Entertainment options in Arkansas this weekend:
MUSIC: Singing ‘free-ly’
The Arkansas Chamber Singers celebrate “Christmas at the Old State House,” 7 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday-Sunday at the Old State House Museum, 300 W. Markham St., Little Rock.
The program will include “Christmas Triptych” (“The North Star,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Awakening” and “King’s Love”) by former Chamber singer Adam Stanley, composed on a commission from the group, plus “Merry Christmas” from John Williams’ score for the movie “Home Alone 2”; “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Gustav Holst; “A Christmas Portrait,” arranged by Jerry Nowak; “What Cheer” by William Walton; and various Christmas “standards: “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”The Little Drummer Boy,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Here We Come A-wassailing,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Wexford Carol,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Riu, riu, chiu,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Carol of the Bells,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Ding Dong! Merrily on High” and “Sussex Carol.” John Erwin conducts.
Underwriting for the concert comes from the Arkansas Arts Council. Admission is by free ticket; reserve by calling (501) 377-1121 or at AR-ChamberSingers.org.
‘Voices of Angels’
The Muses Project, a troupe of lead professional female voices, with instrumentalists, a mixed-voice chorus and dancers, will perform traditional, classical, inspirational and festive Christmas-theme selections in its 15th annual “Voices of Angels” concert:
◼️ Student show, 6 p.m. today at the Muses Cultural Arts Center, 428 Orange St. Hot Springs.
◼️ 7 p.m. Friday, Woodlands Auditorium, 1101 De Soto Blvd., Hot Springs Village
◼️ 6 p.m. Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Muses Cultural Arts Center
The concert covers 400 years of sacred classical compositions, including works by Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Sebastian Bach and Benjamin Britten, including, “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”O Holy Night,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Sure on this Shining Night,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”This Little Babe,”https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/dec/09/chamber-singers-celebrating-at-old-state-house/”Do You Hear What I Hear?” and “Fum, Fum, Fum.”
Support comes from the Arkansas Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Admission for today’s student show is free to all performers, students and teachers; call (501) 609-9811 to register. Tickets to all other performances are $35. Call (501) 609-9811 or visit www.themusesproject.org.
DANCE: Jonesboro ‘Nutcracker’
Jonesboro’s Foundation of Arts stages “The Nutcracker” by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Dec. 17, 6 p.m. Saturday and Dec. 18, 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 19 at the Forum Theater, 115 E. Monroe Ave., Jonesboro. Tickets are $20 and $17, $17 and $15 for senior citizens, children, military and Arkansas State University students, faculty and staff; the Dec. 17 performance is “pay what you can.” Call (870) 935-2726 or visit foajonesboro.org.
ETC.: ‘Piratical’ parade
Entries are open for nonprofit organization SoMa 501’s SoMardi Gras Parade, noon Feb. 26 along Little Rock’s Main Street, 24th Street to 12th Street. Groups and individuals can enter floats, walking groups, classic cars, and pets, consistent with this year’s theme, “Pirates and Popstars.” (“Think Madonna, Blackbeard or maybe Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow riding down Main Street in the Black Pearl,” suggests a news release.) First place earns $500, with a $250 prize for second. Entry fee is $50. Register online at tinyurl.com/2fbjf3ac.
After the parade, a street party will continue until 5 p.m., featuring the Root Cafe’s annual Beard Competition (starting immediately after the parade in Bernice Garden); a second line band competition between several Little Rock School District bands; and a performance by zydeco band Gerard Delafose and the Zydeco Gators.
