jan. 21.
Prepare 16 bars of a song that showcases your vocal range (music can be, but need not be, from the show, but should have the same feel) and take sheet music for the accompanist. The audition will also include cold readings from the script and a dance call.
Auditions are open to performers of all genders, races and ethnicities. Vincent Insalaco directs with choreographer Allison Stodola Wilson and assistant director Bridget Davis. A character/age breakdown and more information is available at argentacommunitytheater.org/auditions.
Rehearsals start in late June; production dates are July 24-Aug. 3. Email casting@ArgentaCommunityTheater.org for an audition appointment; walk-ins will be accommodated on a first come, first served basis.
TICKETS
'Shrek' on tour
A new production of "Shrek the Musical," "reimagined" by its creators (music by Jeanine Tesori), book and lyrics by David Lindsay-Abaire, based on the DreamWorks animated film) sets out on a 40-plus-city national tour in February, with performances at 7:30 p.m. March 27-28 at Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. It will also play May 31-June 2 at the Orpheum Theatre in Memphis.
The show is an add-on to Celebrity Attractions' 2023-24 Little Rock season. Tickets are $29-$99. Call (501) 244-8800 or visit CelebrityAttractions.com or Ticketmaster.com.
An unlikely title fairy-tale hero, an unpleasant ogre (Nicholas Hambruch), finds himself on a life-changing quest alongside a wisecracking donkey (Naphtali Yaakov Curry) to rescue an unwilling and feisty Princess Fiona (Cecily Dionne Davis). The tour cast also includes Timmy Lewis as Lord Farquaad, Jamir Brown as Pinocchio and Tori Kocher as Dragon.
The musical was the first collaboration between Tesori and Lindsay-Abaire, who also created the Tony Award-winning "Kimberly Akimbo." Visit shrekthemusicaltour.com.