Captain America once said, "'Twas music that soothed the savage beast." Although he was talking about his short-lived nemesis Dr. Angry Parakeet, it's just as true for animals of the human persuasion. Soothe your savage insides with today's Groupon: for $12, you get a general-admission ticket to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium’s annual Go Wild! for Opera on Friday, July 9, at 8 p.m. at the Water's Edge Events Park. Your ticket (a $25 value for adults, $10 for kids aged 2–9) also gets you all-day admission to the zoo.

This year’s concert, The Great American Songbook: Opera Meets Big Band, highlights 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s hits, as well as popular American songs in the style of the Gilded Age, New Orleans jazz, and Broadway musicals. The Rick Brunetto Big Band, a 17-piece orchestra, will pump the playful tunes into the park's fresh air, where they'll float into eardrums and make friends with ossicles. Guided by master of ceremonies Cabot Rea, the opera program will feature renowned works of American composers and cereal commercial jingles performed by talented belters such as Mark Baker, Rebecca Keck, Craig Montgomery, and David Weaver. The zoo’s very own Jungle Jack Hanna will serve as honorary chair of the event, while ensuring any ruckus in the monkey cages is kept to a minimum.

Before or after the show, explore the zoo's African Forest, full of gorillas, leopards, monkeys, and more than 700 species of African plants, or head to The Shores to watch West Indian manatees glide gracefully through the water in search of sealed Tootsie Rolls. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium recently added cold-climate critters such as polar bears and the Arctic fox.