July is high summer for the performing arts, marking the beginning of two extended outdoor events, San Diego Symphony’s Bridgepoint Education Summer Pops and The Old Globe’s annual Shakespeare Festival. The Pops opens with Independence Day weekend festivities highlighted by Principal Pops Conductor Marvin Hamlisch conducting “Star-Spangled Pops” and lasts till Labor Day weekend’s “Tchaikovsky Spectacular” with concerts weekly in between. Summer Pops – most performed under the baton of resident summer Pops conductor Matthew Garbutt –takes place in a gorgeous, waterfront setting at Embarcadero Marina Park on San Diego Bay across from the ballpark. Food is available for purchase or you may take your own food for picnics (some restrictions apply, such as no outside alcohol and no glass containers). A few highlights: Motown’s Greatest Hits, Friday-Saturday, July 8-9; Michael Feinstein sings Gershwin, Porter…and more, Friday-Saturday, July 15-16; “Super Diamond: a Tribute to Neil Diamond,” Friday-Saturday, July 29-30; “Rhapsody in Blue with Jazz Pianist Elder Djangirov,” Sunday, July 31; “Burt Bacharach: That’s What Friends Are For,” Sunday, Aug. 7; Dennis DeYoung “Music of Styx,” Friday-Saturday, Aug. 12-13; “Ozomatli,” Sunday, Aug. 21; and “Wynonna,” Saturday, Aug. 21. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. For a complete schedule go to www.sandiegosymphony.org or phone (619) 235-0804. The Old Globe Shakespeare Festival, already begun in previews, continues through September 25 and includes Shakespeare’s sparkling comedy “Much Ado About Nothing,” starring real-life husband and wife Jonno Roberts and Georgia Hatzis; Shakespeare’s valedictory romantic comedy, “The Tempest” starring the award-winning Miles Anderson (last year’s King George) as Prospero; and Peter Shaffer’s Broadway hit, later a film, “Amadeus,” starring Anderson as Salieri and San Diego Theatre Critics Circle award-winning actor Jay Whittaker as Mozart. The plays are seen in rotating repertory nightly except Monday in the Globe’s Lowell Davies Festival Theatre, under the stars in Balboa Park. Each actor appears in more than one play. The Old Globe and Embarcadero Marina Park are magical settings. Both epitomize summer arts in San Diego. More information at www.oldglobe.org and www.sandiegosymphony.org or phone the Old Globe at (619) 23-GLOBE or San Diego Symphony at (619) 235-0804. Back inside is “The Who’s Tommy,” produced by San Diego Repertory Theatre in partnership with the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts July 13-August 14. Sam Woodhouse directs the Pete Townshend/Des McAnuff musical about a blind, deaf and mute boy who achieves fame with his prodigious talent for pinball. Lyceum Theatre, 79 Horton Plaza, www.sdrep.org or (619) 544-1000
