“This show requires all of you,” Chanel told the Herald. “It’s mentally, physically draining. Yes, acting is not real, and we know that. But sometimes your body and mind have a disconnect, so your mind knows it’s fake but your body is going through something physically. That can mean trembling. It can mean hearing words that trigger a certain experience. The show is exhausting.”

But the exhaustion comes with tremendous artistic satisfaction.

Despite being based on Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill,” this is no silly jukebox musical indulgence. This is a decidedly modern Broadway production – “Jagged Little Pill” plays at the Citizens Bank Opera House June 13 -25.

Developed at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theatre before it went to Broadway in 2019, the show pulls Morissette’s ’90s angst into today. Morissette, Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody collaborated on a show that follows Frankie, Mary Jane and the rest of the Healys through a suburban hell. What starts with little family failings (light pill popping, mild online porn addiction, keeping up with the Joneses) graduates to spectacular breakdowns (overdose, abuse, assault).

While the material is intense, Chanel finds rewards in the role of Frankie – her first on a national tour.

“I enjoy how raw the show is, how realistic the show is,” she said. “You can think of somebody in your life who has dealt with the topics (explored in the show).”

Confronted with her mother’s relentless-but-hollow cheer, Frankie struggles to find her place in the world and develop a real relationship with her adopted mother. As Frankie’s girlfriend, Jo, tells her, “You’re a Pinterest fail.” While other actors might try and keep their emotional distance to the role, Chanel worked hard to connect with Frankie.

“I had to learn to be Frankie from within myself, meaning, I had to relate to her,” Chanel said. “I grew up in a suburban area (in Atlanta). I grew up in a predominantly white area. I had to navigate how that made me feel.”

“I also did research on real-life transracial adoptees,” she added. “I had interviews with them to get to know, generally, what that is like because I don’t know what that is like.”

Chanel says she did the research and goes into each performance with a deep breath knowing what it takes to pull off the role.

“I like to sit with being uncomfortable, and this show lets you explore that,” she said.

For tickets and details, visit boston.broadway.com

“Anatomy of a Fall,” which stars Sandra Hüller as a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, is only the third film directed by a woman to win the Palme d’Or. One of the two previous winners, Julia Ducournau, was on this year’s jury.

Cannes’ Grand Prix, its second prize, went to Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest,” a chilling Martin Amis adaptation about a German family living next door to Auschwitz. Hüller also stars in that film.

The awards were decided by a jury presided over by two-time Palme winner Ruben Östlund, the Swedish director who won the prize last year for “Triangle of Sadness.” The ceremony preceded the festival’s closing night film, the Pixar animation “Elemental.”

Remarkably, the award for “Anatomy of a Fall” gives the indie distributor Neon its fourth straight Palme winners. Neon, which acquired the film after its premiere in Cannes, also backed “Triangle of Sadness,”Ducournau’s “Titane” and Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite,” which it steered to a best picture win at the Academy Awards.

Triet was presented the Palme by Jane Fonda, who recalled coming to Cannes in 1963 when, she said, there were no female filmmakers competing “and it never even occurred to us that there was something wrong with that.” This year, a record seven out of the 21 films in competition at Cannes were directed by women.

After a rousing standing ovation, Triet, the 44-year-old French filmmaker, spoke passionately about the protests that have roiled France this year over reforms to pension plans and the retirement age. Several protests were held during Cannes this year, but demonstrations were — as they have been in many high-profile locations throughout France — banned from the area around the Palais des Festivals. Protesters were largely relegated to the outskirts of Cannes.

“The protests were denied and repressed in a shocking way,” said Triet, who linked that governmental influence to that in cinema. “The merchandizing of culture, defended by a liberal government, is breaking the French cultural exception.”

“This award is dedicated to all the young women directors and all the young male directors and all those who cannot manage to shoot films today,” she added. “We must give them the space I occupied 15 years ago in a less hostile world where it was still possible to make mistakes and start again.”

After the ceremony, Triet reflected on being the third female director to win the Palme, following Ducournau and Jane Campion (“The Piano”).

“Things are truly changing,” she said.

Speaking to reporters, Triet was joined by her star, Hüller, whose performance was arguably the most acclaimed of the festival. (The festival encourages juries not to give films more than one award.) But “Anatomy of a Fall” did pocket one other sought-after prize: the Palme Dog. The honor given to the best canine in the festival’s films went to the film’s border collie, Snoop.

The jury prize went to Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki’s “Fallen Leaves,” a deadpan love story about a romance that blooms in a loveless workaday Helsinki where dispatches from the war in Ukraine regularly play on the radio.

Best actor went to veteran Japanese star Koji Yakusho, who plays a reflective, middle-aged Tokyo man who cleans toilets in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” a gentle, quotidian character study.

The Turkish actor Merve Dizdar took best actress for the Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses.” Ceylan’s expansive tale is set in snowy eastern Anatolia about a teacher, Samet (Deniz Celiloğlu), accused of misconduct by a young female student. Dizdar plays a friend both attracted and repelled by Samet.

“I understand what it’s like to be a woman in this area of the country,” said Dizdar. “I would like to dedicate this prize to all the women who are fighting to exist and overcome difficulties in this world and to retrain hope.”

Vietnamese-French director Tràn Anh Hùng took best director for “Pot-au-Feu,” a lush, foodie love story starring Juliette Binoche and Benoît Magimel and set in a 19th century French gourmet château.

Best screenplay was won by Yuji Sakamoto for “Monster.” Sakamoto penned Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s nuanced drama, with shifting perspectives, about two boys struggling for acceptance in their school at home. “Monster” also won the Queer Palm, an honor bestowed by journalists for the festival’s strongest LGBTQ-themed film.

Quentin Tarantino, who won Cannes’ top award for “Pulp Fiction,” attended the ceremony to present a tribute to filmmaker Roger Corman. Tarantino praised Corman for filling him and countless moviegoers with “unadulterated cinema pleasure.”

“My cinema is uninhibited, full of excess and fun,” said Corman, the independent film maverick. “I feel like this what Cannes is about.”

The festival’s Un Certain Regard section handed out its awards on Friday, giving the top prize to Molly Manning Walker’s debut feature, “How to Have Sex.”

Saturday’s ceremony drew to close a Cannes edition that hasn’t lacked spectacle, stars or controversy.

The biggest wattage premieres came out of competition. Martin Scorsese debuted his Osage murders epic “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a sprawling vision of American exploitation with Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” Harrison Ford’s Indy farewell, launched with a tribute to Ford. Wes Anderson premiered “Asteroid City.”

The festival opened on a note of controversy. “Jeanne du Barry,” a period drama co-starring Johnny Depp as Louis XV, played as the opening night film. The premiere marked Depp’s highest profile appearance since the conclusion of his explosive trial last year with ex-wife Amber Heard.

The musical has always worked at an odd balancing act. It’s part subversive piece of art, part sweet-and-magical bit of popcorn. In 2018, director Bartlett Sher put his thumb on the scale tipping his revival of “My Fair Lady” toward the subversive – the touring production of the show plays April 18-30 at the Citizens Bank Opera House.

“Audiences might remember the show in a more romantic light or remember it as a really offensive piece because they’ve seen an iteration where [main character] Eliza [Doolittle] is being abused,” Madeline Powell, who plays Eliza, told the Herald. “In Bartlett’s version of this play, his biggest goal was to give Eliza agency… he was really intentional about restoring George Bernard Shaw’s original Eliza.”

Both Shaw’s 1913 play “Pygmalion” and “My Fair Lady,” the 1956 musical adaptation of the play, follow snobbish London professor Henry Higgins’ effort to transform the poor and uneducated Eliza Doolittle into a refined lady. But “Pygmalion” ends on a defiant note and “My Fair Lady” concludes with a happily ever after. This modern update seems to split the difference.

“It’s such a brilliantly written show, with equal parts gravity and levity,” Powell said. “We want audiences to engage and laugh and be rowdy with us just as much as we want to really hear what [Eliza and Henry] are saying to each other and take it in. It’s a perfect piece of musical theater for a reason.”

The original run of “My Fair Lady” in the ’50s became the longest-running and largest-grossing Broadway production of the decade and won six Tony awards. The 1964 film version did just as well, winning three Oscars and topping the box office for months. This transformation retains the spectacle and big song-and-dance numbers that made “My Fair Lady” such a hit.

But it also gets at the heart of Shaw’s work. Much of it focuses on overcoming ignorance, overcoming the impulse to talk past those we deem not worthy of talking to.

“Jonathan Grunert, who plays my Professor Henry Higgins, and I often say that it boils down to being about two people who desperately want to understand the other and that comes with a lot of challenges when there is ego involved,” Powell said. “At the end of the day, both have to learn to set themselves aside to hear the other.”

“This is something that was true of gender roles when the show was written,” she added. “But sadly it’s just as true now.”

And so “My Fair Lady” remains full of dreamy musical numbers, and luscious costumes, sets and dancing. But this time around Eliza isn’t outdated but elevated. While it will be up to the audiences to decide if Powell is right that it is “a perfect piece of musical theater,” the actor, director, and the whole team behind this updated version have worked toward perfection.

For tickets and details, visit boston.broadway.com

—

Councilors on Monday referred a zoning petition to the city’s Planning Board to help revive Starlight Square in the Central Square Business Improvement District.

The petition would allow outdoor retail, entertainment and recreational facilities, like Starlight, to be located within the area by default if such spaces have minimal impact on neighbors.

Showing strong support for the petition, the council expressed urgency for the Planning Board to proceed with a hearing and other necessary action as quickly as possible since some events are planned at Starlight as early as May.

“This zoning petition not only would address some of the concerns regarding Starlight,” Councilor Marc McGovern said, “but it would allow for other really exciting arts and opportunities to take place in Central Square.”

Starlight became a point of some controversy after the city Board of Zoning Appeals voted earlier this month not to renew its special permit for a fourth season. Some city officials told the Herald the decision surprised them given how much community support is behind the venue.

Concerns driving the rejection mainly included noise complaints.

The Central Square BID which oversees Starlight, had responded to concerns, Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui told the Herald. It had reduced the number of events and speakers, installed acoustic panels and ended shows earlier, she said.

BID President Michael Monestine put forth the petition in response to the BZA’s rejection.

“We do what we say we are going to do,” he said during Monday’s meeting. “We have been responsive and responsible neighbors, navigating this process while responding to compounding crises throughout the district.”

Resident James Williams attended the BZA meeting and said he thought board members raised  “important, legitimate concerns responding to immediate neighbors.”

“It has been a failure of the government in my view,” he told the City Council. “We need to find a way to keep Starlight through the rest of the season and in a way that takes seriously the concerns of the immediate neighbors.”

Councilors also approved a motion for the city manager to work with the Central Square BID in pursuing the establishment of a permanent building for Starlight, so the square could operate for years to come.

The city last year approved using $500,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to study what it would take for Starlight Square to become permanent.

“Starlight has been over the past three years just this beacon of hope and light for our community, especially for our arts community,” Vice Mayor Alanna Mallon said. “We have had so many joyful celebrations there, so many artists there, it’s only proper that we’re continuing to support this effort.”

You probably thought of Linda McCartney first, but there’s at least one other: It turns out that May Pang, who was John Lennon’s companion during the famous “lost weekend” of 1973-74, was documenting the experience. She’ll be present to show her work this Saturday and Sunday afternoon at City Winery. Her photos were often taken in informal situations, showing Lennon at his most relaxed and upbeat.

“John didn’t like the photos that most people took of him,” she said this week. “He’d always say ‘I don’t like the way I look there’ or ‘I was so fat.’ But he happened to like what my eye caught of him. You’re seeing him through my eyes, the way I saw him. I’d say I was working more as a partner than a documentarian, but I thought I caught a side that you don’t often get to see. He doesn’t smile in a lot of photos, and one comment I usually get is ‘My goodness, we’ve never seen him so relaxed’.”

The show coincides with the opening of “The Lost Weekend: A Love Story,” a film about her time with Lennon. The movie premiered at the Tribeca festival last summer, and will open nationally next month. To Pang’s mind it was a creative era for Lennon, not the endless drink and debauchery as it’s often portrayed. “The only person to set it straight is me. I’m always hearing people I don’t even know talk about how much time they spent with me and John — but he always used to say, ‘Just wait till they make stories up about you’. John was a big film lover, so he used that term [after the 1945 Ray Milland movie] — but to me, the ‘lost weekend’ was not a lost weekend.”

There were however some memorable characters in the mix– among then the brilliant but self-destructive songwriter Harry Nilsson. Pang was listed as production coordinator for “Pussycats,” the album Lennon produced for him. And sometimes her job was keeping Nilsson out of trouble. “I loved Harry, his voice was so beautiful and John was thrilled to be working with him. But he was also his own worst enemy. His closest friend was Ringo and for them the party was an everyday thing; for John it was more limited. But of course when they went out together, the media would always pick on John. I had my disagreements with Harry, telling him he had to stop– but he’d say ‘No, everybody loves it! He was very strong willed on what we wanted, which was to have a good time. He’d damaged his throat so he’d make the doctors appointments everyday, then go out at night and re-do the damage. That’s why John had to move the sessions to New York instead of Hollywood.”

Pang was also present at the oft-bootlegged, late night session where Paul McCartney dropped in to jam (on drums, no less). This was the only time after the Beatles breakup that the two made music together– albeit very loose music. “The vibe was just friends having fun. It was certainly a surprise that night when Paul and Linda walked in. It seemed that nothing had changed.”

One of her photos, taken in 1974, appears on the cover of Julian Lennon’s recent album “Jude.” She initially helped reunite Julian with his father, and she and he have remained close. She explains the photo by referring to “Hey Jude,” the Beatles song about Julian which his title referenced. “He made it better for himself. That picture comes from our 1974 Christmas vacation at Disney World, a really happy time. It always was, when we got to see him on his school vacations.”

She says she has no relationship with Yoko Ono, who initially brought her and Lennon together. But Lennon remains a presence in her life. “It’s funny, the other night I was watching ‘Law & Order’ and they used the line, ‘Whatever gets you through the night’ [a Lennon lyric from 1974]– I had to laugh. You can’t really ignore John, his spirit is everywhere.”

Last week’s permit denial for Starlight Square, an outdoor entertainment, recreation and retail venue in the city’s Central Square, caught the surprise of some Cambridge officials who have told the Herald they will be addressing a path forward as soon as this week.

Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui on Saturday said more information regarding how the city will respond to the BZA’s rejection will be coming this week. She declined to comment on what the response may entail.

“For me, it’s just really a community hub, and it really has been indispensable,” Siddiqui said. “We can’t go back to what the status quo was, which was a parking lot. It has much better uses than that.”

Starlight Square’s permit just missed out on being renewed during last Thursday’s BZA meeting. Three members approved the extension, but four yes votes were needed to constitute a supermajority. Concerns driving the rejection mainly included noise complaints.

The Central Square Business Improvement District, which oversaw the outdoor entertainment, arts and commercial venue, had responded to direct feedback, Siddiqui said. It had reduced the number of events and speakers, installed acoustic panels and ended shows earlier, she said.

“They were still willing to compromise,” the mayor said. “For it to be denied completely is a big surprise considering how much support was provided at the BZA hearing, whether it was in person or in letters.”

While events that had been planned will be canceled in the short term, city Councilor Burhan Azeem said conversations have begun around drafting legislation that would override the BZA decision and help bring Starlight Square back.

The process, Azeem told the Herald on Friday, could take two to three months at the earliest, with Starlight Square reopening in the middle of June being the best case scenario.

“They only got one noise complaint back in 2020 so the idea that people are frustrated by it is just not true,” Azeem said, “This is a really beautiful space used by thousands of people at all times of the year.”

The City Council also looks to submit zoning petition soon, Councilor Quinton Zondervan told the Herald via text message Saturday night.

Though this is a pure local issue, state Rep. Michael Connolly, D-Cambridge, submitted a letter to the BZA early last week in support of allowing Starlight Square to have a fourth season.

“In this moment when so much community space, independent retail space is hard to come by with rents going up,” Connolly said, “this became a really valuable option for community gatherings that were really accessible. At this point, many of us are in shock.”

Members of the BZA are appointed by the city manager. The BZA extended Starlight Square’s special permit the past two years before last week’s rejection despite what Central Square Business Improvement District President Michael Monestime called “overwhelming public support.”

“Someone should spend time examining a system that empowers members of an unelected board to shut down a community benefit project that has the support of the Mayor, Vice Mayor, city councilors, state representatives, community leaders, and residents,” Monestime said in an email Saturday night. “That is not ours to do.”

Some of the upcoming events that the Central Square Business Improvement District looked to hold at Starlight Square included a summit on the role of public space in the city and a fundraiser for humanitarian relief after earthquakes in Turkey, Monestime said.

“While we’re devastated, our organization has always rallied in a crisis,” he said. “This is another moment for us to do so on behalf of the Cultural District.”

The room is decorated with flags from Peguero’s native Dominican Republic, pictures of his music idols, a couch, rug, keyboard and more items — evidence the 26-year-old Boston resident is amped up for life after Allston’s Sound Museum rehearsal studios closed in late January.

Peguero and hundreds of musicians have spent the past week moving into an interim music rehearsal site featuring 88 studios at 55 Morrissey Blvd., a space that looks to fill the void left by the Sound Museum closure which displaced at least 800 musicians.

“I feel like I have a lot of support from the city,” Peguero told the Herald on Saturday. “I really put time into teaching and showing that music is this thing that could save people and help them find themselves and triumph in life. This studio shows the progress.”

Peguero never rented a studio at the Sound Museum, but he’d often go there either to listen to friends who were in bands or record his own music with other peers. They were left devastated when the property at 155 North Beacon St. was sold in December to IQHQ, a commercial realtor looking to turn the site into a life science campus.

The Art Stays Here Coalition — artists, musicians and advocates that work to prevent arts and cultural displacement throughout Greater Boston — quickly found the vacant 55 Morrissey Boulevard building and selected nonprofit The Record Co. to operate the space.

The Record Co. transformed the 40,000-square-foot former home of several Boston-based radio stations, which moved to Waltham last May, into a mix of small and large rehearsal studios in just six weeks.

The Dorchester property is just temporary as the site is slated for redevelopment in two years, but musicians, like Peguero, are welcoming the new studio space as a needed refuge.

More than 300 musicians have already visited the studios since the March 3 opening, with several hundred more expected to use the space in the coming days and weeks, said Matt McArthur, founder and executive director of the Record Co.  Roughly 65% of the studios from the Sound Museum have at least some representation at 55 Morrissey.

The Sound Museum isn’t the only rehearsal space that has closed in the city.

The Berwick Building in Roxbury also recently shuttered, and Charlestown Rehearsal Studios is at risk of closure, with a portion of the building already repurposed into storage space, said Sasha Pedro, general manager of 55 Morrissey.

“There’s really never been an artist space like this on the southern side of Boston,” Pedro said. “The musicians down here have been traveling to Allston, Somerville and Charlestown to rehearse, but now that we’re down here, we’re able to serve a community that hasn’t been served in this way for a while, at least.”

The New England Musicians Relief Fund has made a $12,000 commitment to help musicians from the Sound Museum relocate to 55 Morrissey. Those funds are going toward moving trucks to haul over instruments and other equipment, said Joseph Wang, clerk for the nonprofit that started to help musicians amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The fact that this place is alive and as vibrant, full, noisy and joyful as it is today is tremendously gratifying,” Wang said. “It’s something that we need to see more of.”

From the expected (and welcome) return of blockbuster musicals to avant garde dance performances, the spring theater season has Stephen Sondheim and Tony Kushner, brand new works and old favorites.

“K-I-S-S-I-N-G”

Now through April 2, The Calderwood Pavilion/BCA

Lala is busy making art on the back of pizza boxes when a broiling summer pushes her toward some K-I-S-S-I-N-G with Dani and Albert. Twins, Dani is a budding feminist while Albert is a sweet-talker. Somewhere between romance, love and lust, Lala looks for inspiration in this production from the always awesome Black theater company Front Porch Arts Collective.

“Curriculum II”

March 10 – 12, Institute of Contemporary Art

This dance work pulls inspiration from Cameroonian philosopher Achille Mbembe, Nigerian-born Afrofuturism scholar Louis Chude-Sokei, and Jamaican writer Sylvia Wynter. Choreographed by Tony-winner Bill T. Jones and Janet Wong, “Curriculum II” investigates race, technology and humanity through movement.

“Into the Woods”

March 21 – April 2, Emerson Colonial Theatre

With three Tony award wins, this 1987 (now) classic musical reimagines Brothers Grimm-inspired wickedness in revolutionary ways. Sondheim’s fractured fairy tale comes to Boston directly from Broadway. And the production brings along Broadway stars Montego Glover, Stephanie J. Block, Sebastian Arcelus and Gavin Creel from the NYC production.

“My Fair Lady”

April 18 – 30, Opera House

Can Eliza Doolittle be a champion instead of an experiment? Lincoln Center Theater’s revival of the classic thinks so. The Theater has had past success with thought-to-be-outdated musicals such as “The King & I” and “South Pacific” so why shouldn’t this tale of a lower-class London woman and a chauvinistic speech therapist be turned on its head?

“Angels in America”

April 20 – May 21, Central Square Theater

Bedlam Artistic Director Eric Tucker has reinvented a number of masterpieces for Cambridge audiences – see Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” and George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion.” Now Tucker takes on a modern masterpiece. “Angels in America” crosses the boundaries between heaven and New York City in the ’80s to explore the devastation of the AIDS crisis.

“Omar”

May 4-7, Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre

Never seen an opera? Let this be your first. Musical polymath Rhiannon Giddens and “Get Out” score composer Michael Abels tell the tale of Omar Ibn Said – sold into slavery in 1807 at the age of 37, Omar kept his Muslim faith alive despite the crushing evil of his captors.

“The Prom”

May 5 – June 3, Speakeasy Stage

If you love classic Broadway and love the idea of lampooning classic Broadway, check out “The Prom.” When a bunch of washed up theater stars land in a small-town during prom season, cultures clash in obvious-but-welcome and unexpected-and-silly ways.

The Worcester native is combining those passions in a project that will redesign and refurbish Fenelon Street Playground in partnership with Celtics player Jaylen Brown, the city Parks and Recreation Department and Red Bull.

Brown and the city recently announced Santos as the winner of Red Bull’s “Get In The Paint” contest that had artists submit graphic designs of how they envisioned the future of the Dorchester basketball court.

“It really does feel awesome knowing that my art is going to be helping people because I feel like there’s a big stigma around art and people think that it’s a little silly or useless,” Santos told the Herald. “I like when I am able to make an impact with it, which hasn’t happened much.”

Santos beat out 10 other finalists. She said she had submitted three designs, with her second being the winning selection.

Brown and Red Bull approached the city about the court project last summer, with the design competition starting in the fall, said Nate Frazee, project manager for the Parks and Recreation Department.

Frazee called Santos’ design “balanced” and “very vibrant” with multitone blues, lightning bolts and funky zigzags. It will translate well onto the playing surface, he said.

Frazee sat on a review panel with Brown, community members and the painters behind the project. Brown told the panel the blues reminded him of Terrence Clarke, Frazee said.

Clarke was a standout basketball player at Rivers School in Weston before going on to play for the University of Kentucky.  He died at age 19 in a car crash in April 2021, just months before the NBA Draft.

City basketball courts have a life expectancy of about 15 years, Frazee said.

“This really cool, compelling court is going to have an impact on a full generation,” he said. “People are going to be able to talk and really get to know the process and feel engaged in it. That’s the power of it.”

Those involved with the project are working on a timeline, but it’s looking like the groundbreaking will be this spring before the court is unveiled in July, said Becky Kaleo, senior communications manager for Red Bull Media House.

The project, Santos said, is providing valuable lessons that she will carry with her in the future. Santos said she is scheduling meetings with Elevated Thought, a Lawrence-based arts and social justice nonprofit, to determine how her winning design will be applied to the court. This is her first time working on a basketball court.

Parks, like Fenelon Street Playground, are essential assets to the community because of how much the public uses them, Santos said.

“For the younger generation, I think it’s really important to give them resources,” she said. “Having a bright, colorful court for them to play on that’s been refurbished and redone, I think it’s going to motivate them to be using it more often.”

As we move into spring, our museums give us a host of new voices – bright, strange, eccentric and welcome voices. Celebrate the change of season by changing your perspective at one of these fresh exhibitions.

“The Children’s Crusade”

Open now, Institute of Contemporary Art

Born just four decades ago, María Berrío has become a major force in modern art. The Colombian born artist constructs huge paintings that she pieces together with strips of torn Japanese papers and watercolors to invent wondrous reflections of cross-cultural connections and 10,000-mile migrations. This exhibition pulls together new and existing works from Berrío’s series The Children’s Crusade – an exploration of legends and contemporary realities facing child migrants.

“Fellow Wanderer: Isabella’s Travel Albums”

Open now, Isabella Stewart Gardner

Isabella and her husband, Jack, crisscrossed the globe between 1867 and 1895. The couple trekked across Asia, the Americas, Europe and the Middle East. The Gardner Museum has collected photos, papers, paintings and more from the pair’s journals of journeys and asked modern scholars and artists to use them to explore Isabella’s wise, charming, naive and sometimes backwards understanding of foreign cultures.  Pages from nine albums are on view while complete albums can be viewed online.

“From the Andes to the Caribbean: American Art from the Spanish Empire”

Open March 3, Harvard Art Museums

Expand your understanding of American art. This exhibit explores how the Spanish Empire recast the New World in its own image from 1492 to 1832. Paintings from what is now Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela mix with pieces fashioned from Cuban and Honduran mahogany, Mexican cochineal, and Peruvian silver to illuminate how imperialism interacted with and crushed indigenous cultures while shaping the art of the Americas.

“Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina”

Open March 4, Museum of Fine Art

Organized with New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, this exhibition details a story of art and enslavement through dozens of ceramic objects created by Black potters before the Civil War in Old Edgefield District. It also complements the artistic achievements with the contemporary works from modern Black artists inspired by or connected to these 200-year-old ceramics.

“After Hope: Videos of Resistance”

Open March 11, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem

The Asian Art Museum in San Francisco has pulled together an astounding 54 short videos for an exhibition about how hope connects to contemporary art and activism. The PEM brings these films to New England for an immersive experience celebrating arts underrepresented in American museums – “After Hope” presents work by artists from Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Turkey and more who explore themes including environmental destruction, feminism, censorship, globalized capitalism and more.

LONDON (AP) — From Major Tom to Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, the many faces and inspirations of David Bowie are getting a permanent home in London.

Britain’s Victoria & Albert Museum announced Thursday that it has acquired Bowie’s archive of more than 80,000 items as a gift from the late musician’s estate. The trove of costumes, musical instruments, letters, lyrics, photos and more will be opened to the public at a new arts center dedicated to the chameleonlike pop icon.

The David Bowie Center for the Study of Performing Arts is due to open in 2025 as part of V&A East Storehouse, an offshoot of the U.K.’s national museum of art, design and performance that is being built in east London’s Olympic Park.

The V&A said the center will let fans and researchers gain insights into the creative process of Bowie, who died in 2016 at the age of 69.

Kate Bailey, the museum’s senior curator of theater and performance, said the archive was an “extraordinary” record of a creator whose “life was art.”

“Bowie’s a polymath, he’s multifaceted. He was inspired by all genres and disciplines,” she said. “He’s an artist who was working really in 360 — drawing from literature, but also drawing from art history … (and) the places that he’d been to.”

The musician — born plain old David Jones in the London suburbs in 1947 — reinvented himself restlessly, creating and shedding personas as he moved through musical styles from folk-rock to glam to soul to electronica.

He created a series of larger-than-life stage characters, mining influences ranging from German Expressionist cinema to Japanese Kabuki theater. In turn he has influenced musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers and advertisers.

Some of the items in the archive formed part of “David Bowie Is,” a multimedia exhibition that toured the world after a sold-out run at the V&A in London in 2013.

Some items are iconic, such as a multicolored quilted jumpsuit designed by Freddie Burretti for Bowie’s alien rock star creation Ziggy Stardust, Kansai Yamamoto’s futuristic creations for the Aladdin Sane tour in 1973 or the Union Jack coat designed by Bowie and Alexander McQueen for the cover of 1997’s “Earthling” album.

Others are more personal, including letters, handwritten lyrics for songs including the anthem “Heroes,” and notebooks that Bowie kept throughout his life. The archives also contain more than 70,000 photographs, slides and images.

The museum secured the archive from the Bowie estate and also received a 10 million pound ($12 million) donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation and Warner Music Group to house and display it at V&A East, part of a new culture and technology quarter rising on the site of the 2012 London Olympics.

The David Bowie Estate said that “with David’s life’s work becoming part of the U.K.’s national collections, he takes his rightful place amongst many other cultural icons and artistic geniuses.”

V&A director Tristram Hunt called Bowie “one of the greatest musicians and performers of all time.”

“Bowie’s radical innovations across music, theatre, film, fashion, and style — from Berlin to Tokyo to London — continue to influence design and visual culture and inspire creatives from Janelle Monáe to Lady Gaga to Tilda Swinton and Raf Simons,” he said.

“She’s loud, she’s rude,” Perkins told the Herald with a big laugh, “(I knew) this was going to be really good fun.”

Zadie Smith’s reimagining of the Canterbury tale, “The Wife of Willesden,” became a smash hit in 2021 at the Kiln Theatre, which is situated in the Northwest London neighborhood where Smith sets the action. Smith has modernized the tale while keeping the lead character closely connected to Chaucer’s original text — “The Wife of Willesden” makes its stateside debut at the American Repertory Theater Feb. 25 to March 19.

The original Wife of Bath was (and is) revolutionary. A woman who married five times, she spoke openly about sex and the church’s narrow minded view of it during the middle ages. In “The Wife of Willesden,” Perkins’ character Alvita carries a similar progressive and bawdy energy into our age.

“The Wife of Bath is unrepentantly out there talking about sex and about how women should be equal, if not a little more equal than men,” Perkins said with a laugh. “So it’s great to play (a new version) of her. It’s great to be able to say the things she says on stage.”

“And, as (director) Indhu (Rubasingham), says, Alvita’s an unreliable narrator,” Perkins added. “And they’re always the most fun to play because she’ll tell you something, then contradicts herself, and you wonder if she’s lying.”

Like in Chaucer’s original work, the setting is a pub. And, as anyone who has spent any amount of time in a pub, club or bar will tell you, there’s always an outrageous character one too many drinks in telling an outrageous story that you don’t mind overhearing.

“I think of one of those people you overhear and say, ‘That woman is really interesting,’ then you hear her again, and you’re like, ‘That woman is really loud,’” Perkins said. “You know that kind of person that you’re loving to hate, that person that’s good entertainment?”

That person is Alvita. Only she’s speaking truth in couplets as often as she’s being bawdy.

The role is, as Perkins said, good fun. But it’s also a tremendous amount of work. Alvita has a lot to say about everything, including all five husbands, so that makes the show nearly one long monologue.

“It was one of the jobs where you go, ‘This job is mine, I have to get this job,’ and then as soon as they offer you the job, you’re like, ‘Oh my God, can I do this?’” Perkins said. “But I’ve got a good working relationship with Indhu and the Kiln Theatre and so I knew I’d be safe.”

She may feel safe, but Alvita may make you nervous, or uncomfortable, or giggle uncontrollably, or question your place in the world. Just as Perkins remembered, she’s rude. But she’s also so much more.

For tickets and details, visit americanrepertorytheater.org.

“I don’t even remember if I just went to see Phylicia Rashad, that might have been the draw,” the actor told the Herald. “But I was just taken in by it. At the end of the second act, I remember I was in tears. I was completely moved. It was one of the best things I had ever seen.”

This month, Vital will be part of the Actors’ Shakespeare Project production of “Seven Guitars” –  now through March 5 at Hibernian Hall. The production is part of a long journey Vital has taken from first seeing “Gem of the Ocean” through the works of Wilson (and Shakespeare).

Vital works with the Huntington Theater Company as the manager of curriculum and instruction. She also works with August Wilson New Voices, a national competition that engages students with Wilson’s work. Oh, she’s also a Shakespeare expert. Her history and talents give her a unique perspective on “Seven Guitars.”

“If August Wilson is America’s Shakespeare… what would ‘Seven Guitars’ partner play be?” she asked. “It feels a bit like ‘King Lear.’ It also feels a bit like ‘Hamlet.’”

Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, “Seven Guitars” follows the ill-fated career of up-and-coming blues musician Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton through a flashback of his last days. Set in 1948, it’s a bawdy comedy heavy with blues, humanity and longing.

There are many parallels between Wilson and Shakespeare that make this production perfect for the Actors’ Shakespeare Project. Vital points out that there are ten plays in Wilson’s Century Cycle – the playwright’s chronicle of Black America over 100 years – and Shakespeare wrote ten histories. And that within those histories are layers of meaning, language, emotion and more.

“[Shakespeare’s] texts do multiple things at once,” Vital said. “They are full of history, full of knowledge and spirituality, and aesthetic and tradition. So a company like Actors’ Shakespeare Project doing August Wilson furthers their mission.”

There’s plenty to connect to two giants of theater, but even without the artistic overlap, “Seven Guitars” deserves to be put on. It deserves to be produced again and again – as do the other nine works in the Century Cycle.

Vital reports there’s a great chemistry and a mighty charge to the rehearsals even though the play “begins in a heavy place and ends in a heavy place.” That energy will no doubt translate to the stage.

“These characters are very much alive and living and grabbing on to experiences,” Vital said. “There seems to be this electricity in the air even in the most quiet moments. It’s been an interesting space to occupy and I’m having a blast doing it.”

For tickets and details, visit actorsshakespeareproject.org.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — It’s been six years since Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band embarked on a major tour.

Judging by the first show Wednesday night in Tampa, Florida, you’d never know it. The Boss and his band served notice they are back.

At just under three hours, it wasn’t quite one of the marathon performances the 73-year-old Springsteen is best known for. But kicking off with “No Surrender” and finishing with a solo acoustic “I’ll See You In My Dreams,” Springsteen was in fine voice, and his big band matched his energy.

There were 19 musicians on the Amalie Arena stage at various points during the show, including the core of Springsteen’s wife, singer Patti Scialfa, bandana-wearing guitarist Stevie Van Zandt, fellow guitarist Nils Lofgren, drummer Max Weinberg, bassist Garry Tallent and keyboardist Roy Bittan.

Missing of course was the original “Big Man,” sax player Clarence Clemons, who died in 2011. But his nephew Jake Clemons didn’t miss a beat and ripped off some gorgeous solos throughout the night. He was backed by a brass section that rounded out the big sound.

The 28 songs included favorites like “Born To Run,” “Glory Days,” “Rosalita,” “Promised Land” and “Backstreets.” Yet six songs came from Springsteen’s 2020 album “Letter To You,” and left unplayed at least for this performance was the classic “Thunder Road.”

There was only one song from “The River,” which his 2017 tour played in its entirety. That was the exuberant “Out In The Street.” And the closing acoustic song “Dreams” was a staple of his “Springsteen On Broadway” performances.

Springsteen’s devoted fans ate it all up, with 20,000 people in the arena standing for almost the entire show. For them, a performance by the Boss is a kind of religious experience that simply must be sought out.

“This is a ray of light. This is something we’ve been waiting for,” said Billy Himmelrich, who came over from Delray Beach.

His wife, Shelly, took it a step further: “I listen to his music all the time. In a way, he’s my spiritual leader.”

Springsteen didn’t have a whole lot to say to his fans, ripping instead through song after song with little banter. But he did acknowledge his age — and theirs, too.

“At 15, it’s all tomorrows. And at 73, it’s a whole lot of yesterdays,” Springsteen said. “That’s why you’ve got to make the most of right now.”

And Springsteen delivered. His energy was as high as ever, venturing into the crowd and even conducting the brass section at one point. He shredded numerous guitar solos, and almost every song seemed epic, like a couple of dozen encores strung together.

It’s clear he and the band just want to play. Fifty years after his first two albums were released — and before “Born To Run” made him a superstar — Springsteen may not jump as high, but when he raises his arms, everyone else must as well.

Springsteen doesn’t have to “Prove It All Night,” but that’s what he does. He’s sold around 140 million albums, won 20 Grammys, an Oscar and a Tony award. Few artists can match those accomplishments.

And now it’s on to the rest of the 31-date U.S. tour, which ends with a homecoming April 14 in New Jersey. From there, it’s off to Europe, starting with an April 28 show in Barcelona, Spain.

___

This story has been corrected to say Jake Clemons is Clarence Clemons’ nephew.

PARIS (AP) — The pioneering Black performer Josephine Baker — who left the United States to find global fame in Paris in the 1920s — was Dior’s muse for an old school spring couture collection of archetypal classicism.

With her caressing velvets and silks, embroideries, sequins and tiny silver studs, designer Maria Grazia Chiuri may not have reinvented the wheel, but she certainly embellished it beautifully on the first day Monday of Paris Fashion Week.

Yet the event’s first day wasn’t without controversy after Dior was criticized for inviting a Russia influencer sanctioned by Ukraine. Moreover, Schiaparelli was the subject of online ire for glamorizing trophy hunting after featuring a fake lion’s head.

Here are some highlights of the first day of spring-summer haute couture displays:

DIOR’S BAKER

Lining the perfume-scented interiors of an annex inside the Rodin Museum gardens were giant images by African American artist Mickalene Thomas of Baker alongside other female Black American icons.

The stark tableaux photographs documented Baker’s extraordinary life and her many roles: as member of the French Resistance, civil rights activist and humanist as well as dancer and performer.

Guests took their seats, curious and excited.

According to Dior, a series of coats, a take on bathrobe styles depicted “the cozy, intimate dressing room that precedes (Baker’s) entrance on stage.” In couture terms they were undeniably beautiful, if somewhat restrained. The first came in silk velvet; its black diamond lapels hung with a dramatic weight. It was worn over delicately smocked satin swimwear in a take on the 1950s. Elsewhere, knit-like mesh made of silk and steel beads cut a fine vintage style on one ensemble, while also evoking a quiet female power. It was worn on a gleaming, crushed velvet evening robe to suggest intimacy.

Later, Chiuri slightly let her hair down and got her fringe on. Baker’s heyday was evoked in a steel beaded mesh skirt trimmed with sparkling fringe.

Although the theme created an expectation the Dior clothes themselves may offer some powerful exploration of racism or being Black, the collection itself remained very Parisian. It was only a veiled homage to the Black pioneer who fought battles against race, gender and nationality all her life.

That being said, it was admirable how many models of color walked the show — in over half the 60 looks — especially because of the fact Paris Fashion Week, and the luxury industry as a whole, have wrestled with persistent accusations of being white-centric.

MAISIE WILLIAMS PLAYS DIOR’S SISTER

“Game of Thrones” star Maisie Williams looked every bit the part posing against images of stars such as Eartha Kitt, Nina Simone and Baker with pixie hairstyle and Dior bustier to flashes of photographers’ lenses.

Williams called coming to the show “such a dream,” in part because she has just played Dior’s sister, Catherine Dior, in the highly anticipated Apple TV drama series “The New Look” — which centers on the bitter rivalry between the couturier and Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel.

Williams, who found fame playing the feisty Arya Stark, told The Associated Press that “I find the Dior woman to be something to really aspire to,” calling the clothes “powerful” for women.

“The women that I love to play have qualities that align,” she said.

SANCTIONED RUSSIAN INFLUENCER INVITED

Dior provoked criticism online for extending a Paris couture show invitation to a Russian TV presenter called Yana Rudkovskaya, who was sanctioned by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Jan. 15 on a list of cultural figures and propagandists who were suspected of supporting Russian President Vladimir Putin. Other houses have reportedly refused to allow Rudkovskaya, who is an influencer, into their shows.

Rudkovskaya posted a photo of her Dior couture invitation on Instagram. Some journalists asked how many “other sanctioned Russians are attending Paris Haute Couture?”

SCHIAPARELLI MAKES SURREAL TWISTS

Glamorous frivolity, exaggerated silhouettes and surreal takes on classics harking from the 1930s heyday of house founder Elsa Schiaparelli.

That was the mood at the first spring-summer couture show of the season — and what a start! — with its lashings of gold, intricate embellishments and rollcall of front row VIPs inside the lofty gilded atrium of the Petit Palais.

Designer Daniel Roseberry was on top form Monday — taking classical styles and giving them unexpected twists. A dark tuxedo with stiff oversize shoulders was transformed into a minimalist, space-age jumpsuit.

A bronze bustier reimagined as a giant oyster shell rose up like a fan that obscured the model’s face. Its incredible pearl embellishments were rendered in organic, crystallized layers showing off the deftness of the house atelier.

Myriad embellished baubles — almost resembling wet pearls — organically dripped off a blown-up bolero jacket that cut a beautiful silhouette, and had perhaps belonged to some underwater princess.

Yet the collection was also reverential to the house founder whose unique brand of frivolity charmed audiences around the world. A giant lion’s head — replete with fangs and bushy mane — modeled by Irina Shayk added a bite to this collection. It was an inventive nod to Surrealism, but also a statement about the absurdity of the use of fur.

Kylie Jenner, who sat front row at Schiaparelli also wearing a 3-D lion’s head and a gold snakeskin bag, was later criticized online amid accusations of glamorizing animal cruelty.

IRIS VAN HERPEN GOES DIGITAL

Against the grain of Paris Fashion Week, which is turning its back on digital, Dutch Wunderkind said of her latest couture offering that she “is proud to announce that… instead of a traditional runway show, the brand shows a digital presentation that allows for more creative freedom and storytelling.”

An in-person presentation accompanied the collection film “Carte Blanche,” in which she teamed up with a French artists called Julie Gautier — exploring how female beauty can be used as a form of control.

A limp red dress, with sinews revealing inches of flesh, resembled a poisonous sea creature, while interlocking circles evoked spiky but precious coral. Billowing blue and silver portions of generous fabric on a gown flowed like an underwater generous — touching on the signature organic inspiration from the award-winning couturier who has designed for artists such as Bjork.

VALLI GIRLS IN BLOSSOM

Spring was truly in the air at Giambattista Valli, whose powder pinks, canary yellows and pale turquoises mixed with the wafting floral perfume to crown this season gloriously.

In this collection, the lauded Italian couturier lopped off elements of the classical wardrobe or else made unexpected takes on gowns.

A regal ballgown that ballooned with voluminous whooshes, sleeves and train, was imagined shoulderless and revealed inches of leg. An exaggeratedly proportioned mermaid down flared out dramatically from the knee — ready for a spring wedding. It a nice disruption to the style, it was twinned with a stiff sleeveless crop top that revealed the midriff in a sporty way.

Flowers were also a touchstone.

Cuffs were embellished in giant roses, which reappeared in another look above the shoulder as if to cushion the model’s head. While, teeming embroideries and tulle banding accompanied stylized hair to evoke a take on Arabic dress — with the ubiquitous giant pearl earrings seeming to evoke the famous ancient traditions of Kosovar brides.

PARIS (AP) — Art returned to a glittering Chanel couture universe Tuesday with monumental animal sculptures gathering in the center of the runway-in-the-round like a surreal zoo for its Paris Fashion Week show.

Designer Virginie Viard collaborated with contemporary artist Xavier Veilhan who used a bestiary in house founder Coco Chanel’s apartment as a creative springboard for the carnival-like spring decor.

Yet as much as the animals — made of unpainted wood, paper and cardboard — appeared simplified, lifeless and monochrome, the Chanel collection contrasted strongly, sparkling with color and sequins in an unusually vibrant display.

Here are some highlights:

CHANEL’S ANIMAL PARADE

Veilhan said he wanted to “evoke the relationship to animals which is constantly evolving in our societies.”

A VIP front row that included Marion Cotillard, Tilda Swinton, G-Dragon and Vanessa Paradis, watched on as a gargantuan camel, bull, fish, horse and lion resembling blown-up mobiles were wheeled onto this strange runway, beneath a ceiling installation of large geometric discs.

One bird pushed on set with a large beak and myriad scruffy wooden plumes seemed to give birth to a model in a top hat and a split white riding jacket with fringed skirt. It had guests reaching for their cameras — with one dubbing it the “Trojan chick.”

The rest of the collection seemed less directly connected to the animal theme — and this level of subtlety was not a bad thing. Coat dresses and bouclé tunics in tweed featured animal twists — such as embroideries of pet dog Labradors and Scotch Terriers. Elsewhere, there were strong equestrian styles, building on ideas from previous Viard seasons. Here, the riding jacket was key, constructed in gleaming silken tweeds above gamine miniskirts and youthful skorts.

There were quirks galore in the long white gloves, black and white bow ties and skintight gold- or black-capped boots with white boxer-like lace ups — yet they sometimes felt out of place.

The strength of this otherwise superlative and poetical couture — which sparkled throughout with brocade, paillettes, sequins and gleaming silks — spoke for itself.

One loose amorphous gown glistened like a silver fish with its thousands of embroidered sequins and black, white and gold silken breast. Elsewhere, a thickly textured bell skirt was constructed using rippling layers of white-colored silk like a underwater shell, or perhaps a delicate stratus cloud.

ARMANI PRIVE’S CIRCUS

At the grand stone entrance of the Garde Républicaine, Giorgio Armani’s late start forced guests — some scantily clad — to wait in the freezing evening cold. Once the green light was given, Michelle Yeoh was among the first to walk down the path of romantic lanterns — effusing that she was “very happy to be here.” Then came Carla Bruni-Sarkozy extolling the “feminist power of couture.”

Juliette Binoche was next, dodging questions about playing Coco Chanel in an upcoming Apple TV series “The New Look,” saying “this is not for tonight, now it’s time to support Giorgio — he’s a big supporter of artists.”

Once the media circus subsided, guests sat by a harlequin stage lined with interlocking-colored lozenges, ahead of a playful collection.

Silk bolero jackets opened the display that riffed on the 1980s, with lozenges appearing throughout — first as a 3D relief on jackets and, most dramatically, later on a blown-up courtly ruff.

Fastidious embroideries in every color under the sun dripped down sometimes slinky A-line and body-caressing column silhouettes.

But too many styles and shapes came together in this exhaustive collection — with its big jeweled flower appliques, dazzling sequin-encrusted jackets and round collar tops with geometric shapes — and that made the show hard to pin down as a whole.

Sometimes garments would have benefitted without Armani’s insistence on structure — such as one paneled gown that creased at the skirt — but there was so much dazzle and razzmatazz it’s unlikely many guests noticed.

ALEXIS MABILLE’S COLOR

His couture fusion dripped with drama.

French designer Alexis Mabille mixed old-school Grecian draping with a take on the Indian sari in the bright colors of South Asian dress. It produced a soft spring collection with longer silhouettes and fluttering scarves that used dozens of meters of floor-sweeping silk.

Bejeweled flowers adorned hairstyles, which, like the dangling lengths of fabric, flowed freely.

A bottle green gown cut a sublime hourglass silhouette. It reshaped the model’s body — open at the sides, wider at the top — and was held in place by a Grecian waistband. A cerulean blue gown, flowing unstructured from its round neck right to the floor, was notable for pure simplicity.

Not everything was a hit, though, such as a blue hooded gown with slightly incongruous, spiked satin lapels and a misplaced belt that confused the eye.

STEPHANE ROLLAND GOES FOR GLAMOUR

A film projected on a giant screen to Stephane Rolland’s guests ahead of the show featured a homage to 1959 movie “Black Orpheus” filmed in Brazil. The movie, which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, is set in the context of a favela during the famed Carnival time.

But Rolland seemed interested more in the carnival than the poverty of any favela — and the couture itself was highly stylized, haute glamour with a ballroom kick and, as ever, highly sculptural.

Purified white and black gowns sported giant whooshes of fabric, one as a floor-scraping train or as a huge neck band that when the model turned revealed a naked back. Another look, one of the collection’s best, was a three-dimensional back mini gown with skirt cut on the bias. It shot out in a huge wave from the hip.

Rolland played on the dramatic effect of flesh reveals against the purity of the often clean lengths of fabric — with scooped out plunging V-lines in the neck, split skirts and lopped-off shoulders.

Now I’m not throwing shade at Zep. Page, Plant and company went on to successfully, triumphantly change its sound over and over again. But Beck’s first solo record – 1968’s Truth – got there first. Go listen to “Let Me Love You” or “You Shook Me,” which Zeppelin would also cover on its debut, and you can hear Beck expanding on and exploding the blues.

Beck, who passed away on Wednesday, got to a lot of places first and never stopped exploring.

Way back in early 1966, when psychedelia had just started to emerge, Beck recorded “Shapes of Things” with the Yardbirds. The guitar break transcended anything previously laid to wax: an Eastern-tinted string of notes warped by feedback and fury that would influence Jimi Hendrix.

Half a decade later, Beck would herald the coming of funk and jazz fusion with groovy and sleazy guitar work on 1971 single “Got the Feeling.” In another five years, Beck would lean into fusion hard on “Wired” while laying the groundwork for fellow virtuosos such as Eddie Van Halen and Steve Vai (see the pyrotechnics of “Led Boots”).

While Beck planted his flag in virgin territory over and over again, he never made a home anywhere. Some cite this as his major failing – unlike his fellow one-time Yardbirds Eric Clapton and Page, he wouldn’t stand still long enough to build a massive solo career or find the right chemistry in a quartet. Instead, his career resembled his playing: absolutely free yet not directionless.

Beck’s knack for following his muse led him to avoid Clapton’s pop pandering and Page’s constant focus on the rearview – “Change the World” or Coverdale-Page anyone? Alternatively, Beck didn’t have much use for the Top 40 or nostalgia. Around the time Clapton did “Change the World,” Beck recorded the album “Who Else!,” a strange blend of techno, Delta blues, heavy metal shredding and ambient soundscapes. When he went retro in style, he always merged the past with modern energy – his 2001 take on “Rollin’ and Tumblin’” has a flash Clapton, Joe Bonamassa and John Mayer could never muster.

Restlessness can frustrate fans. And I won’t dispute this considering my own listening habits – I spend a lot more time spinning Led Zeppelin than Beck’s records. But restlessness can be an admirable artistic quality when compared with repetition.

On the Yardbirds’ 1965 album “Having a Rave Up,” Beck sounds like an ace blues guitarist, a player just a cut below Hendrix. On 1993 Hendrix tribute record “Stone Free,” Beck covers “Manic Depression” and sounds like a completely different guitarist, one who has absorbed and synthesized the influences of those who came after him – Hendrix, Van Halen, jazz guitarist Al Di Meola, experimental-metal wizard Vernon Reid. It’s the rare, restless genius capable of pulling off that kind of artistic evolution.

The Boston Office of Civic Organizing and Office of Black Male Advancement will be hosting a virtual panel discussion Friday from noon to 1 p.m. on ways to address social justice and equity across the city.

At the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MLK’s wife Coretta Scott King will be honored and remembered via a freedom concert and exploration of her legacy. Performances will be held Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 5:30 p.m., and Monday’s edition will be virtual at 5 p.m.

Volunteers from every city and town across the Commonwealth will be participating in youth service activities as part of Project 351 at Boston’s Faneuil Hall on Saturday.

Rev. Jeffrey Brown, associate pastor at Boston’s Twelfth Baptist Church, will be a keynote speaker Saturday for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College, Career & Health Fair at Melnea Cass Recreation Center. The event starts at 10 a.m.

Teens, adults and families with young children are encouraged to volunteer Sunday during an MLK Day of Service at Temple Beth Am in Framingham. Activities start at 1 p.m.

The annual MLK memorial breakfast celebration that raises awareness about the significance of education will be held at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center Monday at 9 a.m. The in-person event is sold out, but people can still register for a livestream.

Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra in conjunction with the Museum of African American History will be playing classical pieces, spirituals and freedom songs during a concert inside Faneuil Hall on Monday at 1 p.m.

Paris Jeffries, executive director of the statue’s founding group Embrace Boston, oversaw the creation of the 20-foot tall, 40-foot wide monument, and on Friday, he expects more than 1,000 people will flock to the Boston Common for its reveal.

“We are viewing it as a true community celebration of the collective struggles and successes of people of color in Boston,” Paris Jeffries said in an email to the Herald Thursday. “In line with the message of the Embrace itself, we want this to be a celebration of love as the key to making the change we want to see in the world.”

Guests won’t be able to get up close to the memorial as the area around the memorial, on the common’s 1965 Freedom Rally Plaza, continues to be spruced up and is blocked off by fencing. The fencing is expected to be taken down by early February, Paris Jeffries said.

That shouldn’t deter guests from attending the event, which starts at 1 p.m. The ceremony will be displayed on large screens near the Parkman Bandstand, complete with a live DJ and hot refreshments.

The King family, Gov. Maura Healey, local and state officials and others will be delivering speeches during the ceremony which is expected to last around an hour-and-a-half, event officials said.

NBC10 Boston will provide live coverage starting at 11 a.m., with many watch parties at homes and at workplaces across the region expected, Paris Jeffries said.

Central Reform Temple will be leading a procession of interfaith communities from its location at 15 Newbury Street to the common prior to the event kicks off. Leaders are asking those interested to gather at noon.

Embrace Boston will be launching an app Friday that will provide an “eyes-up digital experience” for people to learn more about MLK’s legacy in the city and other civil rights leaders that the 1965 Freedom Plaza honors, Paris Jeffries said.

While earning his PhD at Boston University, MLK met Coretta Scott King, a student at the New England Conservatory of Music, in the early 1950s in Boston. They returned later to march from Roxbury to the Boston Common, the first Civil Rights march in the Northeast.

Embrace, designed by Mass Design Group and American conceptual artist Hank Willis Thomas, depicts a photo of the couple hugging after MLK won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964.

The YMCA of Greater Boston host its annual breakfast Thursday morning, kicking off a weekend full of MLK events across the city. YMCA of Greater Boston CEO David Shapiro called the Embrace memorial a juxtaposition to the work his organization does.

“What’s coolest to me is just what Embrace is trying to do is create this public memory around the King’s presence in Boston – love, activism, leadership – and they want it to be a living legacy,” Shapiro said. “The Roxbury Y is such a force for that everyday living legacy.”

Hit as hard as any arm of the arts, visual and fine arts nearly disappeared from view during the height of the pandemic. Thankfully our world-class museums have come roaring back. Make a 2023 resolution to let some art into your heart, and maybe start with a fashion show, images of Chinese folktales or one an exhibit from the most important American artists of the ’60s and ’70s.

“Climate Action: Inspiring Change,” now through June 25, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem

Millions of Americans worry about our changing climate. They also worry about how to begin to take action. This PEM exhibit binds the power of creativity, science and participation to explore solutions and spark engagement. The majority of the 29 artists in the exhibit call New England home including nine youth artists. pem.org

“Otherworldly Realms of Wu Junyong,” opens Jan. 13, Museum of Fine Arts

Wu Junyong peeks into strange worlds in this exhibition. The Chinese artist makes his U.S. museum debut with a collection of mixed-media works on paper that explore wild, wondrous beasts competing for dominance, legendary heroes battling infamous enemies, and haunted spirits searching for salvation. Inspired by China’s folktales, European paintings and Greek mythology, Wu creates works full of joyous colors and dark, hidden spaces. Mfa.org

“My Mothers,” open Jan. 26, MassArt Art Museum

Bostonian May Stevens was a giant of contemporary art who used her work to attack capitalism, racism and the American patriarchy – see her “Big Daddy” series of the ’60s and ’70s. In “My Mothers,” Stevens puts her birth mother Alice Dick Stevens beside her “spiritual mother,” Marxist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg. The always-free MassArt Art Museum calls these works “tender explorations of both public and personal struggles; celebrations of revolution and public life; and demonstrations of the mundane and overlooked aging process.” maam.massart.edu

“Taylor Davis Selects: Invisible Ground of Sympathy,” opens Jan. 31, Institute of Contemporary Art

The Boston-based Taylor Davis is the first artist to curate an exhibition from the ICA’s collection. What she pulls together in “Invisible Ground of Sympathy” features many pieces never-before displayed by the museum. Works by Lynda Benglis, Mona Hatoum, Cindy Sherman, Robert Mapplethorpe and more run parallel to Davis’ own art – sculptures, paintings, and collages that map connections between art and audience. Icaboston.org

Penguin Random House announced Wednesday that first day sales for the Harry’s tell-all memoir topped 1.4 million copies, a record pace for non-fiction from a company that also publishes Barack and Michelle Obama, whose “Becoming” needed a week to reach 1.4 million when it was released in 2018.

The sales figures for “Spare” include hardcover, audiobook and e-book editions sold in the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.

“‘Spare’ is the story of someone we may have thought we already knew, but now we can truly come to understand Prince Harry through his own words,” Gina Centrello, President and Publisher of the Random House Group, said in a statement.

“Looking at these extraordinary first day sales, readers clearly agree, ‘Spare’ is a book that demands to be read, and it is a book we are proud to publish.”

One of the most highly anticipated memoirs in recent times, “Spare” is Harry’s highly personal and intimate account of his life in the royal family and his relationship with the American actor Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex.

Michelle Obama’s memoir has since sold more than 15 million copies worldwide, its sales holding up over time in part because of highly favorable reviews. The verdict is mixed so far for “Spare.”

New York Times critic Alexandra Jacob called the book, and its author, “all over the map — emotionally as well as physically,” at times “frank and funny” and at other times consumed by Harry’s anger at the British press. In The Washington Post, Louis Bayard found “Spare” to be “good-natured, rancorous, humorous, self-righteous, self-deprecating, long-winded. And every so often, bewildering.”

The death of Simic, the country’s poet laureate from 2007-2008, was confirmed Monday by executive editor Dan Halpern at Alfred A. Knopf. He did not immediately provide additional details.

Author of dozens of books, Simic was ranked by many as among the greatest and most original poets of his time, one who didn’t write in English until well into his 20s. His bleak, but comic perspective was shaped in part by his years growing up in wartime Yugoslavia, leading him to observe that “The world is old, it was always old.” His poems were usually short and pointed, with surprising and sometimes jarring shifts in mood and imagery, as if to mirror the cruelty and randomness he had learned early on.

In “Two Dogs,” Simic writes of how one dog in “some Southern town” and another in the New Hampshire woods reminded him of a “little white dog” who became “entangled” in the feet of marching German soldiers. “Reading History” is a sketch of the “vast, dark and impenetrable” skies for those “led to their death.” In “Help Wanted,” life is a cosmic joke, and the narrator a willing dupe:

They asked for a knife

I come running

They need a lamb

I introduce myself as the lamb

But Simic also loved wordplay (“The insomniac’s brain is a choo-choo train”), catcalls (“America, I shouted at the radio/Even at 2 a.m. you are a loony bin!”) and the interplay of great thoughts and everyday follies: “What was that fragment of Heraclitus/You were trying to remember/As you stepped on the butcher’s cat?” he wrote in “The Friends of Heraclitus.” In “Transport,” sex becomes a near-literal feast of the senses:

In the frying pan

On the stove

I found my love

And me naked

Chopped onions

Fell on our heads

And made us cry

It’s like a parade,

I told her, confetti

When some guy

Reaches the moon

His notable books included “The World Doesn’t End,” winner of the Pulitzer in 1990; “Walking the Black Cat,” a National Book Award finalist in 1996; “Unending Blues” and such recent collections as “The Lunatic” and “Scribbled in the Dark.” In 2005, he received the Griffin Poetry Prize and was praised by judges as “a magician, a conjuror,” master of “a disarming, deadpan precision, which should never be mistaken for simplicity.” He was fluent in several languages and translated the works of other poets from French, Serbian, Croatian, Macedonian, and Slovenian.

His 2022 collection “No Land in Sight” presented a dark vision of contemporary life, such as the poem “Come Spring” and its warning: “Don’t let that birdie in the tree/Fool you with its pretty song/The wicked are back from hell.”

In 1964, Simic married fashion designer Helene Dubin, with whom he had two children. He became an American citizen in 1971 and two years later joined the faculty of the University of New Hampshire, where he remained for decades.

Born Dusan Simic in Belgrade in 1938, the year before World War II began, he would describe his youth as “a small, nonspeaking part/In a bloody epic.” His father fled to Italy in 1942 and was apart from the family for years. Home was so oppressive that Simic came to see the war as a needed escape.

“The war ended the day before May 9, 1945, which happened to be my birthday,” he told the Paris Review in 2005. “I was playing in the street. I went up to the apartment to get a drink of water where my mother and our neighbors were listening to the radio. They said, ‘War is over,’ and apparently I looked at them puzzled and said, ‘Now there won’t be any more fun!’ In wartime, there’s no parental supervision; the grown-ups are so busy with their lives, the kids can run free.”

Simic would refer to Hitler and Stalin as his “travel agents.” Nazi rule gave way to Soviet-backed oppression and Simic emigrated to France with his mother and brother in the mid-1950s, then soon to the U.S. His family settled in Chicago, where his high school was once attended by Ernest Hemingway, and he became interested in poetry — for the art and for the girls. His parents unable to pay for college, he spent a decade working at jobs ranging from a payroll clerk to house painter while taking night classes at the University of Chicago and eventually New York University, from which he graduated in 1966 with a degree in Russian studies.

His first book, “What the Grass Says,” came out in 1967. He followed with “Somewhere Among Us a Stone is Taking Notes” and “Dismantling the Silence,” and was soon averaging a book a year. A New York Times review from 1978 would note his gift for conveying “a complex of perceptions and feelings” in just a few lines.

“Of all the things ever said about poetry, the axiom that less is more has made the biggest and the most lasting impression on me,” Simic told Granta in 2013. “I have written many short poems in my life, except ‘written’ is not the right word to describe how they came into existence. Since it’s not possible to sit down and write an eight-line poem that’ll be vast for its size, these poems are assembled over a long period of time from words and images floating in my head.”

“Preludes,” Jan. 6 – Feb. 5, Lyric Stage

Sergei Rachmaninoff has released a flop in his Symphony No. 1 in D minor. Now the virtuoso pianist has writer’s block. Thankfully fantasy and fever dreams come together with some inspiration from Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Tchaikovsky in Dave Malloy’s remix of Rachmaninoff. If you don’t know Malloy, Russian music and musicals are his wheelhouse – see the magic of “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812.” lyricstage.com

“Look Who’s Coming to Dinner,” Jan. 14 & 15, Plimpton Shattuck Black Box

Stefanie Batten Bland’s dance company uses the 1967 film of a similar name as a starting point to explore who gets a seat at the table. Seven dancers/artists use movement and music to delve into complex social, political, and racial relationships. celebrityseries.org

“Hamilton,” Jan. 17 – Mar 12, Opera House

People still haven’t seen “Hamilton.” It’s been so popular that all the tours and shows aren’t enough. Hopefully its return changes that for many people because it’s the one-in-a-hundred musical that exceeds the hype.

“Made in China 2.0,” Feb. 1 – Feb. 12, Jackie Liebergott Black Box

Theater fans know Wang Chong as one of Beijing’s brightest and boldest directors. With “Made in China 2.0,” he uses his life and career in global theater to explore the stereotypes about and expectations of his home.  artsemerson.org

“Seven Guitars,” Feb. 8 – March 6, Hibernian Hall

The Actors’ Shakespeare Project and director Maurice Emmanuel Parent take on one of August Wilson’s (many) masterpieces. At the close of 1948, six friends come together to mourn and fete a blues guitarist. Humor, faith, oppression and music power this edition of Wilson’s amazing Century Cycle series. ActorsShakespeareProject.org

“Fairview,” Feb. 17 – March 11, Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA

Booze, bickering, hijinx. Grandma’s birthday at the Frasier household is something to witness. Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning “Fairview” has the writer examining everything from race to power, genre to the meaning of theater. speakeasystage.com

“Alma,” Feb. 23 – March 26, Central Square Theater

Alma and daughter Angel once wished for a few simple things: good health, carne asada, and perfect SAT scores. But now 17, Angel’s wishes have changed in this smart, tender and funny play that wonders who can take part in the American Dream, and what does that even mean. Centralsquaretheater.org

“Don Quixote,” March 16-26, Opera House

You loved “The Nutcracker.” You’ll love “Don Quixote.” It has the same epic sweep, grand romance, elaborate costumes and some of the most complex and astounding choreography in classical ballet. bostonballet.org

“Bluebeard’s Castle/Four Songs,” March 22-26, The Terminal at Flynn Cruiseport Boston

The Boston Lyric Opera considers Bluebeard from two angles. Béla Bartók’s one-act opera “Bluebeard’s Castle” has the title character wondering if he can escape his bloody past. Alma Mahler’s “Four Songs” examines the Bluebeard fairytale from his wife Judith’s persecution. When paired, the works ask can love conquer all? Blo.org

“Frank & Marilyn: The Lives, the Loves and the Fascinating Relationship of Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe”

By Edward Z. Epstein

Post Hill Press ($30)

Grade: A

They were strangers in the night.

Even as they went from exchanging glances to embracing dances, something warned them do-be-do-be-don’t.

“Frank & Marilyn: The Lives, the Loves and the Fascinating Relationship of Frank Sinatra and Marilyn Monroe” by Edward Z. Epstein uncovers details about a secret, nearly decade-long relationship between them.

When Sinatra and Monroe first crossed paths in 1953, she had just shot to stardom with “Gentleman Prefer Blondes” and that nude photo in Playboy. He had just scored a high-stakes comeback and an Oscar with “From Here to Eternity.”

They gave new meaning to star-crossed lovers.

“A ‘normal’ life, by then, was out of reach for both,” Epstein writes. “They were living their lives on several levels at once; superstardom was a wild, strange country that one could never be adequately prepared for.”

Their paths would take different turns. But his loyalty to her, and her affection for him, rarely wavered.

Initially, their connection was purely professional. Monroe’s studio wanted to team them in “Pink Tights,” a remake of a Betty Grable musical. Monroe liked Sinatra but not the script. She also didn’t like finding out he was getting paid more than three times as much.

She turned it down. When the studio threatened legal action, Monroe flew to San Francisco, and married her boyfriend Joe DiMaggio.

That ended “Pink Tights.” It also ended Sinatra’s hope of quickly adding her to his list of conquests. DiMaggio wasn’t just a paisan; he was incredibly jealous. Sinatra saw no reason to anger him – or jeopardize his desperate hopes of repairing his splintering marriage with Ava Gardner.

DiMaggio and Monroe were wed for only nine months when Monroe had to go on location to shoot a big scene in “The Seven Year Itch.” A crowd formed to catch a glimpse of the sex symbol standing on a subway grate, her white dress billowing around her legs. No one watched with more attention than DiMaggio.

“Joe began to tremble,” a friend of the couple’s recounted. “He said to me, ‘I can’t take it anymore… Tell her I’m going back to the hotel, I can’t watch another minute.’” He left in a quiet rage. When Monroe finally rejoined him at the hotel, he exploded in violence. It wasn’t the first time he would slap his wife around. Or the last.

Monroe started to look for consolation elsewhere. DiMaggio put a private detective on her trail. The ballplayer was having dinner with Sinatra when he got the word: His wife was in a nearby apartment with her new lover. For DiMaggio, there was only one response: Go over there, break down the door, and confront them. There was just one question that mattered.

“You coming, Frank?” the slugger asked the singer.

Reluctantly, Sinatra did. So did Sinatra’s manager, and the maître d’. Joined by DiMaggio’s private eye, they burst into an apartment, positive they caught Monroe in the act. Instead, they shocked a terrified middle-aged woman, her hair in curlers. They broke into the wrong apartment.

While the men shouted at each other in confusion, Monroe and her boyfriend heard the commotion and snuck out a back way.

It seemed to mark a turning point. In 1954, Monroe filed divorce papers. Gardner already had. The two stars were free.

“After all they’d been through, the time had finally come for Frank and Marilyn to get together,” Epstein writes. “Here was a golden opportunity for them to commiserate, to find comfort in one another. ”

They met in borrowed apartments and remote lodges, and carefully avoided publicity, refused to give in to any drama.

“They weren’t trying to be Romeo and Juliet,” Epstein explains. “They liked each other and at this moment, Marilyn was a perfect match for him. And vice versa. They filled each other’s needs and over the next few years, would continue to.”

There were times when the romance waned – when Monroe first married Arthur Miller and when Sinatra briefly wooed Lauren Bacall. There were times when things grew more serious – first Monroe, then Sinatra wondered if they should wed.

But their needs were never in sync, and Monroe’s neediness began to take a toll. Sinatra thought of himself as an old-school gentleman. But he was also an old-fashioned sexist. Few things disgusted him more than seeing a woman drunk in public. And Monroe was getting drunk a lot.

Her delusions of who would be the next husband included the president. After bedding JFK, Monroe wondered if he might leave Jackie and install her as his second first lady.

Sinatra, who became friends with Kennedy during the 1960 campaign, was the person who brought Monroe into JFK’s orbit. Sinatra later regretted it, especially after he was cut out of Camelot because of his ties to the mob. He realized the family would discard Monroe even more quickly. For a man like Sinatra, such disloyalty was unforgivable.

It’s tempting to wonder how Monroe’s life might have changed had she shared more with Sinatra than years of secret rendezvous.

“They understood each other’s loneliness,” Epstein writes. “They were comfortable with each other, able to discuss their uncertainties without fear of exposure.”

“Frank really loved her,” Sinatra pal Jilly Rizzo later concluded. “As much as he could love at that time, anyway.”

New York Daily News/ Tribune News Service

The Swans in “Swan Lake”

Half of the Boston Ballet’s “Swan Lake” is a nice little production – these are the acts at the palace. The other half – when the action takes the audience to a dreamy lakeside clearing in a forest – is sublime magic. Watching the company’s score of swans emerge from the fog elicited delighted titters from Boston’s Opera House, well-earned gasps. With immensely athletic choreography that comes off as delicate, effortless and effervescent, the moonlit dances are some impossible combination of gold-medal synchronized swimming and a living version of Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night Over the Rhône.”

The Tiger in “Life of Pi”

The puppeteers in the American Repertory Theater’s “Life of Pi” don’t attempt to hide themselves from view. Watching the production’s tiger stalk the stage, it’s clear that three puppeteers bring this life-sized juggle cat to life. But seeing the puppeteers only enhances the marvel of the performance. So physically demanding, the role takes eight different people rotating through in teams of three to make the tiger leap and purr, swim and tear at flesh. They can get a tiger puppet to make an audience jump, an audience seated safely thousands of miles from the jungle.

The Spit Takes in “The Play That Goes Wrong”

Can a spit take be a herculean feat, well-choreographed ballet and fount of hilarity? It can when it’s done by the cast of the Lyric Stage’s “The Play That Goes Wrong.” One of the running jokes in this comedy of errors involves a bottle of Scotch being replaced with a toxic chemical. Over and over, the cast members fail to choke down the corrosive stuff and spray it crudely on anything, anyone, in their path. It happens a dozen times. It never gets old. A rewrite should have it happen two dozen times.

Perfect Pop in “SIX”

Pop doesn’t have to be disposable or dumb. In fact, it’s at its best when it’s durable, dark and smart – see introspective, incisive jams such as Janelle Monae’s “Americans,” Lily Allen’s “Hard Out Here,” and half of what Beyonce has done in the last decade. Time will tell if the pop songs in the Broadway musical “SIX” prove durable, but they’re already pitch black, wise and witty. This show about Henry VIII, which stopped at Emerson Colonial Theatre, included bangers and ballads that double as takedowns of the modern music industry, the ongoing ignorance of the roles women play in history, and the destructive legacy of the patriarchy.

“Proud Mary” in “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical”

Actor/singer Zurin Villanueva lit “Proud Mary” on fire. The actor channeled Tina’s performance of the song captured live in Holland in 1971 – arguably the greatest performance in the history of rock, soul and pop. Villanueva shook and shimmied, frantic feet moving in impossibly high heels, belting out the tune in a voice that did tribute to the Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Anything that righteously shines a light on Turner’s legacy, as this Opera House production did, deserves high praise.

“I DIDNT APPROVE ANY OF THE MERCH COLLECTION THAT THEY PUT UP AT H&M .. all without my permission and approval,” the “Peaches” singer wrote Monday in an Instagram story. “SMH I wouldn’t buy it if I were you.”

In a second post, the Grammy winner said the merchandise is “trash” and again urged fans not to buy it.

But the Sweden-based fashion label, Hennes & Mauritz, apparently denied the allegations.
“As with all other licensed products and partnerships, H&M followed proper approval procedures,” the company said in a Tuesday statement provided to the Los Angeles Times.

“But out of respect for the collaboration and Justin Bieber, we have removed the garments from our stores and online,” a spokesperson added.

The collection included a hoodie featuring Bieber’s “Ghost” lyrics and other colorful items, according to Forbes. But several of the pieces, which were reportedly available on the retailer’s website on Monday, now no longer appear on the U.S. site.

The 28-year-old superstar and H&M have collaborated in the past, with the retailer selling tour-themed apparel in 2016 and 2017 pegged to the “Baby” singer’s “Purpose” album and stadium tour. Meanwhile, Bieber launched his own clothing line, Drew, in 2019 and is also selling his own authorized merch relating to his 2021 “Justice” album on his official website.

Representatives for Bieber did not immediately respond Tuesday to the L.A. Times’ requests for comment.

H&M is the second-largest international fashion retailer after Zara’s parent company, Intidex, and has carried branded merch for artists including Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande.

Last month, the company became the first big European retailer to start laying off staff in response to the cost-of-living crisis, Reuters reported. After sales fell for a third quarter, the retailer said it will eventually slash 1,500 positions to cut costs and try to save around $190 million a year.

In September, Bieber called off the remainder of his Justice World Tour over health issues following his recent diagnosis with Ramsay-Hunt syndrome, a rare condition that caused the singer’s partial facial paralysis. In October, Bieber’s team said that the tour would be postponed again.

The visceral, feral violence comes in a key scene in “Life of Pi.” It’s delivered by a puppet.

Sometimes it takes puppets to illuminate our humanity (not such a new idea – see Pinocchio and Kermit the Frog). In “Life of Pi,” Adi Dixit as title character Pi is the protagonist, but the puppets – hyenas, zebras, butterflies, schools of fish, one Royal Bengal tiger and more – and the puppeteers are the stars.

At the American Repertory Theater through Jan. 29, 2023 (then moving to Broadway), “Life of Pi” teases at a simple story: After a shipwreck, 16-year-old Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with four other survivors. But as the story unfolds, details become wild, nuanced and complex: En route from India to Canada with a menagerie of beasts, the cargo ship sinks leaving Pi trapped with a few desperate animals including that vicious hyena and Royal Bengal tiger.

Or maybe that’s not who he’s adrift at sea with? Like the novel of the same name by Yann Martel it was adapted from, “Life of Pi” takes an expansive view of story, reality and perception. And its use of puppetry reinforces this.

The puppeteers in the production make no attempt to hide themselves from view. It’s clear that it takes three puppeteers to bring this life-sized tiger to life – a role so demanding physically, eight different people rotate through the responsibility every few performances. But seeing the strings, so to speak, only enhances the magic.

The team of three can convincingly make the tiger leap. They can dexterously tweak movements to make the giant cat stalk or swim, purr or tear at flesh. They can get the tiger to pull gasps out of an audience seated safely thousands of miles from the jungle. They do it with a puppet.

It’s hard not to focus on the specific spell the tiger casts. It’s the boldest, brightest creation, but around it, dozens of inventions large and small shine.

Dixit’s Pi is a wide-eyed storyteller put through an unspeakable tragedy and the actor finds a nice balance between naive kid and philosophical heavy-weight, all while putting in tremendously physical performance. The set designers and lighting team conjure a zoo and typhoon, hospital room and lonely lifeboat under the Milky Way ingeniously.

If this review overwhelms with snatches of details that don’t seem to connect, it is partly because connecting too many dots with specifics will ruin the grand sense of discovery that comes from watching “Life of Pi.” But it is also because the show resists drawing hard-and-fast lines, resists definition.

When you see it – and you should see it in Cambridge or on Broadway – you will likely feel your heart rate quicken at the sight of a puppet tiger. After you see it, you may spend time pondering if what you saw was actually a tiger or a puppet or something else completely. You may puzzle with your own questions about story, reality and perception.

For tickets and details, visit americanrepertorytheater.org