Rollicking Night of Music For Mashpee Community

     The high point of Mashpee’s summer is tomorrow: the 17th annual Mashpee Night at the Pops, sponsored by the all-volunteer Mashpee Community Concert Committee.
     Royston Nash will again conduct the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra for a family-friendly night of music and special surprises. The concert will be held once again at Mashpee Commons and will begin promptly at 7 PM.
     The program will begin with “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “Semper Paratus,” “Russlan and Ludmilla,” “Far and Away,” and “Begin the Beguine.” The CCSO returns after the first intermission with the title song from the musical “Carousel,” a medley of Beach Boys tunes, the “State Fair Suite,” “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and a medley of summertime tunes.
     After the second and final intermission, the CCSO will perform “Semper Fidelis” and a salute to Frank Sinatra before welcoming the evening’s special guests, the Orleans-based Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps. The Corps uses authentic wooden keyless fifes and rope tension drums, and wears uniforms that are historically authentic replicas of those worn by the 1st US Infantry Regiment during the War of 1812.
     The CCSO returns with “The Girl I Left Behind Me/The World Turned Upside Down Medley,” “1812/Chain Cotillion - Rigaudon,” “Quick Step from Ashworth’s with Massachusetts 2/4,” and “America the Beautiful.” The CCSO will accompany the evening’s fireworks finale with a medley of “Stars and Stripes Forever,” “The Radetzsky March,” “Entry of the Gladiators,” and the “1812 Finale.”
     The night will also feature a flyover by the US Coast Guard, and the presentation of the annual Donna Lynn Yanoff Memorial Scholarship Award, a $10,000 scholarship given each year to a Mashpee High School senior who plans to pursue an education in the fine, applied, creative, or performing arts. This year’s recipient is Patrick T. Orcutt of the MHS Class of 2008.
     Emma Jo Mills Brennan, a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, has donated an acrylic painting entitled “From Our View” for the cover of the concert program, and the original art will be auctioned off during the show.
     The 2008 Mashpee Night at the Pops is sponsored in part by Atlas Pyrotechnics, Roche Bros., and Rockland Trust.
     Free parking will be available at Mashpee Commons, Parish of Christ the King, and at the Quashnet School. In addition to the regularly marked spaces, the lot beside the former Mashpee Community Medical Center will be available for handicapped parking, as will the few spaces along Oak Street in the same area. A  drop-off point for handicapped passengers will be established at the intersection of Steeple Street and Oak Street, just beyond Ann Taylor.
     For more information, visit the Mashpee Night at the Pops website at www.mashpeepops.com.
     To download an advance copy of the program, go to www.mashpeepops.com/program/index.html.