Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor

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

Christmas Openings

Both films open widely, including at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, Kendall Square Cinema, AMC Boston Common 19, AMC Causeway 13, and AMC Assembly Row Somerville

Nosferatu

Director Robert Eggers (The Witch, MidSummer) has filled this reworking of FW Murnau’s 1922 silent with stunning, painterly chiaroscuro compositions. His version of this classic vampire tale, based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, is horrific and sexy. Bill Skarsgård (Pennywise) is all but unrecognizable as the decrepit Count Orlock. Also playing at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square. Arts Fuse review

A Complete Unknown

Stellar performances by Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, and Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez anchor James Mangold’s story of Dylan’s arrival in Greenwich Village in 1961, culminating with his controversial performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Based on Elijah Wald’s 2015 book Dylan Goes Electric (Arts Fuse book review). Opens at AMC theaters on Christmas Eve. (Arts Fuse film review)

The New Year’s Day Marx Brothers Marathon!
Jan 1
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

Film critic James Agee once proclaimed that the Marx Brothers’ worst “would be better worth seeing than most other things I can think of.” If you have not seen any of these wonderfully anarchistic comedies, do yourself a favor and stop in for some laughs. T.S. Eliot’s favorite Marx Brothers film was Duck Soup.

A Night at the Opera at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Animal Crackers at 4 p.m. in 35mm

Duck Soup at 6:15 p.m. in 35mm

Big Kid Flicks 2024
January 5
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

If your kids are on vacation or wee siblings are visiting the homestead and cabin fever is setting in, head out for this great selection of big screen animated shorts. Ages 8+ They include:

Head in the Clouds (Tête en l’air) from Belgium & France

Goodbye Mamajee from France

Lotus from the United Kingdom

The Queen’s Flowers from the United States

Karol, the Vampire Queen from Colombia

Mum’s Spaghetti from the United Kingdom

Holiday Picks of the Week

Unless you are dead set on a warmhearted traditional Christmas movie, here are four unconventional efforts from 2024 that will enliven your holiday.

Christmas Miller’s Point – Director Tyler Taormina’s Ham on Rye (2019) was a subversive coming-of-age film with over 100 actors. His latest is also an experiment in controlled chaos with dozens of family members gathering for an unconventional holiday get-together. The cast includes Michael Cera, Maria Dizzia, Francesca Scorsese, and Sawyer Spielberg. (AMC)

Dear Santa – (Bobby Farrelly) When a young boy mails his Christmas wish list to Santa with a crucial spelling error, a devilish Jack Black arrives to wreak havoc on the holidays. (Paramount)

That Christmas — (Locksmith Animation and DNEG Animation. Written by Richard Curtis [Love Actually]) This is a series of entwined tales about love and loneliness ,family and friends. Featuring the voices of Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker, and Bill Nighy. (Paramount)

Red One (Jake Kasdan) When Santa is kidnapped, the North Pole’s Head of Security must team up with the world’s most infamous bounty hunter in a globe-trotting mission to save Christmas. With Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, Lucy Liu, and J.K. Simmons (Prime Video)

— Tim Jackson

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Visual Arts

This time of year, many homes find themselves fuller up than usual with kids on vacation from school and relatives and friends visiting from a distance. After the main holidays and their attendant domestic festivities, these extra bodies and energy might need to be released into broader spaces or just be out of the way for a few hours. Visits to art museums can fit the bill. Many museums lay out extra family-friendly programs to help.

The Worcester Art Museum  for example, can teach any random children you may have at your house how to shake things up in an entirely new way. Its Children’s Concert: Create Your Own Musical Shaker! opens on Sunday, December 29, at 12:30 pm in Studio 202, where young participants will create their own shaker musical instruments. Then, at 2 pm, the freshly equipped musicians convene in the Conference Room with jazz singer and percussionist Anna Sobel for “Silly and Seasonal Songs for Everyone,” during which the kids will be invited to “sing, dance, march, and play along.” Free with admission; it is not noted whether the children will be allowed to take their instruments with them, for further end-of-year merriment at home.

The Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, NH, offers its third annual December Days on December 27 and 28. Specifically designed for those slightly off-kilter holidays between Christmas and New Year, when some people have to work, others don’t, and all the children are still home from school, December Days 2024 includes the Currier Story Corner (11 am to 2 pm), Treats and Coloring with a hot chocolate bar in the Purple Studio, “Special Edition” 15-minute Looking Together Sessions in the special exhibition galleries (noon and 1:00 pm) and Special Edition Creative Studios (Friday features paper lanterns inspired by Dan Dailey and Saturday collage inspired by Basquiat, 11 am to 2 pm in the Green Studio).

Many religions cherish this time of year when, in the northern hemisphere, light is in shorter supply. The Wadsworth Atheneum adds its own celebration in Radiance: A Festival of Lights on December 30, starting at 5 pm. Designed “to bring together diverse communities and promote dialogue and shared experiences,” the evening will feature an outdoor Menorah Lighting and indoor Hanukkah and Kwanzaa celebrations including family-friendly activities, kosher food, and crafts.

December 26-28 is December School Vacation Week at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art. Workshops and art making are organized around the theme of caring, in coordination with the last week of the ICA’s Courage to Care exhibition. Participants can decorate and fill a Care Container with paint markers, clay, and other 3-D materials, or design a Care Reflection with mirrored paper, washi tape, shape punches, and other novel techniques. The workshops are offered all day on a drop-in, first-come, first-served basis. Last opportunity 30 minutes before museum closing.

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is currently hosting two special exhibitions about family and on December 28 will offer a special Open Studio day, with a “drop-in, abstract weaving portrait of family activity” designed by Polly Thayer Starr Visiting Studio Artist Daniela Rivera. The Studio is from 1 to 4 pm, is free with museum admission, and is offered on a first-come, first-served basis.

If you are still shopping and need to find a last-minute gift for an art-loving aunt or just want to upgrade your coffee table, the Yale University Art Gallery Museum Store is holding a book sale through December 31. All the Gallery’s publications are 30% off, including the most recent releases, and can be picked up at the Gallery (admission is free, by the way) or ordered online. Best wishes for the New Year to come.

— Peter Walsh

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Theater

COVID PROTOCOLS: Check with specific theaters.

Extinction: The Musical. Written and performed by Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir at Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place), New York, December 22. Livestreamed on the Joe’s Pub YouTube channel.

Given the explosion of conventional life-enhancing holiday entertainments (e.g., Scrooge & Co.), I can’t help but toss out a more … radical … example of musical uplift. “As part of its crusade against consumerism,” writes the NYTimes of Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir, “an unorthodox New York church urges action to preserve the Earth.” This revue is billed as “a wild, loving experience that will make you want to live. If you’re troubled by consumer hypnosis, non-consensual plastic, The Sixth Extinction, or just exhausted by the contemporary moment, this show is for you. Honest. Come get Revived.” Reverend Billy & The Stop Shopping Choir was the opening act for Neil Young and Crazy Horse’s 2024 Love Earth tour.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted and directed by Courtney Sale. Staged by the Merrimack Repertory Theater at the 50 E. Merrimack Street, Lowell, through December 29.

“Karen MacDonald returns for her third year as the iconic Ebenezer Scrooge, a grumpy curmudgeon transformed by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. Joined by a talented ensemble of both new and returning performers, this year’s production brings a vibrant energy to the stage that will resonate with the heart of everyone who sees the performance.”

Every Brilliant Thing / Cada Cosa Maravillosa by Duncan Macmillan with Jonny Donahoe. Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques. Staged by the Apollinaire Theater Company at the Chelsea Theater Works, 189 Winnisimmet St., Chelsea, December 27 through January 19.

Apollinaire Theater Company says this is “a play about depression and the lengths we go to for those we love. It will be performed on alternating nights by two actors and in two languages. Cristhian Mancinas-García will be performing the show in both languages. Parker Jennings will be bringing her own spin to the story for six English language performances.” According to Mancinas-García, “this play is a brilliant (pun intended) exploration of a side of the human condition that people often avoid talking about, and shows us that there is hope even in the darkest hours. I’m excited to present a play to our Spanish speaking community that doesn’t dwell on the myriad specific issues we encounter as immigrants. Perhaps by sharing a story that’s about just being human, we can find some unity in the divisive times we are living through.”

Midwinter Revels: A Celtic and Cabo Verdean Celebration of the Solstice Directed by Debra Wise. Music Director Elijah Botkin. At Harvard University, Sanders Theatre in Memorial Hall, 45 Quincy Street, Cambridge, through December 28.

“In a small fishing village off the shores of Galway Bay, a community gathers in the local pub to celebrate the season. A child enters looking for a package that may have been delivered for his mother, who comes from another coastal town — in Cabo Verde. Songs and dances are shared, and the pub dissolves into a portal for fantasy with a transformative retelling of the Selkie story, a Celtic myth about living between two worlds. Irish songs, jigs, and reels share the stage with dance, drumming , and traditional songs from Cabo Verde. In the Revels tradition, new community is catalyzed, and with it hopes for a new year.”

The Diary of a Tap Dancer, written and choreographed by Ayodele Casel. Directed by Torya Beard. Staged by the American Repertory Theater at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, through January 4, 2025.

“Tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel and longtime collaborator director Torya Beard ( Chasing Magic, Funny Girl ) return to ART this holiday season to share the joyful, resilient, and liberating spirit of tap. This world premiere production weaves together dance, narrative, and song to reveal the power of reclaiming language, culture, and one’s own identity.” The storyline “traces Ayodele’s life from her roots in The Bronx and Puerto Rico, while celebrating the extraordinary and often-overlooked women tap dancers who paved the way.”

Whispering to Dostoyevsky: A Love Story, written and directed by Richard McElvain. Staged by Players’ Ring Theater at 105 Marcy St, Portsmouth, NH, January 3 through 19

The lowdown from the theater’s website on this two-person drama: “When his unscrupulous publisher had a gun to his head to complete a book in a month, Fyodor Dostoevsky reached out to a school that taught a new science called Stenography. The woman he hired, Anna, would soon become his indispensable collaborator, his lover, his wife and eventually his publisher. Together they survived his bouts with epilepsy, gambling addiction, dreadful debt, and the death of two children. Anna truly became ‘the architect of his life,’ and throughout it all, they remained hopelessly in love as Dostoevsky climbed to become one of the greatest novelists of all time.”

Girls & Boys by Dennis Kelly. Directed by Rachel Walshe. Staged by the Gamm Theatre at 1245 Jefferson Blvd., Warwick, Rhode Island, January 2 through 19.

Here is what the Gamm is telling us about this play: “When a woman meets the man of her dreams, their whirlwind romance seems destined for greatness. Their life is filled with passion, success, and the joys of parenthood. But as ambitions grow and cracks begin to show, their idyllic world spirals into the unexpected.”

— Bill Marx

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World Music and Roots

First Night Boston
First Night Rockport
First Night Chatham
December 31

Last year I wrote about my disappointment with the low quality of First Night Boston programming, so it’s only fair to credit the event for putting together a considerably better bill as we move into 2025. STL GLD, the explosive live hip-hop band that also curated its own City Hall Plaza festival over the past two years, will provide a spark, regardless of the weather. There’s also a few sets from the invaluable DJ WhySham and performances from Mariachi queen Veronica Robles. For those who balk at spending a December night outside, there’s a 1 p.m. Emancipation Proclamation Concert at Trinity Church.

Even with one of the more popular local bands on tap, the Boston event remains a scaled back effort, and First Nights in smaller communities have largely gone by the wayside. Two notable exceptions: Rockport and Chatham, which are each providing the kind of eclectic programming at indoor venues that the Boston presentation used to feature.

Rockport’s bill includes gospel greats The Bullock Brothers, New England Latin folk stalwarts Sol y Canto, and the stirring reggae of Jah Spirit. Chatham has an equally wide-ranging bill, comprising a staggering number of artists, including the multigenerational bluegrass greats The Reunion Band, the 440 – Gypsy Jazz Quartet, cabaret star Suede, and, as in Boston, an appearance by the very busy Veronica Robles.

— Noah Schaffer

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Jazz

Elan Mehler Trio
December 30 at 7 pm
Lilypad, Cambridge

Elan Mehler is at this point as well known for his boutique vinyl-only label Newville (with a catalog that has included outings from Jack DeJohnette, John Patitucci, Dave Liebman, Lionel Loueke, Irma Thomas, Little Freddie King, and Ellis Marsalis) as he is for his piano playing. But Mehler has 11 albums under his own name and his latest, Trouble In Mind, a solo-piano performance, is especially tasty. Mehler is holding down a residency at the Lilypad every Monday (a de facto curtain-raiser for Jerry Bergonzi and the Fringe) with bassist Max Ridley and drummer Dor Herskovits.

Dwight & Nicole
December 31 at 9:30 pm
Regattabar, Cambridge

The well-traveled duo of singer Nicole Nelson and singer-guitarist Dwight Richter ring out the old year with what’s been described as “[e]qual parts ’60s soul, ’40s jazz, and Delta blues.” The two trade off on various instruments, including Richter on piano and drums, but they can deliver full force with just Richter’s guitar and Nelson’s voice.

Miguel Zenón and Luís Perdomo
January 11 at 7:30 pm
Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, MA

Master saxophonist and composer Miguel Zenón and his longtime collaborator, pianist Luís Perdomo, offer a concert presentation based on their two-volume, Grammy-winning exploration El Arte del Bolero.

— Jon Garelick

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Classical

New Year’s Celebration
Presented by Boston Baroque
December 31, 8 p.m.
GBH Calderwood Studio

Boston Baroque and Martin Pearlman bid 2024 adieu with a parade of favorites by Bach, Vivaldi, and Telemann. The fête’s soloists are violinists Christina Day Martinson and Sarah Darling, flautist Joseph Monticello, recorder artist Aldo Abreu, soprano Angela Yam, and baritone David Kravitz.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

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Author Events

New Years Day Sale: In Boston & Cambridge – Porter Square Books
Jan 1, 1 pm- 5 pm

“It’s our annual New Years Day Sale! Make the most of your gift cards. Get started on a resolution. Pick up that book your friends and family neglected to give you over the holidays. Everything in both stores (aside from the hold shelf, electronics, and a few other things) is 20% off! The sale will take place at both of our stores: Cambridge (1815 Mass. Ave., Cambridge, MA 02140) and PSB: Boston Edition (50 Liberty Dr., Boston, MA 02210).”

The Wilbur Theatre: Ramit Sethi – Brookline Booksmith
Money for Couples
Jan 2 from 7:30 to 8:30 pm
The Wilbur Theatre, Cambridge
Tickets are $40-$100

Advice from the author of the New York Times bestseller I Will Teach You to Be Rich : Go from financial frustration to joy with the aid of Money for Couples, which is about navigating money while in a relationship. Personal finance juggernaut Ramit Sethi’s program addresses the most common money issues in relationships without using boring budgets or restricting plans. Sethi writes for over a million readers on his newsletter and social channels.

Alexander Darwin with Fonda Lee – Brookline Booksmith
Blacklight Born
Jan 3 from 7 to 8 pm
Free

“The final book in an action-packed science fiction trilogy set on a far-future world where the fate of nations is determined by single combat: “that rare book that fully satisfies me as an action fan.” (Fonda Lee, author of Jade City )

The Grievar War has engulfed the Empire of Kiroth and Silas the Slayer has given voice to his warrior kin, igniting a revolution within a people once bound by a thousand years of servitude. Cego is released into a war-torn world where the lines between shadow and light are blurred. He must decide which path to follow: one of his brother’s righteous rebellion or the one that leads to the family he’s finally found.

Once famed knight, Murray Pearson, leads a group of Lyceum students on an adventure across Kiroth to follow the path of combat mastery. But Murray seeks something more on this long road. Redemption. In this explosive conclusion to the Combat Codes Saga , the truth will be revealed and one final question must be answered as they step back into the Circle: What is the cost of losing the fight?

Alexander Darwin is an author living in Boston with his wife and three daughters. Outside of writing fiction, he has written for publications such as Rolling Stone magazine and he teaches and trains martial arts (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu).

Fonda Lee is the author of the epic fantasy Green Bone Saga , consisting of the novels Jade City , Jade War, and Jade Legacy, along with a prequel novella The Jade Setter of Janloon and a short story collection, Jade Shards . She is also the author of the science fiction novels Zeroboxer , Exo and Cross Fire. Her most recent work is the fantasy novella, Untethered Sky .”

— Matt Hanson