Upcoming shows at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville include marionettes in The Sound of Music, Grammy Award-winning musicians, and the Broadway musical The Bridges of Madison County.

The Sound of Music marionette-style

Direct from Salzburg, Austria, The Salzburg Marionette Theatre’s The Sound of Music is making its way to Walton Arts Center as part of the Family Fun Series. This distinguished group will perform one show Tuesday, March 8 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 to $20 and can be purchased by calling Walton Arts Center’s Box Office at 479-443-5600 or by visiting waltonartscenter.org.

The art of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre is based on the tradition of creating lifelike figures on the stage, giving the audience the illusion of watching real people. The perfect construction of the figures and countless technical inventions and achievements have made the Salzburg Marionette Theatre a leading representative of the art. The fine expressive detail in the sculptured heads, the meticulous tailoring of the costumes and the impeccable construction of the stage-sets – all these qualities combine to produce the outstanding performances of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre.

Mavis Staples with Nick Lowe

The 2016 Grammy Award winner for Best Roots Performance, Mavis Staples, in a fruitful collaboration with Nick Lowe will be at 8 p.m. on Sat. March 12 at WAC. This show is part of the 2015-16 Popcorn, Indiana American Music Series. Ticket prices range from $33 to $53 and can be purchased by calling  479-443-5600 or visiting waltonartscenter.org.

For six decades, Mavis Staples has been a solid rock of American music. Strongly identified with the family group, the Staple Singers, Staples is also a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and a National Heritage Fellowship Award recipient. VH1 named her one of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll and Rolling Stone listed her as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time. Her previous album, the Tweedy-produced You Are Not Alone won the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album in 2011, adding a remarkable new chapter to an already historic career.

Nick Lowe has made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, Pretenders, The Damned), and songwriter of at least three songs you know by heart. He had a short-lived career as a pop star and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician.

The Bridges of Madison County

One of the most romantic stories ever written, The Bridges of Madison County, opens at Walton Arts Center on Tues., April 19 and runs through Sun., April 24. Tickets are $30 to $70 and can be purchased by calling the box office at 479-443-5600 or by visiting waltonartscenter.org.

Showtimes:

Based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County tells the story of Iowa housewife Francesca Johnson and her life-changing, four-day whirlwind romance with traveling photographer Robert Kincaid. It’s an unforgettable story of two people caught between decision and desire, as a chance encounter becomes a second chance at so much more.

The critically acclaimed musical The Bridges of Madison County features one of Broadway’s most accomplished creative teams with music and lyrics by three-time Tony Award®-winning composer Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years), book by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Marsha Norman (The Secret Garden, The Color Purple, ‘night, Mother) and led by Tony Award-winning director Bartlett Sher (South Pacific, The King and I, The Light in the Piazza).