Highlights

Highlights
For January 4-11

The Producers
Enjoy the biggest Tony Award winning play in Broadway history this week when the Walton Arts Center brings The Producers to town. Based on Mel Brooks’ Academy Award-winning film of the same name, The Producers is the story of a down-on-his-luck theatrical producer and a mousy accountant who hatch the ultimate scam: raise more money than needed for a sure-fire Broadway flop and pocket the difference. The sure-fire flop? The hit musical, Springtime for Hitler. The play is filled with “a cast of characters” that will bring big belly-laughs: a group of tap-dancing little old ladies, homosexual stereotypes and a chorus line of dancing Nazis. Greed, deception and sexuality are celebrated, which explains why the play has been described as a “hysterically offensive Broadway hit.” It is a romp. The show opened Tuesday and runs through Sunday. Tickets $40- $52.

Brice Stephens at the J
Dickson Street’s J Gallery will be closing the Brice Stephens exhibit soon, but there’s still time to catch it.
Stephens is following his own path and seems to also be tendering the muse of Andy Warhol. Most of the work that is on display at the J Gallery is done on old window panes that Stephens scavenged from old houses. Stephens, 32, grew up in Arkansas and moved to Orlando, Florida where he lived for six years gaining quite a bit of attention for his work there. In Orlando he showed at a number of venues including the Orlando Museum of Art. This is Stephens second show in Fayetteville, his first was The Common Grounds. He has also shown in Memphis, Little Rock and Hot Springs and is working on a show in New York for later this year. He now lives in Tulsa.
“I’ve been painting on windows since 1999— an accident really,” Stephens said. “I found a window, found printers ink in a thrift store and got bored one day and put them together.

“I paint on the back of the glass, so if painting on canvas is like building a pizza with the crust first, then me painting on glass in reverse would be like making a pizza starting with the Parmesan first.”
“I’m not trying to get rich, I just want to paint and get it into peoples houses, bars, stores—that’s fun as hell to me.”
Bent Grass Green
One of Fayetteville’s newest musical collaborations will take the stage at the Green Door on Jan. 11. The band, Bent Grass Green, brings together some of NWA’s seasoned players for a special blend of rock ‘n roll. Founded in the summer of 2006, the group is made up of singer, songwriter and guitarist Kevin Bennoch, who’s built quite a following with his weekly solo gigs at Pesto Café; John Hughes of the rockabilly group Phantom 59 who also handles vocals and guitar; Jeff Jackson from the livetronica band Eckobase on bass; and John Sizemore from Cadence on drums. So far they have played mostly private gigs, but they did nab spots on the Murray Valley Boogie and Bikes, Blues and BBQ stages. Get out and check them out.

Wheatfield
They’re back. One of the highlights at GoodFolk last year—and sold out as well—was the Wheatfield show. Never heard of Wheatfield? Well, there’s a reason for that. Wheatfield is a now defunct ‘70s band that got back together for a reunion show last year for the first time in decades. Why should you care about a ‘70s folk band from Houston? Try this: It’s one of Trout Fishing in America’s Ezra Idlet’s early bands. Two of the original band members, Connie Mims and Craig Calvert, will be back for this second reunion show Jan. 11 at GoodFolk and the other half of Trout Fishing, Keith Grimwood will be filling in on bass. Last year’s show was not only a fine musical performance; it was also a fun show, with lots of stories about the old days. And, believe it or not, for a ‘70s folk band, it wasn’t even windy. Good, good music.