This week, Jared Bowen reviews a virtual exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum, commemorates conductor Keith Lockhart’s 25 years with the Boston Pops and gives us his take on John Stewart’s new film “Irresistible.”
“Director’s Choice: In Memoriam: Napi Van Dereck,” presented by Provincetown Art Association and Museum and Lingar
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Provincetown Art Association and Museum has placed its latest exhibition online. Titled “Director’s Choice: In Memoriam: Napi Van Dereck,” this exhibition curated by museum CEO Christine McCarthy is pulled exclusively from the collection of the late Napi Van Dereck — a beloved Provincetown resident, restaurateur and art collector. The collection features 40 offering landscapes and iconic views of Provincetown. Through the augmented reality app Lingar, audiences can enjoy painted views of Provincetown and listen to McCarthy’s description of the Van Dereck Collection.
“The best part of this collection is that it's a true journey through Provincetown, in all its aspects,” says McCarthy. “it's like a time capsule through Provincetown.”
“Conversations with Keith,” a weekly interview series from the Boston Pops at Home featuring Keith Lockhart and special guests
Though spring and summer concerts have been cancelled for the 2020 season, Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart is still finding ways to engage with his audience through “Conversations with Keith,” a new virtual interview series in which Lockhart hosts interviews with members of the Boston Pops Orchestra and creative arts leaders like Rhiannon Giddens.
2020 marks Keith Lockhart’s 25th year the conductor, though the anniversary celebration has been cut short due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“The Pops has been there through thick and thin,” says Lockhart during a conversation with Jared on the digital WGBH program, “Lunch Hour Live”. “And we've always been able to offer something… And the most frustrating thing about this one is that, for the first time, our ability to do that has been taken away. Because it strikes at the very core of what music is about, which is about community.”
Fortunately, Lockhart will be featured in the lineup for the new Tanglewood 2020 Online Festival — a first for this historic music festival that hasn’t cancelled a concert season since World War II. The festival will offer free and paid content through their website beginning July 1. Lockhart will be featured in a recap of Boston Symphony, Boston Pops and Tanglewood Orchestra performances titled “The Best of Tanglewood On Parade,” which is hosted by James Taylor.
In addition to this, the Boston Pops will present “A Boston Pops Salute to Our Heroes,” in lieu of the traditional “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular” on July 4. This pre-recorded performance includes a mix of newly recorded content from the Pops and musical guests, as well as highlights from past Fourth of July performances.
“Irresistible,” available on-demand Friday, June 26
Jon Stewart, best known for his political satire on “The Daily Show,” has written and directed a new film taking on the political machinations of today. In “Irresistible” Democratic consultant Gary Zimmer (played by Daily Show alum Steve Carell) moves from Washington D.C. to the fictional town of Deerlaken, Wisconsin, where he attempts to transform modest farmer and veteran Jack Hastings (Chris Cooper) into a Democratic mayoral candidate. A pointed and humorous critique of big-money politics dropping down on rural America, “Irresistible” is forgoing a theatrical release to appear on-demand and online beginning on June 26.
“Irresistible is, actually,” says Jared. “On the one hand it’s a delightful, small film effervescent with warmth and sincerity thanks to Stewart’s deft hand, pen and superb cast. But it also delivers us into the great, salivating maw of national politics — a beast eager to pounce on small town America. That places Irresistible squarely in the category of it’s funny (and shocking) because it’s true.”
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