GOING OUT

               "Franklin the Turtle': The popular TV show comes to life when its reptilian characters creep across the highway and crawl into town for a musical that is faster-paced than the usual turtle. One-hour shows at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. today, Taft Theatre, Fifth and Sycamore Streets, downtown. $16.50-$21. 562-4949.

        Chocolate Sunday: Calories run amok at the ever popular fund-raiser for United Cerebral Palsy. Chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate at $1 a pop from area restaurants, caterers and confectioners. Think Graeter's. Think Aglamesis. Think Velvet Ice Cream. Think world-class sugar buzz. Noon-4 p.m. today, Eastgate Mall. 221-4606.

        Classical pianist: It's a major — and difficult — program French classical pianist Jean-Phillipe Collard brings to town: Bartok, Brahms and Gershwin for the Xavier University Piano and Guitar Series and a bunch of people who know their piano rep, you betcha. 2:30 p.m. today, Cincinnati Art Museum theatre, $25. 745-3161.

        New exhibit: Photographer, painter and traveling man John Chewningshows off Northern Latitudes, a Kodak moment inspired by Alaska, Scotland, Iceland and Scandinavia. Opening reception with the artist, 2-4:30 p.m. today, Cincinnati Nature Center, 4949 Tealtown Road, Milford. 831-1711.

>Staying In

        TV picks: The first sweeps Sunday brings tough choices, as usual: Gregory Hines as Bojangles (8 p.m., Showtime); The Flamingo Rising, a Hallmark Hall of Fame film about a funeral director objecting to a drive-in movie theater (9 p.m., Channels 12, 7); and Scully (Gillian Anderson) discovering a clue to Mulder's (David Duchovny's) abduction on The X-Files (9 p.m., Channels 19, 45).

        • Critic John Kiesewetter also says E! Entertainmentpremieres a True Hollywood Story biography of White Oak native Carmen Electra (9 p.m., E!) with interviews taped here in November.

Planning Ahead

        24 hours out: It's a true story, but almost too unbelievable: Dr. Jerri Nielsen, the famous doctor who discovered a lump in her breast while stationed in Antarctica and performed her own biopsy, tells all in Ice Bound: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole. She discusses and signs it at 7 p.m. Monday, Barnes & Noble Kenwood, 7800 Montgomery Road. 794-9440.

        48 hours out: Something a lot of people don't know about but should: African American Art Through the Ages traces the evolution of various art forms in black America, starting at the beginning: “West African Drumming and Its Influence on American Black Music.” Opens 7 p.m. Tuesday, Main Public Library, 800 Vine St., downtown. 369-6945.

        96 hours 'til Thursday: Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia hits the high Cs when University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music's Mainstage Opera tackles the complex and compelling work. 8 p.m., Patricia Corbett Theater. $22. 556-4183.

        Get To It appears daily. Send items to Nancy Berlier, Deputy Tempo Editor, at nberlier@enquirer.com.

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