By Doug Most, Globe Staff

The Book of Mormon’s run was so successful in Boston it’s coming back, according to a release.

“Back by popular demand following its recent record-breaking three week engagement in April 2013, THE BOOK OF MORMON returns to the Boston Opera House for a limited four (4) week run April 1 – 27, 2014. Beginning Tuesday, May 28 tickets will be available to current and new 2013-2014 Lexus Broadway In Boston Season Series Subscribers who should call 1-866-523-7469 for information. Tickets will also be available to Groups of 15 or more by contacting the Broadway In Boston Group Sales office directly at 617-482-8616 or by email Groups@broadwayinboston.com. Member tickets, pre-sale offers and public on-sale information to be announced at a later date.”

By Geoff Edgers, Globe Staff

Andris Nelsons, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s new music director, is half James Levine’s age, loves Michael Jackson, and intends to build a close relationship with Boston.

Nelsons is the 15th music director in the BSO’s 132-year history, and its youngest in a century.

The announcement of his hiring Thursday came more than two years after Levine last took the podium in Boston. Nelsons, speaking from Amsterdam, said he hopes to look for an apartment this summer and is thrilled to be coming to Boston. “I think it’s very important to be part of the Boston society and the people who live in Boston,” he said. “I always feel that music is food for our souls, and [Bostonians] will be hungry.”

By Jeremy Eichler, Globe Staff

The Boston Early Music Festival on Wednesday announced cast changes for its upcoming production of Handel’s first opera, “Almira,” slated as the centerpiece of this year’s festival. Veronica Cangemi, who had been scheduled to sing the title role, will not perform due to complications with her visa. She will be replaced by Bavarian soprano Ulrike Hofbauer, previously cast in the role of Bellante. That role will now be sung by American soprano Valerie Vinzant. “Almira” opens June 9 at the Cutler Majestic Theatre.

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“How I Met Your Mother” star Neil Patrick Harris, who got his start on “Doogie Houser” in the ‘80s, has also starred in Broadway productions of “Cabaret” and “Assassins.” His opening number from the 2011 Tonys has more than 11 million views on YouTube. Take a look at it above.

By Sebastian Smee, Globe Staff

Much has been written — and said — about the extracurricular activities of the economist John Maynard Keynes over the past week, beginning with comments by Niall Ferguson linking his purported homosexuality with callous disregard for the well-being of future generations. (Homosexuality equals no children equals narcissism and reckless short-term thinking. Impeccable logic. It’s hard to know why Ferguson felt the need to apologize.)

Many people may not know about a side of Keynes’s extracurricular activities that showed not just admirable long-term thinking but also great courage.

When the painter Edgar Degas died, he left behind an astonishing collection of art. It was so fine that at one time Degas had considered turning into a museum.

By James Reed, Globe Staff

She wasn’t worth the wait. And I mean that on two accounts. Rihanna was originally supposed to play the TD Garden in early March but had to cancel because of laryngitis.

When she returned Monday night, to another sold-out crowd of close to 14,500 people, it should have been spectacular. Instead, she took the stage around 10:30 p.m., 90 minutes after her scheduled set time. Rapper A$AP Rocky, her opening act, was a no-show because he was sick, leaving a DJ to fill three hours of silence. There was no announcement about the delays, and certainly no apology at any point.

The crowd responded the best they could: with a round of boos. That’s not how you want to begin your rescheduled concert.

By Sarah Rodman, Globe Staff

Some of the biggest names in Boston music and beyond have signed on to perform at “Boston Strong: An Evening of Support and Celebration” at the TD Garden on May 30.

Aerosmith, James Taylor, Boston, New Kids on the Block, the J. Geils Band, Godsmack, Extreme, Steven Wright, Dane Cook, Jason Aldean, Jimmy Buffett, and Carole King will all play the show, whose net ticket proceeds will benefit The One Fund Boston, set up by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino to help the people most affected by the Boston marathon bombings on April 15. More artists are expected to be added to the line up in the coming days. Tickets go on sale Monday May 6 at 1o a.m. through Ticketmaster.

By June Wulff, Globe Staff

A special gentleman and his special lady will be honored by Commonwealth Shakespeare Company in July. The troupe’s production of “The Two Gentlemen of Verona” will be dedicated to Mayor Thomas M. Menino and First Lady Angela Menino who have been strong supporters of CSC’s Free Shakespeare on the Common and its mission to bring free theater to the folks of Boston.

Maler about Mayuh: Founding Artistic Director Steven Maler had this to say: “We are deeply grateful to have had the support and recognition of these influential and dedicated civic leaders, and we will honor them publicly at the July 11th performance on the Boston Common.”

This Shakespeare story about two buddies who go on a journey from Verona to Milan gets a Rat-Pack-in-Vegas-inspired treatment, and

By June Wulff, Globe Staff

According to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s newly appointed associate curator of the collection, Dr. Anne-Marie Eze, “The Gardner Museum is a very exciting place to be right now, so I am delighted to continue working here in a new capacity.” In her former role as the Museum’s first Andrew W. Mellon postdoctoral curatorial fellow, Eze elevated the reputation of the Gardner’s manuscripts and rare books collection with “Illuminating the Serenissima: Books of the Republic of Venice,” publications, and public programs.

The associate curator hails from the United Kingdom, where she received a doctorate in art history at the Courtauld Institute of Art and the department of Western Manuscripts of the British Library.

By Don Aucoin, Globe Staff

The American Repertory Theater’s circus-themed production of “Pippin’’ was nominated Tuesday for a Tony Award for best revival of a musical, one of an impressive 10 nominations the show received.

Only “Kinky Boots,’’ with 13, and “Matilda the Musical,’’ with 12, received more Tony nominations than “Pippin.’’ Close behind are “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella,’’ with nine nominations, and “Golden Boy,’’ with eight.

A 1972 musical with a score by Stephen Schwartz and book by Roger O. Hirson, “Pippin’’ opened last week on Broadway. It premiered in January, after weeks of previews, at the ART’s Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge.

ART artistic director Diane Paulus, who helms “Pippin,’’ was nominated for a Tony Award for best direction of a musical.

By Erica Thompson and Boston.com Correspondent,

“Rocky” is heading to its new ring -- Broadway -- in February 2014, according to The New York Times.

The Oscar-winning film has been adapted into a Broadway play, envisioned by original “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone.

Big news from New York: The Huntington Theatre Company has won the 2013 Tony Award for regional theater. Led by artistic director Peter DuBois and managing director Michael Maso, the Huntington was singled out among hundreds of regional theaters across the country for presenting “exciting new works and classics made current,” including two shows that transferred to New York in 2012: the Broadway premiere of Lydia R. Diamond’s comedy-drama“Stick Fly,” and an off-Broadway production of Stephen Karam’s “Sons of the Prophet,’’ a finalist for a 2012 Pulitzer. Presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, the Tonys will be awarded at Radio City Music Hall on June 9. “I couldn’t be more delighted,” said Maso, reached by phone on Cape Cod.

By Don Aucoin, Globe Staff

Broadway veteran André De Shields will play King Louie the orangutan; veteran Boston actor Thomas Derrah will play Kaa, the wily serpent; and 10-year-old Akash Chopra will play little boy Mowgli in Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman’s adaptation of “The Jungle Book” when it opens at the Huntington Theatre Company in September.

Based on Rudyard Kipling’s stories and the 1967 Disney animated film, the world-premiere production will begin performances at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre in June and come to Boston Sept. 7-Oct. 6.

Richard Sherman, who with his late brother Robert composed the songs for the Disney movie, is writing new lyrics for the stage show, in collaboration with Zimmerman. He has also granted permission to music director Doug Peck to adapt songs from the movie.

By Jeremy Eichler, Globe Staff

The Boston Early Music Festival has announced details of its upcoming festival and exhibition (June 9-16). This year’s installment of the biennial festival, which attracts early music fans from across the country and abroad, will be titled “Youth: Genius and Folly” and will present as its theatrical centerpiece Handel’s first opera, “Almira,” directed by Gilbert Blin. It will also reprise a double bill of works by Charpentier — “La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers” and “La Couronne de Fleurs” — first staged for BEMF’s chamber opera series in 2011.

Among this year’s 16 festival concerts will be an evening of Mozart’s chamber music to be performed on the composer’s own violin and viola, traveling to the United States for the first time.