Things to Do This Weekend in Boston
Keep your weekend full with our roundup of fun events around Boston. And don’t miss our list of iconic things to do around Boston.
Jump to:
MULTIPLE DAYS
THEATER
The ’60s May Be Far Away but Hair Keeps Growing
Among other things, the 1967 musical Hair ought to complicate the “ok boomer” sentiment that peaked this past fall. Its young Boomer protagonists, far from being merely smug and self-satisfied, are full of doubt and conflict, commendable ideals and tragic flaws—just like every generation. If this apparently dated musical keeps re-appearing, it’s probably because, a half century later, its characters’ struggles are still etched into American consciousness. Also, the music rocks.
$25-$72, Sunday through February 23, Mosesian Center for the Arts, 321 Arsenal St., Watertown
Photo by Ahron R Foster
Back in the ’70s, journalist and activist Gloria Steinem was practically synonymous with the feminist movement in the popular imagination. She was and is still controversial among feminists and the general public, but her influence is everywhere, as this new biographical play from American Repertory Theater attests. In tribute to Steinem’s belief in open dialogue, the second act invites the audience to share their own stories, since nobody’s story is really just theirs alone.
$25-$75, Friday through March 1, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge
DANCE
Today Looks Pretty Good Compared to the World of iTMRW
Providence band Arc Iris joins forces with HDC Dance Ensemble for this dystopian production, set in the year 2080. It’s a world where cities are built on heaps of oceanic trash, advertisements literally pop up in your thoughts, and other disturbing phenomena that don’t sound that far off have manifested. Our heroes are Robert, a human, and Jenny, his partner and an android. Love, fortunately, still exists, and seems more needed than ever in this weird, alienated landscape.
$20-$25, Saturday and Sunday, OBERON, 2 Arrow St., Cambridge
FRIDAY
MOVIES
It’s Big, It’s Gross, and It’s Coming
One of the weirdest villains in horror—a genre pretty much built on weird villains—is the Blob, which first appeared 1958’s eponymous creature feature starring Steve McQueen, and found newly disgusting life in the 1988 remake, which serves as the Coolidge’s midnight movie on Friday. In 1988’s version, the Blob is not an alien but a creation of the government, and on this point one can only imagine the ’80s-loving Duffer Brothers, creators of Stranger Things, taking mental notes.
$14, 11:59 p.m., Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline
COMEDY
The Askew View of Zenobia del Mar
The Gas hosts local comic Zenobia del Mar’s album recording this Friday, so if you attend, your laughs will be preserved forever, or at least until the solar flare wipes out all digital devices. Del Mar’s all about straight talk, expressing the bafflement of a naturally low-key person at all the keyed-up people around her. Her humor lies more in her personality than the stuff she talks about, and her sets slowly unfurl her endearingly grouchy (and horny) nature.
$5, 7 p.m., Great Scott, 1222 Comm. Ave., Allston
Photo by Marie-Noëlle Pilon
SATURDAY
DANCE
This RUBBERBAND Does a Lot More than Stretch
Hailing from Montréal, RUBBERBAND has won praise for a brand of dance that emphasizes the athletic. It only makes sense given the b-boy background of their choreographer, Victor Quijada. But Quijada also went on to join Les Grands Ballets Canandiens de Montréal, and the resulting fusion of ballet and contemporary dance with street styles like breakdance is definitely distinct. This Saturday they’ll do Quijada’s newest work, Ever So Slightly, accompanied by a live band.
$40-$65, Cutler Majestic Theater, 219 Tremont St., Boston
MOVIES
An Environmental Adventure at Wild and Scenic Film Festival
Most film festivals stretch over a couple weeks, but this one’s more compressed, lasting just four hours and feature two rounds of short films with environmental themes. At the end you can vote on your favorite. Film titles include A New View of the Moon, The Art of Fog Catching, How Animals Hibernate, Mexican Fishing, and Our Last Trash, among others. It’s all a benefit for e inc., a non-profit devoted to educating kids about the environment.
$55, 6:30 p.m., Atlantic Wharf, 290 Congress St., Boston
WORKING/ROCKING OUT
Ever Wished Jane Fonda Had a Mohawk?
If so, you won’t want to miss Punk Rock Aerobics, a fundraiser for Girls Rock Campaign Boston. A local invention dating back to 2000 and laid out in a 2004 book, it was created by local arts scene denizens Maura Jasper and Hilken Mancini, and it’s exactly what it sounds like: a punk rock spin on traditional aerobics class, not only in terms of music selection but also the moves themselves. Like all great punk projects, it’s tongue in cheek, but also completely serious, man.
$20, 12 p.m., ONCE Ballroom, 156 Highland Ave., Somerville
Image via SPC
SUNDAY
MOVIES
A Brotherhood that Can’t Be Broken
On Sunday, Kendall Square Cinema hosts a simulcast of the Sundance premiere (and the post-screening Q&A) of The Climb, a 2019 comedy on the bond between two friends not-so-loosely based on director Michael Angelo Covino and co-writer Kyle Marvin, who also play themselves. Once you see what one did to the other, you’ll be baffled that they’re still friends, much less making a film together. But sometimes, as the saying goes, love actually does win.
$15, 8:30 p.m., Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge
Photo by Courtney Coles
MUSIC
Australian band Hands Like Houses’ music is straight up 2001. Mixing metal riffage with heart-spilling drama, they call to mind bands like Hoobastank, Trapt, and Story of the Year, the missing links between nü metal and emo. What’s surprising is that they’re good enough to make you miss that era. The band is heavy as hell, and lead singer Trenton Woodley’s tormented tenor recalls the days when angst was still sexy—though apparently in Australia it still is.
$17-$20, 7 p.m., Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston
Free Events
ART
The Ordinary Has a Starring Role in the Art of Jonathan Gitelson and Robert Moeller
Jonathan Gitelson’s series FREE! is full of stuff he found in free piles in Vermont—specifically, the signs that say “free” themselves. Out of context, they’re a weird meditation on a very charged word. His Marginalia is a collections of books he found with lots of writing in the margins. Gitelson shares the main gallery at Kayafas this season with Robert Moeller, who meditates on the ubiquitous person-in-a-wheelchair pictogram signifying handicapped amenities—also an odd thing to see out of context.
Friday through February 28, Gallery Kayafas, 450 Harrison Ave., Boston
MUSIC
Old Fox, But Not as Old as It Looks
While they’re described on the Beehive’s website as a mix of indie rock and Americana, Old Fox is firmly rooted in power pop/punk pop of the last 20 years, reminiscent of the candid, lyrics-focused style of the Weakerthans or the full-band Mountain Goats. Fiddle, brass, and other accents appear that give the music a folksier vibe. If their sincerity and strong songcraft are worth anything, you can expect to see these guys in bigger venues in the future.
Friday, 10 p.m., The Beehive, 541 Tremont St., Boston
Family-Friendly Events
THEATER
Come, One and All, to the Magnificent Monster Circus!
Smaller kids will enjoy this charming, multi-sensory, interactive show from CactusHead Puppets, in which a diverse tent full of friendly monsters with names like Eustace the Unicycling Unimonster, the Fiery Fanged Worm, and Agnes the Many-legged Acropod practice their moves for the big show—with a little help, of course, from the kids in the audience.
$13, through Sunday, Puppet Showplace Theater, 32 Station St., Brookline
ART
The Institute of Contemporary Art’s Play Date series occurs on the last Saturday of each month, with new kid-friendly activities related to the museum’s current exhibitions. Kids get in free, and two adults per family also get in free. This weekend, in conjunction with the close of When Home Won’t Let You Stay: Migration through Contemporary Art, Wee the People, a local organization that educates kids in social justice, offer storytelling and creative activities related to migration, home, and belonging.
Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston