SCHWARTZ AND ALL

William Schwartz: New Sculptures and Op Art at Arts Collinwood, Friday, May 16

Cleveland artist William Schwartz never went to art school, but after graduating from college with a degree in English, he immersed himself in the local art scene, moving to Tremont in 1998, and studied art history on his own, discovering an affinity for the Dada movement. However, his latest show, New Sculptures and Op Art, harks back to an altogether different movement, the brief flourishing in the '60s of the colorful, repetitively patterned work known as op art. He describes the work as "an advertisement against consumerism," another concept that was kicking around in the '60s. The show opens at Arts Collinwood (15605 Waterloo Rd., 216.692.9500) with a free reception from 6-9 p.m. — Anastasia Pantrios

WEDNESDAY, MAY 14

And The Winner Is

Sports writer Mitch Albom's best-known books, Tuesdays with Morrie and The Five People You Meet in Heaven, were bestsellers, full of sentimental, homespun insights. Albom co-authored a stage version of Tuesdays with Morrie which was performed at the Cleveland Play House a couple of seasons ago. Less well known is that Albom's also the author of a couple of other plays. They include And the Winner Is, the story of an Oscar-nominated actor who dies before the ceremony takes place, which is filled with humor in addition to those packaged insights he's known for. Weathervane Playhouse (1303 Weathervane Ln., Akron) opens its version of the play at 7:30 tonight in an intimate 48-capacity studio-theater type space converted from a scene shop. It runs at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, May 18, through May 31. Tickets: $15. Box office: 330.836.2626. — AP

THURSDAY, MAY 15

Cleveland Orchestra

Jean Sibelius, whose life spanned the second half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, is Finland's foremost composer and one whose music is closely connected with Finnish nationalistic fervor. So it's appropriate that his Symphony No. 3, performed only twice by the Cleveland Orchestra more than 60 years ago, is being reintroduced to Severance Hall under the baton of Finnish conductor Osmo Vänskä, now music director of the Minnesota Orchestra. Aaron Copland's Clarinet Concerto, featuring Cleveland Orchestra principal clarinetist Franklin Cohen, is another piece that's a natural for Vänskä, since he began his own musical career playing clarinet in Finnish orchestras. Also on the program is one of those musical equivalents of comfort food: a suite from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The program will be performed at 8 p.m. tonight, tomorrow and Saturday. Tickets: $30-$83. Box office: 216.231.1111. — AP

FRIDAY, MAY 16

My Favorite Year

Based on the 1982 Mel Brooks-produced movie based on his own early TV writing experiences in the 1950s, the 1992 musical My Favorite Year is both a sentimental and comical look at the formative years of television, following a naïve young writer for a popular variety show who's tasked with keeping his movie-star hero in line and in condition to appear on the show. With Shawn Galligan as the young writer and Matthew Wright as the washed-up movie star, The Beck Center for the Arts (17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood) opens its production of the show on the Mackey Main Stage at 8 p.m. tonight. It runs at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays except May 25 through June 8. Tickets: $17-$28. Box office: 216.521.2540. — AP

Frankenstein

The Akron-based New World Performance Laboratory theater company took its new production of Frankenstein out on a test drive at the recent Fusion Fest at the Cleveland Play House. Now it's ready to get down to business, presenting the company-created production which blends storylines from Mary Shelley's famous gothic horror novel with those from Shelley's real life, set to new music on 19th-century themes composed by Megan Elk. Following performances at the University of Akron's Sandefur Theatre in Guzetta Hill at 7:30 tonight and tomorrow and Fridays and Saturdays through May 31, the company will be taking its production to Poland and the Catskills over the summer. Call 330.867.3299 for tickets and info. — AP

Martin Leung

You gotta have a gimmick, I guess. Pianist Martin Leung, aka "The Video Game Pianist," has attracted attention for playing video-game themes, which he's done all over the world on his Video Games Live tour. He's got one of the all-time top-rated YouTube music videos to his credit, in which he played the Super Mario Brothers theme blindfolded. Is he just some silly hack looking for a crowd-pleasing hook? Well, no, not at all. He's just graduated from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is on his way to the Yale Music School for his master's degree. He's won the Oberlin International Piano Competition and the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition, among others. So he's got chops and a sense of humor. He'll perform a Cleveland farewell concert (displaying a range of his skills and interests) at the Solon Center for the Arts (6315 SOM Center Rd.) at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $10 adults, $3 students and seniors. Call 440.337.1400. — AP

Art Quarter Gallery Hop, City Artists at Work Open Studio

The newly dubbed "Art Quarter," which encompasses downtown's eastern flank, is ready to strut its stuff for spring, with the first annual Art Quarter Gallery Hop from 6-9 p.m. tonight and the 11th annual City Artists at Work Open Studio from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. tomorrow and noon-5 p.m. Sunday. Tonight, about a dozen galleries in the area will be open, with highlights such as the closing of the CIA Ceramics show at Convivium 33 and the H.C. Casill career retrospective at the Busta Gallery. Tomorrow and Sunday about 50 artists will be opening their studios to show their work and socialize with art lovers. Go to cityartistsatwork.org for a complete listing of galleries and studios participating. — AP

SUNDAY, MAY 18

Singing Angels Spring Concert

The Singing Angels are a unique Cleveland institution: a regional show choir featuring nearly 300 kids ages 8-18 singing a range of pop songs, show tunes, spirituals and barbershop-harmony numbers, accompanied by exuberant choreography. The 44-year-old chorus has toured around the world, performed with well-known stars such as Wayne Newton, Bob Hope, Celine Dion and the Barenaked Ladies, and participated in many high-profile special events including the installation of Cleveland's current Catholic bishop William Lennon. It holds two big local concerts a year, its Christmas show and its annual spring benefit concert. The latter takes place at 3 p.m. today at Playhouse Square's Allen Theatre. Tickets: $6.25-$35. Call the Singing Angels office at 216.432.5555 for tickets and info. — AP