Holiday happenings include drive-ins
Here are some events planned for this weekend around the region:
• The SunnyBrook Ballroom, Lower Pottsgrove Township, will host the
Winter Wonderland Drive-In
on Friday through Sunday, with an additional screening of the holiday classic “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve. This weekend’s movies are “A Bad Mom’s Christmas” on Friday, “Elf” on Saturday and ”The Santa Clause” on Sunday. Each movie night will have a limited number of tickets, each covering the cost of one vehicle. The gates will open at 5 p.m., with plenty of holiday sights and refreshments for the whole family before and during the movies, which start at 7. The new Winter Wonderland Village will feature a large variety of food and beverages from movie theater popcorn to a holiday-inspired Christmas burger, plus soft drinks and holiday cocktails. Ordering will be available via mobile app, with car-side delivery by golf cart for all food and non-alcoholic beverages. The Village will feature festive photo opportunities with multiple firepits where you can stay warm, remain socially distanced and spend a night out with friends and family. The movies will be shown on a 40-foot screen set up in the front parking lot where the guests can watch and hear the films from their vehicles. Sound will be broadcast via a lowfrequency FM transmitter to the cars. For more information and reservations, visit thesunnybrook.com/winterwonderland
• The Jazz at the Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis presents its Big Band Holidays virtual concert on Saturday at 7 p.m., with special guests Catherine Russell, Kurt Elling, Rubén Blades, Ashley Pezzotti and more. Tickets are $25 at jazzatlincolncenter.squarespace.com, and if you select the Berks Jazz Fest box, $5 will be donated to the Berks Jazz Fest. After the live performance, the concert will stream On Demand until Dec. 26.
•
Berks Ballet Theatre opens its 45th season on Saturday with a new take on its annual production of “The Nutcracker.”
Due to COVID-19, BBT has taken this full-length ballet and pared it down to a shortened version that will be broadcast virtually. The BBT dancers along with five students from its Conservatory of Dance will make up the cast of the modified ballet, entitled “The Nutcracker Suite.” It will be presented one night only on Saturday at 7 p.m. To purchase a ticket for the virtual event visit BerksBalletTheatre.com/tickets, or call 610-373-7577 for further information.
• The Wilma Theater in Philadelphia has extended the online run of
Will Arbery’s “Heroes of the Fourth Turning,”
produced safely in a quarantine bubble, through Sunday. The award-winning play, directed by Blanka Zizka, tells the story of four Catholic conservative friends gathering at a late-night backyard party in Wyoming, shortly before the 2017 eclipse. As they wait for the arrival of their mentor and newly appointed college president, secret passions and fears surface, revealing their troubled place in a divided country. Tickets are on sale at https://wilmatheater. org/heroes-of-the-fourthturning.
• A Philly POPS Christmas: Spectacular Sounds of the Season will be available as a digital stream from the POPS’ website, phillypops.org/christmas, from Friday through Jan.
1. It will include virtual choir performances from The Philly POPS Festival Chorus, The Philadelphia Boys Choir and The African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Gospel Choir. And no performance would be complete without a visit from Santa Claus. “A Philly POPS Christmas is a Philly tradition to so many families — they return year after year after year,” said Frank Giordano, POPS president
and CEO. “This free stream of our Christmas performance is our thanks to them for their ongoing support … and our way of wishing them the happiest of holiday seasons.”
•
Pennsylvania Ballet will be streaming its performance of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker”
through Christmas day at www.Paballet.org. Set to Tchaikovsky’s famous score, the incredible dancing and lavish sets and costumes bring to life the story of a young girl’s magical dream — a dream that never loses its appeal. The production will be available for a flat rate of $50, and on Christmas Eve for $25.
• Valley Forge National Historical Park is commemorating the arrival of the
Continental Army at Valley Forge on Dec. 19, 1777, with an online screening of the park’s new 19-minute orientation film
“Determined To Persevere: The Valley Forge Encampment.”
New programming being released each day this week on the park’s website, www.nps. gov/vafo, and social media channels will feature four short vignettes produced alongside the new orientation film, as well as original videos, interviews and web activities. The final event, scheduled for Saturday at 7 p.m., is a virtual screening of the new park film featuring an interactive questionand-answer session on Facebook with two Valley Forge Park Guides who appear in the film. The public is invited to visit the park’s March-In webpage for more
details and to view the full programming schedule.
• Studio B Art Gallery, Boyertown, hosts a Friday Night LIVE at the B! event from 6 to 7 p.m. titled “Let’s Talk About Art: Pretty Monsters,” featuring Pottstown-based fine artist Lisa Muller. A professor at Albright College in Reading, Muller will offer insights and perspectives about the history of women in the arts. The event, recorded by Amy Muzopappa of Muzo Media Productions, will be archived and available for viewing on Studio B Art Gallery’s Facebook page and accompanies the studio’s exhibit featuring 12 local women artists titled “Still Roaring 2020.” The exhibit runs through Dec. 27.