By The Arts Fuse Staff

Film

Boston Area Film Schedules—What Is Playing Today, Where, and When

Coming Through the Rye
October 30th at 3:00 PM
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA

Set in 1969, this is the coming of age story of sensitive 16 year old Jamie Schwartz. He believes he is destined to play Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of The Catcher in the Rye and has adapted the book as a play. After a series of increasingly hostile altercations with the boys at school, Jamie runs away to search for J.D. Salinger. On his way he picks up Deedee Gorlin, a quirky townie. Their odyssey to find Salinger becomes a journey of sexual awakening, the discovery of love, and of the meaning of one’s life. This is a special screening with director James Steven Sadwith; actor Chris Cooper will be in attendance. Trailer.

Trapped
November 1 at 7 p.m.
Bright Lights Film Series, Paramount Center 559 Washington Street Boston, MA

From 2011 to 2013, hundreds of regulations were passed restricting access to abortion in America. Reproductive rights advocates refer to these as “TRAP” laws, or Targeted Regulation of Abortion Providers. While these laws have been enacted in 11 states, Southern clinics in particular have been hit hardest and are now in a fight for their survival. Trapped interweaves the personal stories behind these regulatory battles. Discussion with director Dawn Porter to follow. Free. Trailer.

Boston International Kids Film Festival
November 3 – 6
Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA

BIKFF is a festival of family-friendly engaging short films, feature films, student films, workshops, special events, and an all-day filmmaking boot camp. It was created by the Filmmakers Collaborative to help young people learn to use the media so that it doesn’t use them. The screenings are made up of thought-provoking films from around the world, films made for kids and by kids, and a variety of hands-on workshops that teach the next generation of filmmakers to realize the power and potential of media. Key films in this year’s festival include Annabelle Hooper and the Ghosts of Nantucket, and Life, Animated, a documentary film from Academy Award- winning director Roger Ross Williams. The latter film tells the inspirational story of Owen Suskind, a young man who was unable to speak as a child until he and his family discovered a unique way to communicate by immersing themselves in the world of classic Disney-animated films. Full Schedule

Kate Plays Christine
November 4 through 6
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge, MA

As he did with previous film Actress, director Robert Greene blurs the line between reality and fiction. This time he directs a gripping, nonfiction psychological thriller that follows actress Kate Lyn Sheil (House of Cards, The Girlfriend Experience) as she prepares for her next role: playing Christine Chubbuck, a Florida newscaster who committed suicide live on-air in 1974. As Kate investigates Chubbuck’s story, uncovering new clues and information, she becomes increasingly obsessed with her subject. Winner of a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, the film is a cinematic mystery that forces us to question everything we see and everything we’re led to believe. For those who are interested, Antonio Campos’ film with actress Rebecca Hall as Christine is also in theaters. Reviewed in The Arts Fuse.

Swan Island
November 4 at 5:30 p.m.
Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon St. Boston, MA

Swan Island was a popular teen novel in East Germany, often assigned reading in schools. But when director Herrmann Zschoche went to film the book, he immediately ran into problems. The story was seen as an attack on the way the people in charge were handling the needs and requests of the children in the housing complex, and by proxy, the needs and requests of the general public. Zschoche had to rewrite several scenes and inserts a few others to keep the film board happy.The resultant film is still strong, but varies in many key areas from both the book and the original screenplay.

— Tim Jackson

Not Reconciled. The Cinema of Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet
At the Harvard Film Archive, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, through November 28.

A retrospective of films, often radically political (“Long live dynamite!”), by major European moviemakers Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet. “Compared early on to the work of Bresson, Dreyer and Brecht, their films are, nevertheless, truly singular. These are films that disorient and overwhelm. And through the moments of disorientation come brilliant moments of clarity. These films stare at, and listen intensely to, the world and its people, so that we may see what is always present but absent. Filmed with a camera Straub once described as an ‘accomplice,’ the characters energetically burst off the screen through carefully rehearsed performances that focus on the voice and minimal, but immense, gestures. We experience their struggles, their hopes, and their pain as though they were sitting right in front of us.” (HFA) Many of their films draw on literary sources: stories by Böll, Kafka, Duras, and Pavese; poems by Dante, Mallarmé, and Hölderlin; a long-forgotten Corneille play, an essay by Montaigne, a film by D.W. Griffith, a painting by Cézanne, an unfinished opera by Schoenberg. Standout entries for me, some because of their theater connections—Machorka-Muff and Not Reconciled, or Only Violence Helps Where Violence Rules, Antigone, Eyes Do Not Want to Close at All Times, or, Perhaps One Day Rome will Permit Herself to Choose in Her Turn (Othon), The Death of Empedocles, Moses and Aaron, and These Encounters of Theirs.

— Bill Marx

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Dance

Impelling Forces
on October 30
The Sanctuary Theater
Cambridge, MA

From a contemporary jazz rendition of Mozart to Philip Glass’s dramatic Symphony #2, Impelling Forces launches José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s 31st season with grace and strength.

Le Corsaire
through November 6
Boston Opera House
Boston, MA

Fans of ballet classics should head to the Boston Opera House in the coming week to witness the North American premiere of Ivan Liška’s Le Corsaire. This dramatic love story follows the journey of a beautiful woman held captive in a harem and her daring escape with pirates, performed by Boston Ballet.

Vertigo Dance Company
October 30 at 3 p.m.
Citi Shubert Theatre
Boston, MA

Celebrity Series of Boston presents the Jerusalem-based Vertigo Dance Company, hailed by the New York Times for its “high-voltage dancing.” Among the works being shown is Vertigo 20, a piece that brings to life the company’s development over the past 20 years.

CONVERGENCE
October 28 & November 5 at 8 p.m.
Boston University Dance Theater
Boston, MA

BoSoma Dance Company’s fall season performance highlights three new works by choreographer Katherine Hooper—the pieces are influenced by visual arts and projected imagery and boast the creative costume design of Chris Hynds.

Estampas Porteñas Tango Company
Friday, November 4 at 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center
Boston, MA

World Music/CRASHarts presents Estampas Porteñas Tango Company, performing the Boston premiere of the company’s work Deseos . . . Stories of Longing and Desire Told through Argentine Tango and Music. Deseos features the talents of 15 tango dancers and 6 musicians for an engaging evening celebrating Argentinian culture.

— Merli V Guerra

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Theater

Dracula for Dummies adapted and directed by Tristan DiVincenzo. Staged by the Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St. Provincetown, MA, through October 31.

This horror spoof pays homage to Bram Stoker’s gothic thriller Dracula. According to DiVincenzo, the satire “crams as many references to the plays, films, pop songs, comic books, cartoons and fan fiction novels that one director can pack into 90 minutes!” The “frightfully talented” acting ensemble is supported by The Harmonics, a gypsy band of musicians.

Good by CP Taylor. Directed by Jim Petosa. Staged by New Repertory Theatre in the Charles Mosesian Theater at the Arsenal Center for the Arts, Watertown, MA, on October 30.

“How does a good man turn toward the unthinkable? In 1930s Germany, Professor John Halder writes a novel about compassionate euthanasia, drawing the attention of the Nazi Party. Despite his own misgivings and the pleadings of his Jewish friend Maurice, John is tempted by the changing world around him. In this expressionistic play with music (first produced in 1981), CP Taylor poses questions that remain all too familiar in today’s political landscape.” Arts Fuse review

10,000 Things, written and directed by Erik Ehn. Staged by the Wilbury Theatre Group, 393 Broad Street, Providence, Rhode Island, on October 30.

The world premiere of a “multi-part experiment in process-driven theatre”: “An exploration of the limits of mercy and extent of distraction in a busy age. How do we care for the things that need tending? How do we wake up our eyes? At the center of the process: text + shadows… shadow puppetry, shadows as design elements, and – shadow as cultural erasure.”

Tiger Style! by Mike Lew. Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagle. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, through November 13.

“A hilarious new comedy that examines race, parenting, and success with wit and sharp humor.” The sit-com set-up: “Squabbling siblings Albert and Jennifer Chen reached the pinnacle of academic achievement. But as adults, they’re epic failures: he’s just been passed up for promotion and she’s been dumped by her loser boyfriend.” Arts Fuse review

Warrior Class, by Kenneth Lin. Directed by Dawn M. Simmons. Staged by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA, through November 13.

Playwright Kenneth Lin’s (TV’s House of Cards) script focuses on “a New York assemblyman who’s been dubbed ‘The Republican Obama.’ The son of Chinese immigrants and a decorated war veteran, he looks forward to a seemingly limitless political career. When someone from his past threatens to reveal a college transgression, he must decide how far he’ll go to keep the incident out of the public eye.” Arts Fuse review

The Scottsboro Boys, music and lyrics by John Kander & Fred Ebb. Book by David Thompson. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Music direction by Matthew Stern. Choreography by Ilyse Robbins. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, through November 19.

“In this, their final collaboration, legendary songwriting team John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago) bring to light one of the most infamous events in American history: the shocking true story of nine African American boys jailed in Alabama in 1931 for a crime they did not commit.”

When January Felt Like Summer, by Cori Thomas. Directed by Benny Sato Ambush. Staged by the Underground Railway Theater at the Center Square Theater, Cambridge, MA, through November 13.

“In Central Harlem during a mysteriously warm winter, the Hindu God Ganesh presides over the destinies of five people on paths of self-discovery and transformation as their disparate lives intersect. An urban romantic comedy humming with vibrancy and possibility of change and transcendence.”

Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again, by Alice Birch. Directed by Summer L Williams. Staged by Company One at the Plaza Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts, through November 19.

The New England premiere of a play that the company claims “morphs language and explodes boundaries to explore the myriad ways women are styled, shaped, and confined to fit society’s expectations, asking us: What happens when we rebel?” Could be interesting—post-Trump sexist meltdown. Arts Fuse review

Wrathskeller Tales, written and performed by Boston BeauTease (formerly The Boston Babydolls) at The Wrathskellar, 288A Green St. (lower level), Cambridge, MA, through October 31.

“Find yourself immersed in the nightmarish backstage of a supernatural tavern.”

Mala, written and performed by Melinda Lopez. Directed by David Dower. Staged by ArtsEmerson in the Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre at the Emerson/Paramount Center, Boston, MA, through November 20.

The world premiere of a one-woman show by (and starring) Lopez, a celebrated local playwright. The script “puts a sharp focus on what it means to do our best to put our loved ones first, right to the very end, and what happens when we strive to be good, but don’t always succeed.”

How Soft the Lining, by Kirsten Greenidge. Directed by M. Bevin O’Gara. Staged by Bad Habit Productions at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, November 5 through 20.

The world premiere of a historical drama: “Inspired by the lives of Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckly, Mrs. Lincoln’s freed black seamstress, the story is set in the White House after the assassination of the 16th president. The stigma often associated with Mrs. Lincoln has been etched away to reveal a friendship that both women come to hold dear.”

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare. Directed by Doug Lockwood. Staged by Actors’ Shakespeare Project at the Church of the Covenant, Boston, MA, through November 6.

Omar Robinson tackles one of the seminal roles in the English theater. Other cast members include Marianna Bassham, Ross MacDonald, Poornima Kirby, and Richard Snee. Arts Fuse review

Shakespeare in Song, performed by Caroline Musica, Cynthia Mork, Eric Bronner and Bradford Conner. Staged by American Classics. Staged at the Follen Community Church, Lexington, MA on November 4 and at the Pickman Concert Hall of the Longy School of Music, Cambridge, MA, on November 6.

In honor of the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death, a gathering of songs from The Boys From Syracuse (Rodgers & Hart, based on The Comedy of Errors), Kiss Me Kate (Cole Porter, based on The Taming of the Shrew), West Side Story (Bernstein and Sondheim, based on Romeo and Juliet), The Lion King (Tim Rice and Sir Elton John, based on Hamlet), and more.

Twelfth Night of the Living Dead, by Brian MacInnis Smallwood. Directed by Bryn Boice. Staged by the Anthem Theatre Company in the Plaza Black Box at the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA, through November 5.

You knew it had to happen—the combo of Jane Austen and zombies has led to the Bard meets the Walking Dead. “This campy, gory adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night begs the question: what happens when the zombies come to Illyria? Hilarity ensues. And gory fake blood and guts abound (complementary splash-zone ponchos will be distributed to those in front row seats)!” Batten down those ponchos when Malvolio swears revenge. I have no doubt that the late great critic Arthur Friedman would have loved every second of it.

Abigail/1702 by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Directed by Tlaloc Rivas. Staged by the Merrimack Repertory Theatre, 50 East Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA, through November 6.

October—the month crowded with things that go bump in the night. “Old demons and new beginnings. Ten years after the Salem witch trials, a notorious young accuser seeks salvation in Boston, only to find her new life haunted by terrors of the past. She’ll face pirates, the devil, and worse in this eerie and quintessentially New England tale from one of America’s master horror writers. For Abigail, forgiveness is everything—but it may come at an unthinkable price.” Arts Fuse review

— Bill Marx

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Visual Arts

Inventing Impressionism
through June 11, 2017
RISD Museum, Providence, RI

Although the Impressionists are probably best known as artists who painted haystacks, churches, water, flowers, and ballet dancers in loosely stroked, fresh colors, their real innovation was to show contemporary life in all its messy, Steam Age glory. This exhibition, drawn from the RISD collection, focuses on the innovative use of materials, techniques, and subject matter in the work of Paul Cézanne, Camille Pissarro, Berthe Morisot, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Mary Cassatt, among other artists. Featured are rarely seen works on paper, including Degas’s arresting pastel group portrait, Six Friends at Dieppe, and Monet’s A Walk in the Meadows at Argenteuil, a recent gift to the museum.

Embodied Absence: Chilean Art of the 1970s Now
through January 8, 2017
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge, MA

Following the 1973 right-wing coup that ended the Marxist presidency of Dr. Salvador Allende, Chilean artists were forced into a kind of half-life, living abroad or underground, working under pseudonyms, exhibiting in public spaces or artist-run galleries, making a coded art to avoid the censors. This exhibition and related performance series, co-organized with Harvard’s David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies in collaboration with contemporary Chilean artists who are confronting an elusive cultural past, documents a largely ephemeral art movement, whose works often disappeared as soon as they appeared.

2016 Biennial
November 4 – January 24, 2017
Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, ME

Last June, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art opened a stunning new home, designed by the international award-winning architect Toshiko Mori, in Rockland, Maine’s booming art district. The CMCA’s biennial, held in the fall of every even-digit year, opens in the new building for the first time this November. The selection for this Down East salon includes more than a dozen artists, hailing, near and far, from Lewiston and Portland to Eastport and Spruce Head.

— Peter Walsh

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Classical Music

Beethoven’s Eroica and Mendelssohn’s Italian
Presented by the Handel and Haydn Society
October 30 (at 3 p.m.)
Symphony Hall, Boston, MA

Richard Egarr leads the H&H Period Instrument Orchestra in two favorites: Beethoven’s revolutionary Symphony no. 3 and Mendelssohn’s sunny Symphony no. 4

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Back Bay Chorale
October 30 at 3 p.m.
At Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

“The Back Bay Chorale opens the 16/17 season with three remarkable, if lesser known, masterworks. Brahms’s delicate setting of the Schiller elegy Nänie depicts the beauty and elegance of the Stygian spirit-world and the inevitability of life’s passing. With characteristic punch and bravado, Beethoven’s C major mass heralds the voice of the romantic spirit in the trappings of a Viennese mass.” Finally, there is Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht, a colorful, fantasy-filled depiction of Goethe’s account of pious Druids dressed as ghosts and goblins.

King’s Chapel Choir
October 30 at 5 p.m.
At King’s Chapel, 58 Tremont Street, Boston, MA

On a program entitled “Requiem Aeternam”: “Two Italian a cappella Requiem Masses, by Palestrina and Pizzetti, Italian masters separated by 400 years.”

Pianist Meng-Chieh Liu, violinist Nicholas Kitchen, cellist Yeesun Kim
October 31 at 7:30 p.m.
At Jordan Hall/New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA

“This program of Russian music will finish with the Tchaikovsky Piano Trio; the first half will feature two Duo Sonatas: the Schnittke First Cello Sonata, and the Prokofiev Violin Sonata in f minor.”

Boston Conservatory Chamber Series
November 4 at 8 p.m.
Boston Conservatory/Seully Hall, 8 Fenway, Boston, MA

“Featuring works by Bailey Holland, Bartók, and Poulenc, performed by faculty members Sarah Brady (flute), Kyle Brightwell (percussion), Amanda Hardy (oboe), Max Levinson (piano), Kevin Owen (horn), Nancy Zeltsman (marimba), and student winners of the 2016–2017 Chamber Series Audition.”

Chorus pro Musica
November 4 at 8 p.m.
At Jordan Hall/New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA

A performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, “one of the greatest achievements of one of the greatest composers of all time. To no other composition did Beethoven give so much time, effort and attention; it expresses, on a grand scale, his deepest and most personal spirituality.”

Musicians of the Old Post Road
November 4 at 7:30 p.m.
At the First Parish of Sudbury, 327 Concord Road, Sudbury, MA
November 6 at 3 p.m.
At the Old South Church, 645 Boylston Street, Boston, MA

The “Baltic Sojourn” program “showcases exciting Baroque rarities from Italian and German composers who migrated to Latvia, Poland, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia. Enjoy delightful “Handelian” orchestral suites by Roman; fresh Baroque discourse in works by Szarzynski, Scheibe, and Meder; and over-the-top emotional drama in sonatas by Müthel and Madonis.”

Chameleon Arts Ensemble
November 5 at 8 p.m.
First Church in Boston, 66 Marlborough Street, Boston, MA
November 6 at 4 p.m.
Goethe-Institut, 170 Beacon Street, Boston, MA

A program entitled “with infinite refrain”: Beethoven’s Variations for cello & piano on Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen, Op.66; Elliott Carter’s Eight Etudes and a Fantasy for woodwind quartet (1949); Michael Colgrass’s Variations for four drums & viola; Brahms’s Piano Quartet No. 1 in g minor, Op. 25.

Pianist Imogen Cooper
November 5 at 8 p.m.
Presented by Celebrity Series at Jordan Hall/New England Conservatory, 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA

On the program: Beethoven’s Bagatelles, Opus 33; Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze; De Falla’s Homenaje (“Pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy”); Debussy’s Soirée dans Grenade and La Puerta del Vino; Albéniz’s Selections from Iberia.

— Susan Miron

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Jazz

Jane Bunnett & Maqueque
November 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA

Canadian soprano saxophonist, flutist, and composer Jane Bunnett, who has made a specialty of Afro-Cuban music, a few years ago put together Maqueque, an explosive band of young women from the island, and brought them to Scullers. They’re back, this time at the Regattabar, celebrating a new CD. The band includes drummer Yissy Garcia, percussionist and singer Melvis Santa, pianist Dánae Olano, percussionist Magdelys Savigne (on batá drums and congas), and bassist Celia Jiménez.

JCA Orchestra
November 1 at 8 p.m.
Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA

The Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra crams into the tiny Lilypad to play the music of David Harris, Mark Harvey, Darrell Katz, Mimi Rabson, and Bob Pilkington. Added treat: violinist Rabson will also be a featured guest player with the band.

Joey Alexander
November 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, 400 Soldiers Field Rd, Boston, MA

The current boy wonder, now 13, blows into Scullers for two nights and four shows with, undoubtedly, top-rank rhythm-mates. You can fault this or that about Alexander, and grumble about maturity, but really, in a blindfold test, I defy you to be bored. Yes, he does sound mature beyond his years, and yes, interesting and compelling for a player of any age.

Jacky Terrasson
November 5 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge, MA

Pianist and composer Terrasson has been a star since winning the prestigious Thelonious Monk Piano Competition in 1993. He combines personal charm, serious intent, and virtuosity with cosmopolitan savvy and musical curiosity.

Morris-Sandvik and Merenda-Dreyer Duos
November 5 at 8 p.m.
Third Life Studio, 33 Union Square, Somerville, MA

In their longstanding duo project, pianist Vanessa Morris and guitarist Scott Sandvik have used improvisation as a way to explore everything from field recordings of African-American folk singing (including spirituals, hollers, and hymns) to, more recently, composers like Burt Bacharach, Carla Bley, and João Gilberto. They share this double-bill of duos with pianist James Merenda (better known, perhaps, for his saxophone playing) and bassist Jon Dreyer.

Chucho Valdés-Joe Lovano Quintet
November 6 at 7 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Ave, Boston, MA

Influential Cuban piano master Chucho Valdés has joined forces with American sax genius Joe Lovano in this project, playing its Boston debut. The band includes bassist Gaston Joya, percussionist Yaroldy Abreu Robles, and drummer Francisco Mela.

Eric Hofbauer Quintet
November 7 at 8 p.m.
Boston College, Gasson Hall, 140 Commonwealth Avenue, Chestnut Hill, MA

Guitarist and composer Eric Hofbauer has been digging into all manner of adventurous original compositions and unique recreations of work by past masters. Tonight he celebrates the CD release of his quintet’s version of Charles Ives’s Three Places in New England, Vol. 3 of Hofbauer’s “prehistoric jazz” series (Vol. 1 and 2 were Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time.) Also on the bill is the world premiere of Hofbauer’s arrangement of Duke Ellington’s rarely performed (even by Duke) 1935 “extended work” Reminiscing in Tempo. The estimable cast of the EHQ, in addition to Hofbauer, is Todd Brunel on clarinet and bass clarinet, trumpeter Jerry Sabatini, cellist Junko Fujiwara, and drummer/percussionist Curt Newton.

— Jon Garelick

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Rock, Pop, and Folk

Mitski with Fear of Men and Mal Devisa
November 1 (doors at 8, show at 9)
Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA

Mitski spent her childhood years in numerous countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo and Turkey, following her birth in Japan. Now based in Brooklyn, she released her second album Puberty 2 in June. With songs such as “I Bet on Losing Dogs” and “My Body’s Made of Crushed Little Stars,” the CD immediately received the kind of widespread acclaim that guarantees it a place on numerous forthcoming year-end best-of lists. Those in the know and those who wish to become so should proceed to the Paradise Rock Club on November 1.

— Blake Maddux

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World Music and Roots

Fradreck Mujuru & Erica Azim — Mbira Concert
October 30
Killian Hall, MIT, Cambridge, MA

Zimbabwean Mujuru comes from a long line of makers and players of the mbira thumb piano. He’s joined by mbira educator Azim for a 3 p.m. workshop followed by a 4 p.m. concert. The two will also be at Salem State University Recital Hall on November 3.

Klezwoods
November 3
Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation, 154 Moody Street, Waltham, MA

The buoyant Boston klezmer kings play this excellent Thursday night concert series at Waltham’s Charles River Museum.

Radio Jarocho
November 4
Villa Victoria Center for the Arts, Boston, MA

A celebration of Día de los Muertos with this New York-based quintet who preserve the traditional folk sounds of the Veracruz-region countryside.

Jah Jah Drummers 20th Anniversary
November 5
Unity Sports & Athletic Club, 10 Dunbar Avenue, Dorchester, MA

Roxbury’s tireless Jah Jah Drummers bring their West African and Caribbean percussion presentations to schools, festivals, and places of worship all around New England. This anniversary party includes a number of guests including the great Branches Steel Orchestra and some as-yet-unannounced reggae stars.

Spiritual Encouragers Gospel Celebration
November 6
Venue TBA

The hard-singing Spiritual Encouragers are welcome regulars on Boston’s traditional gospel circuit. While originally slated for the Lily of the Valley church, a venue change may be in the works. Updates are available at 919-796-5832.

— Noah Schaffer

Feel the Horn: The Orange Rhino Rally
Noon
October 29
Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA

A street-music take on Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros for the Donald Trump era. “Ionesco’s prophecy is now coming true on a national level in the United States of America—in 2016! Eric Zinman and Ian MacKinnon are advance rhino-men getting Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the last rhino-free zones in the country, to ‘grow a tusk and feel the horn’ as the nation prepares to switch to Rhino rule after the Rhinos’ amazing comeback from near-extinction.

“If you’re ready to go rhino, wear a lot of orange; we’ll provide the tusks. Dancers should be skilled in bluster, puffery, mugging, smirks, and threat display. Dances will employ iconic Trump gestures.” To perform or assist at these two rallies, contact Ian MacKinnon at artezani@verizon.net

— Bill Marx

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Author Events

Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair
October 30
Hynes Convention Center, Boston MA
Free on Sunday

In case you haven’t slaked your thirst for top-quality fiction at the book fair, worry not—the 40th anniversary of the antiquarian book fair is right around the corner. You can browse limited edition copies of rare, signed, and out of print books by everyone from James Baldwin to Sylvia Plath to Harry Houdini. While you’re at it, check out some classic movie posters from Psycho and The Exorcist, and local poets writing spontaneous verse on ancient typewriters as you browse.

Teju Cole
Known and Strange Things: Essays
October 31 at 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner MA
Free

After the success of Open City and Every Day Is For The Thief, Cole has established himself as one of the most important and innovative prose writers today. He will read from his new essay collection, which attempts to reframe the way we look at the postmodern world through evaluations of Virginia Woolf, Barack Obama, and Instagram.

David J Barron
Waging War: The Clash Between Presidents and Congress 1776 to ISIS
November 1 at 7 p.m.
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge MA
Free

Yes, Trump’s campaign is floundering, making the election of Hillary Clinton more and more probable. But given political facts, it might be a good idea to remember that presidents tend to have a contentious relationship with Congress. Barron is a former judge and professor of law who explains the history of executive and legislative flashpoints throughout history.

Zadie Smith
Swing Time
In Conversation with Christopher Lydon
November 18 at 7 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30)
First Parish Church, Cambridge MA
$28 tickets, including book

After several bestselling and widely praised books, there’s little doubt that Zadie Smith is one of the most visible and vibrant authors on the international literary scene. She will read, sign, and discuss her latest novel, which tells the story of two women who long to be dancers, with Radio Open Source’s Christopher Lydon.

— Matt Hanson