In the days before memes and Twitter feeds, people read comics. It was a morning ritual, over coffee, and they laughed out loud at some of them – in a way you could actually hear. They talked about them with co-workers and they clipped them out with scissors and mailed them to people. Really.
Of all the comic strips, “Peanuts” was favorite. It had a readership of 355 million (Facebook has 500 million, but still.) “Peanuts” stopped in 2000 – the last one ran the morning after creator Charles Schulz died.
He died a billionaire. “Peanuts” is still making money – reprints are running in syndication in nearly every paper that has comics. ”A Charlie Brown Christmas” ran on TV again last week for the 49th year.
And in Vero next week, the beloved stage musical from 1967, “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” opens at Riverside Children’s Theatre. The show New York Times critic Walter Kerr called “a miracle” for the effect it achieves with only minimal set, costumes and direction is a natural for the student actors of RCT. And no doubt they will tackle the multiple vignettes, songs and dancing with their signature RCT gusto.
Directed by Jeff Horger, and with RCT newcomer Allison Heinz as assistant director, the show is aimed at ages 5 to 12. It takes the viewer through a day in the life of Charlie Brown, with some of the hopes and disappointments that filled those 17,000 comic strips.
“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” runs from Dec. 29 through Jan. 4. Tickets are $5 to $14 dollars. Call 231-6990 or go to www.riversidetheatre.com.
This weekend at the Riverside for grown-ups, Comedy Zone takes over the black box stage with two shows on both Friday and Saturday nights. Frank Del Pizzo, a former car mechanic from New Jersey, has opened for a slew of celebrities from Don Rickles to Drew Carey. He’s also known for hosting billiards tournaments on ESPN. Also on tap, the proudly diminutive Roy Haber.
Comedy Zone features free live music before the shows, plus food and drinks available for purchase. Premium seating at $18 lets you reserve a table, otherwise admission is $16. There’s also a group VIP area with its own bar and restroom available. Call 231-6990 to book it or go to www.riversidetheatre.com.
If you missed McKee Botanical Garden’s Holidays at McKee event last weekend, you can still see the model train and listen to the vintage organ at a post-Christmas celebration, Nights of Lights. At this one, they add special lights in the ponds and up in the palm trees, and light the pathways with candles.
The people at McKee suggest this as a great way to entertain visitors here for the holiday week, and they are absolutely right. The 18-acre garden is one of most exquisite corners of Vero. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. Founded by Waldo Sexton and buddy Arthur McKee in 1929, it was a huge tourist attraction and drew 100,000 people a year for a time. Then Disney World did it in in the 1970s. With America showing its preference for theme parks, that keep their plants confined within plaster and pavement and pruned into cartoon characters and with Muzak-spewing speakers tucked deep within their leaves, the wild tropical jungles of McKee were shut behind gates for good in 1976.
Of course, Vero’s appreciation for nature finally prevailed, and in 1994, the Indian River Land Trust launched a campaign to re-open the gardens. Nearly $10 million later, McKee re-opened in November 2001. And if you must have kitsch with your park pass, there is the jaw-dropping architectural oddity, the Hall of Giants and Spanish Kitchen, erected by Waldo for his wild parties (we hear). They show off the same this-and-that vernacular used in the Ocean Grill, the Patio and the Driftwood.
The gift shop and café will be open during the Nights of Lights event, Dec. 27, 28, and 29 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The standard garden admission rates apply: from $8 to $12, with children under 3 free. McKee is just south of the intersection of U.S. One and Fourth Street.
And another way to get the visitors outside, minus the special effects: the Dune-to-Lagoon Guided Hike Saturday afternoon at the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge. Led by master naturalist Jay Barnhart, the hike starts at 1 p.m. at the Barrier Island Center. Book a little time on either end of the hike to enjoy the center itself, a really well thought-out exhibit on the wildlife of the area.
The Carr refuge, a 20.5 mile stretch of oceanfront between Wabasso and Melbourne Beach, is the most important sea turtle nesting ground in the U.S. More loggerheads nest there than anywhere in the Western hemisphere, and in June and July, it’s a terrific place to book a night-time turtle walk.
The center is run by the Gainesville-based Sea Turtle Conservancy through Brevard County’s Environmentally Endangered Lands program. It was built on a piece of land where an old abandoned restaurant, Chuck’s Steakhouse, once stood. The land was bought by a charitable foundation and donated to the county.
Brevard also owns two adjacent parcels that run from the ocean to the lagoon. The hiking trail cleared along those lots is where the Dune-to-Lagoon hike takes place and offers a cross-section of all the habitats in the refuge.
The center’s address is 8385 S. A1A, Melbourne Beach, and that’s 10.9 miles north of the Disney Resort. Call 321-723-3556 for information.