Things to Do This Week in Boston

THEATER

Mrs. Warren’s Profession
New York City theater company Bedlam takes on another work from George Bernard Shaw, one so controversial in its time that the whole cast of its 1905 American premiere was arrested. That’s because Mrs. Warren’s profession is a brothel madam, and her rise to prominence cast a bit too stark a light on Victorian moral hypocrisy.
$81-$97, Thursday, May 29 through June 22, Central Square Theater, 450 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

Stories
Cunning Folk Theater takes us back to the cosmopolitan world of turn of the 20^th century Warsaw in this synthesis of tales from Polish Jewish writer Y.L. Peretz. Our hero, Noah, in trying to cook up a story for a woman he professes to not love, demonstrates the power of story to bring order to experience.
$23.50-$376, Tuesday through Thursday, May 27-29, Black Box Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston

T: An MBTA Musical
This oh-so-local comedy musical is back again. The plot: three ordinary commuters, frustrated by the T for reasons frequent riders don’t need to have explained, come upon a map that will lead them to the man in charge. But what will it take to get to him?
$35-$45, through June 15, The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)
American Repertory Theater hosts this musical rom-com production from English company Kiln Theatre. The couple: a British man, Dougal, who’s travelled to New York City for the second wedding of a father he doesn’t know very well, and an American, Kate, the sister of the bride, whose initial offer to pick up Dougal at the airport turs into a longer adventure.
$35-$150, through June 29, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge

Hello, Dolly!
It doesn’t get more classic Broadway than this 1964 musical about a plucky matchmaker (Aimee Doherty) in turn of the 20th century New York City. Dolly prides herself on her skills, but her latest client presents a problem: she wants him for herself. Fortunately, she’s clever and charming enough to make it happen—eventually.
$30-$86, through June 22, Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Boston

The Light in the Piazza
The Huntington’s Artistic Director, Loretta Greco, helms this original production of Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas’ period musical, set in postwar Italy. An American mom, Margaret, has travelled there with her daughter Clara, hoping to expose her to the beauty of the country—but Clara soon becomes more interested in a particular Italian boy.
$29-$185, through June 15, The Huntington Theater, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
A 2024 Tony nominee for Best Play, Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy about the immigrant crew at a West African hair salon in Harlem arrives in Boston courtesy of SpeakEasy Stage. While their business is doing well and the camaraderie is strong (for the most part), they’re about to face the reality of just how unwelcome their presence in America can be.
$25-$80, through May 31, Roberts Studio Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston

DANCE

Boston Ballet: Roméo et Juliette
Shakespeare’s timeless tale of doomed love, rendered in musical form by Sergei Prokofiev, comes to the Boston Ballet stage with Jean-Christophe Maillot’s 1996 choreography, which presents the story from the perspective of Friar Laurence. Dancers Ji Young Chae and Jeffrey Cirio take on the lead roles.
$32-$222, through Sunday, June 8, Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston

COMEDY

Nate Jackson
This roasty Tacoma, Washington comic has thrived in standup’s social media-driven crowd work era. At some shows, he even has a camera on the audience, allowing everyone to see the person he’s messing with. As for his actual material, you’ll just have to see him live for that—or look out for his upcoming Netflix special.
Thursday, June 5: $81.25, 7:30 p.m., and 10 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston
Friday, June 6: $60.25-$91.45, 7:30 p.m., Chevalier Theater, 30 Forest St., Medford

MOVIES

The Phoenician Scheme
Despite the best efforts of some pranksters to replace him with AI, Wes Anderson continues to pump out movies at an increasingly rapid pace— the delightfully convoluted The Phoenician Scheme, starring Benicio del Toro as shifty businessman and arms dealer Anatole “Zsa-Zsa” Korda, is his fourth already this decade.
$12-$16, opens Thursday, June 5, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

The Life of Chuck
Based on Stephen King’s non-horror novella of the same name, Mike Flanagan’s decades-spanning character study in reverse stars Tom Hiddleston as Chuck, a regular guy with a regular life. If that doesn’t sound Stephen King enough for you, don’t worry—there’s a bit more going on than that.
$15-$17, opens Friday, June 6, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

Pavements
Even among their eclectic peers, ’90s indie-rock icons Pavement were not an ordinary band, and Alex Ross Perry has not created an ordinary documentary about them, opting instead to embark on a set of projects—a musical, a biopic, and even a museum—that blur the line between fiction and reality.
$13-$15, Friday, June 6 through June 12, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

Sister Midnight
Uma (Radhika Apte), the endearing protagonist of this dark comedy from first-time Indian director Karan Kandhari, is unhappy in her new married life in Mumbai, with its busybody neighbors and endless congestion, so she decides to escape, only to find a world that isn’t much happier than she is.
$10.99-$16.48, Friday and Saturday, May 30-31, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Caught by the Tides
Blending fictional and documentary footage shot through the first quarter of the 21st century, director Jia Zhangke’s newest film provides a view of contemporary China through the eyes of protagonist Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao), a woman in search of an old flame who left town long ago for a better life.
$13-$15, Friday, May 30 through June 5, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

Bring Her Back
A24 brings us this Australian nightmare from brothers Danny and Michael Philippou, about a pair of siblings whose new foster mother (Sally Hawkins) is up to some very dark and gruesome business. Without spoiling too much, it should be said that this one isn’t for the faint of heart.
$12-$16, opens Friday, May 30, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

Mission: Impossible—The Final Reckoning
The indefatigable Tom Cruise returns for the eighth time as super spy Ethan Hunt. Immediately following the previous installment, Dead Reckoning Part One, Final Reckoning resumes Hunt’s quest to stop the assassin Gabriel Martinelli (Esai Morales) from acquiring a powerful AI called the Entity. Catch it here in IMAX.
$12.69-$25.18, AMC Boston Common, 175 Tremont St., Boston

Jane Austen Wrecked My Life
Agathe (Camille Rutherford), the bookseller heroine of this comedy from director Laura Piani, dreams of publishing a book herself—and of finding love, Jane Austen style. When she lands an invitation to the Jane Austen Writers’ Residency, she winds up in a distinctly Austenian love triangle—but will she figure out how to get the ending she wants?
$15-$17, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

Reunion Week
The only thing uniting this diverse set of screenings is that each of these films, aside from being great, is celebrating a 25th, 50th, or 75th anniversary in 2025. Selections include American Psycho (May 21 and 24), Jaws (May 23-25), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (May 25), The Who’s Tommy (May 26), Jean Cocteau’s Orpheus (May 28), Grey Gardens (May 29), and more.
$13-$15, through Thursday, May 29, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

UNIQLO Festival of Films from Japan
Collecting nine films released in the past two years, this fest provides a crash course in contemporary Japanese cinema, mostly avoiding animation in favor of live action. Highlights include the fish out of water story Sunset Sunrise (May 22), the grief and travel story Cottontail (May 24), the throwback historical epic Bushido (May 30), and the youthful romance My Sunshine (June 1).
$15, through June 6, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Hurry Up Tomorrow
The Weeknd stars in this thriller as an insomniac musician drawn into an existential rabbit hole by a young woman named Anima (Jenna Ortega), whose name is identical to Carl Jung’s term for a man’s feminine side. Directed by Trey Edward Shults, the film is a companion to the Weeknd’s new album of the same name, released in January.
$16.25-$18.75, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

Friendship
The sheer goofiness of Tim Robinson’s characters in I Think You Should Leave usually prevents the Netflix series’ comedy from getting too dark, but Andrew DeYoung’s Friendship, in which Robinson stars as a lonely guy who longs to be friends with his new neighbor (Paul Rudd), makes no such guarantees.
$15-$17, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

Thunderbolts*
Marvel’s continued rummaging through the more obscure corners of its superhero pantheon has turned up this team of anti-heroes, brought to life by an all-star cast including Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, and Hannah John-Kamen. If you’re wondering what the asterisk in the title is for, you’ll just have to find out.
$15.98-$19.48, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Sinners
Michael B. Jordan doubles down as a pair of twin brothers in Ryan Coogler’s action horror flick, set in a version of the Jim Crow South plagued both by systemic racism and vampires—and if you think the latter might be a metaphor for the former, you might be right.
$12.99-$16.49, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

The Wedding Banquet
The second film as writer and director for Andrew Ahn (Spa Night, Fire Island) tells the story of of a group of queer friends (Bowen Yang, Lily Gladstone, Kelly Marie Tran, and Han Gi-chan) whose scheme involving an IVF treatment and a green card marriage goes awry when one of their grandmothers gets wind of the marriage an takes it a little too seriously.
$15-$17, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

ALSO

• The Best Restaurants in Boston’s North End
• The Ultimate Guide to Candlepin Bowling in and around Boston

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Want to suggest an event? Email us.

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WEDNESDAY (5/28/25)

MUSIC

10,000 Maniacs
Emerging from off-the-radar Jamestown, New York in the early 80s, 10,000 Maniacs helped define the gentler side of alternative rock in the 90s with hits like “These Are Days.” While the 1993 departure of lead singer Natalie Merchant was a huge blow, the band pulled a Fleetwood Mac and reconfigured, and they’ve been carrying on ever since.
$65-$70.75, 8 p.m., Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville

TALKS

Van Gogh and the “Mad Genius” Debate
The legend of Vincent van Gogh’s mental instability is nearly as famous as his innovations in painting, such that it’s become inextricable from popular assessments of his work—but how fair is this? Utrecht University lecturer Laura Prins discusses the controversy, as well as van Gogh’s own thoughts on the connection between creativity and emotional excess.
$35, 1 p.m., Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

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THURSDAY (5/29/25)

MUSIC

Shakira
The queen of Latin American pop stops by on her tour for 2024’s Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran, her first album since 2017’s El Dorado. The album wasn’t entirely new to fans, of course—she’d been dropping singles from it for two years already. Its biggest song in the United States so far has been “TQG,” a collab with Karol G.
$111.75-$254.75, 7:30 p.m., Fenway Park, 4 Jersey St., Boston

Annie DiRusso
After many years of singles and EPs, Nashville indie rock singer-songwriter Annie DiRusso finally released her first full-length, Super Pedestrian, this year. Rooted in 90s and 2000s alterna-pop acts like Weezer, its 11 tracks combine yearning vocals and big, crunchy guitar riffs in a timelessly satisfying way.
$36, 8 p.m., Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Boston

COMEDY

Rob Cantrell
A TV writer and occasional actor (The Last O.G., The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Girls5eva) when he’s not doing standup, Rob Cantrell has an emphatic, almost preacher-like style on stage that makes his silly ideas, such as his theory that CVS really runs New York City, or his proposal for changing the inappropriate name of his hometown football team, almost sound like good ideas.
$20-$25, 8 p.m., The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge

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FRIDAY (5/30/25)

MUSIC

MIKE
Raised partly in the U.K. and partly in the mid-Atlantic U.S., rapper MIKE has taken influence both from grime artists like Skepta and American alt-rappers like MF Doom and the Odd Future collective. He’s already dropped two albums in 2025, the eclectic, lo-fi solo effort Showbiz! and his second collab with Tony Seltzer, Pinball II.
$36, 8 p.m., Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Boston

Orbit
Originally lasting from 1994 through 2001, this Boston alt rock band showed early promise with the bass-driven hit “Medicine,” but record label reshuffling stymied their efforts at follow-up success. They’ve had two reunion runs since their original breakup, and one album of new material, 2020’s Vapor Trails.
$30.65, 8:30 p.m., Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

Wet
A New York City pop trio with Massachusetts roots, Wet epitomized the “sad girl” aesthetic of the 2010s like few other bands—even their positive love songs, like 2015’s “You’re the Best,” were riddled with tension. On their newest album, Two Lives, their songs have a stronger emotional grounding, and their colorfully elusive production style has acquired even more shades of nuance.
$35.42, 8 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge

COMEDY

Ali Siddiq: In the Shadows
Ali Siddiq discovered his talent for comedy while incarcerated in the 90s; he quickly began performing standup upon his release in 1997 at age 25. A master storyteller who never seems to run out of tales, he’s been remarkably prolific this decade, having released eight standup specials since 2022, with three more slated to appear this year.
$49.05-$477.95, 7 p.m., Boch Center Shubert Theater, 265 Tremont St., Boston

Tim Smith
In keeping with his unusually generic name, Tim Smith likes to play the average guy in his standup, but only to subvert your neutralized expectations with a contrarian comment. On exercise, he quips: “Pros: you look better. Cons: you live longer. I don’t love that… I’m not suicidal, but I certainly wouldn’t fight for my life.”
$25.85, 7:30 p.m., White Bull Tavern, 1 Union St., Boston

VARIETY

Hafez: A Love Odyssey
Combining poetry, live music, and dance, this production by the Sorvad Ensemble pays tribute to 14^th century poet Hafez, whose shadow over Persian literature looms as large as Shakespeare’s over English—there’s even a tradition of divination that employs his poetry as an oracle.
$74.25-$178.80, 8 p.m., Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

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SATURDAY (5/31/25)

FESTIVALS

Berserk: A Viking Festival for All
Explore a pair of rival Viking encampments, learn to play Viking games, and watch the enemies clash in mock battles, culminating in one last epic melee. There will also be live music, a talk on Norse spirituality, psychic readings, food trucks, and more family-friendly fun.
$23.18-$25, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., Scandinavian Cultural Center & Library, 206 Waltham St., West Newton

New England Hong Kong Festival
The Ten Figures statues behind the Holland St. entrance of Davis Station play host to this celebration of Hong Kong culture, with a wide range of food, vendors, games, and live performances throughout the day, including music, martial arts demos, and more.
Free, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Seven Hills Park near 78 Meacham Rd., Somerville

MUSIC

Central Cee
British rapper Central Cee’s infusions of drill with upbeat Afropop have made him one of the biggest names in U.K. hip hop, and his impact is starting to reverberate across the pond with the success of his debut album Can’t Rush Greatness. His biggest track on Spotify is 2022’s “Doja,” a (sort of) love letter to Doja Cat.
$40.29-$270.27, 8 p.m., MGM Music Hall, 2 Lansdowne St., Boston

Antonio Rey
Few guitarists are as nice with it as Spanish flamenco virtuoso Antonio Rey. A winner of two Latin Grammys, Rey performs with a deceptive effortlessness and an exquisite command of musical tension. For a sample, check out this stormy 2021 set. $41.74, 7:30 p.m., Regattabar, 1 Bennett St., Cambridge

BOOKS + READINGS

Katy Ilonka Gero
Australian poet Katy Ilonka Gero works by day as a computer scientist, studying the interactions of humans and machines. Her debut book of poetry, The Anxiety of Conception, details her experiences of pregnancy and new motherhood, but it’s not a conventional collection—each copy is uniquely generated by computer.
Free, 4:30 p.m., The Lilypad, 1353 Cambridge St., Cambridge

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SUNDAY (6/1/25)

FESTIVALS

SomerStreets: Carnaval
This annual East Somerville celebration starts with a parade and features over 40 artisan vendors, performances on three stages, food from 13 different local establishments, art-making activities, and family-friendly fun including parkour, a dunk tank, a bouncy house, and Esh Circus Arts.
Free, 2 p.m.-6 p.m., Broadway between McGrath Hwy and Pennsylvania Ave., Somerville

MUSIC

Eliza & the Delusionals
Hailing from Queensland, Eliza & the Delusionals have come a bit farther than most bands who play at the Capitol Theater’s 4^th Wall venue. Frontwoman Eliza Klatt sometimes resembles Alvvays’ Molly Rankin vocally, and her band’s sound functions nicely as a sunnier, rowdier, Aussie answer to their Canadian counterparts’ chilly, genteel indie pop.
$26.94, 9 p.m., The 4^th Wall, 204 Mass. Ave., Arlington

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals
An icon of American college rock in the 90s and 2000s, Ben Harper landed occasional feel-good hits like “Steal My Kisses” and “Diamonds on the Inside,” but his more-than-cult following has always been rooted in live shows. 2023’s Wide Open Light was his last album to date.
$66.86-$111.94, 7:30 p.m., Roadrunner, 89 Guest St., Brighton

COMEDY

Naomi Karavani
Based in New York City, Naomi Karavani has written for TV and mounted a successful Edinburgh Fringe show, Dominant. She self-released a new comedy special, Firecracker, last summer. Commenting on her unemployment at the time, she quips, “People who work from home are my natural enemy, since we’re both at home doing the same thing—nothing—but [they’re] getting paid for it.”
$15-$20, 7 p.m., The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge

BOOKS + READINGS

Jacinda Ardern
New Zealand’s Prime Minister from 2017 to 2023, Jacinda Ardern won international praise for her responses to the Christchurch mosque shootings and the onset of COIVD-19. She’ll tell stories of challenge and leadership from her new memoir A Different Kind of Power. Jessica Grose of The New York Times will serve as moderator.
$55.25, 3 p.m., Chevalier Theater, 30 Forest St., Medford

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MONDAY (6/2/25)

BOOKS + READINGS

Ron Chernow
In his new biography Mark Twain, Pulitzer Prize winner Rin Chernow provides a fresh perspective on one of the titans of American literature, focusing not only on his great works, but also on his unabashed careerism, consummate self-branding, wide-ranging punditry, and tragically bad investments.
$15-$50, 7 p.m., First Parish Church, 1446 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

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TUESDAY (6/3/25)

MUSIC

The Unlikely Candidates
This Texan band is still best known for their cinematically bluesy 2019 alt rock hit “Novocaine”, a defiant slacker anthem for a workaholic era. None of their subsequent singles have struck as much of a nerve, but the optimistic power of their latest single,
“Fingers Crossed”, indicates a band that can see a second wind just around the corner.
$26.94, 8 p.m., The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville

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WEDNESDAY (6/4/25)

MUSIC

Kevin Chung and Zach Paradis
This pair of sharp singer-songwriters, both based in Los Angeles, complement each other nicely for a double bill, with overlapping sensibilities integrating R&B and hip hop elements into a super-romantic style. Chung has more pure pop sugar, with ebullient tracks like “Right About Love”; Paradis’ “One”, by comparison, covers a similar topic with greater emotional heft.
$22.50, 7 p.m., Café 939, 939 Boylston St., Boston

BOOKS + READINGS

Karen Hao
The Atlantic’s Karen Hao has been covering ChatGPT creator OpenAI and its co-founder and CEO, Sam Altman, since 2019. In her new book Empire of AI, she details her gradual shift over the years from optimism to alarm over the company’s product and its economic, ethical, and environmental impacts.
Free-$34, 6:30 p.m., Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge

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THURSDAY (6/5/25)

MUSIC

Betty Who
Australian pop singer Betty Who topped the American dance charts in the early 2010s with “Somebody Loves You” and “All of You”, both showcasing her powerful, Katy Perry-esque vocals, and her cover of Donna Lewis’ “I Love You Always Forever”, which revealed a more sensitive side. Recently, she made the jump to Broadway with a role in Hadestown.
$51.87, 8 p.m., Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston

FASHION

Open Runway
Check out some of the freshest looks from local designers at this annual outdoor showcase from Boston Fashion Week. As with an open mic night for performers, any designer can sign up. From forward-thinking students to established names, you can ever be quite sure what you’ll see, but it will definitely be cool.
Free, 12 p.m., The Steps at Downtown Crossing, 1 Franklin St., Boston

BOOKS + READINGS

Dog Nation: An Evening with The Dogist
As the Dogist, street photographer Elias Weiss Friedman attained Instagram fame by documenting the dogs he met and their owners’ stories. He’s made the jump to the printed page with This Dog Will Change Your Life, a compilation of some of his favorite stories—and with over 9,000 posts to date, he had a lot to choose from!
$61.25-$89.25, 7:30 p.m., Citizens House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston

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FRIDAY (6/6/25)

MUSIC

The Ocean Blue
Indebted to British bands like the Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen, Pennsylvanian quartet The Ocean Blue’s sound became something of a dead end with the rise of grunge, such that early hits like 1989’s dreamy “Between Something and Nothing” almost seem like they came from an alternate universe. On this tour, they’re playing their first two albums in full.
$35.23, 7 p.m., Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville

James Francies Trio with Chris Potter
Hyped as a wunderkind upon the release of his 2018 Blue Note Records debut Flight, jazz keyboardist James Francies has not disappointed those who sang his praises. One way into his sound: his version of the “My Favorite Things” which explodes the Sound of Music song like a stick of dynamite, indulging in wild squalls of notes and a dizzying array of ideas.
$25-$45, 7:30 p.m., City Winery, 80 Beverly St., Boston

Yola
This British singer-songwriter came in hot with her 2019 debut Walk Through Fire, winning the Grammy for Best New Artist. That award often spells career doom, but Yola bucked the trend with an even more successful sophomore effort, Stand for Myself. Her biggest track on Spotify is the fabulous throwback soul nugget “I Don’t Wanna Lie”.
$38.95, 8:30 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge

COMEDY

Patrick Hinds
Best known as the co-host of True Crime Obsessed and The Golden Girls Deep Dive Podcast, Patrick Hinds will share stories ranging from the birth of his daughter to the fiasco of a time he had with the late, great Bea Arthur, who will appear “from beyond the grave” via the channeling of impersonator Jason B. Schmidt.
$44.45, 7 p.m., Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

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SATURDAY (6/7/25)

FESTIVALS

Dance for World Community Festival
José Mateo Ballet Theater’s annual Harvard Square dance blowout returns with indoor and outdoor performances and classes from more than 60 local dance companies representing diverse backgrounds and traditions, plus an art market, food vendors, and more to check out.
Free, 12 p.m.-6 p.m., Mass. Ave. between Bow St., and Putnam Ave., Cambridge

MUSIC

Smino
Fusing hip hop, R&B, and soul influences from his youth to create a future-oriented sound, Smino broke out of the St. Louis scene with his 2017 debut studio album blkswn, whose laid-back cut “Wild Irish Roses” is still his most streamed song. In December 2024, he dropped his fourth platter, Maybe in Nirvana.
$52.89-$84.60, 8 p.m., Roadrunner, 89 Guest St., Boston

BIBI
This K-pop star’s 2022 debut Lowlife Princess: Noir peaked at number seven on the Korean charts, bolstered by tracks like the intense, reggaeton-esque “Vengeance”. In 2024, she traded her dark, electronic edge for something brighter and more classic with “Bam Yang Gang”. Her second album, EVE: ROMANCE, released this year, has a much more diversified and ambitious sound.
$76-$420.65, 8 p.m., MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St., Boston

Justice
Rather than try to replicate their iconic 2007 debut album Cross, this French electronic duo has done something a bit different with each release. They returned last year, after a seven-year absence, with Hyperdrama, whose Tame Impala collab “Neverender” went on to win a Grammy for Best Electronic/Dance Recording.
$64.28-$155.49, 7:30 p.m., The Stage at Suffolk Downs, 525 William F McClellan Hwy, East Boston

COMEDY

Andy Hendrickson
People just seem to exasperate this Los Angeles comic, whether it’s the barista who says “Thanks a latte,” a neighbor who suggested a juice cleanse, or his brother, who didn’t realize his newborn baby wasn’t cute yet. The last of these anecdotes inspired Hendrickson to name his 2020 Dry Bar special Babies Look Like Potatoes.
$20-$25, 7:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge

Richard Perez: I Have To Do This
You may have seen this up-and-coming comic on Julio Torres’ surreal HBO series Fantasmas. In this show, he offers a not-too-censored “series of pantomimed vignettes” on romance and relationships in all their highs, lows, and awkward moments, highlighting the ways in which we all become characters in our own stories.
$22.76-$27.94, 9 p.m., The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville

MOVIES

La La Land in Concert
Revisit the effervescent 2016 throwback musical in grand style at this screening, featuring a full orchestra and jazz band performing the score live. Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone star as a Hollywood pianist and actress, respectively, who try to maintain their romantic connection while also advancing their careers.
$99.20-$172.95, 8 p.m., Boch Center Wang Theater, 270 Tremont St., Boston

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SUNDAY (6/8/25)

FESTIVALS

Boston Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival
Rivaled only by the Head of the Charles for local boat racing spectacles, this event draws tens of thousands annually, not only to watch sleek dragon boats flying under the bridges of the Charles, but also for the accompanying cultural festival, with food, arts and crafts, vendors, music and dance performances, lion dances, martial arts demos, and more.
Free, 7:15 a.m.-5 p.m. (boat races)/12 p.m.-5 p.m., (cultural festival), near Weeks Footbridge, Riverbend Park, 1001 Memorial Dr., Cambridge

Boston Portuguese Festival
Boston’s Portuguese community goes all out with delicious food like bifana sandwiches and pastel de nata pastries, traditional and contemporary music and dance, a beer and wine garden, and more. Musical headliners include Extreme guitarist Nuno Bettencourt, pop duo Bombocas, and singer Olavo Bilac.
Free, 12 p.m.-8 p.m., City Hall Plaza, 1 City Hall Sq., Boston

MUSIC

Fridayy
This deep-voiced Philadelphia R&B singer-songwriter broke through in 2022 with guest spots on Lil Baby’s “Forever” and DJ Khaled’s “God Did”, setting the stage for his 2023 self-titled debut album and its heartfelt ballad “When It Comes To You”. His latest album, Some Days I’m Good, Some Days I’m Not, finds the artist reflecting on the impact of his still-fresh success.
$80.55-$437.40, 8 p.m., Agganis Arena, 925 Comm. Ave., Boston

COMEDY

Sam Tallent
Sam Tallent is a true “road dog,” performing almost every weekend. With such experience, he’s honed his brash style of irony to perfection. Last month, he released a new standup special, curiously titled The Toad’s Morale, via 800 Pound Gorilla Media.
$25-$35, 7 p.m., The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge

FOOD + DRINK

Le Grand Prix Elmendorf du Pain
The centerpiece of this Paris-style street fair is a baking competition between amateurs and professionals from around the area, but there will be plenty more than just bread on offer, with several neighborhood vendors, wine by the glass, and a pair of performances by the International String Trio and the Hot Club of Boston.
Free, 12 p.m.-4 p.m., corner of Cambridge St. and 8th St., Cambridge

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MONDAY (6/9/25)

MUSIC

Head North
On their Bandcamp page, this Buffalo, New York band describes their sound as “cosmic rock,” and it does have a certain stargazing quality. Carefully textured and emotionally immediate, their new album Winner combines pre-2000s emo, earnest indie pop, ballads set over hip hop beats, and interludes of pure moodiness, refusing to ever settle on a formula.
$20.72, 8 p.m., Warehouse XI, 11 Sanborn Ct., Somerville

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Ongoing

OUTDOORS

Kayak and Paddleboard Rentals at Community Boating
You’ve seen the river from the city more times than you could count, but have you ever seen the city from the river? Rent a vessel, explore the Charles River basin and esplanade lagoon system at your leisure, and take in a view of Boston like no other.
$40, through October 31, Community Boating, 21 David G Mugar Way, Boston

SHOPPING

SoWa Open Market
This popular Sunday event features more than 250 farmers and vendors selling their own food, jewelry, clothing, household items, art, and more, plus special performances and events, a chance to check out the nearby open studios of dozens of local artists, and a rotating selection of food trucks.
Free, Sundays rain or shine through October 26, 11 a.m-5 p.m., 500 Harrison Ave., Boston

Copley Square Farmers Market
The Boston area has no shortage of farmers markets in the warmer months, but Copley Square hosts the largest, offering a cornucopia of local produce, meats, dairy, baked goods, and prepared meals, as well as some non-edible products. It opens for the season this Friday, May 16.
Free, Tuesdays and Fridays through November 25, Copley Square, 227-230 Dartmouth St., Boston

FITNESS

Seaport Sweat
Get a little closer to your best self with the help of these outdoor classes, taking place Monday through Thursday evenings and Saturday mornings until the end of summer. The regular weekday schedule features Pilates, yoga, Zumba, athletic conditioning, and more; some of Saturday’s rotating classes include dance cardio/sculpting workout Sculpt That Sass, the high-intensity Broncore Bootcamp, “endorphin boosting” mainstay Booty by Brabants, and the kickboxing-inspired Kick It By Eliza. New this year: the Sweatapalooza.
Free, Monday, May 5 through September 30, Seaport Common, 85 Northern Ave., Boston

ATTRACTIONS

Blue Man Group
They’re hardly the newest act on the scene, but there’s still nothing like Blue Man Group, that trio of funny, expressive bald dudes who don’t seem to know how to talk but do seem to know how to make percussion instruments out of just about anything—and Boston is one of just a handful of cities with their own Blue Man chapter performing in apparent perpetuity.
$49-$150, Charles Playhouse, 74 Warrenton St., Boston

Museum of Ice Cream
Yes, you can eat as much ice cream as you want at the Museum of Ice Cream, but there’s a lot more to this escapist wonderland, billed as “a place free from distractions, expectations, and inhibitions.” There are several colorful, slightly surreal spaces to explore at your leisure, including the Diner, Creamliner (an imaginary airplane interior), Hall of Freezers, Carnival, and Sprinkle Pool.
$25-$51, 121 Seaport Blvd., Boston

Museum of Illusions
Experience the delights of confusing your brain at this new downtown attraction, featuring a set of images, installations, and “illusion rooms” designed to make reality feel a little less normal—and to provide some fun and crazy photo ops for the Gram.
$38, 200 State St., Boston

View Boston
If you’ve got visitors and you want to give them a killer 360-degree view of the city, or if you just want a peep yourself, you can hardly do better than View Boston, at the top of the Prudential Center. You can spring for a guided tour or just take it in yourself. The view isn’t all you’ll find up there—there’s also a restaurant, The Beacon, and Stratus, a cocktail bar, which is decked out for the holidays. Higher-level ticket packages include a sample drink.
$29.99-59.99, open daily, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St., Boston

The Innovation Trail
This tour focuses not on colonial and revolutionary Boston—that’s been thoroughly covered—but on the city’s history, down to the present, as a hub of science, medicine, and technology. You can arrange for a private tour via an online form or opt for a self-guided experience whenever you want.
Free (self-guided), starts in Central Square, Cambridge or Downtown Crossing, Boston

WNDR Museum
This Downtown Crossing gallery space is hitting the ground running with iconic Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Let’s Survive Forever and more than 20 other immersive installations, including The Wisdom Project, where visitors can add their own response to the question “What do you know for sure?,” and WNDR’s signature Light Floor, which changes in response to visitors’ movement.
$32-$38, 500 Washington St., Boston

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ART + EXHIBITIONS (Ongoing)

Boston Public Art Triennial
This sprawling indoor and outdoor art show will be held every three years. The highly varied, eye-popping works on display for 2025, from a mix of local, national, and international artists, are strewn across town, but easily accessible via the T over the course of a day—check the map for full details.
Free, through October 31, various locations, Boston area

List Projects 32: Elif Saydam
With frequent references to the traditions of manuscript illumination and miniature painting, Berlin-based artist Elif Saydam takes an interest in how we project our fantasies on banal, everyday places like gas stations and convenience stores, as well as the objects they contain, from bathroom stalls to sponges.
Free, Thursday, June 5 through August 31, MIT List Visual Arts Center, 20 Ames St., Bldg. E15-109, Cambridge

GENERATIONS
Three local artists, L’Merchie Frazier, Daniela Rivera, and Wen-ti Tsen, recipients of the first Wagner Arts Fellowship, take the spotlight. There’s something here for every taste, from Frazier’s narratively rich mixed-media quilts to Rivera’s challenging geometric sculptures to Tsen’s Hopper-esque realist paintings.
Free, through November 30, MassArt Art Museum, 621 Huntington Ave., Boston

The Solomon Collection: Dürer to Degas and Beyond
Collectors Arthur K. and Mariot F. Solomon recently made a large bequest to Harvard Art Museums, and you’ll get to see 135 of those works here, by major artists like Goya, Dürer, Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, Jules Olitski, and many others
Free, through August 17, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge

Chiharu Shiota: Home Less Home
The Institute of Contemporary Art’s enormous Watershed annex hosts two installations from Berlin-based Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota: a site-specific version of 2015’s Accumulation—Searching for the Destination and the new commission Home Less Home. Both works repurpose everyday objects like suitcases, papers, and furniture to convey the experience of migration and the meaning of home.
Free, through September 1, ICA Watershed, 256 Marginal St., East Boston

Jung Yeondoo: Building Dreams
At a time of increasing social atomization, multimedia artist Jung Yeondoo has made it his project to break the ice with the people in his vicinity, photographing folks in his hometown of Seoul and asking them about their inner lives. Often capturing his subjects in their home or workplace, he has a knack for finding the idealism hidden in ordinary life.
$25, through January 26, 2026, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Castaway: The Afterlife of Plastic
These photographs from Mexico City-based art collective TRES may seem to depict eccentric pieces of handcrafted sculpture or perhaps even jewelry, but they’re actually pictures of plastic debris from the ocean, altered by miniscule creatures of the phylum Bryozoa. TRES’ original charts and maps help to contextualize the phenomenon.
$15, through June 26, 2025, Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology, 11 Divinity Ave., Cambridge

The Visionary Art of Minnie Evans
The 20th century Black North Carolinian artist Minnie Evans fused a passion for religion and mythology with close studies of her material surroundings. Though mystical and dreamlike, her art is also haunted by history—specifically, the white supremacist coup that took place in her hometown, Wilmington, when she was six years old.
$27, through October 26, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Qi Baishi: Inspiration in Ink
Born in the Qing dynasty and dying under Communist rule, Qi Baishi, sometimes called “the Picasso of China,” was recognized as an innovator whose lively, charming depictions of animals and plants pushed the well-worn tradition of nature scenes toward modernity. Almost 40 of his works are on display here, most on loan from China.
$27, through September 28, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Eric Antoniou: Rock to Baroque
Over a 40-year career, local photographer Eric Antoniou has captured some of popular music’s biggest stars on tour in Boston, including David Bowie, Madonna, Donna Summer, the Rolling Stones, B.B. King, U2, Dizzy Gillespie, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, and many more. This exhibition serves as a companion to his new book, Rock to Baroque.
Free, through June 30, Panopticon Gallery, 502c Comm. Ave., Boston 

Luis Arnías: Slow Loops
Interdisciplinary artist Luis Arnías offers a pair of 16mm film meditations on Black life and history. Bisagras focuses on two important sites on both sides of the transatlantic slave trade; the still-in-progress Noise Cloud shows how public parks gained an even greater importance as gathering spaces for people of all races in the turbulent year 2020.
Free, through July 19, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 551 Tremont St., Boston

Aileen Erickson: Changing Seasons, Save Travels
If you’ve ever brought a rock, piece of driftwood, or bit of seaglass home from the beach, you might understand why Aileen Erickson felt so compelled to paint her own beach finds in this series. Rendered in a cartoon-like fashion within thick black lines, these objects become containers of memory, gaining in symbolic depth what they lose in spatial depth.
Free, through July 19, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 551 Tremont St., Boston

Christian Marclay: Doors
It took Christian Marclay over 10 years to carefully craft this video piece out of hundreds of clips of people opening and closing doors in films, resulting in a surreal journey between cinematic universes. For Marclay, doors evoke a “fear and anxiety we associate with the unknown, but also anticipation and potential.”
$20, through September 1, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Stanley Whitney: How High the Moon
How High the Moon traces the 50-year career of abstract painter Stanley Whitney, showing his early work and the wide-ranging inspirations, from jazz to quilts to architecture, informing the joyfully pulsing grids of color that made him a late in life success in the early 2000s.
$20, through September 1, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Van Gogh: The Roulin Family Portraits
Featuring around 20 works by Van Gogh, this exhibition, the first of its kind, focuses on the famous post-impressionist’s close and creatively generative relationship with his neighbors in Arles, France, the Roulins, who had the sort of ordinary family life he dreamed of but never achieved.
$34,through September 7, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Leonora Carrington: Dream Weaver
This is the first New England exhibition for Surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, spanning 60 years of her career, most of which she spent as a British expatriate in Mexico. Carrington’s drolly bizarre and mysterious works, equally amusing and unsettling, brought a gothic sensibility to the typical Surrealist fascination with dreams, mythology, and the unconscious.
Free, through June 1, Rose Art Museum, 415 South St., Waltham

Edvard Munch: Technically Speaking
While The Scream made Edvard Munch a household name in art history, its fame has come somewhat at the expense of the rest of his large and remarkable oeuvre. Featuring around 70 works, many from Harvard Art Museums’ own collection, this exhibition highlights the emotive Norwegian expressionist’s innovations in materials and techniques.
Free, through July 27, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge

Free as they want to be: Artists Committed to Memory
Harvard’s Cooper Gallery casts a spotlight on the role of photography and film in shaping our cultural memory of slavery and the post-emancipation era, from the work of 19th century photographer James Presley Ball to the reflections of contemporary figures like William Earle Williams and Omar Victor Diop.
Free, through June 30, Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African & African American Art, 102 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge

Pedro Gómez-Egaña: The Great Learning
Columbian artist Pedro Gómez-Egaña’s first American museum exhibition explores our contemporary experience of time, as he puts it, “in an age when contrasting temporalities coexist with an intensity that often feels irreconcilable.” To convey the idea, he transposes this fracture of time into a space whose solidity is constantly interrupted, multiplied, and otherwise messed with.
Free, through July 27, MIT List Visual Arts Center, 20 Ames St., Bldg. E15-109, Cambridge

Believers: Artists and the Shakers
Known for their celibacy, their craftsmanship, and not often much else, the monastic and pacifist Shakers, only two of whom remain, are a benignly mysterious presence in American religion. Building on a previous ICA show, this exhibition brings together 10 artists reflecting on the gap between the Shakers’ ideals and their place in the popular imagination.
$20, through August 3, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

ImPRINTING: The Artist’s Brain
Artist Beatie Wolfe created this “sonic self-portrait” in the form of a “thinking cap” that broadcasts the activity of different parts of the human brain. At listening station, you can pick up a phone receiver and hear for yourself. The data, encoded in glass inside the cap, could be preserved for as long as 10,000 years.
$31, through December 31, Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston

Witnessing Humanity: The Art of John Wilson
Throughout his career, Roxbury-born artist John Wilson documented the impacts of racism on Black communities and individuals with defiant power and dignity. Co-organized with the Met in New York, this is the largest exhibition his work to date, with 110 pieces on display, including paintings, drawings, sculptures, and prints, spanning 60 years.
$27, through June 22, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Wonders of Creation: Art, Science, and Innovation in the Islamic World
Bringing together works from an international assortment of 20 lenders, this show investigates the exchange between art and science in Islamic societies from the Middle Ages to the present, with special reference to the concept of wonder in the work of medieval scholar Zakariyya al-Qazwini. Its 170 works range from scientific instruments to maps to paintings to reputedly demon-repelling “magic bowls.”
Free, through June 1, McMullen Museum of Art, 2101 Comm. Ave., Brighton

Portraits from the ICA Collection
The ICA shares recent acquisitions from artists like Rania Matar, Aliza Nisenbaum, and Didier William, as well as popular longtime holdings by Marlene Dumas, Nan Goldin, Alice Neel, and others, creating a complex, multimedia portrait of portraiture itself, in all its many purposes and effects.
$20, through January 4, 2026, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Landscape and Labor: Dutch Works on Paper in Van Gogh’s Time
The Museum of Fine Arts examines the Hague School artists of the 19th century Netherlands, whose commitment to scenes of everyday rural life, partly a nostalgic reaction to the rise of industrialism, had a decisive influence on Van Gogh’s earthy early work.
$27, through June 22, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Robert Frank: Mary’s Book
Revealing a more intimate side of the Swiss American photographer, Mary’s Book focuses on a photo scrapbook Robert Frank made in 1949 for his eventual first wife, Mary Lockspeiser. Crucial to the experience of these images are Frank’s poetic inscriptions, which add a personal touch to a set of pictures with few human figures.
$27, through June 22, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Sea Monsters: Wonders of Nature and Imagination
Using historic illustrations, maps, artifacts, and specimens, this exhibition explores the exotic marine beasts cooked up in the dreams of sailors and bards down the centuries, as well as the real-life creatures, like the giant squid, whose scarcely believable existence inspired many of these legends.
$15, through June 26, 2026, Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge

Titanic: the Artifact Exhibition
Although Robert Ballad, the leader of the team that discovered the wreck of the Titanic, hoped no one would ever go back look for cool stuff there, people totally did. This show, offering a fascinating and intimate glimpse into the famous ocean liner’s lost world, is the first chance Bostonians have had in several years to view these objects.
$39.50-$65, through June 1, The Castle at Park Plaza, 130 Columbus Ave., Boston

Hugh Hayden: Home Work
Artist Hugh Hayden‘s first New England exhibition is now at Brandeis University’s Rose Art Museum. The surrealist sculptor’s show explores the complexities of the American Dream through unsettling transformations of everyday objects. Taking up 7,000 square feet of gallery space, the exhibition turns familiar items like tables and school desks into challenging artworks. The centerpiece, “Hedges (2019),” features a model suburban house with branches bursting through its walls, placed in a mirrored infinity room that creates endless reflections. Through these works, Hayden comments on both psychological barriers and social inequalities that make the American Dream nearly impossible to achieve for so many today. —JACI CONRY
Rose Art Museum, through June 1, 415 South St., Waltham, 781-736-3434.

Narwhal: Revealing an Arctic Legend
Instantly recognizable among cetaceans for its remarkably long horn, the narwhal is unlike any other sea creature, seemingly ripped from the pages of a fanciful medieval world map. Not satisfied to stop at the narwhal’s mere oddness, this Smithsonian exhibition dives deep into its changing artic world, with input from scientists and members of the Inuit communities who’ve known it the longest.
$25, through June 15, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

The Salem Witch Trials 1692
Even when the story of the Salem Witch Trials is told with accuracy, the distance of centuries can make it hard to imagine. With this ongoing exhibition, the Peabody Essex Museum tries to close that gap a bit, bringing the timeline and context of the infamous miscarriage of justice to life through original documents and artifacts.
$25, ongoing, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

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