ENTERTAINMENT NOTES: Young Players stage ‘American Idiot’; Coterie concert for Founders Day
Founders Day #FoundersDay
Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts this weekend:
THEATER: ‘American Idiot’
Benton’s Young Players Second Stage presents “Green Day’s American Idiot,” 7:30 p.m. today-Saturday and Jan. 12-14 and 2:30 p.m. Sunday and Jan. 15 at the Royal Theatre, 111 N. Market St., Benton.
The electric-rock musical (music by Green Day, lyrics by Billie Joe Armstrong, book by Armstrong and Michael Meyer) includes every song from Green Day’s Grammy-winning album, as well as several songs from its follow-up release, “21st Century Breakdown,” while focusing on three young men (Eli Butler, Luke Ferguson, Jack Clay) struggling to find meaning in a post Sept. 11 world.
Sponsor is Arvest Bank. Tickets are $18; $15 senior citizens 60-plus, members of the military and college students with valid ID; $8 students grade 12 and below. Visit TheRoyalPlayers.TicketLeap.com. For more information, call (501) 315-5483.
MUSIC: Coterie concert
Barry McVinney, woodwinds; Thomas Cox, piano; and Stephanie Smittle, soprano, perform for the Little Rock Musical Coterie’s Founder’s Day program, 2 p.m. Sunday at Trinity United Methodist Church, 1101 N. Mississippi St., Little Rock. Items on the jazz-centered program will come from this list: instrumental-only, “Endless Stars” by Fred Hersch; “Hackensack” by Thelonius Monk; “Triste Antonio” by Antonio Carlos Jobim. With vocals: “Haunted Heart” by Arthur Schwartz and Howard Dietz; “Lotus Blossom” by Billy Strayhorn, Roger Schore and Carol Sloane; Norah Jones’ version of “I Don’t Miss You at All” by Duke Ellington; “Cheek to Cheek” and “How Deep Is the Ocean” by Irving Berlin; “Zingaro” by Jobim and Chico Buarque; and “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” by Tommy Wolf and Fran Landesman. Admission is free. Call (501) 922-6418.
ART: 100 Kilgore portraits
An exhibition of 100 photographic portraits by Andrew Kilgore debuts with a 5 p.m. reception Friday in the Joy Pratt Markham Gallery at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St.
Kathy P. Thompson curated the exhibition, on display 10 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays through March 19, from more than 750,000 images in Kilgore’s archive, covering his 53-year career. Public radio station KUAF-FM, 91.3, has provided an audio component with information on some of the photos. The gallery also opens one hour prior to and during intermissions of Walton Arts Center performances. Admission is free.
Kilgore will take part in an artist’s conversation at 6 p.m. Feb. 26 in the gallery. Admission is free. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
Spa City gallery
New watercolor paintings by Mark Blaney, abstract collage paintings by Donnie Copeland and pastels by Dennis McCann top the works on display in the New Year’s Exhibit at Justus Fine Art Gallery, 827A Central Ave., Hot Springs, opening with a 5-9 p.m. Gallery Walk reception Friday. The exhibit remains up through Jan. 31. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and by appointment. Call (501) 321-2335 or visit justusfineart.com.
AUDITIONS: ACT ‘Cinderella’
The Argenta Community Theater holds auditions for Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella,” 1-4 p.m. Jan. 21 and 2-5 p.m. Jan. 22 at the theater’s ACT II Sharon Heflin Performing Arts Education Center, 315 Main St., North Little Rock. Auditions are open to actors of all genders, races and ethnicities; all roles require some singing and movement. Auditioners should prepare 16 bars of a song that showcases their vocal range, from the show or having the same feel. Take sheet music for the accompanist. The auditions will also include cold readings from the script and a dance/movement call. Production dates, April 19-29, include two daytime student shows. Email casting@ArgentaCommunityTheater.org for an audition appointment; walk-ins will be accommodated. Visit ArgentaCommunityTheater.org for character breakdowns and additional information.
ETC.: Artist grants
April 14 is the deadline to apply for Arkansas Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowships, up to 18 awards of $5,000 each to creators in six categories:
An independent panel will select the recipients, who will be recognized during a special reception and celebration in the fall. Full criteria, more information and application forms are available at tinyurl.com/3jjt4hca.