Compiled by Arts Fuse Editor

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

Film

A scene from It Was Just an Accident. Photo: NYFF

It Was Just an Accident
October 27 at 7:30
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline

Ever since he was arrested, imprisoned, and banned from making movies by the Iranian government 15 years ago, Jafar Panahi has found ways of producing films in secret and without official permission. This film won him the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year and is his most explicit attack on his country’s repressive regime, a cutting and darkly humorous thriller that concerns a mechanic, Vahid who believes he has reencountered — by chance — the government intelligence officer, Eghbal who had tortured him while under detainment. (Arts Fuse review)

A scene from 1977’s Lady Dracula.

Wild, Weird, and Bloody: German Vampires of the ‘70s
October 27-28
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

The Goethe-Institut and the German Film Office present series a of unusual vampire films curated by Deutsche Kinemathek.

Jonathan (October 27 at 6 p.m.)  A 1970 political parable of Germany’s ’60s protest movement directed by Hans W. Geißendörfer.
Lady Dracula (October 27 at 9 p.m.) This 1977 horror comedy starts off in the year 1876, when a young girl is bitten by Count Dracula at her boarding school. After her coffin is uncovered and delivered to an antiques dealer 100 years later, she is reborn as a vampire and tries to find her way in the modern world.
Tenderness of the Wolves (October 28 at 6 p.m.) A 1973 Fassbinder-produced reimagining of the story of Fritz Haarmann, the serial killer whose crimes inspired Fritz Lang’s 1931 classic M.

Girl Winter Film Tour
October 29 at 7 p.m.
Regent Theatre, Arlington

A celebration featuring six short, women-centric ski and snow films, with snacks and live music from special guest Lexi Ugelow.

Independent Film Festival of Boston Fall Focus
October 30 – November 5
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge

This remarkable fall series concludes with 14 quality films in advance of their theatrical runs. Get your tickets early! Full Schedule

Wisdom of Happiness
October 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Regent Theatre Arlington

Wisdom Of Happiness is a deeply intimate and highly cinematic documentary featuring the Dalai Lama, who, at nearly 90 years old, offers practical advice for navigating the 21st century’s challenges. The film captures the Dalai Lama speaking directly to viewers, creating a sense that he is leading a private audience and sharing his timeless wisdom on achieving inner peace and happiness.

Boston Turkish Festival’s Documentary and Short Film Competition
Museum of Fine Arts Boston

October 30 at 7:30 p.m.: One of Those Days When Hemme Dies. This film, directed by Murat Fıratoğlu and winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Venice Film Festival, opens on a sprawling landscape where acres of tomatoes are harvested, laid out, and salted. After Eyüp, the film’s protagonist (played by the director), is humiliated by his boss, Hemme, when the latter insults his mother, Eyüp vows revenge. But life just keeps getting in the way of his completing his mission. Fıratoğlu slows the pace of the film to match how time passes, unhurried, during life in a rural village. Eyüp walks endlessly, sitting briefly for tea, helping an old man carry his pumpkin home, conversing with a former classmate. We observe the rhythms of a life that often feels frozen in time, indifferent to human anger or intent.

November 1 at 2 p.m.: The Chords of Change. A narrative set in ’30s Turkey, when the young Republic was undergoing radical transformation, a cultural and artistic revolution led by President Atatürk. This is a narrative about the country’s brave steps toward modernization; it looks at the spirit of the period with pride and deep emotion. It centers on the remarkable creation of Özsoy, the first Turkish opera, a monumental task that was completed in just 27 days by composer Ahmed Adnan Saygun and a dedicated team of musicians and artists.

Rocky Horror Picture Show
October 31 at 9 p.m.
Somerville Theatre

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of the film, the theater will screen the cult movie in 35mm with a live shadowcast by the Teseracte Players!

Columbia Rarities
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge
November 7 through December 14

To celebrate the centennial of Columbia Pictures, the 2024 Locarno Film Festival organized a retrospective of Columbia Studio gems made during the era of the Hollywood studio. They are both iconic films as well as lesser-known gems: a rare selection of edgy and innovative films. Several will have repeat screenings. Full Schedule Here

November 7

Let Us Live (1939) at 7 p.m.

Washington Merry-Go-Round (1932) at 8:45 p.m.

November 8

Address Unknown (William Cameron Menzies, 1944) at 7 p.m.

The Brave Bulls (Robert Rossen, 1951) at 9:p.m.

November 8

Under Age / Girls Under 21 at 7 p.m.

November 14

Mysterious Intruder (William Castle, 1946) at 7 p.m.

Ladies in Retirement (Charles Vidor, 1941 ) at 8:30 p.m.

November 15

Gunman’s Walk (Phil Karlson, 1958) at 7 p.m.

Thunderhoof (Phil Karlson, 1949) at 9 p.m.

November 16

Ladies in Retirement (Charles Vidor, 1941) at 7 p.m.

November 17

Vanity Street & Three Wise Girls (Nicholas Grinde 1932) at 7 p.m.

Godzilla on one of his many rampages.

Godzillathon
November 8 from 2 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Somerville Theatre

A 12-hour marathon of big screen monster favorites, including the original Godzilla (1954). Other entries will include Mothra vs Godzilla, Godzilla v Mechagodzilla, Invasion of the Astro Monster, Destroy all Monsters!, and Shin Godzilla.

 Konrad Wolf: Ways to Enlightenment Streaming through November 30.

The Goethe Institut, in celebration of the 100th birthday of East German filmmaker Konrad Wolf (1925–1982) on October 20 offers streaming access — free of charge  — to his pioneering, politically daring, and thought-provoking films. A committed anti-fascist of Jewish descent, Wolf vividly and pointedly depicted a generation questioning its role in the Third Reich’s horrors, inviting his viewers — then and today — to consider their own relationship to the historical movements of their time.  Link to access to Films

Boston Jewish Festival
Multiple Venues
November 5 – 16 In Person
November  17 -19 Virtual

Boston Jewish Film celebrates the richness of the Jewish experience through film and media. This gathering will present 16 films and a shorts program. Check links for times, places, and descriptions. Calendar and Locations  Tickets and Film Listings

— Tim Jackson

A scene from 1922’s Nosferatu.

Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror
At Lesley University’s Marran Theater, 34 Mellen St, Cambridge
October 30 at 8 p.m.

A live performance by the musicians of Arpeggione, who will be using historical instruments to perform Hans Erdmann’s original 1922 film score. This will be a rare treat: “Arpeggione is the only ensemble in the country performing the original score to Nosferatu on historical instruments. We also forego headphones or other electronic aids commonly used to perform film music today,” said Arpeggione co-director Andrea LeBlanc. “The musicians are organically pacing the music frame by frame, as theater orchestras did in the silent film era. It adds to the drama and suspense and highlights why Nosferatu is such a classic.”

— Bill Marx

Pick of the Week

House of Dynamite, streaming on Netflix

Maj. Gonzales (Anthony Ramos), who leads the missile defense base in Fort Greely, Alaska, in House of Dynamite. Photo: Eros Hoagland/Netflix,

Kathryn Bigelow, the Oscar-winning director of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty, returns to the global and political stage with an intense, urgent meditation on the specter of nuclear catastrophe. The film follows the countdown that leads to an unattributed strike on the United States, then rewinds to trace responses from multiple points of view – –the halls of power and the military command centers —  as ordinary lives go on. The director stages this scenario with a controlled ferocity, examining how institutions and individuals fracture under the weight of the unthinkable.

Released simultaneously in theaters and on Netflix, the film aims for both maximum reach and immediacy. Beneath the warning is the specter of our current US president, whose inexperience (and sensibility) would render him incapable of a reasoned response to such a situation. As Idris Elba’s president declares, moments after learning he must respond: “It’s like we all built a house full of dynamite — making all these bombs and all these plans, the walls just ready to blow. But we just kept on living in it.” The fine cast also features Tracy Letts, Rebecca Ferguson, Jared Harris, Jason Clark, and Anthony Ramos.  (Arts Fuse review)

— Tim Jackson

Television

First, a reminder to Criterion channel subscribers: there are some excellent films that are leaving the platform by October 31, including Chinatown, Magnolia, The Parallax View, Punchdrunk Love, Sorcerer, Velvet Goldmine, and horror classics like The Devils, The Crow, Altered States, The Fly, and The Fog. If you start now, you might be able to fit in viewing them all by Halloween.

Emma Thompson and Ruth Wilson in a scene from Down Cemetery Road. Photo: Apple TV

Down Cemetery Road (October 29, Apple TV) This new series from the creators of Slow Horses is set in picturesque Oxford. Art conservationist Sarah (Ruth Wilson) and banker husband Mark (Tom Riley) live in a vibrant “alternative community.” While hosting a disastrous dinner party for Mark’s right-wing clients, a gas explosion destroys a nearby home. Some sort of government conspiracy may be behind this event, a revelation that is oddly trumpeted early on. Private investigator Zoe (Emma Thompson) eventually teams up with Sarah to find out what’s happening. I’m a sucker for anything filmed in Oxford (where I spent two summers), and there’s an excellent cast (which also includes Adeel Akhtar and Adam Godley). But I immediately found the dialogue a bit overwrought and expository, too full of topical social references to be convincing. On top of that, some of the direction feels self-consciously cinematic. Still, I’m giving it a chance.

Pluribus (November 7, Apple TV) I wish I could tell you a bit more about this new science fiction series from Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) but there are no press screeners available. There was an in-person, invitation-only screening in NYC a couple of weeks ago, and that spawned an intriguing text message-based promotional campaign. Alas, Dear Reader, I was not invited. The logline summary goes something like: a mysterious virus causes everyone to feel happy and optimistic; the one woman who is unaffected by this viral strangeness must save the world. Rhea Seehorn (who played a central character in Better Call Saul) is Carol, that one person, and a writer of historical romances. The show had some setbacks during the 2023 writers’ strike, so it’s been rather hotly anticipated. That is to be expected from the creator of two of the best drama series of the last decade. You can bet I’m tuning in and will write a longer review.

— Peg Aloi

Popular Music

The Autumn Defense with Chris Stamey
October 29 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Arts at the Armory, Somerville

Any return by a beloved band after 11 years is a welcome one. One that arrives in the form of an LP as superb as Here and Nowhere by The Autumn Defense is particularly so. Granted, multi-instrumentalists John Stirratt and Pat Sansone have hardly been idle for the past decade. They both played on five albums by that Jeff Tweedy-fronted band of which they are both members and contributed to ones by others. Most of the 11 songs on Here and Nowhere float along at an agreeably mid-tempo pace and are coated in a 70s Laurel Canyon vibe that make them a perfect soundtrack to a mid-to-late afternoon drive. Guitars alternate among gently picked acoustic, Byrds-y Rickenbacker electric, and pedal steel, and several songs are flavored by flutes and trumpets. Chris Stamey of pop classicists the dB’s will open The Autumn Defense’s show at Arts at the Armory on October 29. (His 2025 album Anything is Possible featured Pat Sansone.)

Fruit Bats
November 2 (doors at 7/show at 8)
The Sinclair, Cambridge

Fruit Bats mastermind Eric Johnson says of his new album Baby Man, “It’s pretty different from anything you’ve ever heard from me,” Johnson says. “I wrote and recorded it pretty much all in one week’s time and it’s mostly just my voice and some minimal accompaniment…. This one is me looking you in the eye up close and whispering some dreams in your ear.” To understand what this means, look no further than the single “Stuck in My Head Again.” His two-week An Intimate Solo Evening with Eric D. Johnson tour — “just me, no opener” — wraps up at The Sinclair on November 2.

Colin Hay
November 6 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Chevalier Theatre, Medford

I have been hearing Scottish-born Australian Colin Hay’s voice for literally as long as I can remember. His band Men at Work’s debut album, Business as Usual, was released the month that I turned six, topped the Billboard Top 200 for 15 weeks, and spawned singles whose videos were in nonstop rotation on MTV. The band’s 1983 follow-up, Cargo, was less successful, but its songs were just as memorable. While Men at Work will always be what makes him familiar to millions, longtime fans and curious listeners are advised to explore his solo catalog, which comprises more than a dozen albums from as far back as 1987. His latest release is Man @ Work Volume 2 and includes reinterpretations of solo tracks and lesser-known cuts from the aforementioned band’s efforts. (Here is my Arts Fuse review of his 2017 show at The Wilbur.)

Slow Joy with Inoha and Worry Club
November 8 (doors at 7/show at 8)
Brighton Music Hall, Allston

Family, friends, and other close associates call him Esteban Flores. Fans, however, recognize him by his stage moniker, Slow Joy. Flores released his debut LP, A Joy So Slow At Times I Don’t Think It’s Coming (which was partly recorded at Ghost Hit Recording in Springfield, MA), in May. That album’s lead single, “Gruesome,” is a catchy, upbeat, chiming, buzzy slice of thoughtful alternative rock. Subsequent singles amply delivered on that one’s promise and were indicative of the album’s stylistic variety. Slow Joy will share a bill with San Antonio’s Inoha and Chicago’s Worry Club on November 8.

— Blake Maddux

Theater

A scene from Manual Cinema’s The 4th Witch. Artist credit: Drew Dir

The 4th Witch, a Manual Cinema production, concept and direction by Drew Dir. Devised by Dir, Sarah Fornace, and Julia Miller. Presented by Arts Emerson at the Emerson Paramount Center, Robert J. Orchard Stage, 559 Washington Street, Boston, October 30 through November 9.

Manual Cinema brings its distinctive combination of handmade shadow puppetry, cinematic techniques, and innovative sound and music to a story about things that go bump in the night. The plot: “A displaced girl flees war, orphaned and exiled, until rescued by a witch who adopts her as an apprentice. As she advances in craft, her pain and fury propel her into a haunting quest against the warlord who annihilated her family.”

 Summer, 1976 by David Auburn. Directed by Paula Plum. Staged by Central Square Theatre at 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, November 6 through 30.

The plot of this two-hander: “1976. An Ohio college town. The second wave of feminism is cresting. Two very different women are thrown together through a faculty babysitting co-op and an unlikely friendship forms between Diana, a fiercely iconoclastic artist, and Alice, a free-spirited yet naive young housewife.” Two fine local actors in the cast — Lee Mikeska Gardner and Laura Latreille.

The Ballad of Little Jo. Music by Mike Reid. Lyrics by Sarah Schlesinger. Book by Sarah Schlesinger, Mike Reid and John Dias. Based on the film The Ballad of Little Jo by Maggie Greenwald. Directed by Katie Swimm, with music direction by Jeff Kimball Staged by The Treehouse Collective at the Plaza Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts Boston, 539 Tremont St, Boston, October 17 through November 2.

This musical “recounts the life of Josephine Monaghan, who leaves her home and child in Boston to make a life for them out West. With no other resources, Josephine begins to work at a mining camp in Idaho — protecting herself and her family through a series of impossible choices. Inspired by a true story and told through a folk-infused score by Grammy Award-winning Nashville songwriter Mike Reid and lyricist Sarah Schlesinger, the show explores identity, prejudice, fear, and the beauty and horror of the American West at the end of the 19th century.”

Actor/comedian Chris Grace. Photo: courtesy of HTC

Sardines written and performed by Chris Grace. Directed by Eric Michaud. Presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at the Maso Studio in The Huntington Theatre,  through November 16.

According to the HTC website, this one-man show explores the tragic, hilarious, and important questions of our time: Can we enjoy life if we know how it ends? Does making art actually help? And if Rihanna’s song is called ‘Don’t Stop the Music,’ why does the music… stop?” Find out the answers in this anything but depressing show created and performed by actor-comedian Chris Grace (TV’s Superstore, Dropout’s Chris Grace: as Scarlett Johansson).” Arts Fuse review

Misery by William Goldman, based on the novel by Stephen King. Directed by Courtney Sale. Staged by Merrimack Repertory Theatre at the Nancy L. Donahue Theatre at Liberty Hall, 50 E. Merrimack Street, Lowell, through November 2.

Karen MacDonald stars as Annie Wilkes and Tom Coiner as novelist Paul Sheldon in this stage adaptation of King’s nightmare fantasia — via a successful novel and film — of an artist who is haunted by his “number one fan.”

1999 by Stacey Isom Campbell. Directed by Genée Coreno. Staged by WAM Theatre at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company’s Campus, Lenox, through November 2.

The world premiere of a play with a critic at its center. How could it miss? According to the WAM Theatre website, the script promises to “empower audiences with its powerful story of moral courage, memory, and art in the wake of Hollywood’s reckoning. When a student questions the films selected in her course, Emma—a seasoned film criticism professor and producer—is forced to confront a buried secret from 1999. As she reflects on the choices that shaped her career, she wrestles with the legacy of beloved films and the weight of silence. Can she protect her students, honor her art, and still live with the truth?”

Ins Choi and Esther Chung in Kim’s Convenience. A Soulpepper Production in association with American Conservatory Theater & Adam Blanshay Productions. Photo: Dahlia Katz

Kim’s Convenience by Ins Choi. Directed by Weyni Mengesha. A Soulpepper Production in association with American Conservatory Theater & Adam Blanshay Productions, presented by the Huntington Theatre Company at The Huntington Calderwood, at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, November 6 through 30.

According to the HTC press release, this “comedy drama about a Korean family-run corner store that inspired the popular Netflix hit is a feel-good ode to generations of immigrants who have made Canada the country that it is today. Mr. Kim works hard to support his wife and children with his Toronto convenience store. As he evaluates his future, he faces both a changing neighborhood landscape and the gap between his values and those of his Canada-born children.” What about American hostility? FYI, according to a recent column in the Toronto Star: “During Prime Minister Mark Carney’s meeting last week with Donald Trump, the U.S. president said, ‘The people of Canada will love us again. Most of them still do, I think — they love us.’ Most people in Canada do not love the United States. They never have and never will.”

The Dybbuk (between two worlds), by Roy Chen, based on the play by S. Ansky. Adapted by Igor Golyak with Dr. Rachel Merrill Moss. With additional translation from Joachim Neugroschel. Directed by Igor Golyak. Staged by Arlekin! at The Vilna Shul, 18 Phillips St, Boston, October 30 through November 16.

A revival of a critically acclaimed show that is based on the mystical original drama by S. Ansky. “A timeless and timely folktale about love, displacement and the restless Jewish soul is reimagined in this contemporary, site-specific production staged by Arlikin director Igor Golyak in the sanctuary of the historic Vilna Shul, one of the oldest immigrant synagogues in the United States. Arts Fuse review of the 2024 production.

Lizard Boy: A New Musical, Book, music, and lyrics by Justin Huertas. Directed by Lyndsay Allyn Cox. Staged by SpeakEasy State Company at the Roberts Studio Theatre in the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont Street, Boston, through November 22.

Nominated for three 2024 Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, Lizard Boy “tells the story of Trevor, a lonesome outsider whose skin turned green and scaly after a tragic childhood encounter with a dragon. Since that time, Trevor only leaves his house once a year, on Monsterfest, and that’s tonight. While out on a first date with new crush Cary, Trevor meets a fellow dragon survivor who fears the dragons have returned. Can Trevor accept who he is, help save his city, and keep his big date?”

NOTE: Boston area theaters have pretty much decided to ignore what is happening in America and beyond — mounting threats to democracy, the slide toward authoritarianism, the climate crisis, growing economic inequality, the round-up of immigrants, the expansion of internment camps, ongoing genocide in Gaza, the war in Ukraine, etc. The American Repertory Theater tells us that “Wonder Awaits.” I disagree. I have decided to spotlight in each Coming Attractions a stage production, in America and elsewhere, that grapples with today’s alarming realities. Sometimes the productions 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.

The Public Theatre company in rehearsal for its production of The Seat of Our Pants. Photo: Joan Marcus

Instead of the inevitably pastoral Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth is the Thornton Wilder play for our time of crisis. It was first performed in 1942, when war and fascism were on the rise in Europe, a period of uncertainty, when apocalyptic war fears cast a shadow on American optimism.  Even better (I hope), the Pulitzer Prize-winning text is being presented (or transformed) via the world premiere of a modern, musicalized adaptation. Titled The Seat of Our Pants, this production of New York’s Public Theatre — adaptation, music, and lyrics by Ethan Lipton, choreography by Sunny Min-Sook Hitt, direction by Leigh Silverman — claims that the metaphysical farce is “about age-old problems” as it “tells the twisting, often absurd story of the Antrobus family, who have been alive for 5,000 years but live in the same existential dread as the rest of us. Mired in the hot mess of their everyday worries, the Antrobuses survive all manner of catastrophes in an endless quest to begin again, and again, and again.” No doubt some contemporary crises — climate change, immigration, oligarchy — will be added to Wilder’s mix. The show runs through November 30.

— Bill Marx

Visual Art

Winslow Homer, The Blue Boat (detail), 1892. Watercolor over graphite on paper. William Sturgis Bigelow Collection. Photo: courtesy of the MFA

Winslow Homer was born in Boston in 1836 to a long-established family and raised across the river in Cambridge. He studied commercial lithography in Boston and worked there as an illustrator for nearly two decades, later living in Gloucester and Maine, among other places, locations that figure prominently in his landscapes, seascapes, and vignettes of ordinary life. He is buried, along with many other New England worthies, in Cambridge’s famous Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Homer was fortunate to live in a time of great technical innovation in artist’s materials — a vast array of new, synthetic pigments; premixed, standardized, and packaged paints; new, machine finished papers, sketchbooks, and sketching materials — all of which gave artists new freedom in choosing when, where, and how they worked. He also lived at a time of great social, economic, and environmental change, which altered the self-image of the American continent, part of that shaped by his nimble brush..

These threads converge in the MFA’s Of Light and Air: Winslow Homer in Watercolor, opening November 9. One of the first museums to acquire a Homer painting, the MFA now owns almost 50 of the artist’s watercolors and 11 oil paintings, one of the nation’s most important Homer collections. The virtuosic and richly colored watercolors, which set a high standard for the medium and have been enormously influential, are sensitive to light and so can rarely be exhibited. This exhibition is a chance to see them along with childhood drawings, prints, and his last canvas, left unfinished at his death. It should not be missed.

Trying to decide between law school and a museum career? The MFA might be able to help. College-age students dreaming of a professional life surrounded by masterpieces should plan to attend the “MFA Pathways Internship Information Session” on October 28 from 6:00 to 7:00 pm. A panel including MFA staff and past interns will explore the museum’s programs for semester-long graduate- and undergraduate-level paid internships across the range of the MFA’s departments. The interns, the museum says, “gain hands-on training in specific roles, participate in professional development to learn about a range of museum careers and practices, and build professional networks.” Free registration on the MFA website.

On October 28, 6:00-8:00 p.m., the Tufts University Art Galleries/School of the Museum of Fine Arts will hold Disability Culture Now: A Panel with Emily Watlington & Jeff Kasper. Editor and critic Watlington and artist Kasper are co-curators of the current Tufts exhibition How do you break a window with a brick, which features contemporary art “exploring how individuals with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and neurodivergence navigate forms of protest.” The event takes place in the Anderson Auditorium at the SMFA in Boston. Registration on the Galleries’ website.

Painter Peter Waite. Photo: Arthur Simoes

Peter Waite: Social Memory, Paintings 1987-2025, opening at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art on November 6, is billed as a homecoming of sorts. A student at the Hartford Art School in the 1960s, Waite has vivid memories of a first visit to the Atheneum. Years later, he joined the museum’s Exhibition Design Department. Waite’s paintings include large-scale views of New England sites and historic locations in Europe — train stations, passageways, and public parks, emptied of people — “as a means of reflecting upon the progression of time, shifting social priorities, exploration of communal environments, and personal memory.” Waite’s solo exhibition features three paintings from the Wadsworth collection, loans from public and private collections, and a selection of his latest work.

Sinister Streets: Witch Trials, Murders & Literary Legends, on October 27, starting at noon, features selections from some of the Peabody Essex Museum’s collection of historic houses and buildings in a walking tour of some of Salem’s darker chapters. It begins with the Ward House, within sight of the 1692 witch hangings on Gallows Hill, and proceeds through the very room in the Gardner-Pingree-House where the nationally notorious murder of Joseph White took place in 1830. The tours run multiple times on Thursdays though Mondays through November 23. Tickets available online on the museum’s website and at the PEM Admissions Desk.

On November 7, Playdates at the Smith College Museum of Art offers “artful adventures in and around the museum” for preschoolers aged 2-5 and their caregivers. Interactive tour slots are offered at 9:45, 10:15, or 10:45 am for up to 10 children. Families can join in the fun in the museum Atrium anytime between 9:30 and 11:30 am. Registration link on the museum website; children capped at 30, not counting caregivers.

 — Peter Walsh

Classical Music

Uncommon Gems
Presented by Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra
November 2, 3 p.m.
Second Church, West Newton

Pro Arte offers an intriguing combination of works by Bartók, Elfrida Andrée, Copland, and Francis Poulenc. Flautist Ann Bobo is the featured soloist; Sarah Ioannides conducts.

Braunstein & Plesser play Brahms
Presented by Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra
November 7, 8 p.m.
Symphony Hall

The BPYO returns to action with violinist Guy Braunstein and cellist Zvi Plesser teaming up for Brahms’s Double Concerto. Benjamin Zander also conducts Leonard Berntein’s Overture to Candide and Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5.

Pianist Daniil Trifonov performing in Boston in 2023. Photo: Robert Torres/Celebrity Series of Boston

Daniil Trifonov plays Saint-Saëns and Ravel
Presented by Music Worcester
November 7, 8 p.m.
Mechanics Hall

If you missed Daniil Trifonov’s October recital at Jordan Hall, you’re in luck: the pianist makes his Music Worcester debut with the Orchestre National de France and conductor Cristian Macelaru, playing concertos by Saint-Saëns (No. 2) and Ravel (G major). Also on tap are selections by Elsa Barraine and the Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloe.

Pianist Beatrice Rana. Photo: Simon Fowler

Beatrice Rana in recital
Presented by Celebrity Series
November 8, 8 p.m.
Jordan Hall

Van Cliburn competition silver medalist Rana returns to Boston for a performance that mixes excerpts from ballets by Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev with the latter’s Piano Sonata No. 6 and the second book of Debussy’s Études.

La Boheme
Presented by Cambridge Symphony Orchestra
November 9, 4 p.m.
Kresge Auditorium

The CSO presents a semistaged production of Puccini’s tragedy in collaboration with the Cambridge Children’s Chorus, New World Chorale, and the Middlesex County Volunteers Fife & Drums. Kayla Harriott sings Mimi, Eric Botto is Rodolfo, and music director Cynthia Woods conducts.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Roots and World Music

Quebec folk band Le Vent du Nord. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Le Vent du Nord
Nov. 1, 8 p.m.
Somerville Theatre

Quebec folk band Le Vent du Nord are one of the most exciting and energizing live acts on the traditional music circuit. They’ve just released their 13th record, Voisinages, which captures their live spirit while examining the connections between the music of Quebec with Celtic, American, and Acadian sounds. At a time when the US is turning its back on its neighbors from the north, Le Vend du Nord’s call “for more openness and reconciliation; an invitation to be more neighborly” couldn’t be more timely. The concert is presented by Global Arts Live.

Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ and the Arneis String Quartet
Nov. 1, 7:30 p.m., Tsai Performance Center, Boston University
Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m., Prior Performing Arts Center, Holy Cross College, Worcester

For years Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ has been at the forefront of bringing traditional Vietnamese music into the present with her groundbreaking work on instruments like the 16-string đàn tranh. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam war, she is reviving her composition “The Odyssey–from Vietnam to America,” a musical ode to the story of the Boat People. She’s performing it with both the Arneis String Quartet and her own Blood Moon Orchestra at these two free events.

Signature Series presents Watching the River Flow: A Roots Salute to Bob Dylan
Nov. 5, 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center

Bob Dylan was influenced by the American roots sounds of blues, bluegrass, country, and gospel. In turn, artists in those genres have long given Dylan’s own songs new meaning. That ongoing musical conversation will be celebrated at this all-star bash that includes Tim O’Brien, who nearly 30 years ago released an essential album of Dylan songs called Red on Blonde.

Also appearing in this Berklee Signature Series presentation are bluegrass pioneer Tony Trischka, folk great Lucy Kaplansky, blues harmonica master Annie Raines, old-time master Bruce Molsky, jazz singer Dr. Trineice Robinson-Martin, and two powerhouse singers who were highlights of last year’s Berklee salute to Black country: Larry Watson and Farayi Malek. Additional Berklee students and faculty will be joining in.

Pine Tree Flyers
Nov. 5
Club Passim, Cambridge

Most of the musicians featured in this space play music that has its roots somewhere else. But the Pine Tree Flyers are devoted to preserving the fiddle tradition from right here in New England. Maine fiddle music reflects Northern New England’s mix of influences from Scotland, Ireland, Quebec, and New Brunswick. These are gorgeous and infectious tunes played with passion and precision by an all-star cast drawn from the local Celtic scene: Katie McNally (fiddle), Emily Troll (accordion), Benjamin Foss (guitar), and Neil Pearlman (piano). They’re as busy as they are talented, making this a relatively rare Boston appearance.

— Noah Schaffer

Jazz

Blink
October 26 at 5 p.m.
Q Arts Gallery, Quincy

Generalizations about the music of saxophonist and composer Jorrit Dijksra are bound to fall short, so vast is his sphere of influences and inspirations, but for the sake of argument let’s call Blink his take on Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time, with two guitars (Eric Hofbauer and Gabe Boyarin), bass (Nate McBride), drums (Eric Rosenthal), and the leader’s horn, with that fetching mix of odd tunings and folk-like melodies, and a wonderfully elastic free-jazz pulse. The band — most of whom of have played together in various configurations for years — is celebrating the release of their homonymous debut CD on Boston-based Driff Records.

Legendary pianist/composer Herbie Hancock performing at the Kennedy Center in 2023. Photo: courtesy of Jati Lindsay

Herbie Hancock
October 29 at 8 p.m.
Boch Center Wang Theatre, Boston

The jazz giant, now 85, comes to the capacious Boch Center Wang Theatre with a top-notch band, planning to survey his entire career, including acoustic jazz, electric funk, and everything in between. The other players are trumpeter Terence Blanchard, guitarist Lionel Loueke, bassist James Genus, and the accomplished young drummer Jaylen Petinaud.

David Rivera y La Bambula
October 30 at 6 p.m.
Long Live Roxbury Brewery & Taproom, Boston
FREE

Another good deal in the free Thursday night jazz shows at the Long Live Roxbury Taproom: Puerto Rican singer, songwriter, and drummer David Rivera, familiar to Boston audiences from his years with the band Mango Blue, leads his band La Bambula, with Anibal Cruz on keyboards and vocals, trombonist Xito Lovell, bassist Daniel Peniazek, percussionist Marcos Torres, and Andres Escalona also on bass. Expect a dance-provoking mix of Afro-Caribbean-infused jazz, bomba, and R&B.

Bill Charlap Trio
October 31 at 7:30 p.m. and November 1 at 9:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge

There are lots of tough choices on November 1 (I’m sure I have not accounted for them all), but you can get a jump on the weekend crunch with this Friday night show by Bill Charlap — a scholar of the Great American Songbook (as well as any jazz standard you can name by Ellington, Charlie Parker, and scores of others) and one of the great living jazz pianists. Tomorrow’s 7:30 show is already sold out, and at this writing there was only one scheduled Friday show. Charlap is joined by his regular trio-mates of recent years, bassist David Wong and drummer Dennis Mackrel.

Club d’Elf in “trick or treat” mode. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Club d’Elf
October 31 at 8 p.m.
Groton Hill Music Center, Groton

The long-running Moroccan trance-jazz-dub-funk outfit Club d’Elf hits the exquisite Groton Hall Music Center for this Halloween-themed show. D’Elf main man Mike Rivard (bass, sintir) has recruited two of his most able-bodied guitarist collaborators, Duke Levine and Kevin Barry (usually seen separately), for this show, along with Fabio Pirozzolo on drums and vocals, Paul Schultheis (keyboards), Mister Rourke (turntables), and the “Horns of Horror”: tenor sax Tom Hall, trumpeter Jerry Sabatini, and trombonist David Harris. “Costumes are encouraged.”

Benny Green
November 1 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Benny Green’s solo piano shows have become a much-cherished regular thing at Scullers. Here’s another chance.

Vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant. Photo: Mark Fitton

Cécile McLorin Salvant
November 1 at 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center, Boston

Will the commanding vocalist and Grammy-winning MacArthur “genius” dig into her recent, pop-loving, gleeful Oh Snap — with its swerves from piano-trio-jazz to electronic club bangers and a ruminative setting of Bashō — or earlier forays into Bert Williams (“Nobody”) and Valaida Snow (“You Bring Out the Savage in Me”), or any number of jazz standards and provocative originals in English, French, Occitan, or Haitian Kreyòl? Best to be there and find out. The backing trio comprises regular collaborators Glenn Zaleski (piano), Yasushi Nakamura (acoustic bass), and Kyle Poole (drums).

Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra
November 3 at 8 p.m.
Berklee Performance Center, Boston

The invaluable 21-piece Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra opens its 40th season with new music by resident composers David Harris, Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington and Mimi Rabson, including Katz’s “An Invitation to Duke,” a setting of verse by the esteemed Boston poet Charles Coe.

Mark Morganelli in action. Photo: courtesy of the artist

Mark Morganelli and the Jazz Forum All-Stars Celebrate Brasil
November 7 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Flugelhornist, percussionist, and impresario Mark Morganelli has gathered a crew from his venerable Tarrytown, NY, Jazz Forum club to go on the road with this Brazil-centric program. The band also includes Eddie Monteiro on digital accordion, guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, and drummer and vocalist Nanny Assis.

George Coleman
November 7 and 8 at 7:30 and 9:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge

The formidable Memphis tenor saxophonist George Coleman, now 90, returns to the Regattabar for four shows over two nights, with a band that includes guitarist Leo Jarrett, pianist Steve Myerson, bassist John Webber, and George Coleman Jr. on drums.

Larry Fuller. Photo: Mark Sheldon

Larry Fuller
November 8 at 7 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

The endlessly inventive pianist Larry Fuller (whose early gigs included Ernestine Anderson, Jeff Hamilton, John Pizzarelli, and Ray Brown) fronts a trio with Hassan “JJ” Shakur on bass and Carmen Intorre Jr. on drums. The program will span Brown, Oscar Peterson, Wes Montgomery, and jazz standards to Stevie Wonder and Joni Mitchell.

Mandorla Collective
November 9 at 5 p.m.
Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, Dorchester

The nonprofit Mandorla Music, established to present music by Boston-area musicians, has broadened its reach to include producing recordings and now, the Mandorla Collective, an ensemble that will focus an annual project on “a figure central to Boston jazz history whose influence continues to reverberate.” The inaugural celebrant is the towering jazz composer and educator George Russell (1923-2009), who made New England Conservatory his home base from 1969 until his death. The program will survey a range of Russell’s music, played by  saxophonist Allan Chase, trumpeter Peter Kenagy, trombonist Randy Pingrey, guitarist Amaury Cabral, pianist Liz Sinn, bassist Rick McLaughlin, and drummer Brooke Sofferman.

— Jon Garelick

Author Events

Hetty Lui McKinnon at the Cambridge Public Library – Harvard Book Store
Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor: A Cookbook
October 28 at 6 p.m.
Cambridge Public Library, Cambridge
Tickets are free or $42.50 with book

“From her salad-delivery days in Sydney to her current career as a food writer and bestselling cookbook author in New York, Hetty Lui McKinnon has long known the power of salads to connect and create community. Salads are meant to be shared; they are what you bring to a gathering of friends or family, the ultimate comfort food.

“With Linger, Hetty has come full circle. Rather than delivering salads to members of her community, this time, she has invited friends into her home, to share salads, sweets and stories around her dining room table. Linger documents these intimate gatherings, with vegetable-laden, loosely seasonal menus enjoyed and photographed in real time.

“These salads are not just piles of leafy greens — they are beautiful, rich creations. In fact, one of McKinnon’s salad rules is that salads don’t always have to have leaves. Another salad rule? Anything can be a salad.

“With over 100 inventive recipes for meal-worthy salads, smaller bites and simple sweets, Hetty invites you to become a part of an unforgettable shared experience of community, food and friendship.”

Red Baiting Then and Now: The Dangers of Fascism Today
Presented  by Ford Hall Forum
October 28 at 6 p.m.
At the Modern Theatre, 525 Washington Street, Boston
Free

“Michael Meeropol in conversation with Paul Solman, PBS NewsHour correspondent. In the 1950s, many Americans feared that McCarthyism marked the first step toward full-blown authoritarian fascism. Fortunately, the nation avoided that fate then; however, today the specter of authoritarianism has become both real and visible. Understanding the current actions of the Trump Administration is essential.

“Just as McCarthyism demonized communists, today’s far-right movement targets ‘woke’ liberals, ‘criminal’ immigrants, ‘Antifa terrorists,’ and LGBTQ individuals accused of ‘grooming.’ This demonization fosters ignorance, denies truth, fuels violence, and encourages the use of state power to strip away basic rights. In his talk, Meeropol will examine the striking parallels — and crucial differences — between the Red Scare and the Trump era. He argues that while elements of fascism existed in the ’50s, the threats we face today are deeper, more organized, and more dangerous.”

Poet Laureate Reading – Sawyer Free Library
Regie Gibson
November 1 from 2-3 p.m.
Community Room,  Sawyer Free Library, 2 Dale Avenue, Gloucester
Free

“Regie Gibson is an accomplished poet who currently serves as the Co-Artistic Director of Pedagogy at the Arts for Social Change. Joseph Featherstone was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and grew up in post-war Japan. His first poetry collection is Brace’s Cove (New Issues, 2000). He convenes regular meetings of the Off Season, a poetry group in Cambridge, Mass., and is active in the Gloucester Writers Center.

“Heidi Wakeman is delighted to serve as Co-Poet Laureate of Gloucester, MA. She offers her poetry in the service of love and liberation, in the footsteps of Mary Oliver and Audre Lorde. Her work is rooted in connection and inspired by Gloucester’s people and landscapes. Bob’s poems have been published in several anthologies and journals including Ibbetson Street, Drifting Sands, OpenDoor Magazine, Red Barn, The Long Islander, Front Porch Review, Aristotle and The World, The Lunar Codex (launched by NASA to the Moon in 2024), and Northeast Coast. His work has been translated into Russian, Greek, Hindi, Czech and other languages. Whelan is one of the poets included in Tide Lines, An Anthology of Cape Ann Poets.”

Yiscah Smith – Brookline Booksmith
Planting Seeds of the Divine: Torah Commentaries to Cultivate Your Spiritual Practice
November 2 at 10:30 a.m.
At Temple Israel of Boston, 477 Longwood Ave, Boston
Free

“In Planting Seeds of the Divine, Yiscah invites us to approach Torah as a spiritual garden — each weekly portion offering seeds for personal transformation and intimate encounters with the Divine. Drawing on classical commentaries, Hasidic and Neo-Hasidic teachings, and her own insights, each chapter of the book highlights a middah (spiritual trait or emotional disposition) and offers step-by-step practices to help us embody these teachings in our daily lives.

“Engaging the intellect, heart, body, and spirit, Yiscah’s work reclaims a contemplative and experiential path through Torah — one that helps us connect deeply with our inner selves and with God.”

Irin Carmon at Harvard Book Store
Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America
November 3 at 7 p.m.
Free

“Journalist Irin Carmon was eight months pregnant when the Supreme Court allowed states to ban abortion, unleashing pain and suffering for those who didn’t want to be pregnant and, shockingly to some, those who did. What was clear to Carmon from her dozen years of reporting — and from what she felt in her bones — was how incomplete the American story of reproduction had been, and how much had been unexpressed, hidden, or taken for granted, and not just by conservative justices or in red states. Whether in cosmopolitan, liberal New York City or rural Alabama, the entire system is broken.

“Unbearable tells a deeper story, going beyond the headlines and any one experience or choice, and grounded in history and journalism. It introduces us to five women navigating pregnancy care — from that first positive pregnancy test through joy, loss, and the unforeseen — in a country that is at best indifferent and at worst willfully cruel, and to brave, outnumbered people fighting to make it better. Written with deep empathy and analytical rigor, Unbearable is at once a moving story of interconnection, a harrowing exposé, and assertion of humanity. Above all, it is a powerful call for solidarity, regardless of our circumstances or our decisions.”

Andrew Zimmern at The Brattle Theatre – Harvard Book Store
The Blue Food Cookbook: Delicious Seafood Recipes for a Sustainable Future
November 4 at 6 p.m.
Tickets are $12 or $50 with book

“Is farmed or wild-caught salmon better? Is tuna being overfished? Do I have to worry about mercury poisoning? Is seafood high in protein? Is industrial aquaculture sustainable? How can I do anything to address the climate change and food security crises? Is it okay to eat raw fish? How do you shuck an oyster? Is frozen seafood good? How do you cook mackerel without it stinking up the kitchen?

“The answers are clear in The Blue Food Cookbook. In celebration of the fish, shellfish, and plants we eat from our oceans, lakes, and rivers (in other words, blue food) and in collaboration with the PBS docuseries Hope in the Water, award-winning chef and TV host Andrew Zimmern and leading sustainable seafood expert and educator Barton Seaver present a seafood bible looking at blue food from water to plate: a tangible, delicious cookbook for how to best buy, prepare, and cook from our oceans and waterways sustainably.”

Mark Z. Danielewski — Brookline Booksmith
Tom’s Crossing
November 5 at 7 p.m.
Free or $47.50 with book

“From the bestselling author of House of Leaves comes a magisterial novel about two friends determined to rescue a pair of horses set for slaughter.”

“This is an amazing work of fiction. I absolutely loved it. At the heart you’ll find a blood-drenched story of pursuit and two brave and resourceful children. But there’s so much more. I immersed myself. Have never read anything like it.” —Stephen King

Tom Piazza in conversation with Steve Yarbrough – Porter Square Books
Living in the Present with John Prine
November 6 at 7 p.m.
Cambridge Edition, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Free

“A vivid, joyful, moving window onto the life and heart of an American icon.

In the spring of 2018, Tom Piazza climbed into a 1977 Coupe de Ville with the great singer-songwriter John Prine to write an article for the Oxford American. Their Florida road trip ignited a deep friendship, full of tall tales over epic meals, long nights playing guitar and trading songs, and visits back and forth between their homes in Nashville and New Orleans.

“Along the way, Prine invited Piazza to work with him on a memoir, with John telling sprawling, often hilarious stories of his youth and family in Chicago and Kentucky, his breakthrough into the national spotlight, his riotous early years in the Nashville country scene, and much more. When Prine died suddenly of COVID in April 2020, that unfinished memoir evolved into an intimate and very personal narrative of the artist’s final years. In it, Piazza offers fans an unforgettable portrait of the beloved musician in his late glory — as a boyish cut-up, an epic raconteur, a great American poet, and, most important, a beloved friend.”

The Launch of AGNI 102
November 7 at 7 p.m.
Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, 949 Commonwealth Avenue Boston
Free

“We celebrate the release of AGNI 102 with readings by Mary Cappello, Askold Melnyczuk, Hera Naguib, and Gish Jen. With a live musical performance by Javier Jeffer y su Conjunto Obaye. Reception to follow.”

Luke O’Neil Book Release Party
We Had It Coming: And Other Fictions
November 8 at 4 p.m.
The Sinclair, Cambridge
Free

“Join Boston journalist and author Luke O’Neil for the launch of his latest collection of fiction We Had It Coming in conversation with bestselling author Dave Wedge. Also reading will be Eoin Higgins, author of Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left, Bill Shaner of Worcester Sucks and I Love It, musician, activist, and journalist Evan Greer and more.  O’Neil is the author of the acclaimed political and literary newsletter Welcome to Hell World and the book of the same name.”

— Matt Hanson