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.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Boston area theaters have decided to pretty much ignore what is happening in America and beyond — mounting threats to democracy, the slide toward authoritarianism, the climate crisis, growing economic inequality, ICE’s savage round-up of immigrants, the expansion of internment camps, ongoing genocide in Gaza, transphobia, the grueling war in Ukraine, etc. I have decided in Coming Attractions to point out a production, staged in America or elsewhere, that grapples with today’s alarming realities. Sometimes the stagings will be available via Zoom, sometimes not. It is important to present evidence that theater artists are reflecting, and reflecting on, the world around us.

Crowd of Trump supporters marching on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, ultimately leading to the building being breached and several deaths. Photo: WikiMedia

JANUARY 6: A DAY FOREVER A new play by James Carroll and Rachel DeWoskin drawn from the Congressional Record of THE SECOND IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. A free staged reading at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Wellfleet, on January 6 at 7 p.m. Tickets Livestream

This presentation draws on the venerable stage tradition of dramatizing transcriptions of volatile political proceedings, often of a legal or legislative nature. Why has it taken so long for a company to confront “the horror of the riot on January 6, 2021 and the failure of our electeds to throw the bum out when they had the chance?” The evening’s co-writer, Jim Carroll,  suggests why it needs to be done: “I believe that returning to that grim episode is more important than ever… My sense is that Americans did not fully take in the gravity of that near-outcome back then, and have lost any clear sense of it in the years since. By looking more directly than usual at that horror, we can re-energize resistance to what it portended.”

Time to see that theater can be used as a place where “we can still celebrate our unity and gleefully reaffirm our opposition.” The case includes Dennis Cunningham, Carryl Lynn, Nathaniel Hall Taylor, Jeff Zinn, and Sallie Tighe.

— Bill Marx

Film

A scene from Reflections in a Dead Diamond. Photo: Shudder

Reflections in a Dead Diamond
January 2 – 6
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

When a mysterious woman living next door disappears without a trace, the idle life of a 70-year-old retired spy living in a hotel on the Côte d’Azur dissolves into obsession and surreal memory.  The mystery prompts him to confront his past, one steeped in glamour, danger, betrayal, and diamond-strewn intrigue. The highly stylized film blurs the lines between lived experience and cinematic fantasy. Arts Fuse review

Father Mother Sister Brother
Opens on January 5
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

The eagerly-awaited new film from Jim Jarmusch, Winner of the Golden Lion for Best Film, is a funny, tender, and astutely observed exploration of the universal intricacies of family dynamics. The story concerns relationships between adult children, their somewhat distant parents — it is told in the form of a triptych, each segment set in a different place — New Jersey, Dublin, and Paris. It features performances from a remarkable ensemble cast: Tom Waits, Adam Driver, Mayim Bialik, Charlotte Rampling, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Indya Moore and Luka Sabbat. Arts Fuse review

The Voice of Hind Rajab
Opens on January 9
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

Red Crescent volunteers receive an emergency call from a 5-year-old, Hind Rajab, who is trapped in a car under fire in Gaza. She i pleading for help. While trying to keep the girl on the line, they do everything they can to get an ambulance to her. Academy Award nominated filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania (Four Daughters, The Man Who Sold His Skin) blends the real life phone recordings, which had gone viral several weeks after this incident, with dramatizations of the emergency workers, who are racing against time to coordinate paramedics who might be able to save her. There is a special screening on January 7 with post-film, in-person Q&A with actor Saja Kilani.

An evening that pays homage to the late Udo Kier.

Udo Kier Double Feature Tribute
on January 10

Udo Kier, who died on November 23 at the age 82 in his adopted home of Palm Springs, made some 250 films with directors raging from Dario Argento (the lurid, multicolored 1977 horror masterpiece Suspiria)  to S. Craig Zahler (2018’s equally lurid Dragged Across Concrete). The pair of horror films in the Brattle series were originally released as “Warhol Presents,” though both were directed by Paul Morrissey. Their release was originally in 3-D!

Flesh for Frankenstein (1974)
7:30 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

Flesh for Frankenstein’s campy plot involves a Baron Frankenstein who spends most of his time in his laboratory. He has already created a female human — he now needs to construct a male companion. His aim is to mate his two creations and to create a whole new race of perfect human beings who will only obey his orders. The only thing he still needs to complete his work —  a head for his newly-minted male.

Blood for Dracula
9 p.m.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

Count Dracula, gravely ill, and his grotesque assistant Anton, journey to Italy seeking a virgin’s blood. They are received at the decrepit Di Fiore estate, where the desperate Marchese is doing what he can to marry his daughters to wealthy suitors. The Count ends up spending most of his time with incest‑loving lesbians with tainted blood. and a Marxist servant, Mario, who is skeptical of an aristocratic vampire.

A scene that shocked the Vatican in Luis Buñuel’s Viridiana.

Viridiana
January 16 – 19
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

Director Luis Buñuel takes a scathingly critical look at religion, charity, false generosity, and moral hypocrisy. Viridiana, the embodiment of Catholic principles and Christian purity, is a novice nun undertaking her formal training period preparing for her profession. Before accepting her vows, she is encouraged to visit her wealthy and reclusive uncle Don Jaime (Buñuel regular Fernando Rey). On his estate, she is subjected to his unwarranted romantic advances — he is projecting onto her his desire for his late wife. The film was controversial — it was banned in Franco’s Spain and denounced by the Vatican, which particularly disliked a scene that mimicked The Last Supper — populated by beggars and scoundrels. The screenplay is loosely based on Pérez Galdós’s 1895 novel Halma. Bunuel’s 1961 masterpiece is being shown in a 4K restoration.

Il Posto
January 17 at 7 p.m.
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge

In a career that spans more than five decades, Ermanno Olmi crafted some of the best character studies in Italian Neo-Realism, exploring lives filled with quiet desperation, hope, irony, and inanity. His skill lies in visualizing hum-drum life in an emotionally resonant manner.

In this film from 1961, Olmi explores the existence of a young man entering the Milanese workforce for the first time. At the beginning, Domenico Cantori (Sandro Panseri) is snuggled under the bed covers, trying to steal a few more minutes of sleep before he has to face the day’s challenge. His father, a manual laborer, is getting ready for work; his wife is preparing breakfast for the family. Domenico has the usual verbal fight with his younger brother, Franco. The ordinary events of this day may determine Domenico’s near-future, because he is about to attend an interview for a post as a clerk in a Milanese firm. Olmi’s Les Fiancés plays at 9:30 p.m.

Pick of the Week

Dragged Across Concrete, streaming on Amazon Prime

Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn on scene from Dragged Across Concrete. Photo: Amazon

Craig Zahler’s (Bone Tomahawk) hard-boiled movie features a cameo from the late Udo Kier. The narrative revolves around two alienated cops (Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn) who were suspended after a rough arrest went viral. Broke, bitter, and done playing by the rules, the pair decide to shadow a heist and then steal the money from the thieves. Unfortunately, the crooks are professionals and stone cold killers. Is it any surprise that the plan goes spectacularly wrong? Long interludes of quiet suspense give way to outbreaks of sudden and cruel violence. Everyone wants the cash. No one walks clean. Despite the plot’s contrived moments, the film will keep you engaged. It’s a grim, slow-burn crime tale where morality is ground down to nothing — survival is the only law.

— Tim Jackson

Television

If the first week of 2026 finds you craving distraction from the disturbing events unfolding daily, you’re not alone. Do your blood pressure a favor and limit your exposure to the news (say, to 30 minutes a day), and watch some entertaining or cathartic TV instead. The Criterion Channel is, as ever, discontinuing a number of classic and eminently watchable titles from their library this month. Top recommendations from me to see before they’re gone: all the Howard Hawks movies leaving (including His Girl Friday, The Big Sleep, and Rio Bravo), Julie Dash’s iconic, beautiful period film Daughters of the Dust, Scorsese’s dark gem The King of Comedy, Dee Rees’ Pariah, Woody Allen’s star-studded Hannah and Her Sisters, Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in America, Nancy Savoca’s Dogfight, cult slasher Black Christmas, Alfonso Cuaron’s dystopian thriller Children of Men, and Akira Kurosawa’s epic adaptation of Shakespeare’s Lear, Ran.

January is usually a slow month for new TV offerings, but there are new incarnations of long-running franchises, including Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (premiering January 15 on Paramount +) and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (January 18, HBO), a new series with half-hour episodes based on George R. R. Martin’s three prequel novellas, which expand on the world of his novel series known as A Song of Ice and Fire (the basis for HBO’s Game of Thrones).

Industry, Season 4 (premiering January 11 on HBO) I’m excited we didn’t have to wait too long for a new season of this smart, sexy, edgy, and often intense show. Set in London, Industry is immersed in the world of high-stakes banking and elite social circles. New cast members this season include Kiernan Shipka (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), Charlie Heaton (Stranger Things), and Max Minghella (The Handmaid’s Tale).

Haley Lu Richardson and Emilia Clarke in Ponies. Photo: Peacock

Ponies (January 15 on Peacock) The main problem with dramas set in the ’60s or ’70s is that, even when period details such as costumes are well-researched and accurate, the dialogue and speaking styles often miss the mark. Notable scrupulously authentic exceptions include Mad Men, Fargo, Minx, White House Plumbers, Daisy Jones and the Six, and A Very English Scandal. That may not be the case with Ponies, a new show that’s set in 1977 and stars  Haley Lu Richardson (The White Lotus) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) as secretaries at the American embassy in Moscow. The pair find themselves working undercover for the CIA. I’m willing to give this one a chance, but when the preview gives us characters nattering ’80s style dialogue, it feels like someone hasn’t done their homework.

— Peg Aloi

Theater

Parker Jennings as Reality Winner in ATC’s Is This a Room Photo: Danielle Fauteux Jacques

Is This a Room by Tina Satter. Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques. Staged by the Apollinaire Theatre Company at the Chelsea Theatre Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea, through January 18.

The plot of this docudrama, according to the Apollinaire Theatre Company website: “A tense psychological thriller based on the verbatim FBI transcript of the interrogation of Reality Winner, a young Air Force linguist accused of leaking a classified document about Russian interference in U.S. elections. Using the exact dialogue, pauses, and stutters from the interrogation, the play captures the mounting tension of a high-stakes encounter that is both topical and personal. At its core, Is This a Room explores truth, patriotism, and what it means to have honor in our complex modern world.” Unlike so many local theater offerings, this one draws direct connections to current authoritarianism-on-the-move realities — and during the the holiday season!

Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector. Directed by Tony Estrella. Staged by Gamm Theatre at 1245 Jefferson Boulevard, Warwick, RI, January 8 through February 1.

According to the Gamm Theatre website, this script, which won a 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, is set “at a progressive private school in Berkeley, [where] decisions are made by consensus and everyone gets a voice—until a mumps outbreak throws everything into chaos. As Zoom meetings unravel, alliances crack, and tensions rise,” the comedy “takes a sharply funny and frighteningly familiar look at how we communicate, or fail to.”

Job by Max Wolf Friedlich, Directed by Marianna Bassham. Staged by SpeakEasy Stage Company at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, January 16 through February 17.

According to the SpeakEasy Stage Company’s website, this “Broadway thriller” tells “the story of Jane, an employee of a big tech company who has been placed on leave after becoming the subject of a viral video. As the play begins, Jane arrives at the office of a crisis therapist, Loyd, determined to be reinstated to the job that gives her life meaning. The session quickly spirals, however, offering a probing look at power, politics, and mental health in an age where identity is performative and everything is on the record.” The cast for this two-hander is Josephine Moshiri Elwood and Dennis Trainor Jr.

A scene from Kurt Hunter Marionettes’ production of Penguin In My Pocket.

Penguin In My Pocket by Kurt Hunter Marionettes. At the Puppet Showplace Theater, 32 Station Street, Brookline, January 17 through 25.

The lowdown from the Puppet Showplace Theater about this show: “What happens when a penguin scientist crash lands in the jungle? Stranded because of a failed experimental jetpack, our penguin protagonist has to work with an artistic monkey to find her way home — and encounters a sea monster along the way! This quirky tale highlights the importance of imagination in both art and science, and features a concertina and audience participation!”

“Stay after the show to meet the artists and see the puppets up close! Plus, enjoy a dress-up station, coloring sheets, and a penguin puppet craft. These activities are available after every performance, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.. All ages welcome, especially enjoyed by ages 4 – 8.

Library Lion by Eli Bijaoui. Music by Yoni Rechter. Based on the English translation by M. Rodgers and A. Berris. Directed by Ran Bechor. Staged by Adam Theater at  The Calderwood Pavilion, 527 Tremont St., Boston, January 10 to 25.

From the Arts Fuse review of the January 2025 production of this delightful children’s theater production. “There’s a new kid on the block and he’s got remarkably expressive blue eyes, a golden mane of hair, four paws, and a long tail that’s great for dusting off books. He’s a larger-than-life-sized puppet, and he’s very definitely the star of the children’s play Library Lion, which is being staged by Adam Theater, an equally new and welcome addition to the Boston theater scene.”

Nathan Salstone, Garrett McNally, and members of the A.R.T. cast of Wonder. Photo: Hawver and Hall

Wonder Music and Lyrics by A Great Big World (Ian Axel & Chad King). Book by Sarah Ruhl. Music Supervision by Nadia DiGiallonardo. Choreography by Katie Spelman. Directed by Taibi Magar. Based on the novel Wonder by R.J. Palacio and the Lionsgate and Mandeville film Wonder. Staged by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, through February 8.

The American Repertory Theater website on this world premiere production: “Based on R.J. Palacio’s novel and Lionsgate & Mandeville Films’ hit feature film, this uplifting new musical follows the Pullman family as they navigate change, identity, and what it means to belong. Auggie Pullman has been homeschooled his entire life, often retreating to outer space in his imagination. But when his family decides it’s time for him to start going to school, Auggie must take off the space helmet he has used to hide his facial difference. As Auggie navigates a world filled with kindness and cruelty, his parents and sister go on their own journeys of transformation and discovery. Featuring a driving, pop-inspired score, Wonder celebrates empathy, resilience, and the power of choosing kindness.” Arts Fuse review

— Bill Marx

Visual Art

Bridgeport, CT-born sculptor Michelle Lopez packs her work with more political content than a Senate confirmation hearing — “recasting minimalist and post-minimalist forms into critiques of capitalism, chauvinism, and other narratives of hegemony.” Working with aluminum, rope, glass, and other industrial materials, Lopez has often described her works as “lines in space made from rope and metal.”

Lopez, who heads the sculpture program at the University of Pennsylvania, has exhibited throughout the United States and in Europe and Asia for more than a quarter century. She opens a new solo show, Michelle Lopez: Shadow of a Doubt, on January 15 at the Tufts University Art Galleries. Alongside a review of past work and new sculptures, the exhibition includes drawings and video and sound installations, all of which feature the artist’s fascination with the “barely visible,” intended to prompt visitors to consider who “is rendered invisible by institutions, governments, and other systems of authority.”

Brittany Nelson, Green Bank Telescope, 2025. Gelatin silver print. Courtesy the artist and PATRON Gallery

Opening the same day in Cambridge is the MIT List Visual Arts Center’s exhibition, List Projects 34: Brittany Nelson.  Nelson, a New York-based photographer and video artist, adds science, science fiction, and Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 classic thriller, Rebecca, along with its 1940 film version, into the mix in this show of new photographs and moving image work.  Nelson’s varied images, moving and still, were made at the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia, which is the site of one of the world’s largest radio telescopes and a hub for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) where astronomers scan the heavens for signs of advanced civilizations on other planets. Made legendary by the late science popularizer, Carl Sagan, SETI’s telescope is, for Lopez, a reminder of an ex-partner; on the sound track, its liquid helium pumps “throb like mechanical heartbeats.”

The Museum of Fine Arts invites you into part of its vast backstage world with the special program Conservation Up Close: Medieval Made Modern on January 8, starting at 4 p.m. Alice Limb, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow for Advanced Training, and Sophie Morris, graduate conservation intern, will show visitors the 15th-century Spanish work, Mass of Saint Gregory by Nicolás Francés, currently undergoing treatment and scientific study. Originally painted on a wooden panel, the work was acquired by the MFA in 1936 and transferred to canvas in 1938. One of the earliest Spanish paintings in Boston, this small work has not been on public display since 1947. The tour will explore several intertwined narratives: the artistic life of medieval Spain, new information about Francés’ working methods and materials, revealed in recent technical studies of his painting, and changes in professional conservation methods and guidelines since the work was first treated at the MFA nearly ninety years ago.

The tour is free with general admission. No registration is required but space is limited (first come, first served). Meet at the Sharf Visitor Center.

No one who has visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum even once would doubt that botany has played an important part in the institution’s history. For those thirsting to know more, A Botanical Talk and Tour on January 9, from 12:30 to 2:00 p.m., will start with a 30-minute talk on the fascinating history of plants at the museum from its inception to the present. An hour-long tour follows, encompassing the Gardner’s celebrated Central Courtyard with its year-round, changing botanical displays, the Monks Garden, designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, and the rich plant imagery embedded throughout Isabella Stewart Gardner’s collection. Tickets are limited and can be purchased through the museum’s website.

Photo: Caitlin Cunningham Photography

Look up from the Fogg Art Museum’s courtyard and you can see, through the glassed-in corridors above the public floors, the cases and colorful jars of the Forbes Pigment Collection, the museum’s famous “library of color.” Begun nearly a century ago under legendary Fogg director Edward W. Forbes, the collection of artist’s materials and pigments was an essential research resource and an early step in the transition from art “restoration” to the modern field of art conservation. With more than 2,500 pigments, it is now the world’s largest collection of its kind.

On January 17, from 11 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Alison Cariens, conservation coordinator, will lead an Art Study Center Seminar: A Closer Look at the Forbes Pigment Collection that will take a look at history of the collection, the stories behind some featured pigments, and the pigments’ use in art conservation to this day. Free admission but registration is required (starting January 6) on the Harvard Art Museums website.

The Trump Administration may be trying to downgrade the holiday, but the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem will be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day all day, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., on January 19. There will be free admission for all visitors and a series of special programs in the Create Space Studios. Events include a preview of the upcoming special exhibition Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone, the North Shore Youth Community Mural, underway in partnership with the youth workshop RAW Art Works, drop-in art making, and a screening of the film My Black Is… by RAW alums Miguel Valdez and Eunice Beato.

— Peter Walsh

Classical Music

Composer Samuel Barber at the piano. Photo: WikiMedia

Barber’s Vanessa
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
January 8 at 7:30 p.m. and 10 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Andris Nelsons and the BSO open the New Year with Samuel Barber’s Pulitzer Prize-winning tragedy. Jennifer Holloway sings the title role, while Anne Sofie von Otter and Thomas Hampson fill out other key roles.

American Spiritual Ensemble
Presented by Music Worcester
January 9, 7 p.m.
Mechanics Hall

Music Worcester artist-in-residence Everett McCorvey leads the American Spiritual Ensemble in a program celebrating the legacy of Black spirituals and folksongs.

Sarasa Ensemble in action. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Patron Lobkowitz
Presented by Sarasa Ensemble
January 9 at 7 p.m. and 11 at 3:30 p.m.
Friends Meeting House, Cambridge (Friday) and Follen Community Church, Lexington (Sunday)

One of the 18^th century’s most important art supporters gets a belated tribute from the Brattleboro-based collective. Familiar items by Haydn and Beethoven share a program with Emanuel Förster’s String Quintet in A minor.

Telemann’s Ino
Presented by Handel & Haydn Society
January 9 at 7:30 p.m. and 11 at 3 p.m.
Jordan Hall

H&H artistic director Jonathan Cohen leads his group in a rare performance of Telemann’s dramatic cantata with soprano Carolyn Sampson, who also sings Mozart’s Exsultate jubilate. Also on tap is Haydn’s Symphony No. 44.

Composer/flutist Allison Loggins-Hull. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Music by Loggins-Hull, Bernstein, and Tchaikovsky
Presented by Boston Symphony Orchestra
January 15 at 7:30 p.m., 16 at 8 p.m., and 17 at 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

Favorites by Tchaikovsky (Piano Concerto No. 1, with soloist Seong-Jin Cho) and Leonard Bernstein (Chichester Psams) share the bill with Allison Loggins-Hull’s Rhapsody on a Theme by Joni, a tribute to singer-songwriter Mitchell. BSO principal flautist Lorna McGhee is the soloist in the latter.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Jazz

Pianist Benito Gonzalez will be performing with his trio at Regattabar this week. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Benito Gonzalez-Lenny White-Buster Williams Trio
January 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.

Benito Gonzalez, an outstanding pianist who played a key role in the McCoy Tyner tribute band back in September, returns to the Regattabar in a collectively run trio with his starry elders, bassist Buster Williams and drummer Lenny White.

Construction Party Featuring Dave Rempis
January 9 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, Mass.

Bracingly creative alto saxophonist Dave Rempis came to the fore as part of the Chicago scene with the Vandermark Five. He makes one of his regular Boston-area stops to play with like-minded improvisers in Construction Party: trumpeter Forbes Graham, pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, bassist Nate McBride, and drummer Luther Gray.

Brazilian master of the 10-string Portuguese mandolin Hamilton de Holanda. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Hamilton de Holanda
January 10 at 7 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass.

Multiple Grammy winner Hamilton de Holanda, a Brazilian master of the 10-string Portuguese mandolin known as the bandolim, comes to the Regattabar with his regular working trio, featuring keyboardist Salomão Soares and drummer Thiago “Big” Rabello, and their unique fusion of Brazilian choro and jazz.

Tim Ray Trio
January 10 at 8 p.m.
Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, Dorchester, Mass.

Tim Ray’s sideman gigs up the value of any show he’s a part of. Here the pianist and composer gets to present a program of his original compositions, with bassist John Lockwood and drummer Austin McMahon, as part of Mandorla Music’s Dot Jazz series, co-produced with Greater Ashmont Main Street.

Miles Davis-John Coltrane Centennial
January 16 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi, clarinetist Virginia MacDonald pianist Jeb Patton, bassist John Lockwood, and drummer Bernd Reiter come together for this tribute to Coltrane (b. Sept. 23, 1926) and his one-time boss, Miles (b. May 26).

The Tyshawn Sorey Trio. Photo: OGATA

Tyshawn Sorey Trio
January 16 at 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center, Boston, Mass.

The stunningly accomplished drummer and composer Tyshawn Sorey — a MacArthur “genius” Fellow and Pulitzer Prize winner (2024, for Adagio (For Wadada Leo Smith)  — comes to Berklee for this Celebrity Series concert leading his most straightforward jazz ensemble, with bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Aaron Diehl. Their The Susceptible Now — with pieces by McCoy Tyner, Brad Mehldau, the soul group Vividry, and a Charles Mingus/Joni Mitchell collaboration — was one of the best of 2024.

— Jon Garelick

Roots and World Music

Cuban pianist Omar Sosa and multi-instrumentalist  Tim Eriksen. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Tim Eriksen
Club Passim
Jan. 9

This pillar of the Western Mass. roots scene has made his mark everywhere, from hardcore punk to traditional shape-note singing. For this solo show, he’ll be focusing on his songwriting/composer side, performing what Eriksen says are “rarely performed pieces written for Alison Krauss and Atlantica,” his collaboration with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa.

Boston Celtic Music Festival
Jan. 15-18

The annual winter salute to the wide world of Celtic sounds keeps getting bigger and better. This year, the scores of local Celtic talents are joined by legends like Scotland’s Old Blind Dogs and Ireland’s Altan at sessions, concerts, and jams in Cambridge and Somerville venues, including Club Passim, the Burren, and the Crystal Ballroom. The finale concert, at the Somerville Theatre, will include a tribute to the late radio host Brian O’Donovan. The fine local group Scottish Fish will be Passim’s Brian O’Donovan Fund Recipient for 2026.

The Sam Grisman Project featuring Tim O’Brien & Victor Furtado
Jan. 15
Bull Run Restaurant, Shirley

Bassist Sam Grisman has been touring around with a project that finds him changing collaborators on a regular basis. This multi-generational edition of his band includes the phenomenal banjo playing Victor Furtado as well as Tim O’Brien, one of the all-time greats of both bluegrass and Americana.

— Noah Schaffer

Author Events

Roshani Chokshi: The Swan’s Daughter – Brookline Booksmith
January 5 at 7 p.m.
Free

“In this lush and romantic novel from New York Times bestselling author Roshani Chokshi, a prince is only as good as his beating heart and a maiden is only as good as her honest word. But when love and the truth become impossibly tangled, the two must figure out how to survive together, or fall completely apart.”

Caitlin Vincent at Harvard Book Store
Opera Wars: Inside the World of Opera and the Battles for Its Future
January 6 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Blunt, irreverent, and at times wittily subversive, Opera Wars spotlights opera’s colorful and sometimes warring personalities, increasingly fierce controversies over content, and the battles being waged for its economic future.

Drawing on interviews with dozens of opera insiders—as well as her own experience as an award-winning librettist, trained vocalist, opera company director, and arts commentator—Caitlin Vincent deftly unravels clichés and presumptions, exposing such debates as how much fidelity is owed to long-dead opera composers whose plots often stir racial and gender sensitivities, whether there’s any cure for typecasting that leaves talented performers out of work and other performers chained to the same roles, and what explains the bizarre kowtowing of opera companies to the demands of traditionalist patrons.”

Marlene Gerber Fried and Loretta Ross – Porter Square Books
Abortion and Reproductive Justice
January 6 at 7 p.m.
Cambridge Edition, 1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge MA
Free

“Overturning Roe unleashed a wave of urgent threats to abortion and bodily autonomy, fueled by overt white supremacy, racial and anti-immigrant hatred, and support for traditional gender roles and sexual identities. But the resistance is fierce, led by a new generation of activists of color dedicated to building an inclusive movement. In Abortion and Reproductive Justice, widely recognized movement leaders Marlene Gerber Fried and Loretta J. Ross provide a history of abortion politics through a reproductive justice framework that centers those most vulnerable.

The book emphasizes that the right to have and raise children is as important for reproductive choice as the right not to. This critical approach—originating in Black feminism—provides grounding for radical abortion advocacy. Calling on us to join in, the book highlights abortion stories from individuals and organizations who are putting this analysis into action on the front lines, in the United States and beyond. By linking abortion rights to broader social justice initiatives, including Black Lives Matter, immigrant and refugee rights, disability justice, and LGBTQ+ rights, the authors expand the conversation at a critical moment.”

Queer Book Club – Brookline Booksmith
Mamo
January 7 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Brookline Booksmith’s Queer Book Club is a once-monthly book discussion group focusing on queer authors and stories. We will discuss books from a broad spectrum of writing genres, styles, and authorship. All are welcome to attend, and no registration is needed – just check our calendar and show up to discuss the book! The meetings will take place in person at Brookline Booksmith unless otherwise specified on our website. Free and open to the public, with meetings (generally) on the first Monday of every month at 7 p.m.

Cartoonist Sas Milledge (The Lost Carnival: A Dick Grayson Graphic Novel) makes her astonishing debut in her first original graphic novel that answers the question of how we all reconcile our responsibilities with our dreams for our own future. Orla O’Reilly, the youngest in a long line of hedge witches, is compelled to return home after the death of her grandmother, Mamo. In the wake of her Mamo’s passing, seas are impossible to fish, crops have soured, even Jo Manalo’s attic is taken over by a poltergeist! And, to make matter worse, it appears that the cause is Mamo, or her mislaid bones that is. Can Orla shoulder the responsibility of quieting her Mamo’s spirit, saving her hometown, and will she have to step up as the new witch of Haresden like Mamo always wanted? Collects Mamo #1-5.”

Celina Myers with C. L. Herman – Brookline Booksmith
Hollow 
January 12 at 6 p.m.
Free

“From TikTok sensation Celina Myers comes a fresh, intriguing novel about a woman who finds her destiny and her family after being turned into a vampire. Celina Myers, known to millions online as “Celina Spooky Boo,” is celebrated for her fast-paced storytelling and vivid imagery. A master of weaving horror into worlds that feel hauntingly real, Celina creates stories that linger in the shadows of everyday life.”

Thi Nguyen – Harvard Book Store
The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else’s Game
January 13 at 7 p.m.
Free

“As a long-time fan of games, I was delighted to find a philosophical look at how we make choices in life. If you love gaming, this is the best book on the topic you’ll ever find.” —Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple

Daniyal Mueenuddin at Harvard Book Store
This is Where the Serpent Lives: A Novel
January 14 at 7 p.m.
Free

“In matters of power and money and the heart, Mueenuddin’s characters struggle to choose between paths that are moral and just and more worldly choices that allow them to survive in the systems of caste, capital, and social power that so tightly grip their culture. Intimate and epic, elegiac and profoundly moving, This Is Where the Serpent Lives is a tour de force destined to become a classic of contemporary literature.” The author will be conversation with critic James Wood.

Max Bazerman in conversation with Todd Rogers – Porter Square Books
Inside an Academic Scandal
January 15 at 7 p.m.
Cambridge Edition, 1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA
Free

“Bazerman tells the sobering story of how fraud in a published paper about inducing honesty upended countless academic careers, wreaked havoc in organizations that had implemented the idea of “signing first,” and undermined faith in academic research and publication.

This vivid account offers an inside look at the replicability crisis in social science today. In intriguing detail, the book explores recent conflicts and transformations underway in the field, considers the role of relationships and trust in enabling fraud in academic research, and describes Bazerman’s own part in the scandal—what he did and didn’t do to stop the fraud in the signing-first paper, what consequences he faced, and what hard lessons he learned in the process.”

Small Press Book Club – Brookline Booksmith
To Smithereens
January 19 from 7- 9 p.m.
Via Zoom
Free

“To Smithereens is a lighthearted satire of art world personalities, a glimpse into Manhattan of the 1970s–with its seedy theatres and beloved freaks–and a riotous foray into the craze of mid-century women’s wrestling. Inspired both by Drexler’s experiences as one of few women in the Pop Art movement and her own career in the ring (immortalized in Andy Warhol’s Album of a Mat Queen), and first published in 1972, To Smithereens is an antic, biting portrait of its time from a voice that speaks directly to ours.”

— Matt Hanson