Weekend entertainment roundup for October 17, 2024

FUN

The circus is in town! Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s North American tour offers an “all-new, reimagined Greatest Show on Earth” on Saturday, October 19, 11 a.m., 3 and 7 p.m., and Sunday, October 20, 1 and 5 p.m. at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock. What you won’t see: Animal acts – the circus’s owner, Feld Entertainment, announced in 2015 that it would end them by 2018, citing declining attendance, high operating costs and animal welfare protests; What you’ll see: a more circus-like approach, with acrobats, trapeze artists and a human cannonball, as well as musical, dance and narrative elements. Ticketmaster.com

The 84th Arkansas State Fair Sunday concludes with fair food, livestock competitions, rides and unique attractions, all at the State Fairgrounds, 2600 Howard St., Little Rock. The gates open daily at 11 a.m. ArkansasStateFair.com.

For the fifth year, Benton’s Royal Players are transforming the Royal Theater, 111 S. Market St., Benton, into the Royal haunted house7-9 p.m., Thursday-Saturday, 17-19. Oct. 24-26 Oct. and 29-31. Oct. theroyalplayers.ticketleap.com.

MUSIC

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra performs John Williams’ score live to accompany the film “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back in Concert” as the film appears on a large screen behind the band and conductor Geoffrey Robson, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m., 18-20. October, at the Robinson Center Performance Hall in Little Rock, 426 W. Markham St. on Broadway. (501) 666-1761, ext 1; ArkansasSymphony.org.

Country star Jelly Roll, with opening acts Warren Zeiders and Alexandra Kay, performs at Simmons Bank Arena in North Little Rock on Tuesday at 7 p.m. (501) 975-9000; simmonsbankarena.com.

The Listeso String Quartet plays spooky tunes for a couple, lit by thousands of candles Halloween-themed candlelight concerts6:30 and 8:45 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Albert Pike Masonic Center, 712 Scott St., Little Rock. The preliminary program includes Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”; “Funeral March of a Marionette” by Charles Gounod (better known as the theme from the television show “Alfred Hitchcock Presents”); Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” (used as the theme from “The Exorcist”); the themes from the television series “Stranger Things” and the films “Beetlejuice,” “The Addams Family,” “Halloween,” and “Ghostbusters”; Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho” prelude; “Danse Macabre” by Camille Saint-Saëns; “Night on Bald Mountain” by Modest Mussorgsky; “The Time Warp” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”; and a medley of Danny Elfman’s score for “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” feverup.com/m/192221

THEATER

Argenta Contemporary Theater, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, is ending its season with Lerner & Loewe’s “My beautiful lady,” Today, Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. A constant series of standing ovations. argentacontemporarytheatre.org.

A strike by singing and dancing newsboys in 1899 temporarily shuts down the musical’s two largest New York newspapers “News” Based on the 1992 Disney film, which concludes its two-week run today and Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theater at Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Street, Little Rock. (501) 821-7275; wildwoodpark.org.

Three roommates face the difficult decision of finding a potential rapist as the Weekend Theater, 1001 W. Seventh St. at Chester Street, Little Rock, continues its run “Extremities” by William Mastrosimone, Friday to Saturday 7:30 p.m. and Sunday to October 27th 2:30 p.m. The play is intended for an adult audience and contains strong language, sexual content and discussions, as well as scenes of violence that may be triggering for some audience members. CentralArkansasTickets.com.

A brutal murder interrupts a honeymoon cruise on the Nile and everyone aboard the riverboat is a suspect at Agatha Christie’s “Murder on the Nile” on stage through Nov. 9 at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock. Performances take place Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (Wednesday matinees at 12:30 p.m., October 23 and 30 only) and Sundays at 12:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m. The buffet opens 90 minutes before the start. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.

ART AND EXHIBITIONS

“The Natural State in Four Seasons,” 33 photographs taken over 14 years by North Little Rock native Brian Cormack that capture the beauty of Arkansas through the changing seasons, is on view through Nov. 27, with a Reception Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. at the William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock. Library opening times are Monday to Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and Friday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. (501) 758-1720; NLRlibrary.org.

“Two Minutes to Midnight and the Architecture of Armageddon” Photo essays on the Cold War by Jeanine Michna-Bales and Adam Reynolds, on display through Jan. 5 at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History, 503 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. (501)-376-4602; littlerock.gov/macarthur.

And “Commanding the Screen: The American Presidency in Film and Television” continues to offer a look at footage from more than 30 films and television shows depicting fictional and real U.S. presidents through March 23 at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President will be Clinton Ave., Little Rock. clintonpresidentialcenter.org/exhibits.