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

Film

The Boston French Film Festival
Through August 4
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

The annual French Festival is back in full. All films are linked to descriptions.

Toni (Toni en famille)
July 21 at 11 a.m. and August 4 at 2:30 p.m.
Directed by Nathan Ambrosioni

All Your Faces (Je verrai toujours vos visages)
July 21 at 2:30 p.m.
Directed by Jeanne Harry

The Goldman Case (Le procès Goldman)
July 26 at 7:30 p.m.
Directed by Cédric Kahn

The Nature of Love
July 27 at 11 a.m.
Directed by Monia Chokri (Fuse review)

The Taste of Things (La passion de Dodin Bouffant)
July 27 at 2:30 p.m.
Directed by Anh Hung Tran (Fuse Review)

All to Play For (Rien à perdre)
July 28 at 2:30 p.m.
Directed by Delphine Deloget

The Beast (La bête)
August 2 at 7 p.m.
Directed by Bertrand Bonello

Gabrielle (Léa Seydoux) finds herself falling in love with the same man in each of her previous incarnations across shifting epochs. A strange rambling film based on Henry James’s novella “The Beast in the Jungle.” (Fuse Review)

Menus Plaisirs – Les Troigros August 3 at 12:30 p.m.

Directed by Frederick Wiseman. For his 50th film, veteran documentarian Frederick Wiseman takes an intimate look at the Troisgros family and their Michelin star–decorated restaurants. (Fuse Review)

Widow Clicquot
Through July 25
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

Set in France during the Napoleonic Wars, the film probes the true story of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin, the “Grande Dame of Champagne,” otherwise known as Widow Clicquot (Veuve is the French word for widow). At age 27, she was determined to protect her family’s legacy, and she boldly challenged the forces (men as well as the state) who were set on stripping her of her vineyards. She was determined to advance her husband’s theories about soil chemistry, the proper treatment of grape vines, and revolutionary techniques in bottling. Director Thomas Napper (Jawbone) blends a narrative about flourishing female entrepreneurship with an account of doomed lovers.

Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger
July 26 – 29
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

Producing, writing, and directing, the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger created a very generous helping of the classics in England’s golden age of cinema, including The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. This much-praised documentary explores their unparalleled genius. Martin Scorsese takes viewers on a personal journey, explaining that he was captivated by the pair’s films. Not only did their movies help shape Scorsese’s approach to filmmaking, but a friendship with Powell left an indelible mark on his own life. Arts Fuse review

Woods Hole Film Festival
July 27 – August 3rd
Woods Hole, MA – Check schedule for venues

The 33rd Festival is both an in-person and virtual event with virtual screenings available on the festival platform from August 4 through the 11th. Complete Schedule of Films and Events

My picks:

In The Whale: David Abel’s documentary tells the story of the last-remaining commercial lobster diver on Cape Cod. Two years ago he claimed he had been swallowed by a humpback whale and had lived to tell the tale. He was thrust into the limelight for a while, but depression set in. This year’s Best New England Film at the Mystic Film Festival. (July 26 at 7 p.m.)

Porcelain War: “Amidst the chaos and destruction of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, three artists defiantly find inspiration and beauty as they defend their culture and their country. In a war waged by professional soldiers against ordinary civilians, Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind, armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time in their lives, their guns.” Amidst the death, danger, and chaos, one of their subjects finds salvation in the creation of remarkable tiny hand-painted porcelain figurines. Created from 500 hours of footage, the film received the Sundance Documentary Grand Jury Prize. (July 27 at 6:30 p.m.)

We Strangers – Arts Fuse Critic Gerald Perry calls this film: “A scathing, daemonic attack on white-skin privilege and the enfeebled morality of the bourgeoisie family … [that] achieves at its height a surreal Buñuelian intensity … and has important things to say about race, class, today’s askew America.” (July 28 at 8:30 p.m.)

African Giants: In this two-hander, a pair of Sierra Leonean brothers — a young actor and his younger brother visiting from law school — are reunited in Los Angeles. Tensions surface over their individual ambitions as Black immigrants each pursuing their own idea of the American Dream. A timely look at cultural differences and the bonds of family. (July 28 at 5:30 p.m.)

Hangdog: Shot entirely in Portland, Maine, this is a madcap comedy about a man coaxed into taking care of his girlfriend’s dog. The relationship is tenuous and, when the dog is stolen, things veer wildly out of control as he attempts to find the thief. (July 29 at 4:30 p.m.)

Panels will include:

The State of Independent Film -Women in Film and Video New England (August 1 at 2 p.m.)

What Do You Want from Film Critics? – The Boston Society of Film Critics (August 3 at 1 p.m.)

Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande
July 31 at at 7:30 p.m.
Regent Theatre, Arlington

The Regent Midweek Music Movie series presents the story of “the greatest band you’ve likely never heard of.” Formed in South London by musicians who came to the UK from the Caribbean as part of the Windrush generation, the band combined jazz, funk, soul, and Indo-European grooves to create a new sound. Their first three albums were met with indifference because of prejudice at home. Group members became disillusioned and disbanded in 1975. But their music lived on to influence a new generations of artists in the UK and the US who discovered, sampled, and reworked their pioneering sounds.

Pick of the Week

Godzilla Minus One
Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV

This contemporary revamp of the creature-feature franchise is a worthwhile companion to the Coolidge Corner screenings of Godzilla vs Hedora and Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla. In fact, Godzilla Minus One is a real surprise. The original 1954 film, directed by by Ishirō Honda, was slotted by just about everyone as nothing more than camp entertainment, which overlooked the maker’s original intention — to measure the shocks of the nuclear obliteration nine years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was, in the words of critic Terrence Rafferty, a vehicle for “imagining the unimaginable, speaking the unspeakable.”

This new version takes a graphic look, with the elegance of a traditional art film, at nuclear devastation, focusing on Japanese heroism and sacrifice. The film avoids CGI when possible, favoring a wonderful analog style that winks affectionately at the wobbly, rubber-suited creature of yore. The approach worked: the film’s imaginative visuals earned it the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. (There are black-and-white and color versions.)

The plot is familiar: At the end of World War II. after nuclear bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a devastated Japan is terrorized by a massive reptilian monster that rises from the sea, breathing radiation. A kamikaze pilot (Ryunosuke Kamiki) and group of military commanders and civilians go rogue to try to destroy it.

— Tim Jackson

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World Music and Roots

Gregorio Uribe
July 24, 7 p.m., Oliver Colvin Recital Hall, Berklee College of Music
July 25, 7 p.m., LoPresti Park, East Boston

Colombian-born, Berklee-educated accordionist and composer Gregorio Uribe isn’t just a leading musical voice melding cumbia with jazz. He’s also a cumbian intellectual, as shown by his new novel, El Llamado, and his music, which mixes the Caribbean rhythms of his homeland with ideas inspired by Nietzsche and Camus. On Wednesday he’ll be at a book presentation called “Cumbia Meets Philosophy” that will also include live music. His Thursday set, part of the Tito Puente Latin Music Series, will show how all those ideas can rev up a dance party. These are two different ways to experience one very original and captivating artist.

Lowell Folk Festival
July 26-28

As free events continue to take a hit in an era of increased expenses and reduced corporate philanthropy, we are very grateful that the Lowell Folk Festival continues to thrive. This celebration of music, dance, and food from around the world proffers a typically eclectic and enticing lineup. Just a few of the noteworthy artists: honky tonk country crooner Jesse Daniel; Indian kathak dancer Farah Yasmeen Shaikh; Ireland’s Friel Sisters; Brazil’s Choro Das 3, and a very welcome return to Lowell by the Polka Family Band, who infuse their Polish and Mexican heritage into their music. One especially enticing workshop is a Sunday afternoon affair called “Caribbean Crossroads: From the Bayou to the Barrio, that brings together Creole dancehall greats Joe Hall & the Cane Cutters, New York’s Afro Dominicano, the rarely heard Cayman Islands fiddle sounds of the Swanky Kitchen Band, and New Orleans funk legend Cyril Neville. Dozens of local ethnic community groups will be selling food. Pierogi fans take note — according to the festival guide, the Polish Cultural Committee’s deservedly famous offerings will only be sold on Saturday this year.

Big Sandy and His Fly Rite Boys with Stan Martin
July 26
The Porch, Medford

For the last few years this Medford eatery, The Porch, has been the home to a wide spectrum of roots music, hosting residencies by many of Boston’s finest musicians. Alas, like many other locally owned establishments, it is closing up shop. Fittingly, its final night will feature the beloved rockabilly and honky tonk crooner Big Sandy, as well as Porch regular Stan Martin.

Mokoomba 
August 1, 7:30 p.m.
Calderwood Courtyard, Museum of Fine Arts

As African music acts work their way across the North American summer festival circuit, a few have been coming to Boston for intimate performances. One especially exciting example of this: an MFA Courtyard concert by Mokoomba from Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. This vibrant quintet will sing rich a cappella harmonies and then strap on their instruments to play blazing, intricate Afropop dance tunes.

Silkroad’s Global Musician Faculty Concert
August 6, 8 p.m.
Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory

The cultural collaboration/ non-profit Silkroad is hosting its fourth annual Global Musician Workshop, providing opportunities for 68 musicians from 32 to countries to learn and create together. As part of the workshop each night — from August 6 to 10 — there will be nightly concerts open to the public at New England Conservatory’s Jordan Hall. The first night will spotlight the Silkroad-affiliated luminaries on the GMW faculty, including cellist Mike Block, pipa master Wu Man, balafon player and National Heritage Fellow Balla Kouyaté, and guest artist trumpeter Marcus Printup. Later in August the GMW will debut its Chinese edition at the Zhejiang Conservatory of Music.

— Noah Schaffer

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Classical Music

Gershwin & Williams: American Icons
Presented by Boston Landmarks Orchestra
July 24, 7 p.m.
DCR Hatch Memorial Shell, Boston

Landmarks Orchestra and conductor Christopher Wilkins celebrate the season with a concert of favorites by George Gershwin and John Williams. Jessie Montgomery’s Freedom Songs and Randall Thompson’s wonderful Symphony No. 2 fill out the evening.

Thibaudet plays Khachaturian
Presented by Tanglewood Music Festival
July 27, 8 p.m.
Koussevitzky Shed, Lenox

Jean-Yves Thibaudet joins the BSO for a rare performance of Aram Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto. It’s heard here alongside Tania Léon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning STRIDE and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 6.

Lewis plays Copland
Presented by Tanglewood Music Festival
July 28, 2:30 p.m.
Koussevitzky Shed, Lenox

Paul Lewis and Andris Nelsons aren’t two musicians one associates with the music of Aaron Copland. Yet here they are, assaying the American icon’s astringent Piano Concerto. Framing that work are pieces by James Lee III and Randall Thompson, and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms.

Gerstein-Bell-Isserlis Trio
Presented by Tanglewood Music Festival
July 31, 8 p.m.
Seiji Ozawa Hall, Lenox

This all-star trio joins forces for an evening of mostly French fare — Debussy, Fauré, and Ravel — plus Brad Mehldau’s Après Fauré No. 3.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

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Theater

COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters.

The Plastic Bag Store Created, written, designed, and directed by Robin Frohardt. Music by Freddi Price. Produced by Pomegranate Arts. Presented by Mass MoCA and Williamstown Theatre Festival at Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA, through September 2.

Billed by Mass MoCA as “an immersive, multimedia experience by Brooklyn-based artist Robin Frohardt that uses humor, craft, and a critical lens to question our culture of consumption and convenience — specifically, the enduring effects of single-use plastics. The shelves are stocked with thousands of original hand-sculpted items — produce and meat, dry goods and toiletries, cakes and sushi rolls — all made from discarded single-use plastics in an endless cacophony of packaging.”

Gatsby Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Directed by Rachel Chavkin. Music by Florence Welch and Thomas Bartlett. Lyrics by Florence Welch. Book by Martyna Majok. Choreography by Sonya Tayeh. Staged by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, through August 3.

Yet another musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby that hopes to be the toast of Broadway. One opened in April and the show has been nominated for a Tony Award for Best Costume Design. The A.R.T.’s song-and-dance version is subtitled, for some reason, “An American Myth.” Arts Fuse review

 46 Plays for America’s First Ladies by Chloe Johnston, Sharon Greene, Genevra Gallo-­Bayiates, Bilal Dardai, and Andy Bayiates. Directed by IIyse Robbins. Staged by Hub Theatre of Boston at the Club Café, 209 Columbus Ave. in Boston’s Back Bay, through August 3.

This excursion into political comedy purportedly “leaps from comic to tragic as it surveys the lives of the women who have served (and avoided serving) as first lady, from Martha to Melania. A biographical, meta-theatrical, genre-bending ride through race, gender, and everything else your history teacher never taught you about the founding of America.” The format: “a chronological series of 1-5 minute plays that adopt a variety of shapes, tones, and theatrical conventions.”

The Suppliant Women by Aeschylus. Staged by Apollinaire Theatre Company, in collaboration with Teatro Chelsea and the City of Chelsea at PORT Park, 99 Marginal Street, Chelsea, August 2 through 17. The show begins at 7:30 p.m., though the festivities begin at 6 p.m. with live music, entertainment, and dinner in a pop-up Beer Garden featuring BearMoose Brewery with take-out or delivery from “Chelsea’s exciting culinary delights.”

What does it say about the absurd escapist drift of our theater that one of the few dramas on view that grapples with a growing global crisis was written a couple of centuries ago. Hoist a frosty mug of BearMoose beer to a risk taker, Aeschylus. The Apollinaire Theatre Company PR tells it like it is: “Fifty women board a boat in North Africa. They flee across the Mediterranean, leaving everything behind. They are escaping forced marriage in their home and seeking asylum in Greece. Written 2,500 years ago, The Suppliant Women is one of the world’s oldest surviving plays. It’s about the plight of refugees, moral and human rights, and democracy. It tells a story that echoes down the ages to find striking and poignant resonance today.” Note: “This bilingual adaptation, featuring haunting music and dynamic choreography, is designed to engage English speaking and Spanish speaking audiences alike.”

Revolution’s Edge by Patrick Gabridge. Directed by Alexandra Smith. Staged by Plays in Place in the Old North Church & Historic Site, 193 Salem St, Boston, through August 10.

The 45-minute historical drama is back at the Old North Church for its second season. The action “is set in Boston’s oldest surviving church on April 18, 1775, the day before the Battles of Lexington & Concord and mere hours before the famous ‘two if by sea’ lantern signals … three men share a faith but have very different beliefs concerning the right path ahead for themselves, their families, and the colonies. Their conversation explores the intersection of faith and freedom on the edge of the American Revolution.”

Wipeout by Aurora Real de Asua. Directed by Shana Gozansky. Staged by Gloucester Stage at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, through July 28.

The plot of this “break-out new play”: “On her seventy-seventh birthday, Gary knows exactly what she wants: to go surfing. There’s only one problem: She’s never touched the water. But with the help of a hot-rod teenage surf instructor and her two best friends, Gary’s ready to conquer the unknown. Taking place on surfboards in the Pacific Ocean, this script is a septuagenarian surf comedy about what it takes to hang ten.” The cast includes Karen MacDonald, Cheryl D. Singleton, Noelle Player, and Thomas Bilotta.

The Islanders by Carey Crim. Directed by Regge Life. Staged by Shakespeare & Company at the Tina Packer Playhouse, Lenox, July 25 through August 25.
A world premiere production of a script that was originally staged at Shakespeare & Company in 2022 as a reading in the Plays in Process series. The Shakes & Co summary of the plot: “Anna lives an insular life on an underpopulated island in the Great Lakes. She has few friends and likes it that way. Her quiet, controlled world is turned upside down by the arrival of a charming but secretive new neighbor, Dutch. For different reasons, Dutch and Anna have each retreated from mainstream society. Can their connection survive the revelations that must inevitably come with true intimacy?”

The Winter’s Tale by William Shakespeare. Directed by Bryn Boice. Staged by the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company at the Parkman Bandstand, Boston Common, through August 4.

This year’s Free Shakespeare on the Common takes on the Bard’s late magical romance. For W.H. Auden, the play is a “study of the myth of the Garden of Eden. Man falls from the Garden of Eden and can only reach an earthly paradise again by a process of repentance and purgatorial suffering, as Leontes does. In the subplot there is a comic Eden, with a comic serpent, Autolycus.” He also believes that Act III, scene ii is “the most beautiful scene in Shakespeare…. You could tell the story and describe the scene in other words and one would know at once that it is beautiful in the way a dream is beautiful.” The Commonwealth Shakespeare Company cast includes Nael Nacer, Paula Plum, Marianna Bassham, Omar Robinson, Richard Snee, and Tony Estrella.

The Heron’s Flight directed by Jennifer Johnson and Travis Coe. Staged by the Double Edge Theatre at 948 Conway Road, Ashfield, through August 11.

Here is how Double Edge Theatre sets the scene for this year’s summer spectacular: “A great blue heron perches silently in a tree, then breaks the surface of the cool green water. Familiar and mythological creatures gather for a Midsummer Feast — an explosive celebration of love, dance, and flight. Walk with us toward transformation in an impossible world as we embrace the knowledge of the land — that each season of life is beloved.”

¡ALGUIEN MÁS! by Dustin Thomas. Based on You Never Can Tell by George Bernard Shaw. Directed by Marcel Mascaró ’18. Staged by Teatro en el Verano at various outside venues in Rhode Island (see website for locations and times), through August 2.

Just when you figure this year’s summer fare won’t venture beyond the routine, here is something different — an updated, bilingual Shavian comedy! According to Trinity Rep’s description: “George Bernard Shaw’s 1897 play You Never Can Tell gets a 2024 telenovela twist! For as long as they can remember, the Calderon siblings’ father has been a mystery … until they unknowingly invite him to lunch. Mistaken identities and miscommunications fly throughout this comedy of errors featuring a colorful cast of characters. A farce about forgiveness and moving forward, ¡Alguien Más! is the ninth production in Trinity Rep and Rhode Island Latino Arts’ bilingual summer theater program, Teatro en El Verano.”

Please Note: “Teatro en el Verano stages free English-Spanish bilingual productions at various outside venues in Rhode Island. Both English and Spanish speakers can enjoy and understand the production. All performances are held outdoors and FREE to attend. We encourage you to bring your own chair or blanket to sit on the grass, set up a picnic, and enjoy the show!”

Pamela Palmer by David Ives. Directed by Walter Bobbie. Staged by the Williamstown Theatre Festival on its CenterStage, Williamstown, July 23 through August 10.

A world premiere production of a script by veteran playwright Ives. According to WFT, the play puts a “noir spin on an existential romance…. Pamela Palmer lives a seemingly perfect life with her husband at Wishwood but has a bizarre suspicion something’s wrong, only for them both to become entangled with the detective she hires to investigate. The cast includes Becky Ann Baker, Tina Benko, Clark Gregg, and Max Gordon Moore.

FUTURE FEST: AN IMMERSIVE MUSIC, DANCE, AND LIGHT ART HAPPENING on Boston’s City Hall Plaza, Boston, August 3 from 8 to 11 p.m. Free

There have not been many happenings since the ’60s, so this is a welcome outlier. May it expand our minds. “For one evening only, Boston’s City Hall Plaza will transform into an interactive playground of the future with FUTURE FEST, the latest collaboration between MF Dynamics and the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. Conceived and curated by percussionist, composer, and new media artist Maria Finkelmeier, the evening promises to be an immersive journey into the future. Attendees will experience mesmerizing live performances, interactive light art, a vibrant DJ dance party, and an atmosphere filled with positive energy.”

Will Sacrifice by Julie McKee. Directed by Keira Naughton. Staged by Chester Theatre Company,Town Hall Theatre, 15 Middlefield Road,Chester, July 25 through August 4.

Here is the lowdown about this world premiere comedy, according to CTC: “Bridget’s fraught marriage to Nigel, a cramped NYC apartment, and her stagnant career convince her to search for a country escape in the post 9/11 real estate gold rush in the Catskills. Armed with a limited budget and plenty of nervous enthusiasm, she enlists the aid of Mr. Sunshine to help her realize her dream.” The cast includes Catherine Lloyd Burns, Ken Cheeseman, and Greg Stuhr. Who plays Mr. Sunshine?

— Bill Marx

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Visual Arts 

Despite being by far the most dangerous way to travel yet conceived, the motorcycle still reigns, at least in the US, as the most romantic form of mechanized transportation: symbol of the open road, unbound freedom, endless adventure, and the responsibility-free warm months in the year. Some even find them beautiful. With help from some local collectors, the Cape Cod Museum of Art has assembled An Artful Ride: The Motorcycle, a survey of 70 years of motorcycle aesthetics, including classic 1927 Indian (made is Springfield, MA) and Harley models and polished steel, chrome, rubber, and gleaming paint from such manufacturers as Nimbus, Crocker, Honda, Ducati, Excelsior, and Zundapp.

The focus of artist Jeremy Couillard’s List Center presentation, List Projects 30: Jeremy Couillard, is a version of his latest video game, Escape from Lavender Island. The game, the List Center says, “begins with the player having a dream about a dystopian city.” On waking, the player is immersed in that very place: a terrifying metropolis controlled by a “nefarious entity called the Lavender Corporation” with neighborhoods called “The Corporate University Prison Town” and the “Clown Crypt Renovation Zone.” Couillard, who was trained as a painter at Columbia, has been nominated for games festival awards and has shown his work at the New Museum, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Rotterdam film festival, among other places.

With the warm weather well and truly arrived, New England Museums are opening up their outdoor spaces to a number of amusements, activities, and pleasures that go well beyond the visual arts. A few examples: Concerts in the Courtyard at the Museum of Fine Arts (running through August 29 in the Calderwood Courtyard); and the Summer Beer and Wine Garden at the Worcester Art Museum (with wine, local beers, snacks, flowers and houseplants for sale in the museum’s courtyard, July 25, 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.).

The Williams College Museum of Art is offering a soi-disant “Summer School” about behind-the-scenes planning for its new building, currently scheduled to open in 2027. On July 23, the program is “ECO 101: Celebrating Sustainability,” in which the architects and museum project team show the sustainability measures incorporated in their plans. Both sessions start at 5:00 pm and will be followed by a patio party at six. Registration not required but appreciated.

The New Britain Museum of Art continues a tradition of regional art exhibitions once common in American art museums with Nor’easter: The 54th Annual Juried Members Exhibition, opening July 25. The show, billed as a “prominent showcase in the Northeast region” that “highlights the exceptional work of emerging and established artists in all media” and is designed to “expose contemporary visual arts to a wide audience,” began with submissions for the exhibition last spring. The final roster was selected by this year’s juror, Kate Menconeri, chief curator and director of curatorial affairs, contemporary art, and fellowship at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site.

— Peter Walsh

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Jazz

Alex Alvear + Friends
July 25 at 6 p.m.
Long Live Roxbury Brewery & Taproom, Boston
FREE

Among the many cheering bookings during Long Live Roxbury’s free Thursday night shows has been the return of Alex Alvear, longtime Boston resident and bandleader (Mango Blue), who some years ago decamped for his native Ecuador. His music has been an intoxicating swirl of pan-Latin-American musical traditions, including the Andean-grown folk of his home country. For this show, Alvear, on bass and vocals, is joined by a formidable cast of old and new friends: keyboardist Alain Mallet, guitarist Claudio Ragazzi, percussionist Ernesto Díaz, pianist and vocalist Gonzalo Grau, drummer Ángel Ruiz, flutist and singer Kristalis Sotomayor, and timbale player Jesse “Timbalon” Perez, along with special guests Ángel Subero (trombone), Amir Milstein (flute), saxophonist Jared Sims, and keyboardist Rebecca Cline.

Noah Preminger Quartet
July 25 at 8 p.m.
Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, MA

Tenor saxophonist and composer Noah Preminger broke out in 1986, at the age of 21, with Dry Bridge Road, whose many accolades included a Debut of the Year award in the Village Voice critics poll. Since then, he’s ranged far and wide, covering jazz standards, Delta blues, and Chopin, as well as penning several handfuls of provocative originals. But at the center of his conception has always been his singular tenor sax: warm, probing, fiery. His well-seasoned quartet here includes longtime collaborators Kim Cass (bass) and Dan Weiss (drums) with relative newcomer Max Light (guitar)

Saxophone Support Group
July 26 at 7:45 p.m.
New School of Music, Cambridge

Coming off the triumph of his most recent disc, A Second Life, with his Explorers Club, Charlie Kohlhase convenes another of his long-term projects, Saxophone Support Group. The all-wind nonet combines all manner of saxophones, clarinets, and flute. The players include Kohlhase (here on alto and baritone), Temidayo Balogun, Allan Chase, Neil Leonard, Seth Meicht, Kathy Olson, Brian Price, Jason Robinson, and Jared Sims. Aside from Kohlhase’s own compositions, there will be pieces by Julius Hemphill, Steve Lacy, and John Tchicai.

Ize Trio
July 27
Goethe-Institut, Boston

Born under the umbrella of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute, the Ize Trio blends the diverse musical backgrounds of its three principals: San Diego native pianist Chase Morrin, Cyprus-born percussionist George Lernis, and Palestinian cellist Naseem Alatrash. This show celebrates the release of their debut CD, The Global Suites (a collection of three suites written by Morrin), and anticipates a handful of other shows coming this fall.

Cambridge Jazz Festival
July 27-28, 12 p.m.-6 p.m.
Danehy Park, Cambridge
FREE

The Cambridge Jazz Foundation’s ninth annual free festival takes over Danehy Park again for two days. Saturday will showcase a varied lineup, with South African-born drummer Lumanyano Mzi (featuring fellow countrywoman, singer Naledi), Puerto Rican flutist Kristalis Sotomayor, the Guadeloupe-born saxophonist and composer Jacques Schwarz-Bart, and, as headliner, Eguie Castrillo y Su Orquesta, led by the distinguished percussionist and educator. Sunday’s lineup: The Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Quartet (with saxophonist Fall Raye, guitarist Amaury Cabral Jorge, bassist Sofia Villareal, and drummer Jillian Upshaw); vibraphonist Cecilia Smith with pianist Lafayette Harris Jr.; drummer Ron Savage’s Trio, joined by saxophonist Bill Pierce and guitarist Bobby Broom; and, as headliner, singer Gabrielle Goodman, in a tribute to Roberta Flack.

John Pizzarelli
August 4 at 5 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA

Guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli has in recent years been expanding his masterful coverage of the Great American Songbook to include the likes of Paul McCartney (and the Beatles), Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, and Antônio Carlos Jobim. His band’s favored guitar/piano/bass format is an appealing throwback to the jazz heyday of Nat “King” Cole. Joining him here are bassist Mike Karn and pianist Isaiah J. Thompson.

— Jon Garelick

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Popular Music

Hana Vu
July 23 (doors at 6:30)
Sonia, Cambridge

Hana Vu’s latest album, Romanticism, is the first that I have heard of the four that she has released in the past six years. The quality of this LP tells me, as a newcomer, that at least one of two things is true: the sonorously voiced 24-year-old has demonstrated extraordinary growth as an artist since 2018’s How Many Times Have You Driven By (a 38-minute collection that is for some reason classified as an EP), or she has been spectacularly talented all along and continues to reach new peaks. Whichever is the case, and it is probably both, I have got some catching up to do. Romanticism is certainly one of the better albums of 2024 so far. I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up considering it to be one of the very best come December.

Nice, a fest
July 25-28 (day long)
Davis Square (The Rockwell, Crystal Ballroom, Grove Street Lot), Somerville

The four-day festival presented by Get to the Gig Boston returns for the fourth consecutive year. Highlighting local talent, the headliners will be Dutch Tulips on Thursday at Crystal Ballroom; Pet Fox and Angeleno Ian Sweet on Saturday at The Rockwell and Crystal Ballroom, respectively; Vundabar (Grove Street Lot), Invisible Rays (The Rockwell), and Burp (Crystal Ballroom) on Saturday; and Zip-Tie Handcuffs (The Rockwell) and Model/Actriz (Crystal Ballroom) on Sunday.

With the acknowledgment that I am unfairly leaving others out, other noteworthy acts include Mallcops, Divine Sweater (whose new album drops in September), Pile, and Palehoud.

Redd Kross
July 27 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Brighton Music Hall, Allston

Several years have frequently elapsed between each eagerly awaited new release in the four-decade career of Jeff and Steven McDonald, who hail from the same city as another set of musical brothers, the Wilsons. It took a decade-and-a-half after 1997’s Show World to a new recording; some fans no doubt presumed that Redd Kross was gone if certainly not forgotten. Thankfully, the band returned in 2012 with Researching the Blues. Devoted listeners had to wait another seven years for Beyond the Door. Now, as if to either apologize and/or make up for lost time, the McDonalds are back with an 18-track, nearly hour-long eponymous double album. Unsurprisingly — but still impressively — the record is overstuffed with examples of the McDonalds’ kitschy and retro but totally fresh power pop and indie rock.

Cheap Trick
August 3 (doors at 7/show at 8)
MGM Hall at Fenway, Boston

What the first and last songs of any given Cheap Trick show will be are hardly a mystery to anyone who has attend more than a few of their concerts. Moreover, any of the less-committed fans who stopped keeping up in the early ‘80s could still recognize 90 percent of the songs that they perform live. Still, it was their first five albums – including the iconic At Budokan – which included the unforgettable classics, e.g. “I Want You to Want Me,” “Surrender,” “Ain’t That A Shame,” “Dream Police–e – and fan favs (I happen to really like “Takin’ Me Back”) that made the Rockford, Illinois quartet one of the most beloved, influential, and enduring bands of the past half century. Their August 3 show is sure to include all of the aforementioned staples and maybe a cut or two from 2021’s In Another World.

Diiv with Horse Jumper of Love and Full Body 2
August 5 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Royale, Boston

After an arduous four-and-a-half-year span that nearly broke up the band, Diiv (pronounced “dive”) reemerged in May with their fourth LP, Frog in Boiling Water. Although they managed to maintain the same four-member lineup that recorded 2019’s Deceiver (as well as their shoegaze-y musical perspective), this record saw them move to Fantasy Records after a 10-year tenure at Captured Tracks. Lead singer Zachary Cole Smith describes Frog in Boiling Water as “a political shoegaze album,” which makes it a less than perfectly easy listen in the age of Trump. However, the band’s confidence in the results was made clear enough when they extracted five songs as singles — including “Brown Paper Bag,” whose video shows them doing a Saturday Night Live performance that never actually happened — before the album’s street date. Boston’s Horse Jumper of Love and Philly’s Full Body 2 will open Diiv’s August 5 show at Royale.

— Blake Maddux

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Music Festivals

Newport Folk Festival
July 26-28, 10 a.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Newport Jazz Festival
Aug. 2-4, 11 a.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Fort Adams State Park, Newport, RI

The Newport festivals strike a more equal balance this year. The consecutive weekends both sold out far in advance (Folk fans falling to a waiting list within minutes), while the stylistic breadth of the two fests cross over in seemingly interchangeable ways. Brittany Howard and Cory Wong play both. Killer Mike and De La Soul bring hip-hop to Newport Folk, while NoName does the same for Newport Jazz, which also offers pop legacy giants Elvis Costello and Nile Rodgers’s Chic. Newport Folk still logs the most buzz under its umbrella. Friday starts strong with Hozier, Guster, Molly Tuttle, and Big Thief’s duo of Adrianne Lenker and Buck Meek, and the weekend rounds out with Rhiannon Giddens, Orville Peck, the War on Drugs, Dropkick Murphys, Saharan rockers Tinariwen, and likely cameo-studded finales with Gillian Welch & David Rawlings and Conan O’Brien with Dawes. Newport Jazz spreads out its talent with Kamasi Washington, Andre 3000 (doing his flute thing), Robert Glasper, young vocal phenoms Samara Joy and Laufey, Bill Frisell, Lianne La Havas, and Christian McBride’s Jam Jawn with Dianne Reeves and new Rolling Stones drummer Steve Jordan, one of a few sets that boast special configurations. All along the harborside ramparts of Fort Adams State Park.

–Paul Robicheau

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Author Events

M.T. Anderson at Harvard Book Store
Nicked: A Novel
July 23 at 7 p.m.
Free

“The year is 1087, and a pox is sweeping through the Italian port city of Bari. When a lowly monk is visited by Saint Nicholas in his dreams, he interprets the vision as a call to action. But his superiors, and the power brokers they serve, have different plans for the tender-hearted Brother Nicephorus.

“Enter Tyun, a charismatic treasure hunter renowned for ‘liberating’ holy relics from their tombs. The seven-hundred-year-old bones of Saint Nicholas rest in distant Myra, Tyun explains, and they’re rumored to weep a mysterious liquid that can heal the sick. For the humble price of a small fortune, Tyun will steal the bones and deliver them to Bari, curing the plague and restoring glory to the fallen city. And Nicephorus, the dreamer, will be his guide.”

Joyce Maynard in conversation with Andre Dubus III – Porter Square Books
How the Light Gets In
July 24 at 7 p.m.
Free

“From New York Times bestselling author Joyce Maynard comes the eagerly anticipated follow-up to her beloved novel Count the Ways — a complex story of three generations of a family and its remarkable, resilient, indomitable matriarch, Eleanor.

Following the death of her former husband, Cam, fifty-four-year-old Eleanor has moved back to the New Hampshire farm where they raised three children to care for their brain-injured son, Toby, now an adult. Toby’s older brother, Al, is married and living in Seattle with his wife; their sister, Ursula, lives in Vermont with her husband and two children. Although all appears stable, old resentments, anger, and bitterness simmer just beneath the surface.

“How the Light Gets In follows Eleanor and her family through fifteen years (2010 to 2024) as their story plays out against a uniquely American backdrop and the events that transform their world (climate change, the January 6th insurrection, school violence) and shape their lives (later-life love, parental alienation, steadfast friendship). With her trademark sensitivity and insight, Maynard paints an indelible portrait of characters both familiar and new making their way over rough, messy, and treacherous terrain to find their way to what is, for each, a place to call home.”

Patricia J. Williams at Harvard Book Store 
The Miracle of the Black Leg: Notes on Race, Human Bodies, and the Spirit of the Law
July 29 at 7 p.m.
Free

“With her always stunning analyses of seemingly ordinary stories and the surprising connections she draws, Patricia Williams urges us to understand deeply and differently how our histories continue to produce us and how we might begin to dismantle ideas and structures so utterly dependent on our intellectual passivity.” — Angela Y. Davis, professor, UC Santa Cruz, and author of Women, Race, and Class

Genevieve Guenther at Harvard Book Store
The Language of Climate Politics: Fossil-Fuel Propaganda and How to Fight It
July 30 at 7 p.m.
Free

“The Language of Climate Politics offers readers new ways to talk about the climate crisis that will help get fossil fuels out of our economy and save our planet. It’s an analysis of the current discourse of American climate politics, but also a critical history of the terms that most directly influence the way not just conservatives but centrists on both sides of the political divide think and talk about climate change. In showing how those terms lead to mistaken beliefs about climate change and its solutions, the book equips readers with a new vocabulary that will enable them to neutralize climate propaganda and fight more effectively for a livable future.

“A groundbreaking investigation into the propaganda justifying the fossil-fuel economy, The Language of Climate Politics offers readers powerful new ways to talk about the climate crisis that will help create transformative change.”

Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh with Dana Rashti – brookline booksmith
Zan: Stories
August 1 at 7 p.m.
Free

“In prose that is both unflinching and lyrical, Suzi Ehtesham-Zadeh presents Zan, a collection of stories that provide a deep and nuanced view of contemporary Iranian women as they navigate a crucial moment in their nation’s history.

“A university student strips off her hijab in the streets of Tehran and films herself as part of a daring protest movement. A wealthy Iranian woman living in Atlanta maintains a secret life as a burlesque dancer. A teenager slips out of a hotel room at night to skinny dip in the toxic Caspian Sea. An Iranian lesbian agonizes over her coming out and her father’s subsequent attempts to re-educate her. These are some of the many windows Zan opens into the complex lives of Iranian women today — those who continue to suffer oppression under the Islamic Republic, those who are crafting new identities in America, and those who hover somewhere in between.

“Against the backdrops of the Islamic Republic and the American empire, these women grapple with the rigid standards foisted upon them and struggle to forge meaningful relationships with people who misunderstand and otherize them. Winner of the 2022 Dzanc Short Collection Prize, Zan explores feelings familiar to anyone who has ever felt marginalized or who has sought a home in a world where cultures collide and conflict.”

Picture + Panel: Seriously Funny with Emma Hunsinger and Caitlin Cass – Porter Square Books
August 5 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Porter Square Books is excited to collaborate with the Boston Comic Arts Foundation (BCAF) and Aeronaut Brewing to bring Picture + Panel. This month, Picture + Panel invites you to discover the role humor plays in reflection and understanding. Join us for an engaging discussion with Emma Hunsinger and Caitlin Cass as they delve into comics and comedy.

Picture + Panel is a monthly conversation series that brings fantastic graphic novel creators to the Greater Boston area. Discover terrific authors and fascinating stories that combine text and art through conversational confabulation. Produced in partnership by Aeronaut Brewing, Porter Square Books, and the Boston Comic Arts Foundation, Picture + Panel provides thought-provoking discussions for adults about this unique form of expression.”

Jessica Anthony in conversation with Nina MacLaughlin – Porter Square Books
The Most
August 7 at 7 p.m.
Free

“From ‘one of our most thrilling and singular innovators on the page’ (Laura Van Den Berg), a tightly wound, consuming tale for readers of Claire Keegan and Ian McEwan, about a 1950s American housewife who decides to get into the pool in her family’s apartment complex one morning and won’t come out.

“It is an unseasonably warm Sunday in November 1957. Kathleen, a college tennis champion turned Delaware housewife, decides not to join her flagrantly handsome life insurance salesman husband, Virgil, or their two young boys, at church. Instead, she takes a dip in the kidney-shaped swimming pool of their apartment complex. And then she won’t come out.

“A consuming, single-sitting read set over the course of eight hours, The Most breaches the shimmering surface of a seemingly idyllic mid-century marriage, immersing us in the unspoken truth beneath. As Sputnik 2 orbits the earth carrying Laika, the doomed Soviet dog, Kathleen and Virgil hurtle towards each other until they arrive at a reckoning that will either shatter their marriage or transform it, at last, into something real.”

— Matt Hanson

THE FUTURE OF CREATIVE SPACES IN BOSTON at the BCA Cyclorama, 539 Tremont Street, on July 24 at 6–7:30 p.m. The discussion will run from approximately 6 to 7 p.m. followed by a reception in the Mills Gallery. SOLD OUT (Let’s hope it’s made available via videotape — and why no Zoom?)

This is a tremendous problem that warrants the overused word “existential.” Let’s hope the jawboning leads to action: “Against the backdrop of a booming real estate market and a related precarity of viable workspaces for artists, Boston faces a challenge shared by similar urban hubs: How do we ensure artists remain in Boston? The panel brings together civic leaders, advocates, and community members to share individual perspectives, initiatives, and ways for charting a path forward in addressing affordability and, by extension, sustainability.” The lineup of problem solvers (we hope) includes Yng-Ru Chen, Founder and CEO, Praise Shadows Gallery; Alison Croney Moses, 2023 Boston Artadia Awardee; Kara Elliott-Ortega, Chief of Arts and Culture, City of Boston; Napoleon Jones-Henderson, 2022 Boston Artadia Awardee; and Emily Ruddock, Executive Director, MASSCreative.

— Bill Marx