Arts Fuse critics select the best in music, theater, and film that’s coming up this week.

By The Arts Fuse Staff.

Roots and World Music

Carlos Vives
July 19
Agganis Arena, Boston, MA

How often do you see a band featuring an accordion and flute headline a hockey rink? Well, anytime Carlos Vives comes to town. The Colombian superstar has stayed true to his vallenato roots, and his longtime collaborator, accordionist Egidio Cuadrado, still leads his band. Expect multiple generations of fans to be singing along.

Festival Betances
July 19–21
Plaza Betances, 100 W. Dedham St., Boston, MA

This free gift to the community from the Villa Victoria-based Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción organization showcases a wide spectrum of Spanish music. Timbales master Ralph Irizarry makes a rare local appearance on Saturday, while Afro-Cuban/Afrobeat/hiphop fusers Yerba Buena are among Sunday’s highlights.

Blind Boys of Alabama and Taj Mahal Trio
July 20
Outside the Box Festival, Boston, MA

It was a sad chapter in the history of the Blind Boys of Alabama when lead singer Clarence Fountain retired from the veteran gospel outfit. The group’s management claims that the electrifying Jimmy Carter is the last original Blind Boy still touring—that drives gospel historians batty, since Carter actually joined (or, he says, rejoined) the group about five decades into its existence. It hardly matters, since the group’s current set consists almost entirely of selections from their recent crossover recordings along with a hearty dose of engaging crowd participation. Extreme heat and the concrete of City Hall Plaza can be a difficult combination, but those who stick around will also hear Mahal, whose overall contributions to the world of blues far outweighs his recent tendency to go on autopilot when backed by just a rhythm section.

Yidstock 2013
July 18–21
Yiddish Book Center, Amherst, MA

In only its second year, this mix of indoor concerts and panels has become one of the most ambitious and adventurous celebrations of musical Yiddishkeit in the northeast. Much of the weekend is sold out, but tickets remain for most of Sunday’s lineup. On tap that day is New York’s avant-cabaret ensemble Golem, the debut of Brass Kahones, a wonderfully named new project led by trumpet heavyweights Frank London and Steve Bernstein, and an all-star finale jam.

Pokey LaFarge
July 20
Great Scott, Boston, MA

A whimsical revivalist and top-shelf entertainer, LaFarge is so dedicated to keeping alive American’s musical past that his band recently put out a 78. This strong bill also includes one of Boston’s best songwriters, Ryan Lee Crosby.

The Duhks
July 22
The Burren, Somerville, MA

This quirky Winnipeg string band was one of the best touring roots outfits of the prior decade. A string of personnel changes sapped some of its momentum, but now the original band, including sultry singer Jessee Havey, is back together doing occasional shows in between their other projects.

The Stylistics
July 22
City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA

One of the silkiest stars of 70’s group harmony soul, the Stylistics have splintered into two competing units. The better one is led by original lead Russell Thompkins Jr., but two other longtime members keep this version going. They’ve hired Eban Brown to handle lead vocals, and he’s got the necessary falsetto for the likes of “Betcha By Golly Wow” and “People Make the World Go ‘Round.” If it rains, this City of Boston-sponsored freebie moves to the Strand Theater in Dorchester.

— Noah Schaffer

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Rock

The Band That Time Forgot
July 20, 7 p.m.
Johnny D’s Uptown Restaurant and Music Club, Somerville, MA

Established 25 years ago (and winning a “Best of Boston Award”), this is the first band to revive under-recognized songs from the late ’60s. The group now plays only a few shows a year. The four members of the band have a long history as journeymen players with artists including Tom Rush, Dennis Brennan, Willy Nile, Suzanne Vega, Robin Lane, LaVern Baker, Bill Morrissey, Ellis Paul, and many others.

AmericanaramA Festival 
Featuring Bob Dylan, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket
July 20
Comcast Center, Mansfield, MA

Given the number of times Bob Dylan has played our area over the past few years, it seems safe to say that the AmericanaramA Festival will not be your last chance to catch the Rock and Roll Bard live. However, it most likely will be your last, and only, chance to see him with both Wilco and My Morning Jacket. The bill alone is intriguing, but add in the possibility of guest spots (Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and MMJ’s Jim James both appear on the soundtrack to the quasi-Bob Dylan biopic I’m Not There after all), and there is the potential for something truly memorable. Then again, Bob never does what you expect him to.

Robert Plant presents the Sensational Space Shifters
July 25
Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, MA

Speaking of people who never do what you expect them to (*ahem* Led Zeppelin reunion *ahem* pleaseeee), Robert Plant will be fronting his band, the Sensational Space Shifters, at Bank of America Pavilion. While the Sensational Space Shifters are not Led Zeppelin, Plant still knows what the people want, so if recent set lists are any indication of what he’s bringing to Boston, you can expect a decent dose of songs from that mighty band’s extensive catalogue.

Dick Dale
July 25
Middle East-Downstairs, Cambridge, MA

Oh sure, there are lots of people who play surf guitar, but only Dick Dale is THE KING OF THE SURF GUITAR. And here’s a fun fact: Dick Dale, The King of the Surf Guitar, was born in Boston and raised in Quincy. Thankfully (at least for music), he moved to California while still in high school, which is where he became (wait for it) THE KING OF THE SURF GUITAR. Now let’s be clear: surf guitar, as played by Dick Dale, is not something to be trifled with. This ain’t the Beach Boys (genius as they are) playing “Surfin’ U.S.A.” or “Surfin’ Safari.” This is the biggest wave you’ve ever seen crashing on your skull! How bad is Dick Dale? So bad, that his song “Miserlou” was used by Quentin Tarantino as the theme song to Pulp Fiction. Now that’s bad. See him if you dare.

— Adam Ellsworth

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Jazz

July was once a slow month for music, but not anymore. In addition to the many festivals, here are even more options for your rapidly-filling calendar.

Jazz in July, Week Two
July 18, 7:30 p.m.
Bezanson Recital Hall, UMass—Amherst, Amherst, MA

UMass-Amherst’s midsummer Jazz in July program continues with the second of two faculty concerts, this week featuring John Cammack, Steve Davis, Bruce Diehl, Bob Ferrier, Tom Giampietro, Jeff Holmes, Catherine Jensen-Hole, Steve Johns, Sheila Jordan, Luis Perdomo, and Genevieve Rose.

Carolina Chocolate Drops
July 18, 8 p.m.
Payomet Performing Arts Center, North Truro, MA

Out on the Cape, the Carolina Chocolate Drops returns with gems new-found and old from across the spectrum of early African-American string band music.

Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica Quartet with Tev Stevig
July 19, 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA

While vibraphonist Brian O’Neill’s full Orchestrotica primarily explores the music of Esquivel and other classics of “exotica,” the quartet edition (flutist Geni Skendo, bassist Jason Davis, and percussionist Shane Shanahan, here joined by oud/tambur player Tev Stevig) focuses on O’Neill’s own ear-catching compositions. (Arts Fuse review to come)

Eguie Castrillo and Mar del Norte
July 20, 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA

Percussionist Castrillo celebrates his 50th birthday by bringing his hard-driving Mar del Norte Salsa Orchestra to the Regattabar.

Semenya McCord tribute to Billie Holiday, with narration by Eric Jackson
July 20, 8 p.m.
Amazing Things Arts Center, Framingham, MA

Vocalist McCord recreates an evening with Lady Day with the able narrative assistance of WGBH’s Eric Jackson.

George Garzone/Ehud Ettun/Jorge Perez-Albela
July 21, 9 p.m.
Lily Pad, Cambridge, MA

Saxophonist Garzone, bassist Ettun, and drummer Perez-Albela all regularly lead their own bands at the Lily Pad, but here they join forces for what should be an interesting outing for all of them (and the audience).

Cettina Donato Group
July 24, 8 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA

The Italian pianist (now living in Boston) is joined by trumpeter Ken Cervenka, saxophonist Rafael Aguiar, guitarist Scott Free, bassist David Santoro, and drummer Ron Savage for an evening of music from her recent CD, Crescendo.

— J. R. Carroll

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Classical Music

Jurowski returns to the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
July 19, 8:30 p.m.
Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

Not that the BSO is incapable of coming up with unexpected programming delights (if only they would do this more often): Vladimir Jurowski returns to the BSO podium for the first time since his acclaimed performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 4 last October. And he brings a nicely quirky program with him: Wagner’s Prelude to Act 1 of Die Meistersinger, Liszt’s Totentanz for piano and orchestra (with Jean-Yves Thibaudet), and Mahler’s orchestration of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony.

Barbara Quintiliani, soprano
Presented by Monadnock Music
July 20, 7:30 p.m.
Peterborough Town House, Peterborough, NH

One of the region’s leading young sopranos presents an appealingly mixed program of songs by composers including Handel, Delibes, Bizet, and Verdi, along with a selection of American parlor songs.

Die Walküre at Tanglewood
Presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
July 20, 8:30 p.m.
Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

The BSO has long been a great Wagner orchestra, though Wagner’s music doesn’t figure in their repertoire as prominently as one might expect. The orchestra’s commemoration of the composer’s 200th birthday reaches its apex here with a performance of Act 3 of Die Walküre. Bryn Terfel appears as Wotan, alongside Katarina Dalayman (Brünnhilde) and Amber Wagner (Siegelinde); Lothar Koenigs conducts.

All-Debussy at Tanglewood
Presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
July 22, 8 p.m.
Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

Stéphane Denève joins the TMCO and TMC conducting fellows in an evening of orchestral music by Claude Debussy. Jeux—forever the “other Ballets Russes” production of 1913—gets a well-deserved outing; the Prélude À L’Après-Midi D’Un Faune, Danses sacrées et profanes, and La Mer round out the program.

— Jonathan Blumhofer
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Newport Music Festival
Concerts through July 28
Newport, RI

July 19, 4 p.m.: An all French program featuring harp (Coline-Marie Orliac), French horn (Eric Ruske), viola (Gabriel Diaz), two pianists, and flute in a program of Ibert, Faure, Jean-Michel Damase, Satie, Ibert, and Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola, and harp

July 20, 11 a.m.: “Morning Mozart” features a good arrangement of Mozart’s Flute and Harp Concerto for harp and string quartet, the Piano Quartet in G Minor, and other Mozart pieces performed by the festival’s artists.

July 20, 7 p.m.: Mark Kroll, a superb harpsichordist, plays works of Francois Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau.

July 24 and 26 at 7:30 p.m. and 28 at 3 p.m. The much acclaimed Boston Midsummer Opera — under conductor Susan Davenny Wyner — performs The Merry Wives of Windsor by Otto Nicolai at Boston University’s Tsai Performance Center. Boston, MA.

— Susan Miron

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Film

First Comes Love
July 18, 7 p.m.
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge, MA

Nina Davenport (Always a Bridesmaid, Operation Filmmaker) found herself single at the age of 41 and decided to have a baby on her own. As if that wasn’t enough, she was going to do this while living in New York City. Filming the entire process, she reveals the joys and pains of becoming a parent as she confronts her own family history. The director is a Harvard graduate and a wonderfully candid and engaging filmmaker in first person style of Ross McElwee. Davenport will appear in person at the screening.

The Rose Tattoo
July 21, 4:30 p.m.
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge, MA

This is a rare screening of the film version of the Tennessee Williams masterpiece directed by Daniel Mann. Burt Lancaster and Italian actress Anna Magnani star, with the latter—in her first English-speaking role—turning in an Oscar-winning performance. Many assume the part was written with her in mind. With superb help from Marisa Pavan (who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress), the film dramatizes all the Italian passion, tragedy, and dark comedy in Williams’s great southern drama.

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
July 19–22
Brattle Theater, Cambridge, MA

Despite having released only three albums, this cult band was a significant influence on many contemporary artists, including REM and Flaming Lips. The documentary has been receiving terrific word of mouth, both for its story and the director’s ability to get inside the mind of the band as well as its creative process. (Arts Fuse Review to come)

2001: A Space Odyssey
July 22
Coolidge Corner Theater, Brookline, MA

If there were ever a film that begged to be shown on a large movie screen, it is Stanley Kubrick’s visionary and mythic meditation on the future and the nature of space and time. It comes around every few years, and if you have not seen it, this is another opportunity. Don’t miss one of the greatest match edits in film history: an image of an ape tossing a bone into the air jumps, in a heartbeat, to a space station sailing through the cosmos a millennia later.

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Theater

Southern Comfort
Book & Lyrics by Dan Collins. Music by Julianne Wick Davis. Presented by Barrington Stage’s Musical Theatre Lab
July 19 through August 10.
St. Germain Stage, the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, Pittsfield, MA

The world premiere of a down home musical with an intriguing premise: it is “the story of male transgendered Robert Eads (Annette O’Toole) and his trans girlfriend Lola Cola (Jeff McCarthy) as they navigate life and its challenges in the back hills of ‘Bubba Land’ Georgia.”

Party Time by Harold Pinter
Staged by Theatre on Fire
July 19 through August 3.
Locations around Boston, MA

An interactive theatrical concept that sounds pretty nifty. Harold Pinter’s short 1991 dagger to the heart of the pampered bourgeoisie, lacerated during a tony shindig, will be staged in homes around the city: “You’re invited to the most exclusive party in town, featuring wine, nosh and a veritable who’s who of power brokers, movers and shakers. Don’t be alarmed if you encounter a road block or two on the way. Everything is going to be fine.” One way of getting up close and personal with the performers. (Check the website for locations and dates.)

Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Nora and Delia Ephron (based on the book by Ilene Beckerman)
Staged by the Hub Theatre Company
July 19 through August 3
First Church, Boston, MA

This Boston premiere is billed to be “like a long heart-to-heart with your best friend,” “an intimate and engaging collection of stories that meanders from musings over wedding-day attire to a rant about loathing the need to carry a purse and everything in between.” There will be “odes to first bras, cowboy boots, and outfits that made our mothers cringe.” Sounds like a theatrical version of a ‘chick flick” to me—though the ace Paula Plum is at the helm, and the production features “five of Boston’s best dressed actresses—Theresa Chiasson, Adobuere Ebiama, Lauren Elias, Linda Goetz, and June Kfoury.”

— Bill Marx