ENTERTAINMENT: Touring ‘Grinch’ musical at Robinson, Walton centers | Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

THEATER

‘Grinch’ on tour

A touring company brings “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical” to Arkansas, with performances:

◼️ 10 a.m., 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. Tickets are $34-$114. Call (501) 244-8800 or visit CelebrityAttractions.com or Ticketmaster.com.

◼️ 7 p.m. Nov. 12-13, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Nov. 14, 3 and 7:30 p.m. Nov. 15, 10:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. Nov. 17 at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. Tickets are $42-$93. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org. The Nov. 12 matinee is a sensory-friendly performance “designed to create a more comfortable and inclusive theatrical experience” for individuals with autism or other sensitivities, according to a news release.

Music is by Mel Marvin; the show also incorporates the songs “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” and “Welcome Christmas” — music by Albert Hague, lyrics by Theodor Seuss Geisel, written for the 1966 animated special. The book is by Timothy Mason, inspired by Dr. Seuss’ original classic.

Max, the Grinch’s dog, narrates as the mean and scheming Grinch, whose heart is “two sizes too small,” decides to steal Christmas away from the holiday-loving Whos. Sets by John Lee Beatty and costumes by Robert Morgan take inspiration from Dr. Seuss’ original illustrations.

MUSIC

Cellist in camera

Cellist Andrei Ionita, one of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s two Artists of Distinction this season, joins members of the orchestra for the second concert of the 2024-25 River Rhapsodies Chamber Series, 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Susie and Charles Morgan Hall at the Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, 1101 E. Third St., in Little Rock’s East Village.

Ionita teams up with Meredith Maddox Hicks and Katherine Williamson, violins; Katherine Reynolds and Timothy MacDuff, violas; and cellist David Gerstein to play Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky’s sextet “Souvenir de Florence.” Gerstein; Geoffrey Robson, violin; and Hee-Kyung Juhn, piano, will play “A Thousand Mornings” by Anna Clyne. And Lauren Pokorzynski, violin; Travis Scharer, cello; and Naoki Hakutani, piano, will play Paul Schoenfield’s “Café Music.”

Tickets are $50 (subject to change as tickets become scarcer). Call (501) 666-1761, Extension 1, or visit arkansassymphony.org.

    Singer-actress Liz Callaway brings her “Broadway & Beyond” cabaret act this week to TheatreSquared in Fayetteville. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/courtesy of TheatreSquared)
  

Callaway cabaret

Tony and Grammy nominated and Emmy Award-winning singer-actress Liz Callaway turns in her cabaret act, “Broadway & Beyond,” 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday in TheatreSquared’s Spring Theatre, 477 W. Spring St., Fayetteville. The program includes songs from the Broadway shows in which Callaway has starred, including her Tony-nominated turn in “Baby,” “Memory” from “Cats” and her Oscar-nominated song “Journey to the Past” from the animated movie “Anastasia.” Tickets are $50-$70 for limited cabaret seating. Call (479) 777-7477 or visit tix.theatre2.org.

‘Futuristic Fantasia’

The Symphony of Northwest Arkansas and conductor Paul Haas go out of this world with a program titled “Futuristic Fantasia: SoNA Goes Sci-Fi!,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St. The orchestra’s first pops concert exclusively featuring music from science-fiction movie soundtracks includes music used in “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” “E.T.,” “Star Wars,” “Star Trek,” “Independence Day,” “Captain America,” “X-Men” and the video game “Halo.” Tickets are $37-$62 with discounts for students with ID; there’s a limited number of free tickets for youngsters under with an accompanying adult. Call (479) 443-5600 or visit sonamusic.org.

ART

Grad student exhibition

“River Davis: MA Thesis Exhibition,” paintings by University of Arkansas at Little Rock graduate student River Davis, goes on display Monday in the Ann Maners and Alex Pappas Gallery at the Windgate Center of Art + Design, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. The exhibition will be up until Dec. 11. Davis will give an artist lecture at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 14 in Room 101 of the Windgate Center; a reception will follow. Gallery hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Admission to the exhibition, artist lecture and reception are free. Visit tinyurl.com/r65y6t3.

Small Works on tour

The Arkansas Arts Council’s “Small Works on Paper” touring visual arts exhibition opens Wednesday in the Reynolds Center at Arkansas State University Mid-South, 200 W. Broadway, West Memphis. The exhibition, works no larger than 18 by 24 inches by 39 Arkansas artists, is on display there through Nov. 25; gallery hours are 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. Call (501) 324-9767 or email [email protected].