The Boston Pops starts its 138th spring season on Friday, May 10 with the iconic Harry Connick Jr. appearing on the equally iconic Opening Night at Pops.
And as he has for the past 20-plus years, Conductor Keith Lockhart called Tuesday morning to share insight and good cheer about the Pops season and our friendship that has grown through the decades.
“I’m starting my 29th season with the Pops, and I feel great,” said Lockhart, who took over in 1995 when Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams stepped down.
The five-week Pops Spring Season, May 10-June 8, at Symphony Hall in Boston, features a lot of firsts, plus some popular returning acts.
The powerhouse season lineup features special return appearances by Connick, Jr., Sutton Foster, Branford Marsalis, Marc Martel, and Take 6.
Stage luminaries Victoria Clark, Micaela Diamond, Mandy Gonzalez, and Joshua Henry appear in “Broadway Now!: Broadway’s Modern Masters.”
A first for the Pops is a Pride Night program featuring RuPaul’s Drag Race All Star Thorgy Thor, a talented violinist.
There will be in-concert film screenings of “Encanto” and “Jurassic Park” with live soundtracks played by the Pops.
The season also celebrates the centenary of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” and performances by this year’s winners of the Fidelity Investments Young Artists Competition.
Lockhart leads a Special World War II tribute, “Eyes of the World: From D-Day to V-E Day, Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Allies’ Landing on the Beaches of Normandy,’’ with narration by historian John Monsky.
“It’s an incredible piece,” said Lockhart.
Tickets for the Boston Pops season at Symphony Hall are available at bostonpops.org or 617-266-1200.
In the wings
AT THE MRT: “Spiritus/Virgil’s Dance” is on Merrimack Repertory Theatre’s Nancy L. Donahue Stage at Liberty Hall, playing now through May 26. Written by and starring Dael Orlandersmith and directed by Neel Keller, it explores one person’s longing for meaning. Latin for breath, “Spiritus” is often used figuratively to mean spirit. In Orlandersmith’s solo piece, the word takes on a metaphorical meaning for a soul on a quest. In conversation with Dante’s “Divine Comedy,” we meet Virgil in the middle of an ordinary life. With their father’s passing, Virgil reframes death and finds the extraordinary they’ve been searching for. Tickets are available at mrt.org or at the box office at 978-654-4678.
SUMMER FUN THAT’S FREE: The Lowell Summer Music Series Free Fun for Kids lineup is now available on its website, lowellsummermusic.org/pages/free-fun-for-kids. It runs July 10-Aug. 15 at Boarding House Park on Wednesday and Thursday mornings. Free lunch, snacks, arts & crafts, and books at 10 a.m. and free performances at 11 a.m. Rain or heat location is the Donahue Academic Arts Center at MCC, 240 Central St., Lowell.
REGIONAL ROUNDUP: Single tickets are on sale now for the Peterborough Playhouse summer season in New Hampshire. It includes “Noises Off!,” June 19-30; “Death Trap,” July 3-14; “Pride & Prejudice,” July 17-28; “Ben Butler,” July 31-Aug. 11; and “Man of La Mancha,” Aug. 14-25. Visit peterboroughplayers.org/noisesoff.html for tickets and info … Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport hosts “A Kickoff to Summer” fundraiser on Wednesday, May 22, at 6 p.m. It includes cocktails, a performance of “Beatlejuice,” and chances to host a private party at the Firehouse on each of the six nights of the Yankee Homecoming Concert Series, July 28-Aug. 2. Visit booking.firehouse.org/EventAvailability?WebEventId=kickoff for tickets and info.
