Alvin M. Keeling 
Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts:
ring in love
The Praeclara Ringers, an ensemble of adult bell ringers from Second Presbyterian Church in Little Rock, will live stream a Valentine’s Day bell music concert, “Falling in Love,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, via facebook.com /frcarey of North Little Rock’s St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. “Admission is free. Call (501) 753-3578 or email baxternan@aol.com.
The concert, part of the church’s Festival of the Senses series, will be available online for some time thereafter. The program includes Kevin McChesney’s arrangements for the film and show music bells – “My Heart Will Go On” (“Titanic”) by James Horner; “Candle on the Water” (“Pete’s Dragon”) by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn; “What I Did for Love” (“A Chorus Line”) by Marvin Hamlisch; “Kiss the Girl” (“The Little Mermaid”) by Alan Menken; as well as arrangements of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” by Paul Simon, “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)” by Don McLean and “A Blood-Red Rose in Gethsemane” by William E. Gross.
Civil Rights Commission
The Clinton Foundation and the Clinton School of Public Service will broadcast online Tuesday at 10 a.m. “Bridge Builders: US Civil Rights Then and Now,” a panel discussion with leaders from museums and civil rights sites. The panel includes Quantia “Key” Fletcher, director of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center; Pamela Junior, Director, Mississippi Civil Rights Museum; Woodrow “Woody” Keown, Jr., president and chief operating officer, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center; DeJuana Thompson, CEO and President, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute; and Nancy Rousseau, Principal of Little Rock Central High School. Lee Sentell, author of “The Official US Civil Rights Trail” and director of the Alabama Department of Tourism, will be the moderator. Sign up at clintonpresidentialcenter.org/blackhistorymonth.
Dance gala
Ballet Arkansas will hold its 10th annual “Turning Pointe” gala, this year titled “Confetti,” from 6-10 p.m. on March 5 at Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock. The fundraiser will include a cocktail party with music from JAZZ R US; silent and live auctions; a “backstage” dinner and full seated performance; and a moonlit farewell with dessert, dancing and music by the band Dizzy 7. Creative partners Chris Cranford and Cranford Co. will receive the organization’s Above the Barre award.
Tickets are $200, couple $375, table sponsor $2,000 (10 guests). The money is used to support the expansion of the ballet company’s statewide footprint through educational tours and outreach programs and performances. To purchase tickets or to register for the auction, visit confetti.givesmart.com. For more information, call (501) 223-5150, email gala@balletarkansas.org or visit balletarkansas.org.
Auditions “Magician”
Argenta Community Theatre, 405 Main St., North Little Rock, will hold auditions, by appointment, for “The Wizard of Oz” (music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and EY “Yip” Harburg, based on the classic film, spin-off from the classic by L. Frank Baum, adapted by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company), from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on February 20. Auditions are open to artists of all genders, races and ethnicities, defined by age: youth, young adult, adult, mature adult. All roles require singing and dancing.
Listeners should prepare 16 bars of a song that showcases their vocal range; it may, but need not, be spectacle, but should have the same feel. Provide sheet music for the pianist. Portions of the script will be available for character auditions. There will also be a call to dance.
Production dates are April 27 through May 7; there will be three student performances during the day. Rehearsals begin in March. Email Casting@ArgentaCommunityTheater.org for an audition appointment; walk-ins will also be welcome. A character breakdown and more information is available at argentacommunitytheater.org/auditions.
Cancellation of the opera
Opera in the Rock, citing “a shift in artistic vision” following the departure of former Executive and Artistic Director Kate Sain and the arrival of President/CEO Fred Owens, has canceled its May 20-22 production of the opera “Anna” by Gaetano Donizetti Bolena.”
A fundraiser featuring 2014 Tony Award nominee Mary Bridget Davies (Janis Joplin in Broadway’s “A Night with Janis Joplin”), originally scheduled for October 8 and postponed to January 19, had also been canceled. A planned collaboration with the Argenta Community Theater on its just-concluded production of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” had already fallen through.
Season Subscribers or Guild Memberships who have received “Anna Bolena” tickets can contact Director of Development Mariah Hatta at mhatta@operaintherock.org for a credit to transfer to the next upcoming season, or to request a repayment. The opera company’s website is operaintherock.org.
