Five Reasons to Leave the House This Weekend
Image courtesy of ArtsEmerson
STAGE ONSCREEN
Julie Taymor’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
If you’ve ever wanted to see a lingerie pillow fight delivered in iambic pentameter, you’re in luck this Labor Day weekend. Julie Taymor’s stage-production-turned-film A Midsummer Night’s Dream is Shakespeare at its sexiest—the Across the Universe director brings her dark and sultry vision to the Bard’s comedy of errors with eerie dream sequences and enough mood lighting to make even a donkey look like a 10 (sorry, Mr. Bottom). Screenings of Taymor’s widely acclaimed adaptation run Friday through Sunday in Emerson’s Bright Family Screening Room.
$18, Friday, September 2-Sunday, September 4, Bright Family Screening Room, 559 Washington St., 617-824-8000, artsemerson.org.
INTERACTIVE TV
‘Once More, With Feeling’ Buffy Singalong
Come one, come all to Somerville on Thursday for a sing-a-long of supernatural (and free) proportions. Part dinner theater, part celebration of all that is unholy, the show is Once Somerville’s latest take on a classic Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode—AKA season six’s musical “Once More, With Feeling.” Join in as Buffy and company go through the motions and walk through the fire in perfect harmony. Appropriately creepy crafts will be available for sale from traveling vendor and devoted Buffy fan Holy Crow. Cosplay highly encouraged.
Free, Thursday, September 2, 7 p.m., Once Ballroom Somerville, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville, oncesomerville.com.
Kaleo photo by Alexandra Valenti
FREE MUSIC
92.5 The River Newburyport Riverfront Music Festival
Venture up to Newburyport this Saturday for 92.5 The River’s 15th annual Riverfront Music Festival. As always, the free Waterfront Park festival promises great music and food accompanied by Insta-worthy views of Newburyport Harbor. This year, headliners Big Head Todd and the Monsters are supported by River favorites the Revivalists, Kaleo, Air Traffic Controller, and Rhett Miller. The first act takes the stage at 11:45 a.m., but make sure to arrive early if you want a good spot on the Waterfront lawn. In the meantime, take a listen to this River-compiled playlist featuring all of Saturday’s performers.
Free, Saturday, September 3, 11:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m., Waterfront Park, Newburyport, theriverboston.com.
Image of My Neighbor Totoro provided
CINEMA ICON
Hayao Miyazaki Double Feature
Spend your Saturday at the Brattle with back-to-back Studio Ghibli classics My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. Animator Hayao Miyazaki’s beautifully rendered characters and landscapes have been delighting viewers of all ages since Studio Ghibli’s founding in 1985. My Neighbor Totoro gets things started at noon and Kiki’s Delivery Service follows at 2 p.m.; an $11 ticket buys you entrance to both films. Catbus not included.
$11, Saturday, September 3, 12 p.m., Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, brattlefilm.org.
Throwing Shade Image Provided
LIVE PODCAST
Throwing Shade
Throwing Shade, the hit podcast, goes live in Brighton this Labor Day. Join hosts Erin Gibson and Bryan Safi (AKA Feminasty and Homosensual) as they dissect “all the issues important to ladies and gays” and treat them with “much less respect than they deserve” in front of a live audience. Past topics have included everything from Pope Francis, to The Bachelor, to that one time they ordered mac ’n’ cheese soup in Texas. Expect to hear witty social commentary between jokes about dolphin penetration and Matthew McConaughey (all right, all right, all riiiight).
$20, Monday, September 5, 8 p.m., Brighton Music Hall, crossroadspresents.
