Things to do

If you watched any or all of the 249 episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” in the 1960s — or still catch reruns — consider a visit to Mount Airy, N.C. Griffith, who plays Sheriff Andy Taylor in the show, grew up in this small town and used it as a model for his series.

While the show exists only in reruns today, parts of the town are happily stuck in the past. Just six and a half hours down Interstate 77 you’ll find an entertaining getaway that makes the most of its connection to Barney, Aunt Bee, Opie and the rest of the gang.

Glimpses of the Past

During our visit, we slept in the retro, pragmatic and clean Mayberry Motor Inn at the edge of town. Keep in mind, this is a flashback to simpler times, and the motel appropriately small and historic. Rumor has it the owner sometimes dresses up as Aunt Bee while working the front desk.

The best start to visiting the town, after a good night’s sleep, is the Squad Car Ride. While we waited our turn in the Ford Galaxy (the fleet consists of ’62 ’63, ’64 and ’67 models) we checked out the replica of Wally’s Service Station.

Inside the historic corner building, we took turns posing in the jail cell and propping our feet on Andy’s desk. Definitely Facebook moments.

For our ride, we perched on the vinyl backseat and cranked down the old windows. Riding up and down the streets, we learned about the man and the show. We saw places that Andy Griffith/Andy Taylor frequented such as Floyd’s City Barber Shop and The Snappy Lunch.

After getting the lay of the land, we slid into a small booth at the 94-year-old The Snappy Lunch diner for North Carolina’s official pancake-battered pork chop sandwich.

Photo credit for RedCoats pics:

Playing Around

Not all heroes wear red capes; some wear red coats

RedCoat volunteers of Playhouse Square are the first friendly faces to greet you in the theater. Odds are if you’ve attended a show, they’ve greeted you at the door, scanned your ticket, given you a program and directed you to your seat. What would you have done without them?

It takes nearly 90 RedCoats to staff an average Broadway performance. Since expanding its KeyBank Broadway Series, Playhouse Square is on the lookout for more of these right-hand men and women.

Ella Wilson of Shaker Heights found herself with a little extra time on her hands when her daughter went off to college. Since she’s been drawn to theater, she decided to become a RedCoat. “I absolutely love every moment of it.”

Wilson especially enjoys the children’s programs at Playhouse. One busy evening at the theater, she felt a tug on her jacket. She looked down and heard a little boy say, “Excuse me, thank you for helping me.”

“That just brightened my whole day,” Wilson says.

Jim and Linda Borsuk of Westlake decided to become RedCoats together.

“My wife and I attended Playhouse Square as patrons for years,” Jim Borsuk says. “Every time we went there, everyone we ever came across weren’t just happy but glad to help you.”

They decided it was time to join the team.

“We had always talked about when we retire, when we have time, because we are both extremely busy people. Then last year, we finally said, ‘Let’s just do it.’ We just wanted to give others the same great experience we always had at the theater.”

Borsuk says it doesn’t feel much like work at all. “I can disconnect from what I do on the 9-to-5 basis and enter this other world of happiness.

Here’s what’s happening starting in September at the Cleveland Museum of Art:

In 2017 major museums in Europe and America are celebrating the centennial of Auguste Rodin’s (1840–1917) death with traveling exhibitions, permanent collection installations and educational activities.

The Cleveland Museum of Art marks the centennial of Rodin’s death with a display of works from the museum’s permanent collection. During World War I, while the museum’s original building was still under construction, trustee Ralph King began negotiations to acquire works from Rodin. The first work to enter the collection was a monumental Thinker, acquired by King in 1916 and donated the following year. Rodin also agreed to cast a special version of his great breakthrough sculpture The Age of Bronze for the museum. Other lifetime casts were donated by civic-minded Clevelanders, and one by Rodin himself. The museum eventually acquired more than 40 works spanning the artist’s career in a wide variety of materials, including the magnificent, larger-than-life plaster sculpture Heroic Head of Pierre de Wissant. The monumental Thinker, one of the museum’s signature works, has graced the south entrance since 1917 and was severely damaged by a bomb in March 1970.

Mourners from the Tomb of Isabella of Bourbon

Tuesday, September 26, 2017, through Sunday, February 4, 2018

Gallery 109

Cleveland’s celebrated alabaster mourners from the tomb of Philip the Bold will be part of a major exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam this fall. In exchange, the Rijksmuseum has offered the Cleveland Museum of Art a rare opportunity to exhibit four bronze mourners from the tomb of Isabella of Bourbon (1436–1465). Traveling to North America for the first time, these renowned sculptures will be on display from September 26, 2017, to February 4, 2018.

CMA at Transformer Station

Scott Olson

Friday, September 1

Scott Olson’s abstract paintings conceal the deliberate decisions and elaborate processes used in their making.

Some of the most original and acclaimed performing artists from around the world are featured in the Cleveland Museum of Art’s 2017–18 Performing Arts Series.

Again this year, the series showcases the talents of performers and composers with a variety of styles and influences, ranging from 1920s jazz and music for gamelan and kayagum to Surrealist film scores.

“We’re excited for another season of performances celebrating the remarkable range of classical music and global music traditions. They are sure to appeal to a wide range of audiences, and we are privileged to have the opportunity to bring all of these talented artists to northeast Ohio,” said Tom Welsh, director of performing arts.

Tickets for individual performances are on sale now. Special student rates are available for select performances. Tickets and more details are available by calling the Cleveland Museum of Art ticket center at 888-CMA-0033 or online at clevelandart.org/performingarts.

2017–18 Season

All CMA performances take place in the museum’s Gartner Auditorium unless otherwise noted. Programs are subject to change.

Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9

Wednesday, October 11, 7:30 p.m.

$43–$59, CMA members $38–$53

In conjunction with The Jazz Age: American Style in the 1920s, Butler, Bernstein & the Hot 9 is a rip-roaring combo led by the remarkable pianist Henry Butler and the irrepressible trumpeter Steven Bernstein, who first worked together in 1998 in the Kansas City All Stars. They reunited in 2011 for a concert in New York City, and the material they performed—including the classic blues of Bessie Smith and the first-generation jazz of Jelly Roll Morton—resonated in a way neither had expected. According toThe New York Times, “Their collaboration is both historically aware and fully prepared to cut loose.” With a nod to the Hot Five and Hot Seven bands of Louis Armstrong, the Hot 9 takes the early jazz of the 1920s as its starting point.