Mama Says

They’re pulling out all the stops this year. Where does one begin to summarize the wealth of free activities and musical offerings to be featured in this year’s installment of our city’s grandest Open House?

Here’s a step-by-step guide to manuevering your family through the crazy, happy confusion of Holiday CircleFest on Sunday, 12/7, from 1-6 PM in University Circle.

1. Get a schedule and a map. Printed versions are available now throughout University Circle (call 216-707-5033 for locations), or you can print out a copy by visiting www.universitycircle.org

2. Pack your box. Every one of the 19 host sites will be accepting donations of canned food to benefit the Cleveland Foodbank.

3. Dress in layers. The fun is both inside and out, so you’ll want to be ready for anything.

4. Take an empty tote bag. In addition to shopping opportunities at various museum stores, gift shops, and art sales, you will also have the opportunity to make loads of crafts.

5. Eat a nutritious lunch before you go. Everywhere you turn, there are going to be treats.

6. Get an early start. You’ve only got five hours.

7. Do NOT try to park near Wade Oval. It’s not worth the hassle when there are parking opportunities all along the route. Try starting your afternoon at The Cleveland Play House/Museum of Contemporary Art (Carnegie at East 89th), the Cleveland School of the Arts (Stearns at East 109th), or at any of the participating institutions along Euclid Avenue between East 89th and Cornell. Then ride the free shuttle connecting all 19 host institutions.

8. Think ahead. Here’s a schedule of events for which times have already been announced. Decide if there are any performances you don’t want to miss, and plan the afternoon around them. See the full schedule for dozens more performances and activities being offered throughout the day. Have fun!

1:00, CWRU Thwing Center
Case Jazz Ensemble

1:00, Church of the Covenant
Organ recital

1:00, Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church
University School Jazz Ensemble and Combo

1:00, HealthSpace Cleveland
Lake Ridge Academy Camerata, Chamber Ensemble and Amigos String Quartet

1:00, Temple-Tifereth Israel
Multicultural stories with Young Audiences

1:00, Cleveland School of the Arts
Student Orchestra concert

1:00-3:00, Ronald McDonald House
Visit with Ronald McDonald

1:20, Church of the Covenant
Sanctuary tour

1:30, Cleveland Museum of Art
Gallery talk: “African Art”

1:30, Western Reserve Historical Society
Jocelyn Chang Harp Ensemble

1:45, Church of the Covenant
Carillon concert

2:00, Church of the Covenant
University Hospital Singers concert

2:00, HealthSpace Cleveland
Native American activities with Kulture Kids

2:00, Temple-Tifereth Israel
Yiddishe Cup Klezmer Band

2:00, Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church
Case Men’s Glee Club

2:00, Cleveland School of the Arts
Student Jazz Ensemble concert

2:00, MLK Branch Library
Storytelling

2:00, Cleveland Institute of Music
Video conference with Santa

2:00-4:00, HealthSpace Cleveland
Puppetry Guild of Northeastern Ohio

2:00-4:30, Cleveland Museum of Art
Lantern-making workshops

2:00-4:30, Cleveland Museum of Art
Family Express: Castles & Kings workshops

2:30, Cleveland Museum of Art (Gartner Auditorium)
Organ recital

2:30, Western Reserve Historical Society
Jocelyn Chang Harp Ensemble

2:45, Church of the Covenant
Carillon concert

3:00, HealthSpace Cleveland
Jeremy the Clown

3:00, Temple-Tifereth Israel
Sing-alongs with Young Audiences

3:00, Church of the Covenant
Hawken School Chamber Chorale

3:00, MLK Branch Library
Storytelling

3:00, Cleveland School of the Arts
Dance and drama performances

3:00, Cleveland Institute of Music
Video conference with Santa

3:00, Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church
Case Men’s Glee Club

3:00, Cleveland Museum of Art
Gallery talk: “The Symbolism of Light”

3:30, CWRU Thwing Center
University School Glee Club

3:30, Cleveland Museum of Art (Interior Garden Court)
Ohio Boychoir concert

3:30, Western Reserve Historical Society
Jocelyn Chang Harp Ensemble

3:45, Church of the Covenant
Sanctuary tour

4:00, HealthSpace
Brush High School Chamber Ensemble

4:00, Cleveland Institute of Music
Video conference with Santa

4:00, Temple-Tifereth Israel
Hanukkah stories with Ann B. Young

4:00, Epworth-Euclid United Methodist Church
Sisters in Hymn

4:00-5:40, Western Reserve Historical Society
Centennials of the Singer Club of Cleveland

4:00-6:00, Cleveland School of the Arts
Holiday caroling

4:15, Church of the Covenant
Music of guitar and flute

4:45, Church of the Covenant
Organ recital

5:00, Cleveland Institute of Music
Video conference with Santa

5:30, Church of the Covenant
Organ recital

5:30, Cleveland Museum of Art
Winter Lights Lantern Festival procession

Anyone who has ever raised her eyes to gaze upon the streetscape east of Public Square has admired the elegant Rotunda Building that graces the corner of East 9th and Euclid. But for more than a decade, few admirers have been able to make a more intimate acquintance with the structure’s many charms. Its bronze doors have been shut and locked, and its marble halls silent.

As a holiday treat to the whole region, Cleveland Public Art, Cleveland Museum of Art, Case Western Reserve University and OneCleveland will be inviting you and me and everybody else to come in and take a look around.

Stretch your neck way back and gaze up at the Tiffany-style glass dome, big as a house. Examine the thirteen murals painted by Francis Millett, a Victorian Renaissance man of valor and achievement who led a uniquely exciting life before booking passage on the maiden voyage of the Titanic. And especially, make at least one of your visits in the evening, when you can enjoy the exterior lighting designed by Friedrich Förster & Sabine Weißinger of Casa Magica and produced by Lucette de Rugy of ArtLumiere. This will NOT be green and red flood lights bathing the building in a steady, unblinking glow. Guaranteed: you have not seen anything like this in Cleveland before, ever.

There are five whole weeks to enjoy it, but you may want to plan your trip carefully. Generally speaking, it will be open weekdays from 11:30-1:30 and 5 - 7 PM. However, if there’s a criticism to be made of the project, it’s that the schedule is a little confusing, and the building’s not open during the days after Christmas when we locals might most enjoy the opportunity to show off our city to out-of-town guests.

For families, the best bet for visiting will probably be during one of several weekend concerts, which include:

• Mutual Gifts Gospel Choir, SAT 12/6, 4:30 PM
• Groundworks DanceTheatre, SAT 12/13, 7 PM
• Burning River Brass, FRI 12/19, 7 PM
• Greater Cleveland Choral Chapter, SAT 12/20, 2 PM

These events are free. Get the full schedule at www.clevelandpublicart.org

My sister, Beth, never takes the lights off her tree. Nor even does she disassemble it. For eleven months out of the year, the tree stands in a corner of the basement, draped against cobwebs and dust, awaiting its annual bedecking with carefully chosen and perfectly arranged ornaments, no two alike. Once complete, her tree graces her living room demurely.

Our tree, on the other hand, is not a graceful thing. Since we cling stubbornly to a tradition of “no tree until Christmas Eve,” we are inevitably stuck with whatever’s left on the lot, usually a forlorn Charlie Brown fir with a twisted trunk and a gaping hole that isn’t obvious until the warmth in our front room causes the branches to drop and settle. It is decorated by excited children made jittery and careless by anticipation and pilfered candy canes. So the bottom half of the tree features clusters of identical ornaments hung along a single bough and the top half holds every single glass ornament that mom was able to retrieve before they were sent tinkling to the floor. Once the decorating’s done, our industrious cats begin immediately to disassemble our ephemeral creation.

I love our little trees for their sentimental value, but I also admire Beth’s for their craftsmanship. In much the same way as I love Campbell’s Tomato Soup, but also admire a well-crafted bouillabaisse.

So every December, the kids and I take a break from stapling our construction-paper chains, we leave the glitter glue to dry on our cardboard cutouts, and we go out to admire the decorative achievements of fellow artists who’ve been blessed with greater patience and bigger budgets.

One of our favorite stops is the Cleveland Play House Festival of Trees. In past years, this spectacle of dozens of gorgeous trees has coincided with one of the Play House’s children’s productions, so we’ve been able to enjoy a full afternoon of theater and dawdling amongst the Tannenbaumen. That’s not the case this year, but here’s another good way to give greater depth to your excursion: the Play House is accepting wrapped gifts for the Salvation Army Angel Tree (call first to find out what’s still needed) or unwrapped, new toys to be donated to Toys for Tots. Keep your eyes open for two trees decorated by “Play House usher Phyllis Bambeck.” Could that be our Phyllis Bambeck, of the Kentucky Garden Bambecks? The Play House is located at 8500 Euclid Avenue, 216-795-7000. Admission and parking free until an hour before performances. Open now through 12/23, 9 AM-9 PM, 12/24 9 AM - noon. 12/23-12/2, 9 AM-5 PM. Closed 12/25 and 1/1.

Love the trees at the Play House but can’t imagine one in someone’s home? Then visit the main lobby of the Renaissance Hotel on Public Square before this Wednesday, 12/3. Each of the professionally-decorated trees on display there is destined for someone’s private parlor. On Tuesday evening, 12/2, from 6 - 9 PM, there will be a live auction of the trees to benefit Providence House crisis nursery in Ohio City. That event is free; a VIP reception including buffet, beverages and private seating area is $50 per person. Call 216-651-5982, ext. 226, for details.

I haven’t yet been able to accept that the lovely Cleveland Botanical Garden now charges a substantial admission charge ($25, including parking, for our family). The country’s oldest civic garden center managed to provide a free-of-charge oasis to beauty-deprived Clevelanders throughout the Great Depression and the Great Default. Alas, no more. But if I want to see really, really pretty trees this year, I will swallow my indignation and plunk down my money, because the Garden’s popular Wintershow returns this month through January 4. Designed by “aesthetic engineer” Don Vanderbrook, the show will feature a large model of the Connotton Valley Railroad that used to run through Bedford. On the other hand, we could also just join the crowd and take a sneaky peek for free during Holiday Circlefest on SUN 12/7 (see related article).

Cleveland’s at one of those junctures in its civic life when accentuating the positive becomes especially crucial to survival. So here’s something positive to be said for our scrappy little city: we ain’t hurting none for musical talent. And unlike curbside recycling, public waste receptacles and mounted police officers, the musical vibrancy of our city appears to be a Good Thing not threatened with extinction. Fingers crossed.

Here is just a sampling of the huge variety of this month’s musical offerings for your family to enjoy:

WED 12/3, 12 Noon Music Near the Market: “A German Christmas”, Trinity Lutheran Church, West 30th & Lorain, Ohio City. Free. Featuring Florence Mustric on the organ, playing music by Pachelbel, Bach, Reger, and David. Program repeats on WED 12/10. 216-281-1700 or mustric@lightstream.net

FRI 12/12, 10 AM & SAT 12/13, 11:00 AM Cleveland Orchestra Musical Rainbows: “The Music of Hanukkah”, Severance Hall. General admission $7. 30-minute concert featuring violin and narration. 216-231-1111 or www.clevelandorchestra.com

SAT 12/13, 7:30 PM Cleveland Philharmonic Orchestra Holiday Concert, Zion United Church of Christ, 2716 West 14th Street, Tremont. Tickets $15 advance/ $20 door. Bring the kids — Santa’s going to stop by after the concert. 216-861-2371 or info@zionchurch.org

SUN 12/14, 1 PM Chanukah Unity Chorus, Tower City Skylight Concourse. Free. Children’s choral celebration for the Festival of Lights. For a full schedule of Tower City’s holiday music events, visit www.towercitycenter.com

SUN 12/14, 3 PM All-City Winter Concert, Tri-C Metro Campus, East 30th & Community College Ave., Downtown. Free. Features choirs, bands and orchestras from the Cleveland Municipal School District. 216-574-4326.

SUN 12/14, 4 PM Forest City Singers & Fortnightly Musical Club, St. Stephen Church, West 54th at Duke. Program will include less commonly-heard Christmas music selections and Benjamin Britten’s “Ceremony of Carols.” 216-631-5633.

WED 12/17, 11 AM Cleveland Orchestra Musical Rainbows: “The Legend of the Nguzo Saba”, Severance Hall. General admission $7. 30-minute concert featuring special guests DanceAfrikaDance. 216-231-1111 or www.clevelandorchestra.com

WED 12/17, 12 Noon Music Near the Market: “Music for Advent and Christmas”, Trinity Lutheran Church, West 30th & Lorain, Ohio City. Free. Featuring Robert Myers on the organ, playing Vivaldi’s concerto in D minor, transcribed by Bach, and music by Manz and
Young. Program repeats on WED 12/24. 216-281-1700 or mustric@lightstream.net

FRI 12/19, 7:30 PM Holiday Songs with Hank & Foster, Metroparks CanalWay Center, off East 49th, Cuyahoga Heights. Free. Folk music for the whole family. 216-206-1000.

SAT 12/20, 11 AM Cleveland Orchestra Musical Rainbows: Christmas Brass Quintet, Severance Hall. General admission $7. 216-231-1111 or www.clevelandorchestra.com

SAT 12/20, 3 PM Broadway School of Music & the Arts Student Holiday Recital, Broadway United Methodist Church, 5246 Broadway Avenue, Slavic Village. Free. 216-641-0630 or broadwaysch@yahoo.com

Enjoy this festive month and all the musical treasures that it brings.

There’s just one weekend remaining to enjoy the fall show at Near West Theatre. Rodgers & Hammerstein’s adaptation of Margaret Landon’s book Anna and the King of Siam draws on NWT’s great strengths: the warmth, energy and effervescent goodwill of an intergenerational cast, creative choreography that makes the little stage at St. Patrick’s Club seem far broader than its physical space, and catchy songs like “Getting to Know You” and “Shall We Dance.” As my eight-year-old son (who has grown sleek and sophisticated on a diet consisting of large servings of NWT) recently observed, “Why don’t we just buy season tickets?”

Set in the opulent Far East in the 1860’s, The King and I is a fictionalized account of adventurous Englishwoman, Anna Leonowens, who becomes governess to the many children of the autocratic King of Siam, now Thailand. Talking on the themes of imperialism and the perceived barbarism of Siam, it has vital and pertinent things to say about differing cultural perspectives on slavery, polygamy, and the roles of women in society. With the USA and Iraq dominating our global awareness, The King and I East meets West themes leap forward with new urgency.

The show runs November 21-December 7, with no performance on Thanksgiving Day. Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances are at 7:30 p.m. Curtain time for Sunday matinees is 3 p.m. All tickets are $6 for general admission seating. Parking is free and guarded. Reservations are recommended for all performances. Please call NWT’s box office at 216-621-3242.

Performances are on the third floor of St. Pat’s Club Building, 3606 Bridge Ave., in Ohio City (at the corner of W. 38th & Bridge Avenue). For more information, check www.nearwesttheatre.org