The Cultural To-Do List: March 2016

Photograph courtesy of TD Garden

SPORTS
World Figure Skating Championships

Second in stature only to the Olympics, this skating competition has been drawing the best terpsichorean athletes on ice every year for 120 years. Yet it’s never before been held in Boston, home of both Nancy Kerrigan and the venerable Skating Club of Boston. This month, fans will turn their attention to TD Garden to see just who in the world will win gold. And there’s not only personal glory at stake, but also national pride, as skaters compete to earn their countries more slots in next year’s competition.

America’s home team has Olympic experience in half the events—including Newton-born Gracie Gold (pictured above), who competed at Sochi in 2014. That said, the U.S. took home only one medal in last year’s Worlds, so our skaters may have an uphill battle on the rink. But for those who can compartmentalize their patriotism, this will be an unprecedented Salchow spectacular.

March 28–April 3, TD Garden, 617-783-0103, worlds2016.com.

KLEZMER
Itzhak Perlman

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the album In the Fiddler’s House, the legendary violinist performs a night of klezmer music with noted guests like the New England Conservatory’s Hankus Netsky on sax and piano, the Brave Old World band, and Andy Statman on mandolin and clarinet.

March 6, Symphony Hall, 617-482-6661, celebrityseries.org.

Photograph courtesy of Tim Broddin/Wannabes/Flickr

ICONS
The Who

Few bands have lasted 50 years, and few have claimed more “final tours” than the Who. But surviving members Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend have hinted that this could be their very last go-round. This month, catch them stuttering through “My Generation” one more time.

March 7, TD Garden, 800-745-3000, tdgarden.com.

BOOK
The Selling of the Babe

Every spring, the marketplace brings out a glut of tired baseball books, but this one by top Red Sox historian Glenn Stout (Fenway 1912) captures the excitement of baseball’s early golden years as it punctures many of the myths surrounding the notorious 1919 sale of Babe Ruth to the New York Yankees.

Out March 8, $27, Thomas Dunne Books.

FINE ARTS
“Off the Wall: Gardner and Her Masterpieces”

In an unprecedented exhibit for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, some 25 of the institution’s greatest artworks—pieces by Rembrandt, Michelangelo, and Raphael among them—will be (temporarily!) removed from their usual salons in the old palace and displayed in the new wing’s light-filled Hostetter Gallery.

March 10–August 15, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 617-566-1401, gardnermuseum.org.

ROCK MUSIC
The Elektra Years 1978–1987

In just nine short years, the Cars racked up platinum records and timeless hits like “Just What I Needed” and “Drive.” But the Boston band’s deep cuts are what make their quirky New Wave rock still sound fresh today—and they sound even fresher on this new box set comprising all six of their classic LPs, each digitally remastered by Ric Ocasek himself.

Out March 11, $40, Rhino.

Photograph courtesy of ArtsEmerson

THEATER
“A Beckett Trilogy”

Onstage, Samuel Beckett’s plays have a dreamlike yet visceral effect on audiences. In this set of three one-woman plays originally coproduced with the Royal Court Theatre, actress Lisa Dwan appears as a ghostly woman fading away in a rocking chair (Rockaby), a lost woman pacing outside the door of her mother’s sickroom (Footfalls), and a mere mouth babbling frenetically (Not I).

March 16–20, Paramount Center, 617-824-8400, artsemerson.org.