Boston Arts Festival Opens Thursday On Common

The Tenth Annual Boston Arts Festival opens Thursday in the Boston Common for two weeks of exhibits, concerts, lectures, and plays.

Among the stage highlights will be Douglas Moore's opera, "The Ballad of Baby Doe" (Thurs., Fri., Sat.); Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" (June 21, 23); a revival of George M. Cohan's "The Tavern" (June 22, 24); and "American Dances," a chronicle of America's contribution to the dance (all next week).

From Thursday through June 25 the Arts Festival will show exhibitions of the National Painting and National Watercolor Competitions; the invitational sculpture competition, the New England competition for architecture (including the Loeb Drama Center and the University's Center for World Religions), and the New England crafts and photography contests.

June 20, jazz will take over the Festival main stage. Langston Hughes, Jimmy Rushing, Sonny Terry, and Brownie McGhee and Joe MacDonald's Festival Jazz Orchestra present "The Blues: Words and Music."