It’s always good to see some new art, but we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that part of the appeal is thatPeregrine Heathcoat is a pretty spectacular name.
ART
Peregrine Heathcoat: United Adventure
Through July 31
Newbury Fine Arts
35 Newbury St., Boston
Free, 617-536-0210
These paintings, with all due pop art snark, depict 1950’s jet set yuppies as they travel around the globe by plane, boat and car, looking young, sexy and flush with daddy’s cash. These hilariously posh characters are constantly bathed in the gorgeous light of a drawn-out summer sunset, allowing Heathcoat to reveal his talents for both natural beauty and human grotesquerie. COMEDY
You’re the Expert
Thursday, 7 p.m.
Paramount Center
559 Washington St., Boston
$25-$150, 617-824-8000
In the tradition of TV panel game shows like “What’s My Line” and “Figure it Out,” this WBUR radio program features a bunch of comedians trying to guess an chosen academic’s area of expertise, which isusually fairly obscure. At the end, we find out just how off or on target the panelists were. You just might learn something! THEATER
‘King Lear’
Through Aug.18
Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common
Boston
Free, 617-426-0863
This is the 20th year for Commonwealth Shakespeare’s “Shakespeare on the Common.”Last year, they did the light-hearted comedy “Twelfth Night” but this year they’ve pulled a 180, choosing one of the Bard’s most tragic works, depicting the fall into madness of a once-great king. This is their first production of “King Lear,” andWill Lyman takes on the complex figure. MUSIC
Longwood Symphony Orchestra: A Night at the Ballet
Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Hatch Shell
47 David G. Mugar Way
Free, 617-987-2000
The Boston Landmarks Orchestra turns the stage over to the Longwood Symphony — comprised entirely of local medical professionals— for this installment of their annual summer residency on the Esplanade. Longwood Symphony will perform a ballet program including Stravinsky’s “The Firebird,”Offenbach’s “Gaite Parisienne” and Scheer’s “Albert Schweitzer Portrait”. BOOKS
Kevin Hill
Monday, 7 p.m.
Porter Square Books
25 White St., Cambridge
Free, 617-491-2220
Psychiatrist Kevin Hill will discuss his book “Marijuana”, which provides the straight dope on pot, from its very long history of human consumption to the latest scientific research on its effects. While his psychiatric work focuses on treatments for tobacco and cannabis addiction, Hill argues neither for nor against the substance in his book, instead endeavoring simply to get the facts straight.