MUSIC
Swing Band Reunion, celebrating its 25th anniversary as the modern extension of the Central High School Swing Band, brings classic jazz and swing back to the Dreamland Ballroom at Arkansas Flag and Banner, 800 W. Ninth St., Little Rock, 7 p.m. Friday. It marks the 107th anniversary of the ballroom, in what was formerly Taborian Hall, which hosted jazz and blues greats from the 1920s through the 1960s, including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong, Etta James, Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Jimmie Lunceford and Arkansas’ own Louis Jordan. dreamlandballroom.org/swingbandreunion.
Arkansas Symphony Music Director Geoffrey Robson will preview the orchestra’s 2025-26 season, its 60th, 5:30 p.m. today Thursday in the Susie and Charles Morgan Hall at the orchestra’s Stella Boyle Smith Music Center, 1101 E. Third St. in Little Rock’s East Village. He’ll share behind-the-scenes insights and musical highlights and take questions. Members of the ASO Youth Ensembles will perform. ArkansasSymphony.org.
Jason Boland & The Stragglers perform, with opening act Trey Stevens, 8 p.m. Friday at the Rev Room, 300 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. (501) 823-0090; revroom.com.
And Contemporary Christian rock band Skillet performs at 7 p.m. at Timberwood Amphitheater at Magic Springs Theme and Water Park, 1701 E. Grand Ave. (U.S. 70 East). (501) 624-0100; magicsprings.com.
THEATER
New this week: Three working women take control of their office and turn the tables on their misogynistic boss in “9 to 5: The Musical,” onstage 7:30 p.m. today and Friday and July 29-Aug. 1, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Aug. 2, 1 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Aug. 2 at the Argenta Contemporary Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock. argentacontemporarytheatre.org.
The efforts of group a group of schoolchildren whose plane crashes on a tropical island attempts to create a civilized society crumble and they descend into chaos in “The Lord of the Flies,” onstage at The Weekend Theater, 1101 W. Seventh St. at Chester Street, Little Rock, 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 10.Tickets are $20, $18 for students, senior citizens and military. weekendtheater.org/tickets.
Benton’s Young Players stage “Disney’s Newsies, Jr.” , 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 3 at the Royal Theatre, 111 S. Market St., Benton. our.show/trtypnewsiesjr.
Long as God can grow it, Little Rock’s Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., closes out its run of the ‘60s counterculture musical “Hair,” 7 p.m. today Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The theater is rating the show R for adult language, nudity, drug references, sexual content and themes related to war and political protest and is recommending it for mature audiences only. (501) 378-0405; TheRep.org.
It’ll get you, and your little dog too: Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, continues its run of “The Wizard of Oz”, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 12:45 and 6:45 p.m. Sunday through Aug. 9. The buffet opens 90 minutes before curtain. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.
ART AND EXHIBITS
New this week:
“Edwin Brewer, A Retrospective of His Art,” landscape and still-life paintings in oils and watercolors by the Little Rock native (1927-2002), opens with a 6-8 p.m. reception Friday at Cantrell Gallery, 8202 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. The exhibition is up through Oct. 18. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m Tuesday-Saturday. Call (501) 224-1335 or visit cantrellgallery.com.
“Speakeasy (Language is Culture and Culture is Language),” abstract works by Todd Camplin and black-and-white photographs by Johnna Rena’ Guillory, opens with an Argenta Third Friday Art Walk reception, 5-8 p.m. Friday at the Argenta Library Gallery, 420 Main St., North Little Rock. The exhibition remains on display, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday through Aug. 8. Admission is free. (501) 687-1061 or visit NLRlibrary.org.
“Random Thoughts,” paintings by Arkansas artist Dennis McCann, go on display with a 6-8 p.m. reception Saturday at Boswell Mourot Fine Art, 1501 S. Main St., Little Rock. The show remains up Aug. 9. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. (501) 454-6969.
And Art Group Gallery, in the Pleasant Ridge Shopping Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, is holding its annual Indoor Sidewalk Sale, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday. (501) 690-2193; artgrouparkansas.com.
“Portraits From a Presidency,” the exhibition of more than 50 paintings, sculptures, engravings and photographic portraits of members of the Clinton family (some of them not especially flattering, by the way) in paint, fabric, wood, film, metal, glass, ink, stone, chalk, inscribed on a grain of rice and made out of Legos, up through Dec. 7 at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. clintonpresidentialcenter.org/exhibits.
At the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock: the “64th Young Arkansas Artists” exhibition, showcasing works by Arkansas K-12 students, on display through Aug. 10. And studio photographs by the late Kwame Brathwaite, who started out in the 1960s using photography to promote “Black is Beautiful,” is up through Oct. 12. (501) 372-4000; arkmfa.org.
“Small Works on Paper: From the Permanent Collection,” 40 pieces from the Arkansas Arts Council’s 2006-2023 annual “Small Works on Paper” touring exhibitions, remains on display through Sept. 21 at the Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. (501) 324-9351.
“Enid Collins Handbags: Thinking Outside the Bejeweled Box,” a collection of handbags by Collins of Texas designer Enid Collins, is on display through Sept. 28 at ESSE Museum and Store, 1510 Main St., Little Rock. (501) 916-9022; essepursemuseum.com.
“After the Fire,” paintings that Andrew Deiser created before and after a March fire destroyed Deiser’s studio and much of his artwork at the St. Joseph Center of Arkansas, are on display through July 31 at Laman Library Gallery, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock. The exhibition includes oil paintings the fire spared, along with new works “reflecting on home, resilience and artistic renewal.” (501) 758-1720; NLRlibrary.org.