From the stage, to the gallery, to the concerto, they’re back

Theater

Our Daughters, Like Pillars, The Huntington

Two years ago, Our Daughters, Like Pillars was well into rehearsals when the entire run was scrapped due to COVID. Now, Kirsten Greenidge’s epic and funny play about a contemporary black family pushed to their limits while on vacation is finally getting its world premiere. 4.8-5.22. huntingtontheatre.org

Don’t Eat the Mangos, Apollinaire Theatre Company and Teatro Chelsea

There’s a lot to unpack—and enjoy—in Don’t Eat the Mangos, Ricardo Pérez González’s funny family drama that centers on three Puerto Rican sisters who struggle to maintain their identity while caring for their ailing parents. Aside from the play itself, a visit to Apollinaire is always well worth it. 4.15-5.15. apollinairetheatre.com

Black Super Hero Magic Mama, Company One Theatre

In collaboration with American Repertory Theater, Boston Public Library, and Boston Comics in Color Festival, Inda Craig-Galván’s comic book-like adventure examines the enormous expectations placed on Black mothers and their sons. With C1 and ART at the helm, you already know there’s not going to be anything else in town like it. And with all performances pay what you will, there’s no reason to miss it. 4.22-5.21. companyone.org 

The Inheritance, SpeakEasy Stage

The winner of the 2020 Tony Award for Best Play, this two-part, six-and-a-half-hour play will undoubtedly be the highlight of the spring theater season. A modern take on E.M. Forster’s Howard’s End, The Inheritance examines the life, love, and legacy of a group of young gay men, one generation after the peak of the AIDS epidemic. 4.22-6.11. speakeasystage.com

The Bomb-itty of Errors, Actors’ Shakespeare Project

Long delayed because of the pandemic, Actors’ Shakespeare Project will finally mount its much-anticipated hip-hop retelling of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors. Part play and part rap concert, Bomb-itty is something of a departure for ASP, one that will hopefully continue to expose younger and more diverse audiences to magic of the bard. 5.25-6.26. actorsshakespeareproject.org

Art

Turner’s Modern World

Leave it to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts to gift the city with another massive landmark exhibition by one of the greats. This spring, the MFA will bring together more than 100 works by J.M.W. Turner, a radical artist who sought to capture rapidly changing times during the industrial revolution, all the while developing an innovative painting style that he used to portray the ever-changing world around him. 3.27-7.10. mfa.org

A Place for Me: Figurative Painting Now

Showcasing works by eight contemporary artists, this vibrant and surprising exhibition at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art seeks to showcase exactly why the eight artists on display are at the forefront of figurative painting’s recent revival. Through the figurative works on display, A Place for Me promises to be a testament to the vitality of contemporary figurative art. 3.31-9.5. icaboston.org

Music

Anna Rakitina conducts Tchaikovsky, Ellen Reid, and Sibelius

Assistant conductor Anna Rakitina makes her live Symphony Hall debut with a pair of exquisite classics, plus a contemporary piece by Ellen Reid. Making his BSO debut is French pianist Alexandre Kantorow, who will be blowing the dust off of Tchaikovsky’s rarely heard Piano Concerto No. 2. But the cherry on the cake is Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7, one of the most gorgeous, ethereal, and cinematic pieces ever written. 4.7-4.9. bso.org

Alan Gilbert conducts Bernard Rands, Debussy, and Beethoven

Debussy’s La Mer is one of music’s most cherished pieces, and many don’t know that the piece actually enjoyed its American premiere in 1907 right here with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Now, 115 years later, former New York Philharmonic maestro Alan Gilbert will conduct the piece in an evening that includes one of classical music’s best loved celebrities, Joshua Bell. Bell will play Beethoven’s Violin Concerto, a piece that became one of his trademarks. 4.14-4.16. bso.org

Sound Check: A Musical Celebration of Black & Queer Boston

In conjunction with its current exhibition, Being Muholi: Portraits as Resistance, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is presenting a companion concert of sorts featuring local hip-hop legend Brandie Blaze, along with Billy Dean Thomas (“The Queer B.I.G.”), who, with special guests, will present a “curated sonic testimony” that seeks to change the way we see the world. 4.21. gardnermuseum.org 

Harry Christopher’s Final Bow

After 13 years at the helm of the Handel + Haydn Society, the prolific maestro will give his final performance this spring with Haydn’s masterwork The Creation. And in true H+H form, The Creation will be performed on the period instruments for which it was written, making the iconic oratorio sound as vibrant as the day it was written. 4.29-5.1. handelandhaydn.org