Grand Rapids Pops Will Play PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN

Is Captain Jack Sparrow the worst pirate ever or the best pirate ever? Decide for yourself.

Grand Rapids Pops presents Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the full-length film plus live music in three performances, at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 8-9, and at 3 p.m., Sunday March 10, in DeVos Performance Hall.

Associate Conductor John Varineau will lead the Grand Rapids Symphony in the concert that's part of the Fox Motors Pops series. Concert Sponsor is Crowe.

The comical adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Captain Barbossa come to the silver screen in the 2003 film starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightly and Geoffrey Rush, which launched the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Klaus Badelt, who won the 2004 ASCAP Award for his epic swashbuckling score, composed the music for the film that will be performed live by the Grand Rapids Symphony. The German film composer also wrote the music for such movies as The Time Machine in 2002 and Constantine in 2005.

John Varineau, who is in his 34th season with the Grand Rapids Symphony, regularly conducts concerts on each of the orchestra's series, including the Fox Motors Pops, Gerber SymphonicBoom and the D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops as well as for all of the Grand Rapids Symphony's educational series.

But Varineau also is the GR Pops' go-to conductor for programs involving film and live music. This past season, Varineau has led the Grand Rapids Symphony in performances of The Nightmare Before Christmas, Home Alone and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Next season, Varineau will be on the podium for the GR Pops' Popcorn Package of films including Ghostbusters in October, an encore performance of Home Alone in November, and Up in March 2020. Also coming to DeVos Performance Hall in 2019-20 will be the fifth and sixth movies in the Harry Potter Film Concert Series, beginning with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in October, and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in February 2020.

In The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, the crystalline waters of the Caribbean present a vast playground where adventures and mystery abound for the roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow. But Jack's idyllic pirate life capsizes after his nemesis, the wily Captain Barbossa, steals his ship, the Black Pearl, and then attacks The Town of Port Royal, kidnapping the Governor's beautiful daughter, Elizabeth Swann.

Elizabeth's childhood friend, Will Turner, joins forces with Jack to commandeer the fastest ship in the British fleet, the H.M.S. Interceptor, in a gallant attempt to rescue her and recapture the Black Pearl. The duo and their ragtag crew are pursued by Elizabeth's betrothed, the ambitious Commodore Norrington. aboard the H.M.S. Dauntless.

Unbeknownst to Will, a cursed treasure has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as the undead, the moonlight eerily transforming them into living skeletons. The curse they carry can be broken only if the plundered treasure is restored in total and a blood debt repaid.

Against all odds, the Interceptor and Dauntless race toward a thrilling confrontation with Barbossa's pirates on the mysterious Isla de Muerta. At stake is Jack Sparrow's revenge, the Black Pearl, a fortune in forbidden treasure, the lifting of the pirates' curse that has doomed Barbossa and his crew to live forever as skeletons, the fate of the British navy, and the lives of our valiant heroes as they clash swords in fierce combat against the dreaded Pirates of the Caribbean.

Single tickets for the Fox Motors Pops series start at $18 and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).

Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

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