ON STAGE IN NLR: The Broadway musical about a young woman unlucky in love.

I don’t get out much so the coming kind words won’t be news to those who do: But there’s a good scene in Argenta, the lively strip of Main Street in downtown North Little Rock. (Hey, if they can call their curb market the Dogtown Farmers Market I can affectionately use the nickname, particularly as a former resident.)

We went to Vince Insalaco’s passion project, the Argenta Community Theater, for “Sweet Charity.” The musical is full of period references in costume (beehives and bell bottoms), dance (the frug) and current events of the 60s, professionally staged by a hoofing herd of dancers and singers.  The musical is the thing, of course, but the acting was also great  — timing, inflection, accents, expressions.

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We ate before the show at Skinny J’s, packed with people enjoying giant burgers, huge salads, craft beers and, in my case, some of the weirdly interesting (and drippy) reuben egg rolls.  We had to walk only a block to the theater.

The revelation, I think, was the busy sidewalk traffic when we left the theater not long before 11 p.m. Restaurants, bars and a comedy club draw a healthy crowd to a compact area. No offense to the River Market neighborhood, where I work every day, but am I wrong to say it felt a little tamer, in a good way, than late-night on Clinton Avenue?

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“Sweet Charity” runs through July 29.  You can order tickets here.

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