Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor

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

Film

Belmont Film’s International Film Series

May 12 (West Newton Cinema) 7:30 p.m. – Shepherds (Canada/France, US premiere). A Montreal advertising executive abandons his urban life to become a shepherd in the French Alps in director Sophie Deraspe’s (Antigone, BWF 2021) latest film. Together with a civil servant who also leaves her former life behind, he navigates the challenges of rural existence and their new environment, to seek purpose and connection. Winner at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

May 19 (West Newton Cinema) at 7:30 p.m. – Four Mothers. In the vein of such films as Waking Ned Devine and Philomena, this Irish comedy-drama features a novelist (James McArdle) who, on the cusp of literary success, is unexpectedly tasked with caring for his ailing mother (Fionnula Flanagan) and three of his friends’ mothers over the course of a chaotic weekend. This closing entry in Belmont World’s “Freedom on Film” Series is preceded by an optional dinner from 6 to 7 p.m. featuring Irish cuisine.

A scene from Satyajit Ray’s The Big City. Photo: Criterion

The Satyajit Ray Collection
Harvard Film Archive through May 18

The series includes films from beautiful and newly acquired 35mm Satyajit Ray prints from the HFA collection.

Charluta (May 13 at 9:15 p.m.) and The Adversary (May 13 at 9:30 p.m.)

The Big City (May 18 at 7 p.m.)

A scene from 1920’s The Mark of Zorro.

The Mark of Zorro
May 13 and June 17 at 7 p.m.
Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline

In 1800s Spanish California, Douglas Fairbanks embodies “Señor Zorro” with humor and athleticism as he slashes his trademark Z on the henchmen of corrupt Governor Alvarado. Discounted tickets to both of these screenings are available as a package with Don Q, Son of Zorro. Both shows feature live piano accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis.

The Zombies: Hung Up On A Dream
May 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Regent Theatre on 7 Medford Street, Arlington

A journey through the 60-year career of The Zombies, from their inception in the ’60s playing hits like “She’s Not There” and “Time of the Season” to today. It will also follow the solo careers of the band members and their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2019. Geoff Edgers and singer Barrence Whitfield will lead a post-screening audience discussion and Q&A.

1970s Women Filmmakers
May 14
Coolidge Corner Theatre

A program of five short documentaries from women filmmakers of the 1970s: Sometimes I Wonder Who I Am (Liane Brandon 1970, 5min); Betty Tells Her Story (Liane Brandon 1972, 20min); Call Me Mama (Miriam Weinstein 1977, 14min); Clorae and Albie (Joyce Chopra 1976, 36min); Joyce at 34 (Joyce Chopra 1972, 20min). After the screening, filmmakers Liane Brandon and Miriam Weinstein will take part in a post-film discussion.

Power
May 16 at 6:30 p.m.
Bright Family Screening Room, 559 Washington Street, Boston

Yance Ford’s essay film reflects on a system of control that has gone largely unquestioned. This is a sweeping chronicle of the history and evolution of policing in the US. The film confronts us with the words of Frederick Douglass: “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.” Q&A with the filmmaker and community leaders to follow screening. Free of charge

The Glassworker
May 18 at 4 p.m.
May 31 at 6 p.m.
Mugar Omni Theater at the Museum Of Science, 1 Science Park in Boston

A young Vincent and his father Tomas run the finest glass workshop in the country and find their lives upended by an impending war of which they want no part. “This is the first hand-drawn movie from Pakistan, where there is no infrastructure for filmmaking, let alone animation” Directed by Usman Riaz and made at Mano Animation Studios. Q&A with filmmaker follows the May 18 screening

Global Cinema Film Festival of Boston 
May 16 – 18
West Newton Cinema

The 10th annual GCFF is presented by Worldwide Cinema Frames studios/films (in partnership with West Newton Cinema). The selection reflects a focus on movies that “make us care about the human condition around the globe.” Schedule with descriptions

The Treasure Hunter – May 16 at 6 p.m.

Beirut Forever –May 16 at 8:15 p.m.

The Congress (with the short film Burning in Galena Manor) -May 17 at 12 p.m.

​Dissidents – May 17 at 2:15 p.m.

House With a Voice – May 17 at 6:15 p.m.

Faithful Unto Death –May 17 at 4 p.m.

My Memory Is Full of Ghosts (with the short film My Land Is Burned) – May 17 at 8:15 p.m.

The Pickers -May 18 at 12 p.m.

Rising Up at Night – May 18 at 2 p.m.

International Adoptions: A Global Scandal – May 18 at 4 p.m.

I’m Not Everything I Want to Be – May 18 at 6 p.m.

A scene from Lesson Learned

Lesson Learned
May 17 at 4:30 p.m.
Somerville Theatre in Davis Square

Because of a teacher shortage, new instructor Juci is unexpectedly made head teacher of a fifth-grade class. Meanwhile, Palkó, recently relocated from Berlin, struggles to adapt to the demanding educational system. Their personal stories offer insight into an oppressive system, reflecting broader strains in Hungarian society. “As a child returning to Hungary from America, I vividly felt the contrast between the two educational systems. Ever since, I became deeply interested in how education shapes society.” says director Bálint Szimler. A Q&A with Szimler will follow this Boston premiere screening.

The Glory of Life
May 18 at 11 a.m.
Coolidge Corner Theatre

It is summer, 1923, and Franz Kafka is seriously ill with tuberculosis. He is convalescing at a seaside resort in Müritz by the Baltic Sea. There he meets 25-year-old Dora Diamant, a governess from the Jewish Volksheim Berlin. Though they are from different worlds, it is love at first sight. For Kafka, Diamant embodies the essence of life. As their love grows, Kafka follows Diamant to Berlin. When his condition worsens, the lovers leave the city for a sanatorium near Vienna, where, in Diamant’s arms, Kafka succumbs to his illness barely a year after their first meeting. This blend of fact and fiction explores Kafka’s last love and year of life.

A scene from Bushido, one of the selections in the MFA’s Festival of Films from Japan.

Festival of Films from Japan
May 22 – June 1
Museum of Fine Arts in Boston
All films are linked to descriptions

Sunset Sunrise – May 22 at 7:00 p.m.

Between the White Key and the Black Key – May 23 at 7 p.m.

Cottontail – May 24 at 2:30 p.m.

Shadow of Fire – May 25 at 2:30 p.m.

Look Back – May 29 at 7 p.m.

Bushido – May 30 at 7:00 p.m.

River – May 31 at 2:30 p.m.- 4 p.m.

My Sunshine – June 1 at 2:30 p.m.

Pick of the Week

Through the Night on Amazon Prime

A scene from Through the Night.

A woman confronts the reverberations of a terrifying night when she believes she was in danger of being assaulted. Delphine Girard‘s debut feature opens as a kind of thriller, but quickly segues into a psychological study about the aftermath of a crime and the lifelong impact it leaves on those in its wake. The film also delves into the gray area of consent and the ripple effect of violence on various secondary characters and family members. As for the judicial system and law enforcement institutions, they have to grapple with how to deal with “victimhood” and the social fallout of violence and emotional trauma. This provocative movie was part of the online French Film Festival — it received no theatrical distribution in Boston — and it is well worth the small fee for access.

— Tim Jackson

Theater

COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters.

Dramatist Mara Vélez Meléndez. Photo: Thomas Mundell

Notes on Killing Seven Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board Members by Mara Vélez Meléndez. Directed by Javier Antonio González. Staged by Yale Rep, 1120 Chapel Street, New Haven, through May 17.

This play sounds like a piece of mischievous political theater. In New England? At a major regional stage? Maybe, like courage, the production will be contagious. The Yale Rep description: “Early one morning, Lolita, a young Boricua trans woman, arrives at a suspicious (let’s say evil) Wall Street office with a mission: to take down all seven members of the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability Board. Much to her surprise, the receptionist who welcomes her has, more than a story to tell, a show to put on. A revenge saga/existential drag extravaganza, Mara Vélez Meléndez’s subversively funny play takes aim at the unelected officials who think they know what’s best for the people — and for our own bodies — and the elected ones who appoint them.”

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh. Directed by Summer L.Williams. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through May 31

Here is what the SpeakEasy Stage Company site has to say about this 2024 Tony nominee play: “It’s a hot summer day in 2019, and in Harlem, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding salon is open for business, even though its eponymous owner is hours away from getting married. Presiding over the shop’s team of talented, high-spirited West African designers is Jaja’s daughter Marie, a DREAMer who has set her sights on college. When shocking news disrupts the day’s festivities, the women must grapple with what it means to be outsiders in the place they call home.” Arts Fuse review.

Spring, Hermione (Play 3 of John Barton’s Tantalus: The Greek Epic Cycle Retold in Ten Plays) and Anne Carson’s Antigonick, a translation of Sophocles’s Antigone. Directed by Brian Mertes. Produced by Brown/Trinity Rep at the Pell Chafee Performance Center, 87 Empire St., Providence, through May 14,

Described as “a bold reimagining of timeless Greek classics,” and that might well be an apt description of the evening, given that poet Anne Carson’s eccentric-to-the-max Antigonick is on the bill. From The Guardian review of the text: “Carson’s aim is to show the difficulty of translation, the truly ‘unbearable’ nature of tragedy. The chorus’s famous ‘Ode to Man,’ in which man is described as able to overcome everything but death, is, in Carson’s telling, a bizarre mish-mash of worlds: ‘Many terribly quiet customers exist but none more / terribly quiet than man / his footsteps pass so perilously soft across the sea … and every Tuesday / down he grinds the unastonishable earth / with horse and shatter … Every outlet works but one / : Death stays dark.'”

The staging will feature performances by Brown MFA students Lucia Aremu, Kayla Bennett, Abram Blau, Evie Dumont, Erin Lockett, Jessie March, Mathieu Myrick, Henry Nwaru, Daniel Shtivelberg, and Sara States.

Christiani Pitts (Robin) and Sam Tutty (Dougal) in rehearsal for A.R.T.’s North American premiere of Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). Photo: Nile Scott Studios

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York), written and composed by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan. Directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson. American Repertory Theater production at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, May 20 through June 29.

Christiani Pitts and Sam Tutty star in this staging of a West End hit. The sitcom-inspired plot: “A naïve and impossibly upbeat Brit, Dougal, has just landed in New York for his dad’s second wedding — the dad he’s never known. Robin, the sister of the bride, is at the airport to pick him up — and she’s late for work. Hungry for an adventure in the city he’s only seen in movies, Dougal hopes native New Yorker Robin will be his guide. ”

Mrs. Warren’s Profession by George Bernard Shaw. Directed by Eric Tucker, Bedlam. Presented by Central Square Theater at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, May 29 through June 22.

I am looking forward to this production. Tucker and Bedlam have a flamboyantly effective way with GBS — a fabulous Saint Joan a few years ago sticks in my mind. An expert cast includes veterans Barlow Adamson, Melinda Lopez, Nael Nacer, and Wesley Savick. As for the 1902 play, it is GBS’s first masterpiece, its provocative thesis dramatized by multidimensional characters. From a 1927 interview, “Shaw Looks at Life at 70”: “Until we free the marriage relation from economic entanglements and from sentimental hocus-pocus, the revolting custom of husband hunting cannot be eradicated. Suffrage, while giving political freedom to woman, does not break her economic chains. Until we sublimate the marriage relation, the difference between marriage and Mrs. Warren’s Profession [owner of a chain of brothels] remains the difference between union labour and scab labour.”

Hello, Dolly! Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman. Book by Michael Stewart, Based on The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Music direction by Dan Rodriguez. Choreography by Ilyse Robbins. Staged by the Lyric Stage Company of Boston at 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, May 16 through June 22.

The time is right, according to the Lyric Stage Company publicity, to welcome Dolly back home again: “Brimming with classic musical theater tunes, endearing characters, and good-humor all around, Hello, Dolly! is the perfect balm for the soul. With a twinkle in her eye, Dolly Levi orchestrates matters of the heart for those looking for love as the incomparable matchmaker that she is. As romance blossoms and comedic adventures ensue, Dolly makes friends around every corner and charms her way into the hearts of everyone she meets. But is there hope of moving on from a lost love and finding a sweetheart of her own ‘before the parade passes by?'”

Audrey Johnson and Parker Jennings (role sharing as Chordata) in the Apollinaire Theatre Company production of The Squirrels. Photo: Danielle Fauteux Jacques

The Squirrels by Robert Askins. Directed by Brooks Reeves. Movement choreography by Audrey Johnson. Staged by the Apollinaire Theatre Company at Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea, MA, through May 18.

This satire of prejudice and greed, says the Apollinaire Theatre Company website, revolves around “a bitter struggle for love, power, and the almighty acorn” that “divides a once-peaceful tree.”

Macbeth by William Shakespeare. Directed by Bryn Boice. Staged by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company at The Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road, Boston, May 8 through 16. (CSC will also welcome students from 40+ local schools at seven student matinee performances, through May 16).

Well, this version of what wicked thing is coming our way sounds intriguing. “In this timely reimagining of Shakespeare’s twisted tragedy, technology takes center stage, driving a tale of jealousy, ambition, and ruin. This bold new interpretation re-envisions the Witches as sinister algorithms — artificial forces that manipulate Macbeth toward his tragic fate.” W.H. Auden points to this politically relevant line from Lady Macduff as the tragedy’s motto: “All is the fear, and nothing is the love.”

Two members of the cast of the Huntington Theatre production of The Light in the Piazza. L to R: Sarah-Anne Martinez, Emily Skinner. Photo: Nile Hawver

The Light in the Piazza Book by Craig Lucas. Music & lyrics by Adam Guettel. Based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer. Directed by Loretta Greco. Staged by the Huntington Theatre Company at 264 Huntington Ave., Boston, through June 15.

This 2005 musical won six Tony Awards, including Best Original Score. It is, according to the HTC website, “the story of a mother, a daughter, and the many meanings of love. Florence, summer 1953. Protective American mother Margaret Johnson brings her daughter Clara abroad for a glimpse of Italy’s romantic history. But when a real-life attraction sparks between Clara and a local boy, Margaret must ask: can she reconcile her own hopes with her daughter’s future?”

50th Anniversary Puppet Slam, presented by Puppet Showplace Theater, at Modern Theatre, 525 Washington St, Boston, on May 17 at 7:30 p.m.

“Over the past 50 years at Puppet Showplace, artists have created a treasure trove of vibrant, kooky, touching, lyrical, funny, acerbic, zany, heartfelt, smart, incisive, elegant, weird, hilarious, and downright delightful works of puppetry for audiences to revel in.” Performers for this special evening of short-form puppet pieces will include: Resident Artist Sarah Nolen; Four-time Incubator Artist The Gottabees (Bonnie Duncan, Brendan Burns, Tony Leva, and Dan Milstein); Veronica Barron & Aimee Rose Ranger; Jon Little; Incubator Artist Tanya Nixon-Silberg; Harry LaCoste; Evan O’Television; John Bell & Trudi Cohen.

— Bill Marx

Visual Art

Vincent Valdez, So Long, Mary Ann, 2019, oil on canvas, 63 x 96 inches, Collection of Mike Healy and Tim Walsh, Santa Barbara, CA.

In these days of uncertainty, American history itself can seem under threat of denial or erasure. Government grants to historical museums are canceled and government officials are tasked with “seeking to remove improper ideology from such properties.” So an exhibition opening May 24 at MASS MoCA may be particularly timely. Vincent Valdez: Just a Dream… “addresses American politics today, including topics such as boxing, lynchings of Mexican Americans, border walls, politics, greed, the Ku Klux Klan, and the failings and triumphs of society.”

“I am alarmed by the denial of history,” Valdez says. “I will continue to create counter-images to impede the social amnesia that includes our fateful desire to repeat it.” The show of two decades of work by what the museum calls “one of the most important American painters working today” is Valdez’s first major museum survey and includes painting, video, drawing, sculpture, lithography, and multimedia installation.

Hilary Doyle, a Worcester native who teaches at the College of the Holy Cross, is the focus of the exhibition Hilary Doyle: Central Massachusetts Artists Initiative, opening at the Worcester Art Museum on May 14. In her museum installation, Doyle will exhibit works from her most recent series of paintings, exploring the life of the German artist and naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717). Along with her work as a pioneering ecologist and entomologist, Merian is believed to have been the first woman to travel from Europe to the Americas as a scientist, something she did on her own with her youngest daughter in tow. “As an artist and mother of two young children…,” Doyle says, “I notice similar struggles working mothers still face today. Each story and myth about Maria is a source of hope and strength as I paint.”

Since returning to his native South Korea in 2000, photographer Jung Yeondoo has focused on a particular ethos: the “sense of anonymity and isolation” he found in Seoul’s new environment of modern, high-rise apartment buildings. His subjects are ordinary people and families “with whom he collaborates to tell a deeper story” by asking them about their hopes, aspirations, and innermost dreams while using photography, video, and sculpture to forge connections.

Jung Yeondoo: Building Dreams, opening at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem on May 17, focuses on two multipart photographic works: Evergreen Tower (2001) and Bewitched (ongoing from 2001). The original slides for Evergreen Tower came to the museum as part of a 2019 gift from the Joy of Giving Something (JGS) Foundation, Inc.

The Korean collection at the Peabody Essex Museum is one of the most historically important of its kind in the United States. Founded by pioneering collector Edward Sylvester Morse, director of one on PEM’s predecessor organizations, the Peabody Academy of Science, from 1880 to 1914, the Korean collection was strengthened by Yu Kil-Chun, a 19th-century Korean politician and diplomat who briefly lived near Salem, and other early travelers between the two countries.

A new installation in PEM’s Yu Kil-Chun Gallery of Korean Art and Culture that also opens on May 17 focuses on the stories of these early contributors alongside selections from the museum’s celebrated Korean textiles collection, 19th-century paintings, and works by video pioneer Nam June Paik and other contemporary Korean and Korean-American artists.

Jules Olitski, April Dream, Lavender and Black, 2003. Opaque watercolor on heavy weight white wove paper. Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Arthur K. and Mariot F. Solomon Collection.

Exhibitions in Cambridge and Portland this month celebrate major private collections recently given to New England Museums. The Solomon Collection: Durer to Degas and Beyond, opening at the Harvard Art Museums on May 24, reveals the breathtaking range of a recent bequest by collectors Arthur K. and Marion F. Solomon with 135 works — paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints — by six centuries of major European and American artists. Included, among others, are Dürer, Tiepolo, Goya, Delacroix, Géricault, Courbet, Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Moore, Caro, Noland, and Olitski.

Over the past decade, the figural painter Alex Katz has donated, via his foundation, over 150 works to the Portland Museum of Art, a selection that has helped make the museum a center for the study and display of modern and contemporary art. Painting Energy: The Alex Katz Foundation Collection at the Portland Museum of Art, which opens May 23, shows just how much the foundation’s gifts have enriched the collections. They include artists who, like Katz himself, have strong ties to the state of Maine (Lois Dodd, Fairfield Porter, Marsden Hartley), leading American 20th-century modernists (Stuart Davis, Arthur Dove, Edward Hopper), major international figures in contemporary art (Marlene Dumas, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke), and rising figures in the art world (Kamrooz Aram, Chase Hall).

Chiharu Shiota, The Extended Line, 2024. Rope, paper, and bronze. Installation view, Art Basel Unlimited, Basel, Switzerland, 2024. Courtesy the artist and Galerie Templon, Paris – Brussels – New York. Photo by Sebastiano Pellion di Persano

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, opens Chiharu Shiota: Home Less Home on May 22 at its Watershed venue. Shiota, who was born in Osaka, Japan, and lives and works in Berlin, works with “stories of migration, home, connection, memory, and consciousness.” At the Watershed, she will present two large-scale installations that “consider the ways humans collect memories and form connections as they move and travel.” The show is her first solo presentation in New England.

The Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockland holds an opening reception for its summer exhibitions on May 24 from 3 to 5 p.m. (the center will be closed on the day until 3 p.m.). The new exhibitions on view will be Cheek to Cheek – Nicole Wittenberg, the shape of memory – Carlie Trosclair, Leaf Litter – Elizabeth Atterbury. Free admission with refreshments in the lobby.

— Peter Walsh

Television

Josh Holloway and Rachel Hilson in Duster. Photo: HBO

Duster (May 15, Max): This new vintage thriller from J. J. Abrams (Lost) and LaToya Morgan (Shameless) looks promising. Set in the ’70s Southwest, the series follows a getaway driver for a crime ring who is being investigated by a rookie federal agent. The visuals are glossy: period-perfect cars, sets, and costumes. Plenty of action, sex, and violence (a welcome distraction from our current reality perhaps?) will be on display as well. Slick camera work and authentic soundtrack picks, like The Ides of March’s 1970 hit “Vehicle,” will no doubt add plenty of sexy retro vibes. Speaking of sexy, the series stars the excellent, criminally overlooked Josh Holloway (Lost), Rachel Hilson, and relative newcomer Sydney Elisabeth as FBI agent Genesis. Together, the leads emit the erotic sparkle of a disco ball.

Tucci in Italy (May 18, National Geographic): You had me at Stanley Tucci in Italy. Seriously, how is this not appealing to everyone? Stanley Tucci, the warm, affable, extremely smart, funny, sexy (YES HE IS) and ridiculously down-to-earth actor in the land of his ancestors, hobnobbing with the locals, touring notable sites, and discussing food, history, and food history. The first episode (“Tuscany”) features Tucci in Florence and Siena. Subsequent episodes of this travelogue series take place in the regions of Lombardy, Abruzzo, Lazio, and Trentino-Alto Adige (a part of Northern Italy with a large German-speaking population). The performer explores these fascinating food havens through their history, agriculture, industry, and geography. This looks to be as immersive and enlightening as the quirky, classy, and delightful Stanley Tucci himself. Andiamo!

Nine Perfect Strangers, Season 2 (May 21, Hulu) The first season of this popular, star-studded limited series (based on the novel by Big Little Lies author Liane Moriarty) ended with mysterious cliffhangers and expectations for new beginnings. Nicole Kidman returns as Masha, the owner of a strange California wellness resort that offers its clients personal transformations — via very unorthodox means. Henry Golding (The Gentlemen) also returns as her loyal assistant. The setting is now the Austrian Alps. The new cast features some impressive veterans, such as Lena Olin, Christine Baranski, and Mark Strong, as well as Annie Murphy (Schitt’s Creek), Dolly DeLeon (Triangle of Sadness), and Murray Bartlett (The White Lotus and The Last of Us).

— Peg Aloi

Popular Music

Squid with FearDorian and DJ Carbo
May 19 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Brighton Music Hall, Allston

Brighton, UK-formed quintet Squid might feel a bit at home in Allston when they play Brighton Music Hall on May 19. Their arrival is part of the winding-down portion of their North American tour in support of their third LP, this year’s Cowards. This addition to their oeuvre is the latest step forward in a five-year recording career marked by unmistakable if not radical shifts in style and emphasis. Cowards is a slow burn of a record with songs that maintain an enchanting mid-tempo pace, irrespective of if it’s the 2-1/2 minute “Fieldworks I” or the eight-minute “Well Met (Fingers Through the Fences)”.

Joan Shelley with Sam Moss
May 19 (doors at 7/doors at 8)
Club Passim, Cambridge

I first heard of, heard, and saw Joan Shelley when she opened a show for Richard Thompson at Sanders Theatre on April 18, 2017 (click for setlist). While it is a borderline fool’s errand to keep the attention of a crowd anxious to hear one of the greatest songwriters of the past 50 years, Shelley amply demonstrated that she was up to the challenge. What’s more, Thompson even deemed her worthy of sharing the stage for a three-song encore in which she beautifully handled the vocals originally supplied by Linda Thompson in 1974 and 1975. Since then, the Lexington, KY native has added three albums to the six that she had at the time – as well as the 2024 EP Mood Ring – and graduated to headlining status.

The Wedding Present with The Tubs
May 24 (doors open at  7 p.m. — show at 8)
The Sinclair, Cambridge

Fans of The Wedding Present would rightly feel unfairly limited if asked to name the band’s lone masterpiece. However, it is more than likely that a vast majority would select one of their 1987-1994 releases. And if 100 people were surveyed, a roughly equal number would probably select each of George Best, Bizarro, Seamonsters, or Watusi. Especially lucky for fans who adore the second of these the most is that David Gedge and company are currently performing the whole of it live in celebration of its 35^th anniversary.

I should also mention that all who can do so should arrive in time for The Tubs, who will be showcasing their March release and second LP, Cotton Crown. This Welsh quartet includes former Joanna Gruesome members Owen Williams on vocals and guitar and Max Warren on bass. Moreover, Williams is a co-founder of Ex-Void, who released In Love Again in January. Finally, Williams’s fellow Ex-Void Founder and Joanna Gruesome bandmate Lan McCardle contributes vocals to Cotton Crown. Thus, The Tubs could correctly quality as an indie supergroup. While one might accuse Williams of trying to sound like that guy whom Joan Shelley opened for, he can hardly be criticized for succeeding in doing so. Besides, the songs on Cotton Crown and 2023’s Dead Meat are so damn good that one would have to be a next-level nitpicker to fault them on this point.

— Blake Maddux

Sheryl Crow plays Boston Calling 2025 on Friday. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Boston Calling Music Festival
Harvard Athletic Complex, Allston
May 23-25, 1 p.m. to 11 p.m.
Bostoncalling.com

The Dave Matthews Band usually plays multiple nights at amphitheaters, while Fall Out Boy headlined Fenway Park. But they’ve chosen to top daily bills at the Boston Calling Music Festival this Memorial Day Weekend on Harvard’s athletic fields. Friday gets a country kickoff led by Luke Combs and Megan Moroney, Avril Lavigne precedes Fall Out Boy for Saturday’s early 2000s punk-pop buzz, and Vampire Weekend joins the jammy ranks of DMB at Sunday’s finale. Yet there’s lots of stylistic variety old and new mixed in, from rockers the Black Crowes and Cage the Elephant to veteran rappers Public Enemy and T-Pain, plus local bands including Future Teens, Latrelle James and Rebuilder.

–Paul Robicheau

Jazz

Immanuel Wilkins
May 11 at 7 p.m.
Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, Mass.

Is Immanuel Wilkins the foremost alto saxophonist of his generation (age 27)? Well, we’ll figure that out later. Just know that his performance at the Regattabar last December, playing his own compositions with his quintet, was spellbinding — vamps that were deep and exploratory, delivered with patience, uncommon group interplay, and warmth. He returns for this show with two players from that show: pianist Micah Thomas (himself an inventive composer and band leader) and drummer Kweku Sumbry, a master of clarity and dynamics as well as beats. Ryoma Takenaga is the bassist.

Saxophonist Noah Campbell performs as part of Point 01 Percent. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Point 01 Percent
May 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

The Point 01 Percent crew offer another tantalizing mix of composer/improvisers. First up (at 7:30) are pianist Steve Lantner, violinist Tom Swafford, bassist Brittany Karlson, and drummer Eric Rosenthal. At 8:30, it’s Karlson, saxophonist Noah Campbell, and pianist Pandelis Karayorgis.

Emmett Cohen
May 16 and 17 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Pianist and composer Emmett Cohen — who came to wider attention with Live from Emmett’s Place, a video streaming show begun during the COVID lockdown — matches a clean, clear attack and lyricism with explosive inventiveness and what one writer identified as that elusive musical quality, “charm.” Without the smarm. Cohen holds down Scullers for four shows over two nights, with Phillip Norris on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums.

Saxophonist of Allan Chase. Photo: Photo: Anna Yatskevich

Allan Chase Quintet
May 18 at 6:20 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

If you couldn’t already depend on the beauty of Allan Chase’s playing on a variety of saxophones, or his sharp writing and arranging (I’m still waiting for another Chase-Sun Ra show), you’d have the frisson of the great bands he puts together for his Lilypad residency. In this case, that would be Chase on alto and soprano, George Garzone on tenor, guitarist Sheryl Bailey, and drummer Luther Gray. The program will feature originals by Chase, Garzone, and Bailey.

Trombonist Natalie Crissman and guitarist Ian Faquini will perform at City Winery. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Natalie Cressman and Ian Faquini
May 18 at 7:30 p.m.
City Winery, Boston

A bossa nova for trombone, guitars, and voice? Well, that’s what the trombonist Natalie Crissman and guitarist Ian Faquini pull off in “Mandingueira,” from their 2019 Setting Rays of Summer. Crissman’s trombone floats as easily as Getz with Gilberto, and so do the dual vocals. Here’s how City Winery’s website describes them: “She’s a trombonist, vocalist, and songwriter from San Francisco. He’s a composer, guitarist, and singer from Brasilia. Together they’ve honed a singularly expansive creative communion encompassing their love of the Brazilian songbook, jazz, Impressionism, and sophisticated pop songcraft.” They sing in English, French, and Portuguese. And from the samples we’ve heard, they’re the real deal.

Laszlo Gardony Quartet feat. Don Braden
May 23 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.

Pianist and composer Laszlo Gardony is a Boston area favorite, matching pianistic color and tunefulness with a broad palette of styles. Gardony and his longtime trio mates John Lockwood (bass) and Yoron Israel (drums) are joined by another old pal, the terrific saxophonist Don Braden.

Pianist Fred Hersch. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Fred Hersch Trio
May 25 at 5 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, Mass.

One of the great living poets of the keyboard, Fred Hersch brings a superb trio to Rockport music, with bassist Drew Gress and drummer Jochen Rueckert.

Jared Sims Quartet
May 29 at 7:30 p.m.
Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, Dorchester, Mass.

The multi-sax and flute man Jared Sims has been working on this project for a while — a band with a fluency in a variety of Afro-Latin styles: pianist Rebecca Cline, bassist Fernando Huergo, and drummer Gen Yoshimura. “Expect upbeat and funky original music infused with Latin rhythms.”

The Levin Brothers feat. Pat LaBarbera
May 30 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Bass hero Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Pink Floyd, and a million others) joins forces with his brother Pete on keyboards (Gil Evans, Jimmy Giuffre, a million others), saxophonist Pat LaBarbera (Elvin Jones, Buddy Rich, et al.), and drummer Jeff Siegel (Sir Roland Hanna, Ron Carter, Dave Douglas, et al.).

Drummer Air Hoenig. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Ari Hoenig Trio
May 31 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club

Ari Hoenig is one of those drummers whose mastery of rhythmic complexity is so organic and colorful that it’s easy to overlook the math-y genius behind it and just enjoy the ticklish grooves that make you giggle and shout. He comes to Scullers with the trio from his excellent 2024 release, Tea for Three, pianist Gadi Lehavi and bassist Ben Tiberio.

— Jon Garelick

Roots and World Music

Bettye LaVette performing in Belgum in 2006. Photo: Wikimedia

Bettye LaVette
May 15, 8 p.m.
TCAN, Natick

No ’60s soul singer has had the enduring renaissance that Bettye LaVette has enjoyed over the past two decades. Perhaps the last of the true song stylists, she’s been able to make all kinds of songs her own. Her most recent record was the Steve Jordan-produced LaVette!, a collection of material penned by the underrated Southern songwriter Randall Bramblett. LaVette will be performing in a duo with pianist Al Hill.

Kaethe Hostetter and Marié Abe
May 18, 3 p.m.
Allston house concert

It’s a double homecoming for violinist Kaethe Hostetter and accordionist Marié Abe, two stellar musicians who for years called Boston home but now reside elsewhere. They’ll be celebrating a duo recording called The Garden. While both are masters of a wide variety of musical styles, it’s a safe bet that there will be at least some Ethiopian influence, given that the two were both members of Boston’s Debo Band. The contact information for details can be found here.

G-Hwaja — a quartet that plays everything from traditional Korean melodies to K-Pop to Koreanized versions of Sinatra favorites. Photo: courtesy of the artist

G–Hwaja
May 18, 2 p.m.
Iseul Kim’s Two Voices Ensemble
May 25, 2:00 p.m.
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem

In recent years the Peabody Essex has started a wonderful tradition of hosting musical events to celebrate exhibit openings. The first event marks the opening weekend of both the Korean Art gallery and Jung Yeondoo: Building Dreams and features G–Hwaja, a quartet that plays everything from traditional Korean melodies to K-Pop to Koreanized versions of Sinatra. A week later, the daring classical/Korean/jazz sounds of composer Iseul Kim are heard.

— Noah Schaffer

Popular Music

Roger McGuinn of The Byrds will perform at The Cabot this week. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Roger McGuinn
May 13 (doors at 7/show at 8)
The Cabot, Beverly

As frontman and leader for the Byrds, Roger McGuinn exerted considerable influence on a diverse array of artists (Big Star, Tom Petty, R.E.M., even The Beatles) across multiple genres (folk-rock, power pop, country rock, jangle pop) is comparable to that of Brian Wilson. Join him at The Cabot on May 13 for a mix of originals, trademark Dylan interpretations, and the stories behind at least most of them.

— Blake Maddux

Classical Music

The Waking Sun
Presented by Back Bay Chorale
May 17, 7:30 p.m.
Sanders Theatre

Stephen Spinelli leads BBC in Kile Smith’s meditation on the stoic philosophy of Seneca. Also on tap are Giacomo Carissimi’s Jephte and Henry Purcell’s “Hear my prayer, Oh Lord.”

Tipping Point
Presented by Boston Cecilia
May 17, 8 p.m.
All Saints Parish

Boston Cecilia and Michael Barrett showcase choral music by Asian and Asian-American composers, including Reena Esmail’s eponymous score for chorus and tabla and the American premiere of movements from Hina Sakamoto’s Requiem.

Music of the Cosmos
Presented by Boston Pops
May 23 & 24, 7:30 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Keith Lockart and the Boston Pops are joined by George Takei and astronaut Sunita Williams for a multimedia program that “explores the intersection of music, space, and science fiction.”

Yo-Yo Ma, Jessica Zhou, and John Williams bow in front of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at the end of the 2018 performance of Williams’s “Highwood Ghost.” Photo: Chris Lee

John Williams’ Playlist
Presented by Boston Pops
May 29 and 31, 7:30 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Lockhart and the Pops continue their Symphony Hall season with a program of film music specially curated by the iconic composer. Williams, a note on the BSO’s site points out, will not be in attendance — but cellist Ani Aznavoorian will be the concert’s featured soloist.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Author Events

John Cassidy at the Cambridge Public Library – Harvard Book Store
Capitalism and Its Critics: A History: From the Industrial Revolution to AI
May 13 at 6 p.m.
Tickets are free with RSVP or $38.25 with book

“At a time when artificial intelligence, climate change, and inequality are raising fundamental questions about the economic system, Capitalism and Its Critics provides a kaleidoscopic history of global capitalism, from the East India Company and Industrial Revolution to the digital revolution. But here John Cassidy, a staff writer at The New Yorker and a Pulitzer Prize finalist, adopts a bold new approach: he tells the story through the eyes of the system’s critics. From the English Luddites who rebelled against early factory automation to communists in Germany and Russia in the early twentieth century, to the Latin American dependistas, the international Wages for Housework campaign of the 1970s, and the modern degrowth movement, the absorbing narrative traverses the globe.

It visits with familiar names―Smith, Marx, Luxemburg, Keynes, Polanyi―but also focuses on many less familiar figures, including William Thompson, the Irish proto-socialist whose work influenced Marx; Flora Tristan, the French proponent of a universal labor union; John Hobson, the original theorist of imperialism; J. C. Kumarappa, the Indian exponent of Ghandian economics; Eric Williams, the Trinidadian author of a famous thesis on slavery and capitalism; Joan Robinson, the Cambridge economist and critic of the Cold War; and Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, the founding father of degrowth.”

Niko Stratis at Harvard Book Store 
The Dad Rock That Made Me A Woman
May 14 at 7 p.m.
Free

“When Wilco’s 2007 album Sky Blue Sky was infamously criticized as “dad rock,” Niko Stratis was a twenty-five-year-old closeted trans woman working in her dad’s glass shop in the Yukon Territory. As she sought escape from her hypermasculine environment, Stratis found an unlikely lifeline amid dad rock’s emotionally open and honest music. Listening to dad rock, Stratis could access worlds beyond her own and imagine a path forward.

In taut, searing essays rendered in propulsive and unguarded prose, Stratis delves into the emotional core of bands like Wilco and The National, telling her story through the dad rock that accompanied her along the way. She found footing in Michael Stipe’s allusions to queer longing, Radiohead’s embrace of unknowability, and Bruce Springsteen’s very trans desire to “change my clothes my hair my face”—and she found in artists like Neko Case and Sharon Van Etten that the label transcends gender. A love letter to the music that saves us and a tribute to dads like Stratis’s own, who embody the tenderness at the genre’s heart, The Dad Rock That Made Me a Woman rejoices in music unafraid to bare its soul.”

Jamie Loftus at the Cambridge Public Library – Harvard Book Store
Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs
May 15 at 7 p.m.
Tickets are free with RSVP or $21.25 with book

“Raw Dog: The Naked Truth About Hot Dogs is part investigation into the cultural and culinary significance of hot dogs and part travelogue documenting a cross-country road trip researching them as they’re served today. From avocado and spice in the West to ass-shattering chili in the East to an entire salad on a slice of meat in Chicago, Loftus, her pets, and her ex eat their way across the country during the strange summer of 2021. It’s a brief window into the year between waves of a plague that the American government has the resources to temper, but not the interest.

So grab a dog, lay out your picnic blanket, and dig into the delicious and inevitable product of centuries of violence, poverty, and ambition, now rolling around at your local 7-Eleven.”

Be the Change Event with Stephanie Gorton in conversation with Ellen Gordon Reeves at Porter Square Books
The Icon & the Idealist
May 18 at 5 p.m.
Free

“In the 1910s, as the birth control movement was born, two leaders emerged: Margaret Sanger and Mary Ware Dennett. While Sanger would go on to found Planned Parenthood, Dennett’s name has largely faded from public knowledge. Each held a radically different vision for what reproductive autonomy and birth control access should look like in America.

Few are aware of the fierce personal and political rivalry that played out between Sanger and Dennett over decades—a battle that had a profound impact on the lives of American women. Meticulously researched and vividly drawn, The Icon & the Idealist reveals how and why these two women came to activism, the origins of the clash between them, and the ways in which their missteps and breakthroughs have reverberated across American society for generations.”

Gloria Browne-Marshall in conversation with Tochukwu Okafor at Porter Square Books
A Protest History of the United States
May 20 at 7 p.m.
PSB: Boston Edition, 50 Liberty Dr Boston MA
Free

“In this timely new book in Beacon’s successful ReVisioning History series, professor Gloria Browne-Marshall delves into the history of protest movements and rebellion in the United States. Beginning with Indigenous peoples’ resistance to European colonization and continuing through to today’s climate change demonstrations, Browne-Marshall expands how to think about protest through sharing select historical moments and revealing the role of key players involved in those efforts.

Drawing upon legal documents, archival material, government documents and secondary sources, A Protest History of the United States gives voice to those who pushed back against the mistreatment of others, themselves, and in some instances planet Earth. Browne-Marshall highlights stories of individuals from all walks of life, backgrounds, and time periods who helped bring strong attention to their causes. Those examples of protest include those of Wahunsenacock, more commonly known to history as Chief Powhatan, who took on English invaders in pre-colonial America in 1607; legendary boxer Muhammad Ali’s refusal to fight in Vietnam and appealed all the way to the US Supreme Court; and David Buckel, LGBTQ+ rights lawyer and environmental activist who protested against fossil fuels by committing self-immolation in 2018.

Regardless of whether these protests accomplished their end goals, Browne-Marshall reminds us that not only is dissent meaningful and impactful but is an essential tool for eliciting long lasting change.”

Joan C. Williams at Harvard Book Store
Outclassed: How the Left Lost the Working Class, and How to Get Them Back
May 22 at 7 p.m.
Free

“The far right manipulates class anger to undercut progressive goals and liberals often inadvertently play into their hands. In Outclassed, Joan C. Williams explains how to reverse that process by bridging the “diploma divide”, while maintaining core progressive values. She offers college-educated Americans insights into how their values reflect their lives and their lives reflect their privilege. With illuminating stories —from the Portuguese admiral who led that country’s COVID response to the lawyer who led the ACLU’s gay marriage response (and more)— Williams demonstrates how working-class values reflect working-class lives.

Then she explains how the far right connects culturally with the working-class, deftly manipulating racism and masculine anxieties to deflect attention from the ways far-right policies produce the economic conditions that disadvantage the working-class. Whether you are a concerned citizen committed to saving democracy or a politician or social justice warrior in need of messaging advice, Outclassed offers concrete guidance on how liberals can forge a multi-racial cross-class coalition capable of delivering on progressive goals.”

Rose Waldman & Todd Portnowitz with translator Lisa Newman — Brookline Booksmith
Sons and Daughters
May 25 at 4 p.m.
Free

“Originally serialized in the 1960s and 1970s in New York–based Yiddish newspapers, Chaim Grade’s Sons and Daughters is a precious glimpse of a way of life that is no longer—the rich Yiddish culture of Poland and Lithuania that the Holocaust would eradicate. We meet the Katzenellenbogens in the tiny village of Morehdalye, in the 1930s, when gangs of Poles are beginning to boycott Jewish merchants and the modern, secular world is pressing in on the shtetl from all sides. It’s this clash, between the freethinking secular life and a life bound by religious duty—and the comforts offered by each—that stands at the center of Sons and Daughters.”

— Matt Hanson