Curtain

WASHINGTON - They returned home to a politically traumatized nation that treated them with indifference and scorn. Now, veterans' advocates fear the country will again miss an opportunity to recognize the toil and torment of the 3 million service members sent to fight the Vietnam War. The Pentagon's plans to celebrate the veterans - five years in the making - are sputtering. This Memorial Day is supposed to be the curtain-raiser for a series of gatherings to mark the 50th anniversary of the beginning of US involvement in the decade-plus war and to honor those who served.

Something all too rare happened at the end of the Boston Lyric Opera's performance on Friday night: a living composer took a bow from the stage of the Shubert Theatre. Any responsible mainstream opera company must not only curate the art form's illustrious past but also engage itself with opera as a living entity. BLO had not brought a contemporary work to the Shubert Theatre since 2005. That the company has returned to this terrain is to be applauded. That said, I wish I had more positive news to share about this particular opera, "The Inspector" by John Musto, which was given its world...

Join The Boston Ballet's Artistic Director, Mikko Nissinen and Globe's Art Editor, Rebecca Ostriker, for a behind the scenes look at the Ballet's latest production. Ostriker will lead a discussion with Nissinen who will share his vision for the production and the challenges of bringing it to the Opera House's stage.

1962 Curtain Call Theatre formed when Quincy Players members wanted to do musicals in addition to dramas and comedies 1962 (above) First show: "Oklahoma!" performed at Braintree High School 1972 Group starts renting Commercial Street space for rehearsals and set design 1975 First woman (Cathy Venti) elected president of Curtain Call 1979 "Bells Are Ringing," the show at which John and Martha Sawyer met 1980 Performed first "workshop" piece at the Braintree facility 1996 Started major renovations on the Braintree theater 2000 Board shrinks from 12 to 9 members...

Youngsters can get behind the scenes at the Puppet Showplace Theatre as part of a new monthly series starting Friday. The special 3:30 p.m. performance will be followed by a demonstration and question-and-answer session with a puppeteer; the program will return on the second Friday of each month through May. "So many creative kids already attend our regular performances," said Roxanna Myhrum, the theatre's artistic director. The first installment features "The Reluctant Dragon" by All Hands Productions, to be followed next month by "The Magic Soup and Other Stories" by Brad Shur, and "Dr. Doohickey's...

RE "TED Williams: Gods affixed to letters": In your Sept. 11 editorial about the Ted Williams commemorative stamp, you wrote that after hitting home run 521 in his final at-bat, Williams didn't take a curtain call. While it may have been involuntary, he did, in a way: Manager Mike Higgins sent him out to left field for the top of the ninth inning, then called him back to the dugout to give the fans another chance to express their feelings. True to his ways, Williams came all the way in to the dugout without tipping his cap or so much as looking at any of us. As I recall, Carroll Hardy replaced him in...

ROYAL OAK, Mich. – For months, Mitt Romney has bounded to stages across the country to the strains of Kid Rock's patriotic anthem "Born Free. " Tonight, the former Massachusetts governor wanted his supporters to hear the song live. The campaign put in a formal request for Kid Rock to come play for a rally. The bad boy musician wanted to meet Romney first. So several days ago, before going to speak at a Tea Party gathering, Romney jumped into an SUV and rode to the singer's home in suburban Detroit.

Having an opera as near-perfect as "Carmen" on your resume tends to make everything else you do look somewhat pale by comparison. That can certainly be said for "The Pearl Fishers," an earlier opera that Bizet wrote in 1863 and which doesn't really compare to his later masterpiece, but it's not fair to hold that against him. True, the work's rather wooden libretto leaves most of the characters seeming flat and the pacing leaves plenty to be desired, but...

I have never experienced such a complete and satisfying fusion of music and setting as occurred at Friday’s performance by the Callithumpian Consort at the Institute of Contemporary Art. The contemporary-music ensemble was playing Gavin Bryars’s “The Sinking of the Titanic’’ in the museum’s Barbara Lee Family Foundation Theater, whose back wall is made entirely of windows that overlook Boston Harbor. That dramatic view was obscured by curtains as the audience entered the theater, which was bathed in blue light.

It was a big week for naughty breasts. But Justin Timberlake is hardly needed to expose the roasted duck breast at the revamped Spire, on the second floor of Nine Zero hotel, for the decadent event it is. Surrounded by soft red cabbage and a shockingly good piece of parsnip pithivier, that duck sets off as many fireworks as any halftime show, and it's more tasteful. The only apology you'll need to make is to your personal trainer, and even then you'd be overreacting. Everything else on this menu is made with the same blend of wit, spunk, and maturity.

Youngsters can get behind the scenes at the Puppet Showplace Theatre as part of a new monthly series starting Friday. The special 3:30 p.m. performance will be followed by a demonstration and question-and-answer session with a puppeteer; the program will return on the second Friday of each month through May. "So many creative kids already attend our regular performances," said Roxanna Myhrum, the theatre's artistic director. The first installment features "The Reluctant Dragon" by All Hands Productions, to be followed next month by "The Magic Soup and Other Stories" by Brad Shur, and "Dr. Doohickey's...

ROYAL OAK, Mich. – For months, Mitt Romney has bounded to stages across the country to the strains of Kid Rock's patriotic anthem "Born Free. " Tonight, the former Massachusetts governor wanted his supporters to hear the song live. The campaign put in a formal request for Kid Rock to come play for a rally. The bad boy musician wanted to meet Romney first. So several days ago, before going to speak at a Tea Party gathering, Romney jumped into an SUV and rode to the singer's home in suburban Detroit.

IN THE Globe South section last Sunday there was an interview with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and casino owner Steve Wynn about their plans for a casino in Foxborough ( "Kraft, Wynn make the case for their plan" ). What I found interesting is how Wynn envisions visitors going down a long corridor to "the entrance foyer to a gaming room. And there's a blind at the doors so the children and families who are there, they can't see the equipment. " If a casino is so beneficial to a town, why would one have to locate it down a long corridor, where it is...

Defying the city's order to dismantle their encampment, a dwindling band of Occupy Boston protesters vowed yesterday to continue their two-month demonstration until they are forced to leave and braced for a possible confrontation with police. The day after more than 1,000 protesters flooded the streets around Dewey Square in a raucous display of civil disobedience, a sense of resignation pervaded the camp, with many accepting the likelihood that the country's longest continual encampment had run its course.

WARSAW - Polish authorities have reopened an investigation into World War II crimes committed at Auschwitz and its satellite camps, an inquiry that was closed in the 1980s because of the country's isolation behind the Iron Curtain. One aim of the new investigation is to track down any living Nazi perpetrators, according to an announcement yesterday by the Institute of National Remembrance, a state body that looks into Nazi and communist-era crimes. Nazi Germany opened Auschwitz in 1940, months after it invaded and occupied Poland.

The Rooneys aren't the only Irishmen who own the Steelers. Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. apparently has a stake as well, because he has been at his best against one of the other AFC powers. The Patriots quarterback is 6-1 in his career against the Steelers, including two victories in AFC Championship games. In the 2004 loss at Pittsburgh, Brady completed just 58 percent of his passes and threw two interceptions. In the other six games, he hasn't completed less than 66.7 percent, and he has thrown 14 touchdowns against one interception.

FOOTLOOSE AND FREE Get your blood pumping with yoga, tango, and more. > Workout on the Esplanade for free every weeknight from 6 to 7, July 9 till August 31, with the Healthy, Fit, and Fun program. Some of the offerings: yoga on Wednesdays and boot camp on Thursdays, both at Arthur Fiedler Field, plus Zumba on Tuesdays at the Hatch Shell. 617-227-0365, ext. 101, esplanadeassociation.org. > Feel like kicking something at the end of the workweek?

SAN FRANCISCO - Apple fans are amped. The computer and gadget maker is expected to announce a more powerful version of its wildly popular smartphone today - more than a year after it unveiled the iPhone 4. Last week, Apple Inc. e-mailed invitations to a media event at its headquarters in Cupertino. The invite says "let's talk iPhone," implying the normally secretive company intends to show off the latest version of the device. In the past, Apple has typically introduced a new iPhone during the summer, but this year it was expected to hold off until the fall.

Join The Boston Ballet's Artistic Director, Mikko Nissinen and Globe's Art Editor, Rebecca Ostriker, for a behind the scenes look at the Ballet's latest production. Ostriker will lead a discussion with Nissinen who will share his vision for the production and the challenges of bringing it to the Opera House's stage.