Weekend Entertainment Roundup for June 27th, 2024

Here’s the latest Weekend Entertainment Roundup from Eric E. Harrison, culture reporter at the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

THEATER

It’s the closing weekend for Kate Hamill’s comic adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice,” 7 p.m. tonight, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock. Practical and pragmatic Elizabeth “Lizzy” Bennet spars with handsome, aristocratic, aloof and impossibly aggravating Mr. Darcy until their mutual distaste resolves itself in love. Opening July 9: the musical “Footloose” — more about that next week. (501) 378-0405; TheRep.org.

“A Tale of Two Flurffys,” starring Flurffy, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art’s lovable pink dog and puppet-in-residence, is onstage at 11 a.m. and noon Saturday June 29 and Saturdays through July 27 (with a bonus sensory-friendly performance on Sunday, July 21) in the Governor Winthrop Rockefeller Lecture Hall at the museum, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. With original songs, choreography and interactive storytelling, the audience can help Flurffy and his puppet friends untangle a web of missteps and chance meetings to solve a mystery of mistaken identities after Flurffy’s Irish cousin Murphy pays him a visit. Admission is free. www.arkmfa.org

The University of Central Arkansas Summer Theatre, the new professional theater at UCA, continues with its inaugural production, “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown,” music, lyrics and book by Clark Gesner, based on Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts, 7:30 p.m. Friday June 28, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday June 29 and 2 p.m. Sunday June 30 in the James M. Bridges Black Box Theatre in the university’s Windgate Center for the Fine and Performing Arts, Donaghey and Bruce streets, Conway. (501) 450-3265 or (866) 810-0012

And you have three more chances, Thursday-Saturday, to catch the traditional-bluegrass musical “Smoke on the Mountain” at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.

MUSIC 

“Newgrass” string quartet Arkansauce headlines at 8 p.m. Friday, with opening act mömandpöp taking the stage at 6:30, for Argenta Vibe at Argenta Plaza, 510 Main St., North Little Rock. Admission is free. (501) 758-1424;northlittlerock.org.

In Eureka Springs, Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys perform Friday at 7:30 p.m. at The Auditorium, 36 S. Main St. (479) 253-7788; thundertix.com.

Opera in the Ozarks continues its summer season with 7:30 p.m. performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s grand opera “La Traviata,” tonight June 27 and Saturday June 29 and July 2, 7, 10, 13 and 19 at Inspiration Point, 16311 U.S. 62 West, overlooking Beaver Lake 5 miles west of Eureka Springs. (479) 253-8595; opera.org.

Jett Jano, Shannon Boshears, Rock City Jukebox, Butterfly, Stephan James and Charlie Askew perform, Saturday 1-6 p.m. as part of a block party and the installation of the SoMa Superbloom mural in the 1200 block of Main Street. (501) 375-0121 ext. 105.

Tune in every Thursday at 4:44pm to hear Eric’s roundup for arts and culture events in Central Arkansas during All Things Considered on Little Rock Public Radio.