Coming Attractions: October 13 through 28 — What Will Light Your Fire

Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.

Film

Director Jean-Pierre Melville. Photo: Wiki Common

Melville et Cie.
Harvard Film Archives
through October 27

The screenings of the films of esteemed French director Jean-Pierre Melville continue: “a self-professed film noir enthusiast who once claimed to have been ‘formed and deformed to a great extent by the first American gangster novels … like a generation of résistants after the war,’ his people are characters with unresolved inner turmoil.”

Psychedelic Cinema
Through November 7
Harvard Film Archive

In the late ’60s Hollywood films took a more radical direction when the studio system began to falter. Psychedelics helped usher in the New Hollywood, along with wilder methods of film production. Directors as diverse as Bob Rafelson, Stanley Kubrick, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ed Pinkus, Roger Corman, Kenneth Anger, the elusive Harry Smith, and even Walt Disney populate this unique series.
Complete Schedule

A scene from Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. Photo: GKIDS

Global Cinema Now
through November 8
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

This film series features four releases of excellent international and transnational cinema from Cannes, Venice, and other festivals around the globe. Descriptions in links:

Auction (Le tableau volé) October 13 at 2:30 p.m.

Marinette November 8 at 7 p.m.

Roger Corman: King of Cult
through October 24
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

The late director, writer, and producer Roger Corman, known as “King of the B’s” was legendary for his ability to produce films quickly and on the cheap for the burgeoning teen market. In doing so, he fostered the careers of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, James Cameron, Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, Peter Bogdanovich, John Sayles, Robert Towne, and Ron Howard. Jonathan Demme said, “Roger is arguably the greatest independent filmmaker the American film industry has ever seen and will probably ever see.” This series features some of Corman’s campiest and most enjoyable B movies, many of them examples of the early work of now renowned directors.
Complete Schedule

New Hampshire Film Festival
through October 20
Portsmouth NH in Various Venues

NHFF has been an annual fall event since 2001, presenting four days of 100 or so independent films and lively panel discussions and other events. Complete Schedule

Boston Asian American Film Festival
October 17 through 20
Opening Feature at the Brattle Theatre, then at the Emerson Paramount Center

BAAFF showcases Asian American experiences and also serves as a resource for filmmakers in the Greater Boston Community. The festival is part of Get Konnected, an organization of 10 community organizations that have been instrumental in amplifying, elevating, and celebrating the Black and Asian communities in the Greater Boston area. October 18 through 27 a Virtual Shorts Programs will be available on-demand. Complete Schedule

A scene from the narrative short Mawtini (My Homeland), screening at the Boston Palestine Film Festival.

Boston Palestine Film Festival
October 18 through 27
Coolidge Corner, Regent Theater Arlington, MassArt Design and Media Center & MFA Boston

BPFF features documentaries, features, rare early works, video art pieces, and new films by emerging artists and youth offering honest, independent views of Palestine and its history, culture, and geographically dispersed society. There is also ancillary cultural programming, including concerts and art exhibits by or about Palestinians. Full Schedule

Invisible Nation
Coolidge Corner Theatre
October 20 at 3 p.m.

With unprecedented access to Taiwan’s sitting head of state, director Vanessa Hope investigates the election and tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan. An introduction to the modern Taiwan-China situation, the documentary supports a narrative of Taiwan self-determination. “Rousing and effective propaganda” (Letterboxd) Filmmaker Hope will appear in person.

A scene from Steven Ascher’s Looking Forward, a meditation on the future that’s screening in the GlobeDocs Film Festival. Photo: courtesy of the artist

GlobeDocs Film Festival
October 22 – 27
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brattle Theatre, and Alamo Drafthouse Cinema

The 10th year of the all-documentary film festival returns in-person and online, presenting 16 feature-length and 16 short documentary films. The festival will open with the world premiere of Dukakis: Recipe For Democracy, directed and produced by Erin Trahan and Jeff Schmidt.

The Centerpiece film is 2073, hybrid sci-fi that draws on modern day journalists covering current global crises (October 25 at the Brattle Theatre).

This year’s winner of the Emerging Filmmaker contest is Lighthouse, directed by Boston College student Lola Ellis (October 27 at the Brattle Theatre)

The closing movie is the premiere of Zurawski V Texas, from executive producers Hillary Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence. Virtual screenings will be available via the Eventive platform. Full Schedule

Eno
October 25 at 8 p.m.
Regent Theater in Arlington

The visionary musician and artist reveals his creative processes in this film, directed by Gary Hustwit (Helvetica, Rams). It is the world’s first generative feature film. What does that mean? Variety critic Owen Gleiberman describes it this way: “The director has created the film with generative software that allows the film to play in a different version every time you see it. Sections of it will land in a different order, and some won’t appear at all (replaced by others); the movie is reshuffled each time with an element of the random. How random? Well, it’s not as if the generative AI determines the order of everything. I’ve seen Eno just once, so I can’t compare it to other iterations of the film, but what I saw felt like it played in a sensible and, to a degree, predetermined order.”

Claude Rains posing in his iconic face mask costume from the 1933 original. Photo courtesy of shando/ flickr

23rd Halloween Horror Marathon
October 26
Coolidge Corner begins at midnight

This year the Annual 12-hour Marathon of Halloween Horrors includes The Invisible Man (1933), The Fly (1986), and five more frightening films — all in 35mm!

Elbow
Coolidge Corner Theatre
October 27 at 11 a.m.

Elbow is a film based on a book by Fatma Aydemir. The protagonist is a young Turkish-German woman named Hazal, who is just a few days away from turning 18. In an unsuccessful search for an apprenticeship, she encounters rejections. At one point, she is accused of shoplifting. Whether Hazal’s guilty or not is unclear, but the casual and systematic racism she must endure is crystal clear. The screening will feature a post-film Q&A with director Aslı Özarslan and author Fatma Aydemir. Part of the Goethe Institute Sunday Series.

A scene from 1926’s The Bat, screening at the Somerville Theatre

The Bat (1926)
October 27 at 2 p.m.
Somerville Theatre in Davis Square

Lost for decades, Ronald West’s 1926 silent version of The Bat, adapted by West from a three-act play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood (which was itself based upon the novel The Circular Staircase by Rinehart), was a big hit upon its original release. It returned in 1930 via a remake entitled The Bat Whispers.The 1959 version featured Vincent Price and Agnes Moorehead. This version features Jack Pickford and Louise Fazenda, with Jeff Rapsis supplying a live score.

Pick of the Week

Disclaimer
Apple TV

Cate Blanchett in Disclaimer. Photo: Apple TV

Notable film directors have lately developed and directed some compelling series television. To name a few: Paolo Sorrentino (The New Pope), Luca Guadagnino (We Are Who We Are), Jane Campion (Top of the Lake), Susanne Bier (The Perfect Couple), and Tony Gilroy (Andor). The new series, Disclaimer, by Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón is only two episodes in, but has already established itself as a stylish blend of psychological suspense, social commentary, drama, and comedy. It shifts artfully between time frames and character points if view. The director of films such as diverse as Y tu Mama Tambien (2001), Children of Men (2006), Gravity (2013), and Roma (2018) says his latest creation should not be considered a series but a 7-hour movie. With cinematography by both Emmanuel Lubezki (The Revenant) and six-time Oscar nominee Bruno Delbonnel (A Very Long Engagement) the film is gorgeous. Add to that a cast including Oscar winners Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline along with Sacha Baron Cohen, Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Power of the Dog), and the estimable Leslie Manville (Phantom Thread), and you have a must-see event.

— Tim Jackson


World Music and Roots

Indian classical music master Bahauddin Dagar will perform at Harvard University this week. Photo: courtesy of the South Asia Institute

Bahauddin Dagar
October 17, 6:30 p.m.
CGIS at Harvard University, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge

This free (with RSVP) performance by Indian classical music master Dagar is part of Harvard’s ArtsThursdays program. Dagar plays the Rudra veena, a large string instrument found in the Hindustani dhrupad tradition, a music that Dagar’s family has been keeping us alive for 20 generations.

Pineapple Pounce
October 19, 4 p.m.
Midway Cafe, Jamaica Plain

Earlier this year Swelltune Records revived the Pineapple Pounce, a series of surf and tiki-themed events. The beloved Midway Cafe dive bar will be transformed into a tropical paradise complete with island decor and beverages (of both the alcoholic and mocktail varieties). The Pounce returns for a matinee edition with two wonderful surf bands who will bring on the reverb: Canada’s Babalooneys and Cape Cod’s Hydronauts.

Composer and sound artist Raven Chocan will be at the Waterworks Museum this week. Photo: courtesy of New Mexico University Fine Arts

Raven Chacon
October 19, 8 p.m.
Waterworks Museum, Brookline

Non-event is returning to the acoustically wonderous site of its annual creative music festival for a free (with RSVP) City of Boston-sponsored evening. The heralded Navajo composer and sound artist Raven Chocan, winner of a MacArthur Genius Grant, will be offering what is described as a “an original on-site responsive performance.”

Tish Hinojosa
October 23
Club Passim

The queen of Tex-/Mex folk (and past Arts Fuse interview subject) Tish Hinojosa considered retiring during the Covid shutdown. Instead, she’s released a new record this month. With a Guitar and a Pen is her first disc in six years, and she’s playing a rare Boston-area show at Club Passim.

Elyanna
October 25 7 p.m.
Big Night Live

Palestinian-Chilean singer Elyanna is taking Arabic pop to places it normally isn’t found, like Coachella and Saturday Night Live, where she appeared with Coldplay last week. She’ll have the spotlight all to herself in one of her ecstatic headline appearances.

Gusttavo Lima
October 26
Outdoors at the Palladium, Worcester

While Brazil’s Anitta has made inroads with international audiences, perhaps the biggest star within the country – and certainly here in the Brazilian diaspora – is the charismatic country singer Gusttavo Lima, who is well into his second decade of purveying the sound of sertaneja, an earnest style that has its roots in the Brazilian countryside. Like its more famous cousin, forro, it’s a rural sound that has been slicked up for modern consumption, with Lima creating many of its biggest party anthems. And despite Lima’s recent legal hassles at home, he will be bringing a party: the ticketing page says the outdoor event will last from 1 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The Debashish Bhattacharya Trio will perform in Somerville (l to r): Subhasis Bhattacharya, Debashish Bhattacharya, and Anandi (Sukanya) Bhattacharya. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Debashish Bhattacharya Trio
October 27, 7:30 p.m.
Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Theater

One of the great innovators of Indian classical sounds, Bhattacharya plays a large slide guitar that he created to perform Hindustani music. For this Global Arts Live presentation he’ll be joined by his vocalist daughter Anandi (Sukanya) Bhattacharya and his percussionist brother Subhasis Bhattacharya.

— Noah Schaffer


Visual Arts

Poster by Shepard Fairey and team for the #GetOuttheVote mural project and wheatpaste campaign with #ArtsVoteOhio.

Overtly patriotic art has been out of fashion for many years in the United States, elbowed out by self expression, protest art, identity art, expressions of current concerns like climate change and racial justice, and other work that suggests things are not quite all that we could hope for in America. Yet, as the unusually turbulent 2024 presidential election comes to a possibly even more turbulent climax, the Museum of Fine Arts opens (on October 28) Power of the People: Art and Democracy, an exhibition designed to highlight “the ways in which art has expressed ideas about democracy throughout history and how artists have asked citizens to contemplate democracy’s promise, participate in its practice, and call for improvements.”

The 180 works of art, drawn mostly from the permanent collection, are a far cry from this season’s campaign merch of $500 gold high tops and $95 camo aprons: the 1768 Sons of Liberty Bowl by Paul Revere Jr., a Roman “Ides of March” assassin coin of 43-42 BC, and Cyrus Dallin’s 1912 marble relief portrait of Julia Ward Howe are among the often unexpected exhibits on view, which include sculpture, prints, photographs, posters, fashion, and less conventional media. All, the museums hopes, will invite visitors “to reflect on, discuss, create, and participate in the democracy we share.”

The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art’s ample campus, once the grounds of the historic “Old Hundred” building on Main Street in the pleasant town of Ridgefield, CT (at times a grocery, hardware store, and post office, and now the home of the Aldrich administrative offices) has provided a plush green setting for performances, garden parties, installations, and an extensive sculpture garden. A Garden of Promise and Dissent, opening October 28 in the museum’s indoor galleries and on November 17 in the grounds, inaugurates recent renovations to the campus and Sculpture Garden with an “inter generational group exhibition of twenty-one artists.” Even while drawing on the long established symbolism of the garden as a safe space for “care, resilience, and hope,” the artists, the Aldrich says, “radicalize the garden as a theme to tackle moral, social, economic, and ecological afflictions that trouble our planet.”

The Bates College Museum of Art offers another take on the meaning of “grounds” in Across Common Grounds, opening October 24. The show focuses on work being made outside the traditional cultural capitals of cities and urban settings, making a case for “the vibrant of rural places where caring for both communities and land is unified… across many common grounds.” The exhibition, the museum says, “proclaims that some of the most engaging and relevant artwork being made in or about America today relates to places that often exist outside of exclusive urban art centers.”

Steina, Geomania, 1987 (still). Two-channel video matrix installation, color, sound, 15 min. Photo: courtesy the artist and BERG Contemporary

On October 25, 6:30-8:00 pm, MIT List Visual Arts Center in Cambridge will hold an opening reception for its exhibition, Steina: Playback. The show is the first solo exhibition in more than a decade for media artist Steina, whose nearly five decades of video work “queries the possibilities of sound-image exchange, machine vision, and electronic abstraction.” The title Playback suggests the mechanics of video and also Steina’s back-and-forth working method, which never quite resolves into a finished product. The reception is open to the public for free, but registration is required.

Jeffrey Gibson: POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT, 2024. Courtesy of Jeffrey Gibson Studio. Photo: Thomas Roeschlein

MassMOCA’s vast recycled industrial spaces and generous commissions often seem to inspire massive, engulfing works of art and outsized images, installations more monumental and complex than anything the exhibiting artist has attempted before. Jeffrey Gibson: POWER FULL BECAUSE WE’RE DIFFERENT, opening November 3, does not look to be an exception. The commissioned, immersive installation will fill the museum’s Building 5 with outsized and beaded garments, inspired by regalia from Indigenous religious ceremonies, including the Ghost Dance, a documentary, multiple videos, a suspended video installation “harnessing both contemporary and early drag culture” and evoking “a club-like atmosphere,” a huge mirrored wall, two mezzanine galleries with more video, and seven twelve by twelve foot performance stages made of fused glass that will host performances throughout the show’s year-and-a-half run.

Gibson, who was born in Colorado Springs and whose background is Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee, is the first indigenous artist to have a solo exhibition in the American pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He brings a layered identity to the MassMOCA installation, which “offers an exploration into the term ‘two-spirit,’ a third gender which is both, and neither, male or female.” Gibson, the museum says, “views the exhibition as an invitation to other Indigenous creatives to contribute to a space where difference is not only considered, it is celebrated.”

The American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Ivorian artist Ouattara Watts met in Paris in 1988, at the opening of Basquiat’s exhibition at the Yvon Lambert Gallery. They quickly established a strong rapport. Seven months later, though, Basquiat was dead. Now the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH, “imagines how their artistic alliance and mutual influence could have evolved over time.” The museum’s Jean-Michel Basquiat and Ouattara Watts: A Distant Conversation includes five works by Basquiat and six large canvases by Watts, who is now based in New York. The exhibition is the last in the Currier’s series of “Distant Conversations,” which have paired “works by artists who share artistic and intellectual affinities across time and space.”

Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach (ringl + pit), Walter & Ellen Auerbach, London, ca. 1934, vintage silver print on paper. Photo: courtesy of Robert Mann Gallery

The invention of photography opened up vast new possibilities for the portrait. A painted self-portrait, for example, requires careful preparation and control and is typically a professional presentation of the sitter. A photographic self-portrait can be far more spontaneous and thus can evade the artist’s direct control, becoming, in effect, the portrait of a stranger. Hello, Stranger: Artist as Subject in Photographic Portraits since 1900, opens at the Bowdoin College Museum of Art on October 30. The thirty-five photographs in the show, self-portraits or portraits of other artists “foreground the idea that identity is fluid, bodies are malleable, and strangeness is common… Working against systems meant to define, categorize, and normalize, these artists have reclaimed the portrait to express themselves and to realize a vision of self otherwise foreclosed.”

— Peter Walsh


Popular Music

Boston Immersive Music Festival and OVC (Outerspace Visual Communicator), Boston Cyberarts, 141 Green Street, Jamaica Plain, through October 26.

“Greater Boston has no shortage of live-music events that seek to combine different musical eras, genres, live and recorded performance. But this series of live-music events, on weekends though the end of October raises the bar dramatically.”

“The Boston Immersive Music Festival brings together, in real time, five elements of a multimedia, multisensory experience (for audiences and performers alike). Each concert will draw from these components: a live performance by some of the Boston area’s most acclaimed artists in the jazz, classical, experimental, and folk traditions; the Outerspace Visual Communicator, a keyboard-triggered instrument that harnesses the power of light to interpret sound; Bill Sebastian, inventor of the OVC, “painting in real time” in response to live or recorded music; the musical legacy of Sun Ra, the late, great avant-garde composer who worked with Bill and inspired the OVC, as reimagined by today’s musicians; and audience reaction (through virtual-reality goggles and high-resolution projections) to music and light.”

— Bill Marx

Fake Fruit with SpllitOctober 14 (doors at 7)
Warehouse XI, Somerville

On Fake Fruit’s sophomore effort Mucho Mistrust, I — a nonconnoisseur of wine — detect notes of Gang of Four’s angular post-punk, Sonic Youth’s noisy alternative, Pavement’s skewed indie, and units of whichever genre(s) The Feelies are properly categorized as. (And while I’m name-dropping, I should add that the album takes its title — as some will have already noticed — from a line in Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.”) Despite a name that suggests something that appears scrumptious and nourishing but isn’t either, the Oakland quintet’s sound is plenty of both. The band hits its stride on track #1, from which point it fully demonstrates its zippy instrumentation (“Gotta Meet You” features cowbell and saxophone) and singer/songwriter Hannah D’Amato’s self-perceptive lyrics (e.g., “I decided to assert myself/After I lost all my sense of self”) and self-assured vocals. Ample parts raucous and melodic, Mucho Mistrust makes Fake Fruit a band to keep an ear and eye on.

Being Dead with Dari Bay and Leila Lamb
October 21: doors at 7/show at 7:30 p.m.
The Rockwell, Somerville

This year has seen the release of amazing albums by many comparatively new and relatively obscure artists (e.g., The Umbrellas, Ducks Ltd., English Teacher, Hana Vu, Cindy Lee, Yard Act, etc.). With their second LP, EELS, Being Dead has proved themselves worthy of inclusion among this distinguished company. With the tracks “Being Bovine,” “Firefighters,” “Van Goes,” and “Goodnight,” the Austin trio serves up skewed and challenging samples of indie rock that are simultaneously immediate and accessible. And there’s plenty more where those come from among the record’s 16 entries, 11 of which clock in at less than three minutes. While EELS is unjustifiably fated to sell in the (most likely single-digit) thousands, those who hear it would be doing their music-loving friends a disservice by not recommending it. In fact, I might decide in December that it was my favorite release of the past 12 months.

MJ Lenderman & The Wind with Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band
October 22: doors at 7/show at 8 p.m.
Royale, Boston

With the brand new Manning Fireworks, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and drummer (notably for Indigo De Souza) MJ Lenderman continues to reinforce the talents that he concurrently demonstrates as a member of the acclaimed Asheville quintet Wednesday. (Several of that band’s members guest on the album.) His latest finds him all over the pop culture map, with song titles nicked from The Band and Ozzy Osbourne, lyrics that quote Quite Riot, and the namechecking of a Pixar movie character and a recently deceased comic actor whose career spanned seven decades. On the leadoff track (also called “Manning Fireworks”), the record immediately settles into a decidedly midtempo pace that keep listeners at ease. However, the nine songs certainly don’t want for the type of dynamics that keep the same folks ever-alert.

— Blake Maddux


Classical Music

Pianist Jonathan Bliss will perform. with the BSO this week. Photo: Benjamin Ealovega

Biss plays Schumann
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
October 17 at 7:30 p.m., 18 at 1:30 p.m., and 19 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Pianist Jonathan Biss takes a turn in the solo spotlight for Robert Schumann’s echt-Romantic Piano Concerto. Meanwhile, Xian Zhang makes her Symphony Hall debut leading music by Chen Yi and Mozart.

Philip Glass Ensemble
Presented by Music Worcester
October 18, 8 p.m.
Mechanics Hall, Worcester

Music Worcester’s fall season opens with the first local appearance of the Philip Glass Ensemble. They perform the Minimalist master’s Music in Eight Parts and Glassworks.

Guy Braunstein plays Brahms
Presented by Boston Philharmonic
October 20, 3 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Violinist Guy Braunstein joins the BPO and conductor Benjamin Zander for Johannes Brahms’s evergreen Violin Concerto. Further works by Beethoven and Bartók round out the afternoon.

Jean-Yves Thibaudet will be performing with the BSO on October 24. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Thibaudet plays Liszt
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
October 24 at 7:30 p.m., 25 at 1:30 p.m., and 26 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall, Boston

Jean-Yves Thibaudet is always a welcome guest at the BSO. This week, he joins the orchestra for Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 2. Sir Antonio Pappano – another very welcome guest – conducts additional pieces by Hannah Kendall and Richard Strauss.

Paul Lewis plays Schubert
Presented by Celebrity Series
October 25, 8 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston

Pianist Lewis returns to the Celebrity Series with a reprise of his local debut program from more than a decade ago: Franz Schubert’s last three piano sonatas.

Cellist Zlatomir Fung will be performing Bach with Music Worcester. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Zlatomir Fung plays Bach
Presented by Music Worcester
October 26, 7 p.m.
Mechanics Hall, Worcester

Cellist Fung, who was the youngest First Prize winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition, contributes to Music Worcester’s years-long Complete Bach project by playing the six Cello Suites.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Grammy-nominated composer and New England Conservatory faculty member Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol. Two of his works will be performed by Blue Heron on October 19. Photo: Blue Heron

Blue Heron’s 25th Birthday Concert: something old, something new
First Church in Cambridge, Congregational 11 Garden Street
October 19, 3 p.m. (Doors open at 2:30 p.m.)

“Blue Heron returns to its origins, singing the glorious music of Hugh Aston from the Peterhouse Partbooks, and looks to the future with two works by Boston composer Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol setting Turkish Sufi texts, including a new piece written for the occasion, The Triumph. A pre-concert by Mehmet Ali Sanlikol available online here.Blue Heron’s 25th Birthday Party Reception to follow!

— Bill Marx


Theater

COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters.

Playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, author of Nassim, currently running at the Huntington Theatre Company. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Nassim, written and performed by Nassim Soleimanpour. Directed by Omar Elerian. Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Calderwood, 527 Tremont St. Boston, through October 27.

The NYTimes review of a 2018 production of this show says that it is “a play about displacement … it speaks, at times eloquently, of trying to live and work in a place and with a language not your own.” “A mysterious script in a box, and a new surprise performer every night — from local talent to big time celebrities!,” shouts the HRT publicity. Arts Fuse review

The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe by Jane Wagner. Performed and directed by Kathryn Van Meter. Staged by Merrimack Repertory Theatre at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre at Liberty Hall, Lowell, MA, through October 20.

According to MRT publicity, this one-person script “intertwines colorful, complex, and hysterically funny characters… and is about what makes us human. In a role originated by the formidable Lily Tomlin and written by Emmy Award Winner Jane Wagner, the story holds lasting and quick-witted power as an examination of American society.” I am old enough to have seen Tomlin perform the play in the mid-’80s.

This Is It, co-created by Kate Kohler Amory and Tamara Hickey. Directed by Kate Kohler Amory. Co-produced by Shakespeare & Co and Metagirl Productions at the BCA Black Box Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, October 23 through 27.

According to the publicity about this one-woman performance piece starring Tamara Hickey: “When a woman’s life is interrupted by a catastrophic car crash, she is catapulted into an existential, heartfelt, and often funny quest for meaning and connection. Landing in the Bardo, she discovers herself in the ‘in-between’ space between life and death.” The ensuring action includes “an autopsy, a pole dance, and an explosion of life”.

Urinetown: The Musical, music and lyrics by Greg Hollmann and book and lyrics by Greg Kotis. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Music direction from Dan Rodriguez and choreography by Christopher Shin. Presented by the Lyric Stage of Boston at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, through October 20.

A revival of the Broadway hit musical that satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics. The show also parodies musicals such as The Threepenny Opera, The Cradle Will Rock, and Les Misérables, and the Broadway musical itself as a form. The Lyric Stage publicity sums the show up: “A greedy and unethical corporation profits from the citizens of a city in the middle of a water shortage by banning public toilets forcing the people to pinch their pennies for the ‘privilege to pee.’ But revolution is in the air. Led by Bobby Strong, a hopeful hero who rallies a cornucopia of colorful and quirky characters to take on the oily tycoon Caldwell B. Cladwell, the road to freedom is paved with straight-faced silliness, cheeky musical parodies, and boisterous comedy. With heart and hope, this modern classic reminds us just how great and revelatory the American musical can be.”

falcon girls by Hilary Bettis. Directed by May Adrales. Staged by Yale Rep at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven, CT, October 10 through November 2.

A world premiere of a drama based on a true story: “It’s the 90s in rural Falcon, Colorado. Six teenage girls on the FFA horse judging team are determined to make it to nationals come hell or high water. But to do that, they must grapple with jealousy, rivalries, sex, Jesus, AOL chat rooms, impossible expectations, and rumors of a serial killer.” The script is a “coming-of-age memoir — –and a love letter to the girls Bettis grew up with and the horses who saved their lives.”

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, music and lyrics by David Yazbek and book by Jeffrey Lane. Directed by Allison Olivia Choat. Choreography by Brad Reinking. Music Direction by Catherine Stornetta. Staged by Moonbox Productions at Arrow Street Arts, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, through October 20.

Based on the 1988 hit film comedy of the same name, this 2004 musical, enthuses Moonbox Productions, “follows the misadventures of two con-artists: Freddy Benson and Lawrence Jameson. Freddy is just one more hardscrabble huckster trying to make a (dis)honest living — that is, until he meets Lawrence, a high-society swindler whose polish and connections have landed him a glamorous gig on the French Riviera. When Lawrence invites Freddy to team up, it seems like the two have finally found the perfect con — until they realize that their egos are the only thing more massive than their earnings. Friction turns to an outright feud when the perfect target arrives in town — Christine, an heiress who is just as beautiful as she is gullible. Who will be the first to steal Christine’s heart and, more importantly, her wallet?”

Pru Payne by Steven Drukman. Directed by Paul Daigneault. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion
at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, October 18 through November 16.

The East Coast premiere of a dramedy that “tells the story of Prudence ‘Pru’ Payne, a sharp-tongued intellectual and critic who recently signed on to share her extraordinary life in an eagerly awaited memoir. But when Pru’s memory starts to fade, her son sets her up in a state-of-the-art care facility, where love takes hold just as the world she once knew begins to slip away.” The topnotch cast includes Gordon Clapp, Karen MacDonald, Marianna Bassham, De’Lon Grant, and Greg Maraio.

Casey at the Bat: An All-American Panto. Written by Matthew Woods, Kiki Samko & Evan Turissini. Directed by Matthew Woods. Staged by imaginary beasts at the newly restored Topsfield Town Hall, 8 W Common St, Topsfield, October 18 through 26.

The Beasts are back with a baseball-themed panto: “Homer Humdinger would do anything to bring baseball to Mudville… even sell his soul to the devil! There’s one proviso: the demonic contract is null and void if the Mudville Mudslingers can win on Opening Day. But with the coach reading Baseball for Dummies, a Shakespeare-loving cat playing shortstop, and a mysterious sports reporter sniffing around the locker room — who can turn this team’s chances around? Is it Dewey Day, the town’s humble shoeshine boy who dreams of making it to the big leagues? Or the Mighty Casey, a legendary hometown hero with major league ego… and a big secret behind his success?”

Simon Says by Mat Schaffer. Directed by Myriam Cyr. Staged by Punctuate4 Productions at the Larcom Theatre, 13 Wallis Street, Beverly, October 16 through 27.

Just in time for the spooky season: “When James, (Kayode Akinyemi) a gifted young psychic, reluctantly agrees to one last reading, Professor Williston (Malcolm Stuart Ingram) races against time to prove the existence of the soul. Their journey takes a thrilling turn when a young widow (Molly Chiffer) arrives, desperate to reconnect with her lost husband and Simon, an all-knowing entity, has planned a reckoning.”

Ain’t No Mo’ by Jordan E. Cooper. Directed by Kemar Jewel. Staged by the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale at the University Theatre, 222 York Street, New Haven, CT, October 19 through 25.

A provocative premise: “What if all Black Americans were issued a government-funded one-way ticket to the continent of Africa?” In this tongue-in-cheek script, “Black Americans must get ready for takeoff — or else. Keep your seatbelt securely fastened and catch this pre-flight entertainment of satire and sketch comedy.” Here’s the “Content Guidance” statement: “Ain’t No Mo’ depicts anti-Black racism, cultural appropriation, lynching, and police brutality and meaningfully engages homophobia, internalized oppression, racialized social control, and reproductive rights.”

dramandemocracy Book & lyrics by Wes Savick. Music by Brian Bernhard & Scott Nicholas, Directed by Wes Savick presented by the Suffolk University Theatre Department at the Modern Theatre, 525 Washington Street, Boston, October 24 through 27.

“The show is a revamp of Wesley Savick’s 2018 hit musical, one state, two state / red state, blue state The action centered on the relationship between Betty and Bill–former lovers living in opposing parts of the country— as they rekindle their relationship after a long separation.

The musical was inspired by Arlie Russell Hochschild’s book Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right (2016 National Book Award Nomination for Nonfiction) which asks: Is it still possible to climb the ‘empathy wall’ and reclaim what unites us before we’re irreversibly torn apart? Hochschild will return to Suffolk for a Ford Hall Forum moderated by author James Carroll on October 26, to discuss her latest book Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right.”

Galileo’s Daughter by Jessica Dickey. Directed by Reena Dutt. A co-production of WAM Theatre and Central Square Theatre. At the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, from October 18 through November 3. Then at Central Square Theatre, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, November 14 through December 8.

Another theatrical perspective on Galileo: “Rattled by a personal crisis, a playwright flees to Florence to study the letters between Galileo and his eldest daughter Maria Celeste. Caught up in the threats against her father, Maria must abandon her work and join a convent. The writer’s discovery of Maria’s strength and tenacity inspires her own pursuit of purpose. Alternating between past and present, this play is a personal examination of faith, forgiveness, and the cost of seeking and speaking truth.”

— Bill Marx


Jazz

JCA Orchestra
October 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

Performances by the Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra have become a valued component of Boston cultural life over that organization’s nearly 40-year existence (b. 1985). This show will include new music by resident composers David Harris, Darrell Katz, Mimi Rabson, and Bob Pilkington as well as one reprise I’m happy to see: singer Debo Ray performing Katz’s “December 30, 1994,” about the murders at a Brookline women’s health clinic that happened on that day. Ray’s performance — and the band’s — last year at Berklee was searing, and unforgettable.

Happy 150th Birthday, Charles Ives! The NEC Jazz Orchestra is celebrating with an evening of new arrangements of the American composer’s most celebrated compositions.

NEC Jazz Orchestra: Charles Ives
October 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Jordan Hall, Boston

The folks at New England Conservatory point out that Charles Ives (1874-1954) was composing music “at the same time that jazz was first recognized as a uniquely American music,” and that he also shared some of the genre’s influences, such as marches, ragtime, and American popular song. The NEC Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Ken Schaphorst, hopes to make some of these connections explicit in their performance of new arrangements by Schaphorst of Ives’s most celebrated compositions, including “Three Places New England,” “A Set of Pieces for Theatre Orchestra” and “Ragtime Dance No. 4.” Admission is free, and the concert will also be livestreamed.

Dave Bryant’s “Third Thursdays” his week: (l to r) David Bryant, Barry Altschul, Scott Robinson, and Hill Greene. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Dave Bryant’s “Third Thursdays”
October 17 at 8 p.m.
Harvard-Epworth Church, Cambridge, Mass

Former Ornette Coleman Prime Time keyboardist Dave Bryant helms his monthly gathering of the harmolodically minded, this time with saxophonist Scott Robinson, bassist Hill Greene, and drummer Barry Altschul.

Jason Robinson
October 19 at 8 p.m.
Theodore Parker Unitarian Universalist Church, West Roxbury, Mass.

Saxophonist, flutist and composer Jason Robinson has translated his complex family history into evocative music on two volumes under the title Ancestral Numbers. He is joined by an excellent quintet from the album: trombonist Michael Dessen, pianist Joshua White, bassist Drew Gress, and drummer Ches Smith.

The John Scofield Trio: (l to r) John Scofield, Bill Stewart, Vicente Archer. Photo: courtesy of the artist

John Scofield
October 21 at 7:30 p.m.
City Winery, Boston

Guitar master John Scofield is joined by bassist Vicente Archer and drummer Bill Stewart, his superb trio mates from his most recent album, Uncle John’s Band. Yes, the double-CD includes that ditty from the Dead, as well songs by Dylan, Neil Young, Leonard Bernstein, Miles Davis, some jazz standards, and Scofield originals.

John Hollenbeck. Photo: Mercedes Jelinek

John Hollenbeck: GEORGE
October 22 at 4 p.m.
Eben Jordan Ensemble Room New England Conservatory, Boston

Progressive jazzheads probably know John Hollenbeck from his long-running Large Ensemble and Claudia Quintet. For the past couple of years, he’s been leading his unclassifiable ensemble GEORGE. The band — with New England Conservatory jazz studies cochair Anna Webber (flute, tenor saxophone), Sarah Rossy (voice/keyboards), and chiquitamagic (keyboards/voice) — will be performing “works from their 2023 album Letters to George, as well as new works to be recorded in the fall of 2024.” This New England Conservatory residency concert is presented free.

Pianist Nduduzo Makhathini. Photo: Arthur Diamini

Nduduzo Makhathini
October 22 at 7:30 p.m.
City Winery, Boston

The South African pianist and composer Nduduzo Makhathini shares some musical interests with his countryman Abdullah Ibrahim, including gently dancing native folk tunes and churchy hymns as well as a deep pocket of piano jazz and his own brand of spiritual seeking. He’s joined by bassist Zwelakhe-Duma Bell le Pere and Cuban-born Boston hero drummer Francisco Mela (the Fringe and Berklee Faculty), both of whom are on Makhathini’s latest Blue Note disc, uNomkhubulwane.

Larry Fuller Trio
October 25 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Pianist Larry Fuller’s resume includes an early stint as musical director and pianist for singer Ernestine Anderson and, later, as the pianist in bassist Ray Brown’s last trio. His book includes Stevie Wonder, Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery, Cedar Walton, Joni Mitchell, and George Gershwin and other Great American Songbook standards as well as a number of well-turned originals. He’s one of those guys who has some kind of secret sauce that can make a familiar vocabulary fresh, from stride, bop, and bossa nova to slow blues and ballad standards. (Check out his 2019 release, Overjoyed, with bassist Hassan “JJ” Shakur and drummer Lewis Nash.) His trio at Scullers includes Shakur and drummer George Fludas.

John Paul McGee Jazz Quartet
October 26 at 3 p.m.
Bethel A.M.E. Church, Jamaica Plain, Mass.
Free

The free Neighborhood Arts program from Celebrity Series of Boston presents pianist John Paul McGee and his quartet in a program called “Intertwined: An Afternoon of Gospejazzical,” a blend of the gospel, jazz, and classical traditions.

Pianist Benny Green. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Benny Green
October 26 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

For those of you who missed Benny Green’s solo piano show at Scullers last season — or those who did catch it — here’s another chance. One show only, so don’t sit on it.

— Jon Garelick


Author Events

TICKETED: Dr. Anthony Fauci presented by Porter Square Books
On Call
October 14 at 7 p.m. at Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Ave, Boston
Tickets are $45 including a copy of book

“Anthony Fauci is arguably the most famous — and most revered — doctor in the world today. His role guiding America sanely and calmly through Covid (and through the torrents of Trump) earned him the trust of millions during one of the most terrifying periods in modern American history, but this was only the most recent of the global epidemics in which Dr. Fauci played a major role. His crucial role in researching HIV and bringing AIDS into a sympathetic public view and his leadership in navigating the Ebola, SARS, West Nile, and anthrax crises, make him truly an American hero.

“His memoir reaches back to his boyhood in Brooklyn, New York, and carries through decades of caring for critically ill patients, navigating the whirlpools of Washington politics, and behind-the-scenes advising and negotiating with seven presidents on key issues from global AIDS relief to infectious disease preparedness at home. On Call will be an inspiration for readers who admire and are grateful to him and for those who want to emulate him in public service. He is the embodiment of “speaking truth to power,” with dignity and results.”

Paula Fredriksen at Harvard Book Store
Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years
October 15 at 7 p.m.
Free

“The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity — or rather, of early Christianities — through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople. It is a story with a sprawling cast of characters: not only theologians, bishops, and emperors, but also gods and demons, angels and magicians, astrologers and ascetics, saints and heretics, aristocratic patrons and millenarian enthusiasts. All played their part in the development of what became and remains an energetically diverse biblical religion.”

Julie C. Dao in conversation with Kalyani Saxena at Porter Square Books
Now Comes the Mist
October 16 at 7 p.m.
Free

“The first book of a duology that retells Dracula from the point of view of Lucy Westenra, this gothic romance is perfect for fans of Penny Dreadful and Danielle L. Jensen. “Dracula’s Lucy Westenra like you’ve never seen her before: In this retelling from critically acclaimed author Julie C. Dao, the perfect woman bites back.”

Benjamin Nathans at Harvard Book Store
To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement
October 16 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Benjamin Nathans’s vivid narrative tells the dramatic story of the men and women who became dissidents — from Nobel laureates Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn to many others who are virtually unknown today. Drawing on diaries, memoirs, personal letters, interviews, and KGB interrogation records, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause reveals how dissidents decided to use Soviet law to contain the power of the Soviet state. This strategy, as one of them put it, was “simple to the point of genius: in an unfree country, they began to conduct themselves like free people.”

An extraordinary account of the Soviet dissident movement, To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause shows how dissidents spearheaded the struggle to break free of the USSR’s totalitarian past, a struggle that continues in Putin’s Russia— and that illuminates other struggles between hopelessness and perseverance today.”

Nikkya Hargrove at Harvard Book Store
Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found
October 18 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Nikkya Hargrove spent a good portion of her childhood in prison visiting rooms. When her mother — addicted to cocaine and just out of prison — had a son and then died only a few months later, Nikkya was faced with an impossible choice. Although she had just graduated from college, she decided to fight for custody of her half brother, Jonathan. And fight she did.

“Nikkya vividly recounts how she is subjected to preconceived notions that she, a Black queer young woman, cannot be given such responsibility. Her honest portrayal of the shame she feels accepting food stamps, her family’s reaction to her coming out, and the joy she experiences when she meets the woman who will become her wife reveal her sheer determination. And whether she’s clashing with Jonathan’s biological father or battling for Jonathan’s education rights after he’s diagnosed with ADHD and autism, this is a woman who won’t give up.”

Paula Fredriksen at Harvard Book Store | Harvard Book Store
Ancient Christianities: The First Five Hundred Years
October 15 at 7 p.m.
Free

“The ancient Mediterranean teemed with gods. For centuries, a practical religious pluralism prevailed. How, then, did one particular god come to dominate the politics and piety of the late Roman Empire? In Ancient Christianities, Paula Fredriksen traces the evolution of early Christianity — or rather, of early Christianities — through five centuries of Empire, mapping its pathways from the hills of Judea to the halls of Rome and Constantinople.

It is a story with a sprawling cast of characters: not only theologians, bishops, and emperors, but also gods and demons, angels and magicians, astrologers and ascetics, saints and heretics, aristocratic patrons and millenarian enthusiasts. All played their part in the development of what became and remains an energetically diverse biblical religion.”

Alexis Stratton, Adam Polaski, and Jasmine Beach-Ferrara at Harvard Book Store
Trans Kids, Our Kids: Stories and Resources from the Frontlines of the Movement for Transgender Youth
October 17 at 7 p.m.
Free

Trans Kids, Our Kids: Stories and Resources from the Frontlines of the Movement for Transgender Youth shares the stories of transgender youth and their families, exploring the choices they are making to survive in today’s environment. The book also gives voice to the medical providers who are providing care to transgender youth, as well as the activists, teachers and faith leaders who are leading the resistance efforts.

By contextualizing and sharing these stories, as well as offering resources and next steps, Trans Kids aims to both narrativize the pain and fear experienced by everyday Americans in this cultural moment, as well as highlighting the courage, hope, and resilience of transgender and LGBTQ+ youth, their families, and the people who support them.”

Upcoming Event at the Andover Bookstore
Readings by Heather Corbally Bryant and Lynne Viti
October 19 at 1 p.m.
Free

“Lynne Viti is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Westwood, Massachusetts. A lecturer emerita at Wellesley College, she is the author of four poetry collections, most recently The Walk to Cefalù (Cornerstone Press, 2022). She facilitates a Poets in the Schools program in Westwood and a biweekly poetry workshop at the Westwood Library and serves on the board of the New England Poetry Club. She blogs here.

Heather Corbally Bryant is a Senior Lecturer in the Writing Program at Wellesley College. She has written a total of eleven collections of poetry. Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and the Massachusetts Book Award, and have won honorable mentions in the Open Chapbook Competition of the Finishing Line Press.”

Ticketed: Dava Sobel in conversation with Alyssa Goodman — presented by Porter Square Books
The Elements of Marie Curie
October 20 at 3 p.m. at St. James Episcopal Church, 1991 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
Tickets are $36 with book, $10 without

“‘Even now, nearly a century after her death, Marie Curie remains the only female scientist most people can name,’ writes Dava Sobel at the opening of her shining portrait of the sole Nobel laureate decorated in two separate fields of science — Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre and Chemistry by herself in 1911. And yet, Sobel makes clear, as brilliant and creative as she was in the laboratory, Marie Curie was equally passionate outside it. Grieving Pierre’s untimely death in 1906, she took his place as professor of physics at the Sorbonne; devotedly raised two brilliant daughters; drove a van she outfitted with x-ray equipment to the front lines of World War I; befriended Albert Einstein and other luminaries of twentieth-century physics; won support from two U.S. presidents; and inspired generations of young women the world over to pursue science as a way of life.”

Porter Square Books Boston Edition: Elise Hart Kipness in conversation with Sara DiVello
Dangerous Play
October 22 at 7 p.m.
Free

Elise Hart Kipness is a television sports reporter turned crime fiction author. Her debut novel, Lights Out, is an Amazon bestseller and a Men’s Journal top 10 book of 2023. The second novel in the series, Dangerous Play, is out now.

Like her main character, Elise chased marquee athletes through the tunnels of Madison Square Garden and stood before glaring lights reporting to national audiences. Across her sports career, Elise covered the Olympics, NBA Finals, March Madness, World Series and US Opens (Golf & Tennis). She’s interviewed many marquee athletes including the Williams sisters, Patrick Ewing, Mia Hamm, Derek Jeter, and Tiger Woods.

Sara DiVello is a true crime writer and the creator/host of Mystery and Thriller Mavens, a popular author series and interactive Facebook group. Her articles have been published in Marie Claire, Elle, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Woman’s Day, among others.

WBUR CitySpace: Luis Miranda at Brookline Booksmith
Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit that is Transforming America
October 24 from 6:30-7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $30 with book, $10 without

“Nowadays, Luis Miranda may be introduced as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s dad, but decades before his son became a Broadway sensation and a household name, Luis Miranda had carved an influential role in local, state and national Latino advocacy and politics. He was an advisor to Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer’s senate campaigns, served as director the Office of Hispanic Affairs for three New York City mayors, and founded one of the largest hispanic non-profits, the Hispanic Federation. In addition, he has been a major supporter of the arts, which he credits with changing his and his family’s lives.

Miranda will discuss his new memoir, Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit that is Transforming America, which charts his journey as an idealistic youth in Puerto Rico to his role as one of the most influential Latino advisors to the Democratic party. With the high stakes of the upcoming presidential election, Miranda’s memoir also outlines the importance of the Latino vote in electing candidates.”

Boston Book Festival
October 26 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

“Join us for the annual Boston Book Festival in Copley Square. The BBF celebrates the power of words to stimulate, agitate, unite, delight, and inspire, the Boston Book Festival presents year-round events culminating in an annual festival that promotes a culture of reading and ideas and enhances the vibrancy of our city.”

— Matt Hanson

Fall Book Launch Event — Arrowsmith Press
October 15 at 6:30 p.m.
Katzenberg Center, College of General Studies, Boston University, 871 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston.

A celebration of the release of Sven Birkerts’ newest book of essays, The Miro Worm and the Mysteries of Writing; Gjertrud Schnackenberg’s poems inspired by Bach, St. Matthew Passion; and Glyn Maxwell’s New and Selected Poems. No doubt one of these authors (or two) — if encouraged — will read something out of these volumes.

–Bill Marx

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