Linus and Lucy are back
Sixty years ago this month, Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts characters danced across TV screens for the first time in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The Vince Guaraldi Trio soundtrack forever changed the holiday season with its beautiful and jazzy score. Beloved Guaraldi tunes like “Linus and Lucy” and “Christmas Time is Here” are now standards in the jazz repertoire. Nate Yingling and his trio perform selections from the classic album Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the BOP STOP in Cleveland’s Hingetown. The show also streams live on the club’s YouTube channel.
‘Bikini Bottom Boogie’
A more Millennial choice in cartoon lives in a pineapple under the sea, now the hero of his own Broadway musical. The absorbent, yellow and always porous SpongeBob SquarePants is loved by many for his deep-sea antics. But did you know he was created by marine biology teacher and animator Stephen Hillenburg? While Hillenburg wasn’t a creator of the 2016 Tony-winning musical, the show is a highly caffeinated love-letter to the wacky kids’ program. Don’t worry Patrick, Sandy and Squidward all join the nautical nonsense on stage at the Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood beginning Friday night.
Illuminated animals
Wild Lights at the Akron Zoo marks its 10th anniversary this season promising a glow up of bolder and brighter lighting displays. Santa Claus and the Grinch vie for attention as talented dancing trees provide a joyful backdrop to this zoological wonderland. It’s a holiday-selfie menagerie with more than one million lights, according to the unlucky elf who got to count them all. The lights remain on through December 30, but know that Santa’s only in the wintry mix through the 23rd.
Mourning wardrobe
We all deal with grief in our own way, but local playwright Amy Schwabauer is quite the drama queen about it. A veteran of the Cleveland Public Theatre stage, Schwabauer mourns her older sister Candy in “I Wear My Dead Sister’s Clothes,” following its acclaimed run at last year’s BorderLight Theatre Festival. She does not mince words about her challenging yet loving relationship with her sister in this solo show at Cleveland Public Theatre in the Gordon Square Arts District through December 20.
Rauschenberg remembered
If there’s a celebration for the 100th anniversary of an artist’s birth, it’s a dead giveaway the artist lived a life of significance. An honor reserved for American masters like Duke Ellington and Ansel Adams goes to multi-media master Robert Rauschenberg in an exhibit at the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown. “Robert Rauschenberg: A Centenary Tribute” is on view through January 4.
