Fox Tucson Theatre rolls out summer of fun

Fox Tucson Theatre has been working overtime this spring to give Tucsonans plenty of reasons to come downtown this summer.

The historic venue anchoring the west end of the bustling Congress Street entertainment district is kicking off a summer of shows and family-friendly events this weekend with the Tucson return of pop-country/Americana singer Mary Chapin Carpenter.

Carpenter is one of several big names gracing the Fox’s marquee in coming weeks as the theater rolls out family-friendly activities including sing-along movies, a new family matinee movie series reminiscent of the Fox’s 1950s “Mickey Mouse Club” Saturday morning features and Fox’s 2nd Saturdays Music and Movies series.

Tickets and details are at foxtucson.com. The Fox will likely add more events as the summer moves along.

Here’s what they have so far.

Concerts

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Saturday, June 10: This is Carpenter’s encore to her Rialto Theatre show last June at the other end of Congress Street. Expect to hear the two-time Country Music Association and Academy of Country Music award-winner pull from her 16 studio albums including 2020’s “The Dirt and the Stars.” Her show draws from her career hits including “Down at the Twist and Shout,” “I Feel Lucky,” “Shut Up and Kiss Me,” “Passionate Kisses,” “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her,” “House of Cards” and “Grow Old With Me.”

Country singer/guitarist Junior Brown, June 14: The Cottonwood, Arizona-born/Indiana-reared Brown likes to call himself an “American Original,” and given his history, he’s pretty spot on. As a kid, he discovered a guitar in his grandparents’ attic and taught himself to play along to records and the radio before taking his act to live audiences at school parties and functions. As a teen, he sat in with rock pioneer Bo Diddley. With a unique voice and even more unusual double-neck “Guit-Steel” — it’s an electric guitar on top, steel guitar on the bottom — his career has spanned nearly 60 years. Tucson’s own Mark Insley and the Broken Angels opens the show.

Al Jardine and his Endless Summer Band, June 17: The founding member of The Beach Boys has been doing his own thing for more than two decades. In 2018, he tapped son Matt, who is a regular on Brian Wilson’s tour, to be part of the Endless Summer Band with Debbie Shair from Heart and longtime Beach Boys backing band members Ed Carter and Bobby Figueroa. Expect to hear Beach Boys classics along with Jardine’s solo songs.

Graham Nash, June 20: It’s taken awhile, but the two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is finally making good on his fall 2022 Fox show that he canceled after his tour crew experienced a COVID-19 outbreak last October. We get his “Sixty Years of Songs and Stories” tour weeks after he released “Now,” his first studio album in seven years. “Sixty Years” celebrates the 60th anniversary of the release of the 81-year-old Nash’s first single with the 1960s British invasion band the Hollies.

Just for kids

Monsoon Literacy Celebration, Sunday, June 11: Every year, the Fox hosts this special seasonal event, curated by the theater’s Outreach and Education Manager Jordan Wiley-Hill. Fox officials describe it as a day of activities designed to “open young minds and to inspire the love of reading” all centered on our connections to the land, weather and one another. Monsoon Literacy Celebration is recommended for kids ages 4-9 and their families. Registration is required for the free event at foxtucson.com/event/lit-event-23.

Sing-along movies

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This is your chance to sing along to your favorite musical, with specially created sing-along lyrics — in case you forgot the words.

“Westside Story” (1961), with music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, June 24

“Annie” (1982), with its signature hits “Tomorrow” and “It’s the Hard Knock Life,” June 22

“The Greatest Showman” (2017), a musical bio-drama about the life of circus great P.T. Barnum, Aug. 26

Sunday summer movie matinees

The matinees include kid-friendly movies, crafts and music played on the Fox’s historic Wurlitzer organ. Kids also get a replica of a Mickey Mouse Club membership card in a nod to Fox’s 1950s Mickey Mouse Club matinees.

“Mary Poppins” (1964), July 9

“Babe” (1995), July 16

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009), July 23

“The Muppet Movie” (1979), July 30

2nd Saturdays music & movies

The Fox teams up with Tucson’s monthly 2nd Saturdays Downtown celebration with a local musical performance paired with a music-themed film.

July 8: the Tucson Burt Bacharach tribute act Back to Bacharach (Chelsee Hicks, Rob Boone, Adam Ackerman, Brian Hicks, Frank Filipo and Jack Wood) performs the legendary composer’s hits including “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” from the 1969 classic film, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

Aug. 12, Eric Schaffer and The Other Troublemakers (cowpunk pioneer guitarist Loren Dircks, bassist Jess Barrera and drummer Daniel Thomas) mix a little twang and swamp country with their folk, which pairs well with the 2000 comedy “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” set in rural Mississippi during the 1930s.