Last year marked the 50th anniversary of the Holiday Pops. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of Keith Lockhart taking up the baton for the Boston Pops. In between lies humble 2024, a spring Pops season like any other. Which is to say: varied, innovative, inclusive, rousing, respectful of tradition, and mindful of today. Something for everyone, in other words.
But just because the Pops doesn’t have a milestone of its own, that doesn’t mean that there won’t be cause for celebration. In his first appearance with the Pops since 2001, Harry Connick Jr. will open the season May 10-11 with selections from the Great American Songbook that helped propel him to fame 35 years ago with the “When Harry Met Sally …” soundtrack. And the Pops hosts its first-ever Pride Night June 1, with “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum (and classically trained violinist and violist) Thorgy Thor presiding over the festivities that include song, dance, and comedy.
For Broadway enthusiasts, the Pops is featuring two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster, who recently starred in “The Music Man,” for a pair of shows (June 4-5), with songs from her stage career and other classics. “Broadway Today!: Broadway’s Modern Masters” (June 6-7) will offer a more up-to-date survey of musical theater offerings, with Broadway stars Victoria Clark (another double Tony winner, for “Kimberly Akimbo” and “The Light in the Piazza”), Micaela Diamond (“Parade”), and Joshua Henry (“The Scottsboro Boys,” “Into The Woods”) mining the riches of the 21st century.
Disney monolith “Encanto” (May 11 and May 18) and Steven Spielberg franchise-starter “Jurassic Park” (May 24-25) will both screen as the Pops perform their scores live. And while “Bohemian Rhapsody” won’t be shown, its music gets the spotlight May 15-16, as the Pops and singer Marc Martel — who provided some of Freddie Mercury’s vocals for the film — perform a tribute to rock legends Queen.
Moving from one “Rhapsody” to another, the Pops and Branford Marsalis will celebrate the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” in the latest installment of its “Roots of Jazz” series (May 22-23), which will also explore some of the foundational saxophonists that helped form the genre. The Pops commemorates a more sober anniversary — the 80th anniversary of D-Day — with “The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to V-E Day” (May 29-30), featuring contemporary photos and film from World War II alongside music from Glenn Miller, Édith Piaf, Aaron Copland, and the soundtracks to “Saving Private Ryan” and “Band of Brothers.”
The season ends in its usual fashion, with Charles Floyd conducting Gospel Night, this year with Grammy winners Take 6 bringing their joyous and complex a cappella harmonies into an orchestral backdrop. It brings to a close a Pops season that has all the comforts of tradition while taking steps that might well become new traditions.
Tickets for the spring season at Symphony Hall go on sale Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. Visit bostonpops.org or call 617-266-1200.
Marc Hirsh can be reached at officialmarc@gmail.com or on Bluesky @spacecitymarc.bsky.social.
