Space-themed Lego models — rotating ride vehicles that are customized by passengers and a next-generation animatronic named Biff Dipper — are prominent parts of the indoor coaster.

Near the entrance is a brick-by-brick and way-bigger-than-life model of Lego set 918, a spaceship introduced in 1979.

It’s “a classic ship, but it’s got some extra flourishes that you only really find in the Legoland park,” says Rosie Brailsford, senior project director for Merlin Magic Making, the creative arm of Merlin Entertainments.

About four years ago, Brailsford was instructed to work with Lego Group to develop an attraction that would work on a global platform, she says.

“They have a line, kind of from the ’70s and various different iterations of that, which is what you will find in Lego Galaxy,” she says. “So, it’s kind of a merge of past and present and opportunity for future iterations as well.”

Brailsford guided the Orlando Sentinel on an exclusive walk-through — no riding yet — of the attraction, which opens to the public Feb. 27.

What’s outside

The new coaster is on the site of the Flying School ride that was closed in August 2023. The exterior queue looks down at the park’s Driving School attraction. There are two entrances, including one from Legoland’s water park.

The spaceship is surrounded by Lego characters, including photo opportunities. The Alien Tourist figure — outfitted in a floral shirt, red shorts, aqua hat and big old-school camera — takes snaps of a green and antennaed alien family. A Duplo play area dubbed Tot Spot and designed for the youngest visitors, includes a Lego Shuttle. (A shade structure is being added.) Nearby are large Lego space flowers and a robot dog.

Early on, potential riders meet Capt. Olivia on screen.

“She’s welcoming you to the Lego Galaxy, telling you about a little snippet of the mission that you’re going to go on,” Brailsford says.

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A large screen televises a 10-minute loop of details about what’s coming up.

“There are little moments of backstory here, so that if you are milling around in the land, you’ve already started to absorb in your subconscious what’s going on,” Brailsford says.

What’s going on? In the Galacticoaster universe, they are bracing for “the asteroid of probable destruction.”

What’s inside

The front lobby features a large blocky version of the Lego Galaxy logo, which is a bit interplanetary and a bit NASA meatball. Below it are actual assembled Lego models on display, some of which are vintage and difficult to find, Brailsford says.

A series of halls and customized posters lead to a big Briefing Room with animatronic Biff Dipper, the chief engineer. He’s about 4 feet tall and standing on an elevated platform. His arms, legs and head move, and his face is animated below the visor of his space helmet. He greets future riders — there can be as many as 80 people in the room — and explains the goal. It’s us versus the asteroid.

“Most of our minifigures in our Legoland are static, smooth minifigures. … Biff is essentially next generation of how we want to do that on a show basis,” Brailsford says. They partnered with Engineered Arts of Cornwall, United Kingdom, to create this figure, which sports 45 facial animations, Legoland says.

Merlin is “working really closely with Lego to make sure all of that motion that they do is true to how a minifigure would move, and we’re not just making them do random things,” she says.

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Other on-screen characters give ride instructions and advance the storyline of how to deal with that asteroid. Plans A and B (one involving a giant net) were flops, and they need help with Plan C. It involves “separator swarms.”

The room includes interesting visuals such as a blueprint for vehicle options and a sign that reads “Interested in time travel? Meet here last Monday, 2 p.m.”

From here, Biff sends riders into a room where ride vehicle options are selected. Riders pick design features for wings, tail, nose and such. The choices range from practical to fanciful — add-ons such as hamburger wings and disco balls. The console allows 15 seconds for each selection, and then the total look is uploaded onto an RFID-enabled bracelet. There are more than 600 possible combinations.

The idea, we’re told, is to make the spacecraft “so awesome that it grabs the separators’ attention like nothing else.” Also, don’t let them catch you.

Next stop: the Galacticoaster loading bay.

The ride stuff

Passengers navigate a moving sidewalk to the in-real-life vehicles, which seat four passengers across and have lap bars that lower from overhead.

The ride moves into an airlock space, and there “you’ll see yourself in your awesome creation,” Brailsford says. You’ll linger for about 10 seconds, “then you will launch, up to 40 miles an hour, off on your adventure,” she says.

“And you have your kind of save-the-day moment on the ride.”

The Sentinel walk-through did not include a ride-through. Brailsford said the experience is smooth and the launch makes it punchy, probably more intense than the Dragon coaster, its Legoland Florida sister attraction. The height requirement is 36 inches for riders accompanied by an adult. Unaccompanied visitors must be at least 48 inches tall.

“It’s not like terrifying or anything, but being indoors, we do feel like they’ll get a little bit more of that thrill factor as well,” she says. “Because it’s dark, you don’t necessarily quite know where you’re going.”

The spinning is programmed, she said. “It’s not like a free spinning.”

Legoland’s website says to expect “Special effects, synchronized lighting and surprise appearances from classic Lego Space characters.”

Ride time is about 1 minute and 30 seconds, and, per theme park tradition, the exit is through the gift shop (official name: Orbital Outpost).

Another Galacticoaster is under construction that’s set to open March 6 at Legoland California, and, in theory, there could be more. There are also Legoland theme parks in New York, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Germany, Malaysia, Dubai, Japan, South Korea and China.

“We have, like, a base story and land concept that we can adjust and tweak if we were to roll a version of it out,” Brailsford says. “It might not necessarily be this ride. It might be a different ride with another story from the world.”

Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. BlueSky: @themeparksdb. Threads account: @dbevil. X account: @themeparks. Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters.

But even after more than 40 years, the most definitive work of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s celebrated career continues to transform and refresh, as evidenced by the current touring production at the Detroit Opera House through Feb. 15.

This version of “Phantom,” the longest-running show in Broadway history and a seven-time Tony Award winner (including Best Musical), is billed as something of a return to form, and its original grandeur, after the sleek, modernized production that was last in town during January of 2019. In truth, however, it’s a hybrid of the two; yes, the “old school” splendor of the Paris Opera House and its environs is being conveyed once again, but with the assistance of contemporary technology that brings a visual richness and an easy flow to its very familiar proceedings.

The deft use of curtaining, high-definition video backdrops and efficient scenery does a lot with — well, not a little, but with less than perhaps was used back in the late 80s. And you don’t feel like it misses a thing. The pyrotechnics that were part of the last “Phantom” incarnation are still there and deployed effectively, especially when “Phantom’s” famed chandelier comes to life at the start of the show and subsequently drops to just a few feet over the audience’s head at the end of Act I.

The Phantom and Christine make their way to the catacombs this time using a single catwalk that lowers during their trip, while the boat journey to his candle-lit lair remains a visually arresting hallmark. The Phantom’s appearances and disappearances are as smooth as Isaiah Bailey’s fluid tenor, and speakers deployed around the venue only add to his moments of disembodied menace. The opera production pieces such as the “Hannibal Rehearsal,” “Il Muto” and “Don Juan Triumphant” feel like shows within a show, and this presentation of “Masquerade” employs mannequins and swirling choreography to start Act II off with a literal bang.

All of that said, the fact remains you can dress “Phantom” up most any way you want, but it’s the music of the night, and those performing it, that make or break any given production. And in this case the show has those bases covered, too.

Jordan Lee Gilbert, who will perform in all but five shows of the Opera House run, is magnificent Christine. She delivers her goosebump-inducing soprano in a manner that serves the songs more than her own skills, and she certainly plays nicely with others; signature duet pieces such as “Angel of Music,” “The Phantom of the Opera” and “The Point of No Return” with Bailey’s Phantom and “All I Ask of You with Raoul (Daniel Lopez) are nothing less than rapturous. Bailey, meanwhile, plays the Phantom with intriguing restraint, leaning into the psychological damage that’s part of his backstory for welcome nuance that makes more disturbingly macabre than monstrous.

And his “Music of the Night” is so authoritative you want to hear it again, immediately, after Bailey sings it.

Also notable in this production are the comic pieces. The likes of Midori Marsh (Carlotta Giudicelli), Christopher Bozeka (Ubaldo Piangi), Jerome Harr (Don Attilio) and William Thomas Evans (Monsieur Firmin) understand the rang of interpretations that are implied in these segments and camp it up accordingly — not to the lengths of, say, the Thenardiers in “Les Miserables,” but with a broad levity that helps to set up “Phantom’s” darker moments.

So while they’re claiming “Phantom” is “back” in some manner, the truth is it’s never left. It’s just that over the course of a long history it’s shown a capacity for change, and in this latest production it’s overwhelmingly for the good.

“The Phantom of the Opera” runs through Feb. 15 at the Detroit Opera House, 1526 Broadway St., Detroit. A special Open Caption performance takes place at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 8. 313-872-1000 or broadwayindetroit.com.

In a Sara Levine novel — and so far, she’s only written two in 25 years — the heroine would likely take that as a sign, like some kind of cosmic irony that an emergency was definitely occurring.

Levine suggested we meet at a dog beach because “The Hitch,” her new novel — her first since “Treasure Island!!!,” Levine’s beloved 2012 cult classic — centers on a dog attack in Evanston that leaves a corgi dead and a 6-year-old boy certain he’s possessed by the dead dog’s soul. But like “Treasure Island!!!,” it’s also funny and unhinged and so relatable you wonder if Levine, who chairs the writing department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has been slowly making a case for the lost art of the literary comedy novel.

Indeed, Levine’s characters are so queasily recognizable, this wasn’t even the first time in recent months that I felt as if I had stepped unwittingly into a Sara Levine story. By some twist of completely off-the-wall fate, the same week I was reading an early copy of “The Hitch,” I was bitten several times by a dog. Seriously. It was bonkers. I was walking through a restaurant patio on the North Shore and a dog launched itself onto my calf like I was sirloin. My first thought: Why me? I felt like that guy in a movie who hasn’t yet become a werewolf but all of the neighborhood dogs know he’s a werewolf and start barking. And yet, it wasn’t even the dog attack that reminded me of Levine — it was the way diners glared at me, as if I interrupted their burgers. I felt a weird shame.

When I told Levine this — and that I was not that excited to hang out at a dog beach anyway, considering — she told me about the attack in Evanston that led to “The Hitch.”

“So I was walking my dog by (Evanston Township High School) and he’s a little goldendoodle and this dog — no leash, but with a pink collar — suddenly appears in the alley. It’s a pit bull. I’m not anti-pit bull and I don’t mean to stereotype. She’s a little pit, but pits do have strong jaws and she attacks my dog. This was 2020. I have these horrible voice memos with my dog wailing. Anyway, now I’m in a crisis, and what am I doing to do? I’m terrible in a crisis. I also don’t want to hurt the other dog. If I let my dog off the leash he might get hit by car, so I’m frozen there, and I’m also trying to separate them, but I’m also thinking I can’t kick this dog — even with what’s happening in front of me, I couldn’t do it. The house on the corner has a Newfoundland standing in the yard, and the woman at the house sees me. She tells me to run for her car, but it’s actually a truck with a flatbed. She grabs a shovel and starts swinging at the dog, and my legs at this point are jelly but we make it into the flatbed and the pitbull is just launching itself at us, just like Cujo. My first thought was, Did I make this happen? I had started writing about a dog, so: Did I bring this on? That’s nutty, but it’s how you feel at times when things happen.”

Levine’s novels feel right for early 2026, for this gray period when we’re all expected to reassess our lives, make changes and emerge in the spring with clearer heads. The way certain works of fiction can do, her books could double as perverse self-help, starring heroines who go out of their ways to show how not to conduct your life. Her writing voice, sardonic, breezy, chimes with Joy Williams and Donald Barthelme, but it’s hard not to hear “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and even “The Office” — that nexus where unraveling people lacking self-awareness stumble across empathy.

The heroine of “Treasure Island!!!” — a 25-year old clerk of a “pet library” — reads Robert Louis Stevenson’s legendary adventure and quickly reassess her narrow timid life, deciding there and then to live by a credo culled from Stevenson: Boldness, Resolution, Independence, Horn-blowing. But by the end, she kills a parrot and is so obsessed with “Treasure Island,” family and friends stage an intervention between her and the novel. The heroine of “The Hitch” could be related, if only tangentially: Her name is Rose Cutler and she is an Evanston yogurt company CEO (as well as “antiracist, secular Jewish feminist eco-warrior”). Rose is also perilously up her own keister. She does not want children (“not for one atom-spitting second”) but she is never so shy with opinions about the way her brother and sister-in-law raise their own kid. When they go on vacation, Rose jumps at the chance to play aunt for a week — which is when the dog attack occurs, her nephew decides (cheerfully) the dog’s soul leapt bodies, and worse.

Rose is a micromanager, and lousy in a crisis. It spoils nothing to say the closest she gets to enlightenment is a brief ah-ha: “Sometimes my mind gets active as a prairie dog and I build elaborate tunnels underground, room after room of judgement and justification.”

The writer Roxane Gay — who once included Levine’s work in an essay on unlikeable women characters (“Not Here to Make Friends”) — said that just after she landed her own imprint (Roxane Gay Books) at Grove Atlantic, she sought out Levine and asked what she was working on: “It had been some time since ‘Treasure Island!!!’ and Sara did not disappoint. The writing voice I fell in love with was still there, but she had grown, and though this Rose character was older, you’re reminded that sometimes we don’t really outgrow our lesser selves — that sometimes we just learn to live with them, you know?”

Levine told Gay that not every reader is a fan of unlikeable woman characters. She told Gay about the (smallish) subset of Goodreads reviewers who describe her women as “utterly unlikeable” and “irredeemable.” Gay told me, “I don’t know why writers are so willing to expose themselves to Goodreads. Some people have a parasocial relationship with book characters, and it meets a puritanical streak where people decide they don’t like a character who is a ‘bad person,’ forgetting flawed people exist. Rose is convinced she knows the right way to do things and her ethics are in the right place — bless her heart.”

Levine’s sweet spot is what literary scholars have long called “unreliable narration” — she even taught a class at Brown University (where she got her Ph.D. in English) on the topic. Levine said: “My father’s a psychiatrist and he tells me we’re all unreliable narrators. But in a novel, it means there’s a deficit of comprehension from the character telling the story and that deficit is part of the story. But when I hear from people who hated ‘Treasure Island!!!,’ often they think I’m the narrator. My feelings get hurt. But maybe they don’t understand that gap. It took me a long time to realize it.

“Or maybe ‘unreliable’ is the wrong term for this. Should I just refer to my characters as ‘difficult women’? No, maybe not — I was at a party recently and told someone I write about ‘difficult women’ and this person said, ‘OK, wait, what do you mean by difficult …?’”

Horror novelist Paul Tremblay — whom Levine consulted to get a sense of how to handle the possession part of “The Hitch” — is a big fan of Levine, and included “Treasure Island!!!” on his ballot for the New York Times poll of the best books of the 21st century. Part of that appreciation, he said, is “how she is reviving an old tradition of first-person a-hole narrators. Think of ‘Confederacy of Dunces,’ or the novels of Sam Lipsyte, except publishers don’t like books by women who go there. Readers are getting more literal, I think. It can feel like a risk to just include any moral uncertainty in a novel now. I hear this especially from younger readers, who want to know what the moral is, and the thing is we are not writing to bestow morals but explain what it means to be human, which can be dark and uncomfortable — all words I would use to describe Sara’s books.”

You could also argue the long afterlife of “Treasure Island!!” — a perpetual word-of-mouth bookseller favorite, handed down to friends who can relate to spiraling exhaustion — is a mirror of contemporary America. Or at least indie culture: Rose Byrne is likely to grab an Oscar nomination soon for “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” as a stressed mother who makes a series of bad decisions; she’d slide neatly into Levine’s books. Levine is one of your favorite literary writers’ best-kept secrets: Blurbs for “The Hitch” came from Elizabeth Gilbert, Rumaan Alam, Adam Levin and Chicagoan Michael Zapata, who told me: “Blurbs can be blurby, but the one I wrote was truly sincere.” “Treasure Island!!!,” which has yet to be adapted to TV or film (but probably will be one day), has already been developed (and dropped) by Natalie Portman and James Franco.

Levine sounds almost naive about the depth of this love.

She told me another established screenwriter got pretty far with “Treasure Island!!!” but then appeared to bail and never signed their contract; Levine never heard from the woman again. One day, during a class at SAIC, she projected an email exchange between her and the writer as an illustration of professional etiquette. “I had to explain how she opted out of the project, and as students do, one took out his phone and googled the woman’s name and a minute later replied, ‘Oh, Sara, no — that woman had died. That’s probably why she never got back to you.’”

Sounds like a Sara Levine story, I said.

“It does?” she asked.

To be frank, the biggest disappointment about Sara Levine is that she’s not nuts. I anticipated erratic and flighty and I got calm and rational. James McManus, author of the poker memoir “Positively Fifth Street,” who taught alongside Levine for 25 years, said: “She is as sane and responsible an adult as they come. In fact, (SAIC) wanted her to move into even more active leadership roles, but that can be a time suck, creatively.”

She has long gray hair and large cartoon eyes and comes across as naturally funny. She said people do expect her to be a wacko. “Someone introduced me at a party recently as ‘one of the most sane people’ at the Art Institute, or maybe it was ‘the least insane.’”

Levine, who is 55, grew up outside Cleveland and wrote a couple of plays that were produced when she was still a teenager (one professionally, for a Cleveland theater group). She went to Northwestern for theater only to find her way to creative writing. She then bounced from Brown to the University of Iowa to SAIC, which she joined in 2000. She describes herself as “ornery” that entire time. She threatened to drop out of Brown, refused to start a novel, moved to Iowa to teach non-fiction, only to decide, “‘I don’t want to live here, I don’t want to teach this my whole life’ — it was like looking into my coffin.”

She found she was more interested in “‘hysterical’ voices, the more obstreperous personalities of fiction.” “Treasure Island!!!,” which she began to see if she could write a novel after years of short stories and nonfiction academia, took a decade, but she found that she was more ambitious than she knew. She also learned she had a knack for describing everyday suburbia with cutting precision: “The Hitch” is filled with Evanston parents who over-schedule kids so much you wonder if they “can’t sit still in a room” with children. Doctor’s offices offer “six televisions playing six different channels.” Vast expanses of Illinois contain “a strip of road that featured an abandoned movie theatre, a discount shoe store, and a cemetery bordered by a six-foot high metal fence capped with snow,” as well as a hospital “founded in affiliation with the Evangelical Lutheran Church and rooted in the belief that all persons were created in the image of God, a hospital that had not in the past five years received higher than a two-star Yelp review.”

After “Treasure Island!!!,” she wrote a big sprawling novel titled “Leave It,” a more lyrical and somber kaleidoscope of Evanston characters; she didn’t want to follow one “difficult woman” with a second. She gave it to her agent, but then soon after, she pulled it back and shelved it.

“I was worried I was reinforcing the ‘hysterical’ woman thing, so I wrote something else, but that something else? Other people do that book well. So I have this narrow track. Twyla Tharp talks about knowing your own creative DNA, and that helped me. I’ve always had teachers who said you need to keep growing, you’ve got to keep pushing, that there is a natural aesthetic restlessness where you should never repeat yourself. I really bought into that. But what if it’s helpful to focus on one form and go very deep into only that? Look at Monet, who spent a lifetime painting haystacks …”

“‘Compares self to Monet,’” I interrupted, joking, pretending to jot that in my notebook.

“Oh, and also Nabokov!” she said, laughing. “And of course Jane Austen! Write that down.”

cborrelli@chicagotribune.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Brandi Carlile isn’t hedging.

When the multi-Grammy winner steps onto the field at Super Bowl to sing “America the Beautiful,” Carlile said she’ll perform fully live — with no prerecorded safety net, embracing the same risk she believes audiences take every day simply by showing up.

“The people deserve to have you live,” Carlile told The Associated Press on Thursday. “They need you to be taking the risk they’re taking every day when they walk out into those streets.”

That decision sets the tone for how Sunday’s pregame performers are approaching one of music’s most technically demanding stages. Some play it safe while others are fully present.

Carlile, who will perform before kickoff along with Charlie Puth and Coco Jones, described preparation that extends beyond rehearsals and sound checks. Having previously performed in large outdoor venues — including Elton John’s final tour date at Dodger Stadium in 2022 — she said singing in an open-air stadium introduces noticeable sound delay, where performers can hear their own voices echo back moments later.

“I’ve been preparing for it more spiritually than technically,” Carlile said. “I want to sing that song as more of a prayer than a boast.”

Performing live at the Super Bowl has long required a careful balance between authenticity and logistics. Because of stadium acoustics, broadcast delays and the precision demanded by a globally televised event, artists often blend live vocals with backing tracks or use prerecorded elements to ensure consistent sound quality across the venue and broadcast.

The practice is not new. Whitney Houston’s iconic 1991 national anthem performance was later confirmed to have used a prerecorded track. Katy Perry and other halftime performers have also used a mix of live vocals and reinforcement as part of highly choreographed productions.

The approach is common but the choice remains personal, shaped by an artist’s own philosophy and comfort level.

Jones, who will sing “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” framed her preparation less as declaration and more as discipline — rooted in respect for the song itself. Rather than focusing on whether a performance is live or supported, she emphasized repetition, rehearsing until muscle memory takes over.

“I try to overly practice,” she said. “When everything is second nature … I’m just a vessel.”

Jones has performed on stadium stages before, including Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium, and said the scale amplifies pressure but doesn’t fundamentally change her mindset. She studies lyrics — her own and those she covers — to understand the emotion and intention behind every line before stepping onto the field.

From a sound standpoint, Jones stressed the importance of sound monitoring in a massive stadiums. Jones sought guidance from Alicia Keys, who became the first artist to sing the rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” for the NFL in 2000.

“She just told me, ‘Don’t be nervous — be in the moment,’” Jones said. “That meant a lot coming from her.”

Puth, who will perform the national anthem, said he is approaching the moment as a producer as much as a vocalist — a mindset shaped by years of controlling sound from the studio to the stage. Though he has performed in stadiums before, he said each venue presents its own challenges.

“There’s not one stadium that sounds alike,” Puth said.

Known for his hands-on role in his music, Puth said maintaining control over sound is central to his preparation, particularly in a setting where acoustics, delay and broadcast demands intersect. The national anthem, one of the most scrutinized songs in American music, requires restraint as much as power, especially in a stadium setting, the singer said.

“You just make sure you don’t over sing,” said Puth, whose Super Bowl appearance arrives ahead of a busy year. His fourth studio album, “Whatever’s Clever,” is set for release March 27, followed by a world tour that will take him through arenas including New York and Los Angeles.

“The moment you start thinking about everybody else, you’re not locked into the music,” he continued. “And that’s when things don’t sound the way they should.”

For Carlile, the Super Bowl also serves as a bridge to what comes next.

Next week, she will launch the Human Tour, her first-ever arena headlining run. It’s a milestone she described as both thrilling and intimidating. But standing alone on the Super Bowl field, she said, offers a kind of preparation no rehearsal room can replicate.

“It’ll be the scariest thing I do this year,” she said. “So once that’s over, the Human Tour is going to be Disneyland all day long.”

Carlile said what she’s learning in this moment. She’s resisting perfection, staying present and trusting herself during her live performance, hoping she along with Puth and Jones’ performances give viewers some form of inspiration.

“You have to wake up and take a risk with yourself,” she said. “That’s what makes performance beautiful.”

NEW YORK (AP) — There are stages, and then there is the Super Bowl halftime show.

On Sunday, fresh off his historic win at the Grammys for his love letter to Puerto Rico, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” Bad Bunny will once again surprise audiences with a performance that is gearing up to be a landmark moment for Latino culture.

But what can you expect from his set?

What we know

Apple Music’s Zane Lowe mentioned that Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime performance is 13 minutes long during an interview with the superstar on Thursday. Historically, they run 12 to 15 minutes.

In the same conversation, Bad Bunny offered few specifics about what viewers will see Sunday.

“It’s going to be a huge party,” he said, playfully dodging questions about surprise guests and other details. “What people can expect from me … I want to bring to the stage, of course, a lot of my culture. But I really don’t, I don’t want to give any spoilers. It’s going to be fun.”

Beyond that: A minute-and-a-half long trailer for the halftime show posted last month set a jovial tone for his performance. In it, Bad Bunny approaches a Flamboyan tree — more on that below — and presses play on his single “Baile Inolvidable” (“Unforgettable Dance”).

The song is modern salsa, performed with students from the Escuela Libre de Música San Juan. It is a featured single from “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” an album that marries folkloric tradition in local Borinquen genres like bomba, plena, salsa and música jíbara with contemporary styles like reggaeton, trap and pop.

In the clip, Bad Bunny sways as he’s joined by different dancers across genders, races and ages: Those include a traditional salsa dancer in a red dress, a firefighter, a cowboy and a viejito wearing a pava (“viejito” is an affectionate term for an older man and a “pava” is a kind of straw hat). It’s representative of the superstar’s international appeal; he is currently the most-streamed artist globally on Spotify.

Will Bad Bunny perform entirely in Spanish?

All of Bad Bunny’s music is recorded in Spanish, so it seems like a safe bet. Were he to include English into his set, it would likely appear in a spoken interjection — or it would be featured in text.

In October, Bad Bunny hosted “Saturday Night Live” and said a few sentences in Spanish during his opening monologue. When he concluded, he joked in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn,” a reference to the Super Bowl and his critics.

On Thursday, he joked that fans didn’t actually need to learn Spanish to enjoy his set — but they should be prepared to dance.

What symbols can we expect?

There’s no way to know for sure, but here are a few educated guesses.

Puerto Rican flags: In his song “La Mudanza,” Bad Bunny sings, “Aquí mataron gente por sacar la bandera / Por eso es que ahora yo la llevo donde quiera.” In English: “Here they killed people for showing the flag / That’s why I bring it everywhere I want now.” It appears to be a reference to Law 53 of 1948, better known as the Gag Law, a ruling by the Puerto Rican Legislative Assembly which attempted to suppress the independence movement on the island and criminalized displaying the Puerto Rican flag. It was repealed in 1952. It is also one of many reasons Puerto Ricans are known for waving their flag with pride for their island.

It is almost certain the flag of Puerto Rico will appear in some form on the Super Bowl stage. But its colors are worth noting. If it is shown in red, white and blue, that is the current flag of Puerto Rico and has been since 1952. If there are flags that feature light blue, that is reflective of the Puerto Rican independence movement. A black and white version of the flag has become synonymous with Puerto Rican struggle and resiliency. And if there is a flag that more closely resembles the Dominican Republic’s flag, that is the flag of the Puerto Rican mountain town Lares. It was used in the Grito de Lares, the first short revolt against Spanish rule in Puerto Rico in the 19th century.

Puerto Rican expressions: There may be a few Puerto Rican expressions uttered on stage, beyond just those found in Bad Bunny’s music. That could be anything from “Wepa!” which is used in moments of excitement, not unlike exclaiming “Wow!.” It grew in popularity after the release of Alfonso Vélez’s 1974 salsa song “El Jolgorio (Wepa Wepa Wepa).” Or “Acho, PR es otra cosa,” a phrase that became a fan chant during Bad Bunny’s performance of “Voy a llevarte pa’ PR” during his residency. It translates to “Damn, PR is something else.”

Casita: At Bad Bunny’s residency in Puerto Rico last summer, he performed across two stages. One was built to resemble a casita (“little house”), for the pari de marquesina, a house party. These structures are synonymous with Puerto Rico and the Caribbean at large.

Pavas: A symbol that is likely familiar to Bad Bunny fans everywhere, a pava is a straw hat traditionally worn by jíbaros, or Puerto Rican rural farmers. It has become a symbol of pride for the island. The singer even wore a leather version of the hat on the red carpet at the 2025 Met Gala.

Flamboyan tree: The second of the two stages at Bad Bunny’s residency focused on showcasing the island’s natural beauty with its flamboyan and plantain trees. The former are a common feature in Puerto Rican art for its flowers, most commonly seen in brilliant red, orange and yellow hues. The image of the tree evokes Puerto Rico almost as immediately as the sound of its national nocturnal residents, el coquí (a frog with a distinctive sing-song-y call heard only at night.)

El Sapo Concho: Not to be mistaken with el coquí, el sapo concho is the endangered Puerto Rican crested toad that Bad Bunny has used an animated version of in his visuals for “Debí Tirar Más Fotos.”

Traditional Puerto Rican instruments: Because much of Bad Bunny’s music pulls from bomba and plena, it is likely that a few of those traditional instruments will be on stage. Look out for a cuatro (a small, four-stringed guitar), güiro/güira (a percussive instrument made of a hollow gourd), palitos (also a percussive instrument resembling two long, wood sticks), cencerro (cow bell) and maracas. For the bomba songs, specifically, there may be a barriel (a barrel) and for plena, a pandereta (tambourine.)

Will there be special guests during the halftime show?

It is impossible to predict, but it would be surprising if Bad Bunny wasn’t joined by other performers — particularly other giants of Latin music, and probably, other Puerto Rican performers. The band Chuwi joined Benito for every night of his San Juan residency; it wouldn’t be out of the question to see them on stage for their collaboration, “Weltita.”

Other potential guests, if the residency is a framework to follow, could include Marc Anthony, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Young Miko, Wisin y Yandel, Gilberto Santa Rosa and Alfonso Vélez. But the list goes on and on.

Will it be a political performance?

That is in the eye of the beholder. But there is historical precedent for it at the Super Bowl. In 2020, the NFL asked Jennifer Lopez to cut a segment featuring children in cages during her halftime performance, a critique of U.S. immigration policies. She refused. (Bad Bunny was actually a guest performer during that halftime show, which was headlined by Lopez and Shakira.)

Last year, Kendrick Lamar’s set was an artful confrontation of American history and racial dynamics through metaphor, as the actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam, complained of a performance that was “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto” and reminded Lamar to “play the game.”

Bad Bunny has never steered clear of political messaging. He has criticized President Donald Trump on everything from his hurricane response in his native Puerto Rico to his treatment of immigrants. At the Grammys Sunday, he said “ICE out” while accepting his first televised award of the night. His latest tour skipped the continental U.S.; in an interview he said it was at least partially inspired by concerns that his fans could be targeted by immigration agents.

Trump, a Republican, has said he doesn’t plan to attend this year’s game, unlike last year, and he has derided Bad Bunny as a “terrible choice.”

It’s also still a helluva good time.

Amidst its abundance of big laughs, glitzy production numbers and impressive feats of dancing in thigh-high red stilettos, the musical adaptation of the 2005 British film — at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre through Sunday, Feb. 8 — remains more than just the story of a drag queen in London who helps a young man in Northampton reinvent and save his family’s multi-generation shoe business. With a book by Harvey Fierstein and songs by Cyndi Lauper, It semi soft-sells concepts of inclusion and acceptance, self-realization, determination — and faith. We watch Lola open the minds of Charlie Price and his factory team while also finding common ground and achieving some closure for his own life issues.

Heavy stuff — if you want it to be. And if you just want to kick up your heels and just, as per the song, say an exuberant “Yeah!,” “Kinky Boots” has that for you, too.

The best news is that this touring edition of the show — which won six Tonys, including Best Musical and Best Score for Lauper — features as tight a cast as you’d want, a dialed-in ensemble whose timing is spot-on throughout comic and dramatic moments alike. The actors portray relationships that feel remarkably genuine and relatable, and not always predictable, and they’re also effective when it’s time to break the proverbial fourth wall and bring the audience directly into the party.

“Kinky Boots” always rests on its Lola, of course, and in Omari Collins, aka Scarlett D’ Von Du, the character is in fine hands. This is Collins’ seventh run in the show, and he inhabits Lola with a joy and familiarity drawn from that experience but also with the energy of a first-night performance. Convincing in both boots and boxing gloves, he deftly balances the back story and inner demons with proverbial joie de vivre — and nails every one of his songs, including the torchy “Hold Me in Your Heart” and the heartstring-tugging “Not My Father’s Son” duet with Charlie.

And while “Book of Mormon” veteran Noah Silverman is not overpowering as Charlie, he capably traces that character’s growth and rocks his own spotlight moment, “The Soul of a Man.”

There isn’t a weak link in the rest of the cast, and Jason Daniel Chacon stands out as Don, the factory foreman who experiences his own enlightenment and delivers one of the show’s funniest surprises during the “Raise You Up/Just Be” finale. Lola’s drag queen crew the Angels, meanwhile, are divinely exuberant, and you’d be hard-pressed to find more triumphant experiences anywhere in the stage world than romps such as “Land of Lola,” “Sex Is in the Heel” and “Everybody Say Yeah.”

You may, or may not, come out of “Kinky Boots” with a better sense of “What a Woman Wants.” But you’ll definitely be uplifted and entertained — and maybe have a different view of extravagant footwear.

So don’t dismiss “Kinky Boots” as a trifle, but don’t let

“Kinky Boots” runs through Sunday, Feb. 8, at the Fisher Theatre, 3011 W. Grand Blvd., Detroit. 313-872-1000 or atgtickets.com.

Bad Bunny is expected to perform the Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday entirely in Spanish — which has inspired fans to quickly learn the language.

In October, the Puerto Rican singer — born Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio — kicked off the 51st season of “Saturday Night Live” expressing pride over the achievement in Spanish, after which he said in English, “If you didn’t understand what I just said, you have four months to learn!”

That declaration further stoked the anger of some conservatives who have vilified Bad Bunny for speaking out against President Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. The singer canceled the U.S. portion of his tour last year out of fear that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents would target his fans.

There’s been a frenzy online of people posting about Bad Bunny lyrics, including Puerto Ricans explaining slang used by the singer and non-Spanish speakers documenting their journey to learn Spanish.

Anticipation for his halftime performance has only intensified since last weekend, when his album, “ Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” became the first Spanish-language album to win the Grammy for album of the year. He did not shy away from addressing targeted federal immigration operations at the awards.

“Before I say thanks to God, I’m going to say ICE out,” he said in English after winning his first Grammy for música urbana album. “We’re not savage, we’re not animals, we’re not aliens. We are humans and we are Americans.”

Fans are learning Spanish before the Super Bowl

Niklaus Miller, 29, has been buckling down on learning Bad Bunny lyrics since the singer’s SNL appearance months ago.

“I am delusional enough to be like ‘this would be easy. I could pick it up pretty quickly,’” Miller said.

The fervor to learn a new language within a short time span highlights the powerful impact of Latino culture in the U.S. despite the president’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions.

“It felt like a form of protest,” Miller said. “What can I do right now besides what everyone is doing that is trying to help? It just feels good.”

Miller said he has gotten messages from people who watch his videos with their parents since he started posting about the process of learning Spanish. They say they feel seen and appreciated.

While Miller hasn’t learned Bad Bunny’s entire discography, he has learned portions of six songs that he feels will be part of the halftime show, including “Tití Me Preguntó,” “DtMF” and “Baile Inolvidable.”

The day after Bad Bunny was announced as the halftime act, O’Neil Thomas, 28, a New York City actor and content creator, started learning the singer’s catalog.

“I was just so excited because he wasn’t an artist that I expected,” Thomas said. “And given how we are right now with the state of the country I think he is the perfect person to headline such a humongous stage.”

The response to his TikTok videos — showing Thomas learning “NUEVAYoL” and other tracks — have been really positive, Thomas added. Many Puerto Rican people have reached out, saying they’re proud that someone outside the community is attempting to learn about their culture.

Latin music and culture intensify interest in language

“People were already starting to make the effort with learning Spanish as a result of their interest in Latin music,” said Vanessa Díaz, associate professor of Chicano and Latino studies at Loyola Marymount University. “The Super Bowl itself is an additional push for a trend that was already happening.”

Díaz, who is the co-author of “P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance,” says the rise of Latin music over the past decade has pushed non-Spanish speakers to learn the language. Bad Bunny’s clear messaging in his lyrics, videos and performances amplifies that interest, Díaz said.

Spanish is the most spoken language at home behind English in the U.S. — except in three states, according to U.S. Census data. Over 13% of residents age 5 and older speak it.

For Thomas, Bad Bunny’s music offered the perfect opportunity to take on the challenge of learning a new language.

“I love Spanish and I always wanted to learn it,” Thomas said. “So, this has been a fun introduction for me to finally hone in.”

Both Miller and Thomas said that learning Spanish, specifically Puerto Rican Spanish, in a short period of time has been a unique challenge.

Thomas said listening to Bad Bunny’s music casually is a different experience than learning the lyrics.

“Listening to his music is really fun,” Thomas said. “The amount of times I’ve pressed rewind just to get a phrase, I can’t even count.”

Miller said the hard part about learning the songs is that the Puerto Rican dialect tends to chop some words and it is very fast. Miller said if he hasn’t worked on understanding a song for days, he might forget the pronunciation and it’s hard to come back to it.

“It’s fun but then stressful because I am a Type-A person, so that’s been hard, honestly,” Miller said. “I’m firing on all cylinders.”

A landmark for Latino culture is also politically divisive

Bad Bunny’s booking at the Super Bowl has been divisive from the start. Trump called the selection “ridiculous.” Conservatives have called it anti-American — even though native-born Puerto Ricans are also U.S. citizens. Turning Point USA is putting on an alternative “All-American Halftime Show” with a lineup led by Kid Rock.

This all comes against the backdrop of Latinos and Spanish-speaking communities being targeted in Trump’s immigration crackdowns. His executive actions have vastly expanded who is eligible for deportation and routine hearings have turned into deportation traps for migrants.

For Bad Bunny, the halftime show is the ultimate stage to showcase his music, heritage and global influence. For the NFL and Apple Music, it’s a balancing act: deliver a spectacle that celebrates diversity without igniting controversy that scares off advertisers.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has stood by the choice, citing Bad Bunny’s immense popularity.

Petra Rivera-Rideau, associate professor of American studies at Wellesley College and co-author of “P FKN R,” said there’s a long history in the U.S. of Spanish being criminalized.

Bad Bunny is making it cool to know the language and changing the narrative around it, Diaz said. Now Spanish is something that people are aspiring to learn.

Díaz doesn’t think his performance will necessarily shift how Latinos are perceived in the U.S. but she says it will create an interesting conversation depending on “how people are going to grapple with the magnitude of having someone like Bad Bunny on the stage.”

At a time when “the U.S. is targeting Latinos and migrants and Spanish speakers or even those who are just perceived to be any of those things in a way that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes,” his visibility is powerful, Diaz said.

The celebrated — nine Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize on his resume — trumpeter, bandleader and composer, along with his music, will be present during the next few days.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, which released a recording of Marsalis’ “Blues Symphony” last year, will be joined by the Paradise Theatre Big Band to perform his “Swing Symphony” during concerts Friday through Sunday, Feb. 6-8, at Orchestra Hall, 3711 Woodward Ave., Detroit. The program also includes the world premiere of Rhiannon Giddens’ and Michael Abels’ “Omar Suite,” and the Saturday, Feb. 7 show will stream live via the “Live From Orchestra Hall” series. 313-576-5111 or dso.org.

Marsalis himself, meanwhile, will be in Ann Arbor for a pair of programs with the University Music Society. “The Jungle,” his symphonic piece for jazz ensemble and orchestra, will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Hill Auditorium, 825 North University Ave. On Saturday, Marsalis leads the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra through “Duke in Africa,” honoring Duke Ellington and his African-inspired music, at 7:30 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. 734-764-2538 or ums.org.

The New Orleans-born Marsalis, 64, recently announced that he’ll be stepping down as artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center after nearly 40 years.

Other music events of note this weekend (all subject to change) include …

FRIDAY, FEB. 6

• Australian EDM artist Ninajirachi headlines at the Royal Oak Music Theatre, 318 W. Fourth St. Doors at 8 p.m. Cannelle and DJ Rinbossanova also perform. 248-399-2980 or royaloakmusictheatre.com.

• Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Don Flemons fronts the all-star Traveling Wildfires at 7 p.m. for Friday Night Live! at the Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit. 313-833-7900 or dia.org.

• New York rapper Elucid, joined by DJ Haram, throws down at the Loving Touch, 22634 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 7 p.m. Raphy opens. 248-820-5596 or thelovingtouchferndale.com.

• Virginia and Texas meet when Will Overman and Grady Spencer team up at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• Swimming Paul mans the decks at the Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Doors at 9 p.m. 313-833-9700 or themajesticdetroit.com.

• Paranoid London, Silverdome Boyz and DJ Sphinx stack up at 9 p.m. at Lincoln Factory, 1331 Holden St., Detroit. paxahau.com.

• Man Overboard’s Zac Ross plays an acoustic solo show at 8 p.m. at the Lager House, 1254 Michigan Ave., Detroit. Zenadare and Swanton are also on the bill. 313-500-1475 or thelagerhouse.com.

• Cliff Bell’s continues its 20th-anniversary celebration with the Michael Jellick Quartet at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. The commemoration concludes on Saturday. Feb. 7, with the Marcus Elliot Quintet featuring Brandon Woody also playing at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. 2030 Park Ave., Detroit. 313-961-2543 or cliffbells.com.

• The Planet D Nonet sets up through Saturday, Feb. 7 at the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe, 97 Kercheval, Grosse Pointe. 313-882-5399 or dirtydogjazz.com.

• Grand Rapids’ Cal in Red joins Heat Above and Liam Kelly at 8 p.m. at Brooklyn Detroit, 2000 Brooklyn St. 313-500-1475 or thelagerhouse.com.

• Death Arcana is live at 7 p.m. at the Sanctuary Detroit, 2932 Caniff, Hamtramck. Hand of the Sorcerer, Snugglebunzzz and Brugada also play. 313-462-4117 or sanctuarydetroit.com.

• Third Eye Collective brings its eclectic musical mix for a 7:30 p.m. show at the Trinity House Theatre, 38840 W. Six Mile Road, Livonia. 734-436-6302 or trinityhousetheatre.org.

• The Dearborn Symphony presents “Shall We Dance?,” joined by live performers from the Downriver Dance Academy, at 7:30 p.m. at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave., Dearborn. 313-943-2354 or dearborntheater.com.

• The Barricade Boys Broadway Party, featuring leading men from “Les Misérables,” takes place at 7:30 p.m. at the Macomb Center, 44575 Garfield Road, Clinton Township. 586-286-2222 or macombcenter.com.

• The Emerald Theatre’s weekend tribute lineup starts with Nightrain — The Guns N’ Roses Tribute Experience, with doors opening at 7 p.m. Turn To Stone: A Tribute to ELO, follows on Saturday, Feb. 7, doors also at 7. 31 N. Walnut St., Mount Clemens. Doors at 7 p.m. 586-630-0120 or theemeraldtheatre.com.

• The Journey tribute E5C4P3 makes the lights go down at District 142, 142 Maple St., Wyandotte. The Atomic Cafe opens. Doors at 7 p.m. district142live.com.

• Singer, songwriter and guitarist Ronnie Baker Brooks starts the weekend at 8 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1800 or theark.org.

• Organissimo plays the early set, at 5 p.m., followed by Tariq Gardner & Evening Star at 7 and 9 p.m. at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

• Virtual: Queens of the Stone Age, which includes Royal Oak native Dean Fertita, has posted its recent “Austin City Limits” performance of “Alive in the Catacombs” for free viewing via the band’s YouTube channel. It also remains available via pbs.org/austincitylimits.

• Virtual: Lil Wayne will perform a special concert at noon via the Clash Royale, which can be viewed via the video game’s app.

• Virtual: Guitar virtuoso Stanley Jordan plays a Grateful Dead set at 7:30 p.m. from Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club in New Hampshire, and again at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7. Both stream via veeps.com.

• Virtual: Recent Grammy Award winner Billy Strings streams at 7:30 p.m. from Athens, Georgia, and again at the same time and venue on Saturday, Feb. 7, via nugs.net.

• Virtual: The Head and the Heart plays live with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra at 10 p.m., streaming via veeps.com.

• Virtual: Dark Star Orchestra performs at 10:30 p.m. from Oakland, California, and again on Saturday. Feb. 7, both streaming via nugs.net.

• Virtual: Silversun Pickups celebrates the release of its latest album, “Tenterhooks,” with a performance from Los Angeles at 11:30 p.m., streaming via veeps.com.

SATURDAY, FEB. 7

• Ukrainian DJ Rezz takes it to the stage at the Masonic Temple Theatre, 500 Temple St., Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. LYNY, Digital Ethos and MLOTIK also perform. 313-548-1320 or themasonic.com.

• The Lovin’ Spoonful still believes in magic and will prove it at 7:30 p.m. at the Macomb Center, 44575 Garfield Road, Clinton Township. 586-286-2222 or macombcenter.com.

• New York’s CID works the dance floor at the Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Doors at 9 p.m. 313-833-9700 or themajesticdetroit.com.

• The Dutch electronic duo Weval celebrates its new album, “Choraphobia,” at El Club, 4114 W. Vernor Highway, Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-757-7942 or elclubdetroit.com.

• Detroit singer-songwriter Trey Simon takes the mic at 8 p.m. at 20 Front Street in Lake Orion. 248-783-7105 or 20frontstreet.com.

• A benefit concert for recently injured local musician Sean Patterson takes place at the Diesel Concert Lounge, 33151 23 Mile Road, Chesterfield Township. Doors at 7 p.m. 586-933-3503 or dieselconcerts.com.

• Billy Brandt and the Sugarees and Nolan Eszes sweeten things up at 8 p.m. at the Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Road, Detroit. 313-882-8560 or cadieuxcafe.com.

• Dude plays an acoustic set, supported by the Mike Ward Trio, at 7:30 p.m. at the Trinity House Theatre, 38840 W. Six Mile Road, Livonia. 734-436-6302 or trinityhousetheatre.org.

• Simon & Garfunkel Through the Years pays tribute at 8 p.m. at Andiamo Celebrity Showroom, 7096 E. 14 Mile Road, Warren. 586-268-3200 or andiamoshowroom.com.

• The Ten(ish) Year Fanfare VII features more than a dozen local bands playing favorites from circa 2016 by Green Day. Nickelback, Jack’s Mannequin, Blink-182, Fall Out Boy and others at the Crofoot Ballroom, 1 S. Saginaw St., Pontiac. Doors at 5 p.m. 248-858-9333 or thecrofoot.com.

• Re-Cure: The Cure Tribute performs 1989’s “Disintegration” album at the Magic Bag, 22920 Woodward Ave., Ferndale. Doors at 7 p.m. 248-544-1991 or themagicbag.com.

• Urgent offers its Foreigner tribute at 8 p.m. at The Roxy, 401 Walnut Blvd., Rochester. 248-453-5285 or theroxyrochester.com.

• Regular favorite Mustard’s Retreat spices things up at 7 p.m. at The Ark, 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 734-761-1800 or theark.org.

• Vocalist Olivia Van Goor and her Quartet settle in at 7 and 9 p.m. at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

SUNDAY, FEB. 8

• Rev Robert and Da Bones Man play the blues at 7 p.m. at the Cadieux Cafe, 4300 Cadieux Road, Detroit. 313-882-8560 or cadieuxcafe.com.

• Poet Whitney Hanson reads live at the Magic Stick, 4120 Woodward Ave., Detroit. Doors at 7 p.m. 313-833-9700 or themajesticdetroit.com.

• Detroit vocalist Sky Covington presents her Satin Doll Revue all-star tribute to singers such as Billie Holiday, Etta James, Nina Simone and Nancy Wilson at 8 p.m. in Aretha’s Jazz Cafe inside Orsa Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit. 313-887-8500 or musichall.org.

• Pianist Bob Mervak is the key(board) man at 6 and 7:30 p.m. at the Blue Llama Jazz Club, 314 S. First St., Ann Arbor. 734-372-3200 or bluellamaclub.com.

The Oscar nominee, 83, said during an Apple TV press day Tuesday that, “if it was all over here, that would be sufficient,” per The Hollywood Reporter.

“Shrinking” — which debuted on Apple TV+ in 2023 and returned for its third season last week — stars co-creator Jason Segel as Jimmy, a therapist grieving his late wife. In the process of learning to heal himself, he begins telling his patients “exactly what he thinks.”

Ford last year earned his first-ever Emmy nomination for his role as fellow therapist Paul, who’s battling Parkinson’s disease.

“Where do you go from here? The kind of work that we’re able to do is remarkable given the tools we have to work with and the notion that lies behind this series,” Ford said.

He also discussed the “real sense of responsibility” he felt for his portrayal of the disease, which has afflicted new co-star Michael J. Fox since the early 1990s.

Ford admitted he found the thought of having Fox on the set “a bit daunting,” but described the “Back to the Future” alum as an “extraordinary, generous and lovely fellow” who’s “so funny as well.”

“He is such a powerful presence,” Ford said. “Such grace and courage and indomitability, and some of that, I hope, will help me color my portrayal of a character with Parkinson’s.”

The “very special” series is “a different kind of job” for the man known to so many as Indiana Jones, Han Solo, and Rick Deckard — among countless other beloved characters.

“This has been a very different kind of job for me, and I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Ford noted. “It really nurtures me and makes me feel like what we’re doing has value and importance. I look for that in my life and I’m happy to have found it here.”

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — When Jon Hamm first attended the NFL Honors, the league’s annual awards show was still finding its footing. It was a relatively new addition to Super Bowl week that had yet to fully define what it would become.

Now, the Emmy-winning actor will take the stage as host as the NFL Honors mark their 15th anniversary on Thursday night in San Francisco. The show, airing on NBC and NFL Network, will serve as a capstone to the season just days before the Super Bowl.

“They didn’t really know what it was going to be, but it was fun,” Hamm said Wednesday after rehearsals at the Palace of Fine Arts. The actor said he enjoyed watching Alec Baldwin host the first-ever ceremony in 2012.

Hamm brings extensive hosting experience to the role, having previously led shows ranging from Saturday Night Live to the ESPYs. But he said the NFL Honors require a specific approach.

“We’re not trying to break new ground in comedy or make anything that’s going to offend anybody,” said Hamm, who won a 2015 Primetime Emmy for his portrayal of Don Draper on AMC’s “Mad Men.” He’s also appeared in projects including “30 Rock,” “The Morning Show” and now the Apple TV Plus series “Your Friends & Neighbors.”

“We’re here to celebrate the players and their season and then push everybody into a good mood … I think it’s going to be a pretty good Super Bowl,” he said.

Beyond football, Hamm said Super Bowl week reflects a larger cultural moment, including the rise of global music stars such as Bad Bunny, who is set to headline the Super Bowl halftime show after coming off a major Grammys night — where his project “Debí Tirar Más Fotos” won album of year. It’s the first time an all Spanish-language album has taken home the top prize.

“I was happy to see his success at the Grammys,” said Hamm, who attended Bad Bunny’s historic residency in 2025. He and the Puerto Rican superstar have become friends and even share the same birthday.

“He was beautifully eloquent. … He’s a very intelligent guy. He’s a wonderful artist, number one streamed artist in the world for a reason,” he said. “He’s smart enough to realize that engagement is the key. So I applaud him as an artist and as a fellow Pisces and a fellow March 10 birthday man. He’s a good dude.”

Hamm said the NFL Honors have grown into something meaningful for players across the league, especially those whose accomplishments are not always tied to postseason success. He pointed to standout individual achievements that still deserve recognition.

“You got guys like Myles Garrett breaking the sack record,” Hamm said. “He ain’t sniffing the Super Bowl, but it’s still something to be celebrated, right?”

The NFL Honors have evolved into a night players anticipate, Hamm said, in part because of the rare opportunity it gives them to gather in one place.

“They’re in a room with their peers. Everybody knows everybody,” he said. “They only play 17, 18 games. … It’s nice for them to get celebrated the way they should.”

A lifelong football fan, Hamm grew up in St. Louis following the Cardinals and Rams before later rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs. Hosting the ceremony, he said, means stepping back from team allegiances.

“It’s not about one team,” Hamm said. “It’s about honoring the season.”

As the NFL Honors celebrate their milestone year, Hamm said the night is ultimately about bringing people together before the Super Bowl matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots. He said the ceremony is a gathering point during the week.

“The appetizer,” he said. “That’s what it is.”

For more on the Super Bowl, visit https://apnews.com/hub/nfl.