FUN
Ballet Arkansas’ 17-member company and nearly 300 community-cast children and adults perform Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker,” 7:30 p.m. Friday, 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Little Rock’s Robinson Center Performance Hall, 426 W. Markham St. at Broadway. Joining them: members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and conductor Geoffrey Robson in the pit and, in the Act I finale, the Mount St. Mary Academy Choir. (501) 244-8800; balletarkansas.org.
Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock, hosts its 21st Ever Nog-Off: A Friendly Eggnog Competition, 5-8 p.m. Friday Dec. 12. Visitors can sample creations from area restaurants and organizations to choose for the People’s Choice award for best eggnog and the Not Your Great, Great, Great Grandfather’s Eggnog award for best unconventional eggnog. A panel of experts determines the winners of the Taster’s Choice and the Egg No Nog awards, the latter for best non-alcoholic eggnog. It also features live music and guests can enjoy old-fashioned caroling around the fire and roasted pecans from the kitchen of the historic Brownlee House. (501) 324-9351.
Treatment Homes Inc. holds its 38th Gingerbread Extravaganza, 1-3 p.m. Sunday at the state Capitol in Little Rock. Amateurs and students submit decorated gingerbread houses, either from kits with pre-made structures or baked and decorated from scratch, in three youth categories — grades K-3, 4-6 and 7-12; adults; and teams. Vote for your favorites from 1-2 p.m.; winners, chosen by a panel of judges that morning, will be announced between 2 and 3. (501) 372-5039; treatmenthomes.org.
The William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock, hosts the annual Crooked Rails Model Train Display, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Santa Claus will be on hand and available for photos, 10 a.m.-noon Saturday in the library’s Children’s Area. (501) 758-1720; NLRLibrary.org.
MUSIC
The Arkansas Chamber Singers celebrate “Christmas Around the World!”, 7 p.m. Friday at the Old State House, 300 W. Markham St., Little Rock; 7 p.m. Saturday at St. Edward Catholic Church, 801 Sherman St., Little Rock; and 3:30 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church, 2400 Prince St., Conway. arkansaschambersingers.org.
Swing Band Reunion, a 20-piece big band deriving from members of the 1956 Little Rock Central High School Swing Band, presents “The Thirteenth Night Before Christmas!”, 7 p.m. Friday at Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Ave., Little Rock, with guest singers Stephanie Smittle and Jeff Watson. The program includes a “live, reinterpreted reading of ‘’Twas The Night Before Christmas,’ sprinkled with Big Band Christmas songs throughout,” plus an actual visit from Saint Nick. simpletix.com.
And the Jacksonville High School Choir will perform a concert dedicated to military families “for their service, sacrifice, and community” at 2 p.m. Saturday at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. (501) 376-4602.
THEATER
Stage 13 Foundation for Performing Arts stages its inaugural production, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” adapted from the classic 1965 animated TV special, 7:30 p.m. Friday and Dec. 18, 4 p.m. Sunday, 5 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 19 and 2 and 5 p.m. Dec. 20-21 at Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock. A holiday sing-along that includes students from Stage 13’s education program will follow each 45-minute performance. stage13.org.
Sketch comedy troupe Red Octopus Theater stages “Pagans on Bobsleds XXXIV 34: Happy Hollygarchy,” 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday at the Weekend Theater, 1001 W. Seventh St. at Chester Street, Little Rock. The show, recommended for mature audiences, includes bawdy talk, adult situations and spectral nudity. weekendtheater.org.
A young bird journeying south for the winter gets blown off course and lands at the North Pole as Lightwire Theater puts on its glow-in-the-dark touring show “A Very Electric Christmas,” 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Center for Humanities and Arts Theater at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College, 3000 W. Scenic Drive, North Little Rock. uaptc.edu/charts.
The Argenta Contemporary Theatre, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, is reprising its 2024 production of “A Christmas Story: The Musical” 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday and Dec. 16-18, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday and Dec. 20 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 21. argentacontemporarytheatre.org.
The Children’s Theatre at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts continues its run of “Junie B. in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!” by Allison Gregory, based on Barbara Park’s bestselling book series, 10:30 and 2 p.m. Saturday and Dec. 20; 2 p.m. Sunday and Dec. 21 at the museum, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. events.arkmfa.org.
The Royal Players close out their run of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: The Musical,” 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Royal Theatre, 111 S. Market St., Benton. onthestage.tickets.
And “Frozen: The Musical” is onstage Wednesday-Sunday through Dec. 31 at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. Buffet opens 90 minutes before curtain time. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.
COMEDY
Comedian-ventriloquist Jeff Dunham, on his “Artificial Intelligence” tour, brings his characters — including Ahmed the Dead Terrorist, Jose Jalapeño on a Stick, Bubba J and Peanut the Woozle — 7 p.m. Friday at North Little Rock’s Simmons Bank Arena. Ticketmaster.com.
And actor-comedian Kevin Nealon, probably best known for his nine-year run on “Saturday Night Live,” puts on his one-man show “Kevin Nealon Live,” 7 p.m. Sunday in Reynolds Performance Hall at the University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave, Conway. (501) 450-3265 or (866) 810-0012; uca.edu/publicappearances
ART AND EXHIBITS
The 2025 Arkansas Quilters Guild Exhibition is on display through Sunday Dec. 14 at the Central Arkansas Library System’s Adolphine Fletcher Terry Library, 2015 Napa Valley Drive, Little Rock. Library hours are 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday, 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. arkansasquiltersguild.org.
“Kuimeaux’s World,” drawings and paintings by late Little Rock native Dwight “Kuimeaux” Drennan, is on display through spring 2027 at Little Rock’s Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. (501) 324-9351.
“Thomas Hart Benton,” a traveling exhibition of original artwork created by the artist during World War II, is up through July 31 at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. (501) 376-4602; littlerock.gov/macarthur.
“Our Pale Blue Dot,” recent paintings by Benton artist Kae Barron inspired by “the famous ‘Pale Blue Dot’ photo of Earth from space (taken by Voyager spacecraft, as it exited the solar system in 1990),” up through Jan. 17 at Cantrell Gallery, 8202 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. It’s remains, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday or by appointment. (501) 224-1335; cantrellgallery.com.
At the ESSE Purse Museum & Store, 1510 Main St., Little Rock, “Henry and Nolan,” photographs by Rita Henry and Nancy Nolan along with their collections of cameras, photography tools and materials, as well as a special art installation, on display through Feb. 1. (501) 916-9022.
“Under A Restless Sky,” a new site-specific installation by Boston-based artist Nathalie Miebach, on display through April 4 in the Jackson T. Stephens Gallery of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. The three-dimensional art installation, created with paint, paper, wood, ropes and other materials that explores how various species — birds and humans — move and adapt due to environmental and climate changes, (501) 372-4000; arkmfa.org.