Things to Do This Week in Boston

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MULTIPLE DAYS
Ongoing through Monday, October 14 (and Beyond)

FESTIVALS + FAIRS

HONK! Festival of Activist Street Bands
This uplifting grassroots celebration of community, music, and passion for a better world brings together more than 30 fired-up brass bands from across the United States—and, in one case, all the way from Brazil. As in previous years, there will be outdoor performances, workshops, art making, and parades, culminating in Sunday’s joyful march from Davis Square to Harvard Square’s Oktoberfest.
Free, Thursday through Sunday, October 3-6, various locations, Cambridge and Somerville

Topsfield Fair
Greater Boston’s most beloved fair has been a family favorite since it staged a one-day cattle show in 1820. Nowadays, it’s packed with many other animals, eclectic foods, carnival rides, and—most famously—the Giant Pumpkin Weigh-Off. — MATTHEW REED BAKER
Open through October 14, 207 Boston St., Topsfield, 978-887-5000

King Richard’s Faire
Huzzah! It’s time once again to travel back to the days of Kings, fools, and giant turkey legs at New England’s premiere Renaissance festival, with jousting matches, street performers and circus attractions, exotic vendors, games and rides, gobs of food and drink, psychic readings, and much more.
$26-$46, through October 20, King Richard’s Fairgrounds, 235 Main St., Carver

HALLOWEEN FUN

Boston’s Wicked Haunt Fest
Haunted houses, a staple of spooky season, usually happen in the suburbs or exurbs, but this one, with four different “ghoulish experiences” utilizing animatronics, live actors, and special effects, plus a beer garden, autumnal food, photo ops, pumpkin painting, and kids’ activities, is far more accessible to urban dwellers—if they dare!
$25-$90, through November 3, 10 Stack St., Charlestown

THEATER

The Real Inspector Hound and After Magritte
Call it Non-Stop Stoppard: as The Huntington’s Leopoldstadt closes this weekend, Deadword Theatre Company picks up the slack. The beloved Inspector Hound sends up both theater critics and murder mysteries at the same time; After Magritte transposes the great surrealist painter’s visual universe into the realm of theater, somehow managing to be funny rather than pretentious.
$18.50, Thursday, October 10 through October 30, Plaza Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston

Nassim
Nassim Soleimanpour’s experimental work, presented here by The Huntington, involves the Iranian playwright inviting a new person, described only as a “local VIP,” to share the stage with him each night. The script, meanwhile, sits in a sealed box. What follows is a unique testament to the ambivalent power of language and the ability of people to transcend the borders that divide them.
$59-$99, through October 27, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston

February House
Gabriel Kahane provided the songs for this musical about the titular Brooklyn artists’ commune, where novelist Carson McCullers, burlesque artist Gypsy Rose Lee, poet W.H. Auden, and composer Benjamin Britten lived together circa 1940—a motley crew, to be sure, but they had much to learn from each other. This local production comes courtesy of The Treehouse Collective.
$45, through October 14, Black Box Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston

MAMMA MIA!
The Broadway hit that launched a thousand other jukebox musicals is back in town. The secret to its success is simple—it managed to be just as fun, frothy, and infectious as ABBA’s music, and made it look easy. Heads up: as of this writing, most available tickets are for the first three performances.
$95-$225, through October 6, Citizens Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston

Urinetown
Despite its unappealing title, this 2001 comedy musical from Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis proved a hit, with the original Broadway production scoring three Tonys. Its grotesque skewering of moral and systemic rot in politics and economic life remains evergreen (or is it everyellow?) in this new production on the Lyric Stage, directed by Courtney O’Connor.
$30-$85, through October 20, Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Boston

The Hound of the Baskervilles
Aimee Doherty and Jenny S. Lee play Holmes and Watson, respectively, in this all-female spin on the masculine world of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective, adapted here by Steven Canny and John Nicholson. Lee Mikeska Gardner directs the tale, in which Sherlock tackles the mystery of an alleged killer ghost dog.
$27-$103, through October 6, Central Square Theater, 450 Mass. Ave., Cambridge

Laughs in Spanish
Mari, a Miami gallerist about to open a major new show, finds all her art mysterious stolen in this mystery-comedy from Boston’s own Alexis Scheer, presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company. Adding to the stress is an equally unexpected visit from her absentee mother. What, if anything, do the two events have in common?
$25-$85, through October 12, Roberts Studio Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston

Leopoldstadt
The Huntington mounts a production of the great Tom Stoppard’s most recent play, which spans the first half of the 20th century to tell the story of a Jewish family in Vienna, before and after the Holocaust. It’s directed by Carey Perloff, whose other credits with the Huntington include The Lehman Trilogy, Mary Stuart, and Rock ‘n’ Roll.
$29-$195, through October 13, The Huntington Theater, 264 Huntington Ave., Boston

Romeo and Juliet
Tony winner Diane Paulus directs the American Repertory Theater’s fresh take on Shakespeare’s immortal romantic tragedy, with choreography from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, who also worked on the ART’s Jagged Little Pill and performances from Beyoncé and Madonna. The production stars Rudy Pankow (Netflix’s Outer Banks) and Emilia Suárez (Hulu’s Up Here) as the doomed, naïve teen couple, caught in the middle of a tense family rivalry.
$5-$150, through October 6, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge

MULTIMEDIA

Boston Immersive Music Festival
If you’re looking for something a bit different, Boston Cyberarts is presenting a series of far-out concerts combining avant-garde jazz, classical, and other genres with the visual delights of a device called the Outerspace Visual Communicator (how Star Trek is that?!), plus virtual reality and projection elements.
$9-$40, through October 26, Boston Cyberarts Gallery, 141 Green St., Jamaica Plain

FANDOM

Harry Potter: The Exhibition
Kids and adults awaiting the next nugget Harry Potter media can visit the Wizarding World in spirit at this interactive show, a wonderland of props, costumes, and recreated sets and scenes from the main films, the Fantastic Beasts series, and the stage show Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.
$25-$51, through January 5, 2025, CambridgeSide, 100 CambridgeSide Pl., Cambridge

The Friends Experience
If you’re ever watched Friends and dreamt of living in a perpetual ’90s New York full of spacious, mysteriously affordable apartments, cute cafés, and good times, this traveling exhibition, with recreated props and whole sets from the iconic sitcom—even the couch from the show’s intro—might be the closest you’ll get.
$29.54-$33.32, through January 19, 2025, 343 Newbury St., Boston

MUSIC

Boston Symphony Orchestra: Mahler Symphony No. 8
Classical music doesn’t often get more epic than Mahler’s “Symphony of a Thousand,” written for a large adult chorus with eight soloists, a children’s chorus, an organ, and a whole orchestra. Legend has it that after the first performance, the flabbergasted audience sat briefly in dumbfounded silence before breaking into 20 straight minutes of applause.
$42-$204, Friday through Sunday, October 4-6, Symphony Hall, 301 Mass. Ave., Boston

OUTDOORS

Boston Lights: A Lantern Experience
This dazzling after-dark installation transforms the Franklin Park Zoo into a labyrinth of hand-crafted lanterns inspired by creatures real and imagined—an enormous Octopus, a mythological Chinese fish, seas turtles, and more. In a special India-inspired section, you’ll find lotus flowers, elephants, monkeys, rhinos, and a splendid palace.
$19.95-$21.95, through November 3, Franklin Park Zoo

The Lawn on D
Much more than a mere patch of grass, this summer hangout spot offers lawn games, pickleball, a pair of very Instagrammable interactive installations, food and drink, live music, and special events sprinkled throughout the season. Note: it’s not always open to the public, so check the calendar to see what’s up on any given day.
Free, through October 31, 420 D St., Boston

New England Aquarium Whale Watch Cruise
How long has it been since your last whale watch? Set sail for Stellwagen Bank Marine Sanctuary, a popular gathering spot for various cetaceans (dolphins, humpbacks, finbacks and minkes) and other marine creatures. The New England Aquarium’s experts will have plenty of fun facts about these remarkable animals.
$70, through November 27, leaves from 1 Long Wharf, Boston

MOVIES

Piece By Piece
Pharrell Williams isn’t the first celebrity to be closely involved in the making of his own biopic, but he is the first celebrity to elect to have his life depicted in Lego form. Piece By Piece covers Williams’ life before and after becoming an iconic pop producer and star in his own right, with lots of famous friends lending their voices to their alter-Legos.
$7-$14.49, opens Tuesday, October 8, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

The Apprentice
With Donald Trump’s last hurrah on the horizon—whether it lasts for four more years or just one election night—it’s a perfect time to take a trip back to the dawn of his infamous career via this biopic from director Ali Abbasi. Sebastian Stan plays the young would-be tycoon, who finds a mentor in the crooked but shrewd lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong).
$13.50-$15.50, opens Friday, October 11, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

Roger Corman: King of Cult
B movie tycoon Roger Corman was one America’s most prolific producers and directors, and some of his best work makes for perfect Halloween viewing. This month, The Brattle revisits The Little Shop of Horrors, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, Dementia 13, Chopping Mall, The Slumber Party Massacre, and a host of other cult classics and countercultural touchstones.
$12.50-$14.50, Friday, October 11 through October 24, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

The Birthday
Corey Feldman has become bizarrely notorious in recent years, but long before all that, back in 2004, he starred in this famously unreleased horror comedy from Spanish director Eugenio Mira, now finally seeing its release. Feldman plays Norman, a guy who accidentally stumbles upon a doomsday cult—and he’s just in time for them to celebrate the birthday of their god.
$12-$16, Friday through Sunday, October 11-13, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville 

Joker: Folie À Deux
Though Todd Phillips’ unsettling 2019 cultural touchstone Joker was meant to be a one-off, it wasn’t long before those plans were changed. Joaquin Phoenix returns as the mad clown, opposite Lady Gaga as the woman destined to become Harley Quinn. And—just to make everything even more insane—this time it’s a musical.
$7-$17.49, opens Thursday, October 3, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

A Different Man
Edward, the protagonist of this edgy black comedy from A24, lives with an illness that’s rendered him hideously ugly to most people. When a miraculous cure arrives, turning him into a perfectly handsome man, he pursues his dream of acting, only to find the strangest possible competition: another guy, apparently with the same disease, finding great success without treatment. What the heck is going on?
$12-$16, opens Thursday, October 4, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

Six Films by Jan Egleson
Active since the late ’70s, director and Boston University Jan Egleson has repeatedly drawn inspiration from his adopted hometown of Boston, winning praise for his raw depictions of down-and-out life in the city. This weekend he takes the spotlight at the Brattle with screenings of Billy in the Lowlands, The Little Sister, The Blue Diner, The Dark End of the Street, Big Time, and Lemon Sky.
$12.50-$14.50, Friday through Sunday, October 4-6, Brattle Theater, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge

Megalopolis
A grandiose, divisive vision of a parallel world from Francis Ford Coppola, Megalopolis stars Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, an architect whose discovery of a new building material stands to make him more than just a creator of dazzling real estate—but powerful forces stand in his way. Is he a heroic innovator, or just a new kind of monster?
$12-$16, opens Thursday, September 27, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

The Wild Robot
DreamWorks brings us the film adaptation of Peter Brown’s novel of the same name, featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, and other notables. Our hero, Roz, is an android that finds itself marooned on a desert island and gradually learns to thrive in its new home.
$16-$18.50, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

In the Summers
Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio’s intimate, complex family drama traces four summers in the lives of California kid siblings Violeta and Eva, spent visiting their father, Vicente (played by Puerto Rican rapper Residente) in New Mexico. He’s not always easy to live with, to say the least, but over time, they come to appreciate what he is able to offer.
$13.50-$15.50, Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

Revolutions Per Minute Festival
This artist-organized fest focuses on “poetic, personal” cinematic expressions—video essay, documentary, animation, audiovisual performance and more, created by a globe-spanning group of filmmakers and artists, many exploring the reverberations of history and humanity’s impact on the environment. Don’t necessarily expect a plot—some of these films are more about experience than narrative.
Free-$15, through December 8, various locations, mostly Boston and Cambridge

My Old Ass
A warning against taking magic mushrooms—you may end up, like the wayward Elliott (Maisy Stella) in this coming-of-age comedy from Megan Park, being able to communicate with a version of yourself who’s twenty years older (Aubrey Plaza). It may be productive, but you’re definitely going to get on each other’s nerves a little bit.
$16-$18.50, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

The Substance
This dark commentary on beauty and anti-aging culture from writer-director Coralie Fargeat stars Demi Moore as a middle-aged aerobics guru who turns to a product known simply as the Substance to preserve her looks. It works, at least initially, but the costs prove to be more than monetary.
$16-$18.50, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge

Speak No Evil
Adapted from a 2002 Danish film of the same name, James Watkins’ unnerving thriller places an unwitting American couple (Mackenzie Davis and Scoot McNairy) on a seemingly lovely retreat to the English countryside—but there’s something weird about their hosts (James McAvoy and Aisling Franciosi), who, come to think of it, they don’t actually know that well.
$11.59-$15.49, AMC Boston Common, 175 Tremont St., Boston

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Tim Burton dusts off one of his fan favorites, with returning cast members Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara and new players Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Jenna Ortega, and Willem Dafoe. The plot: unwittingly, Lydia Deetz’s daughter (Ortega) causes a spectral problem that can only be solved by “the ghost with the most”—but, as usual, he’s got his own agenda too.
$12-$16, Somerville Theater, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

Psychedelic Cinema
Revisit the early days of turning on, tuning in, and dropping out with this two-month Harvard Film Archive series, showing the wide variety of responses, implicit and explicit, to the cultural impact and immediate experience of LSD, psilocybin, and other substances. Films include Roger Corman’s The Trip, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo, the Monkees’ notorious Head, and even Disney’s Alice In Wonderland.
$10, through November 7, Harvard Film Archive, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge

It Ends with Us
Set in Boston, novelist Colleen Hoover’s first Hollywood adaptation stars Blake Lively as Lily, a woman with a traumatic past who thinks she’s found a real catch in neurosurgeon Ryle (Justin Baldoni)—until things start to feel familiar in a bad way. As if this weren’t enough, her ex (Brandon Sklenar) has also found his way back into the picture.
$16.50-$18.50, Landmark Kendall Square Cinema, 355 Binney St., Cambridge
See also: “It Ends with Us” Movie: The Story Behind Lily Bloom’s ‘Best of Boston’ Award

Deadpool & Wolverine
Teaming up the two most attitude-having Marvel superheroes was pretty much a no-brainer—it was just a matter of when. Aside from being a fun action romp with a cleverly meta plot, Deadpool & Wolverine marks the first appearance of the X-Men in the Marvel Cinematic Universe—huge news for fans of the sprawling network of films and TV series.
$11.99-$17.49, Alamo Drafthouse, 60 Seaport Blvd., Boston

ALSO:

• Where to Eat in Greater Boston for October
• Fall Foliage 2024: Plan Your Day Trips with this Map
• 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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SUNDAY (10/6/24)

FESTIVALS

Harvard Square Oktoberfest
Six stages of live entertainment, an assortment of street performers, multiple beer and wine gardens, all kinds of food, all sorts of vendors, colorful chalk art in the street, a Filipino American festival-within-the-festival, and the arrival of the HONK! parade from Davis—it’s Oktoberfest in Harvard Square, and it’s back for the 45^th year. Prost!
Free, 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Harvard Square, Cambridge

MUSIC

Lupe Fiasco
The Chicago rapper and entrepreneur dropped his ninth album, Samurai, in June. In typically left-field Fiasco fashion, the album is inspired by Amy Winehouse’s boasts, shared in a 2015 interview, of being a dope battle rapper. On the jazzy title track, he’s sharp as ever, fitting shifting bars together like a Tetris player.
$35, 8 p.m., Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston

SHOPPING

SoWa Open Market
This popular Sunday event features dozens of vendors selling their own jewelry, clothing, household items, art, and more, plus special performances and events, a chance to check out the open studios of dozens of local artists, and a rotating selection of food trucks. It runs every Sunday through October 27.
Free, 11 a.m-4 p.m., 500 Harrison Ave., Boston

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MONDAY (10/7/24)

MUSIC

Kings of Leon
These four-time Grammy winners returned in February with Can We Please Have Fun, favoring a somewhat lo-fi “back to basics” sound, dotted with a few enjoyable experiments like the lead single, “Mustang,” which, with its halted spoken word vocals and baritone riff, could almost be a Cake song.
$55-$112.25, 7:30 p.m., MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St., Boston

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TUESDAY (10/8/24)

MUSIC

Bilal
Known early in his career for R&B hits like 2000’s “Soul Sista,” Bilal chose to blaze his own trail, becoming something of a musician’s musician, celebrated for his wide vocal range, offbeat charisma, and unclassifiable sound. This year, he released his first album since 2015, Adjust Brightness.
$35-$40, 8 p.m., Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Sq., Somerville

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WEDNESDAY (10/9/24)

MUSIC

Becca Stevens
Elements of jazz, classical, and mountain folk converge in the songs of Becca Stevens, which carry the mystique of a Joni Mitchell or Joanna Newsom, but with an earthier quality than either. Though her beautiful arrangements have been nominated for Grammys, her latest album, Maple to Paper, is a stripped-down affair, built around nothing but a voice and an acoustic guitar.
$15-$18, 7 p.m., Café 939, 939 Boylston St., Boston

BOOKS + READINGS

Deryck Whibley
The Sum 41 frontman is in town not to sing the chorus to “Fat Lip,” but to promote his new memoir, Walking Disaster, which traces his rise to 2000s punk pop royalty from humble beginnings in Canada. Along the way, Whibley dishes about life with the band, the ups and downs and fame, and the health problems that nearly derailed him.
$49 (book included), 6:30 p.m., WBUR CitySpace, 890 Comm. Ave., Boston

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THURSDAY (10/10/24)

MUSIC

Laszewo
This electronic pop trio’s head-over-heels track “Too Sweet” is a candy-colored dose of elation, perceptively lined with the anxiety that always accompany a good crush—and funnily enough, it was featured in Candy Crush Saga. Their 2024 album In Color is a sonically eclectic collection, eschewing pop persona games in favor of a plethora of danceable beats and memorable melodies.
$22.45, 9 p.m., Big Night Live, 110 Causeway St., Boston

DANCE

National Ballet of Ukraine
Not since the days of the Soviet Union has this world-renowned company touched down on American soil. They’ll perform The Dying Swan and selections from Don Quixote and Giselle in front of an immersive, high-tech 3D LED screen. As a bonus, you’ll also see a performance from the folk ensemble Ukrainian Shumka Dancers.
$69-$139, 7:30 p.m., Boch Center Shubert Theater, 265 Tremont St., Boston

PODCASTS

My Therapist Ghosted Me
What does one do when even their therapist won’t answer their texts anymore? If you’re the gift-of-gab-having Irish duo Vogue Williams and Joanne McNally, you start a podcast and let your fanbase—which has grown, since 2021, to over three million a month—do the listening.
$37-$52, 7:30 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston

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FRIDAY (10/11/24)

MUSIC

Billie Eilish
Eilish pretty much ruled this year’s award season with her song off the Barbie soundtrack, “What Was I Made For?” which won an Oscar and multiple Grammys. Now she’s ruling the airwaves with her third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, and its bouncy, sexy hit single “Lunch.” With all this momentum rolling in behind her, she’s ready for her championship run at the TD Garden. tdgarden.com.

Marcus King
A soulful Southern singer-songwriter with a tenor voice that could rattle the windows in a room, Marcus King returned this year with his sixth album, Mood Swings. Produced by the great Rick Rubin, it’s an introspective collection generated by a rough patch during which King was struggling with the twin demons of bipolar disorder and drug addiction.
$60.50-$209.43, 7:30 p.m., Citizens House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston

Kishi Bashi
Virginia-raised, Berklee-educated singer-songwriter and violinist Kishi Bashi got his start in the band Jupiter One and served a stint in of Montreal. His fifth and latest album, Kantos, brings together prog rock, lo-fi dance pop, electrified chamber pop grandeur, and wonderfully vintage disco—put simply, he does whatever he wants, and he gives it 110%.
$25, 7 p.m., Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston

A Far Cry: CODED
Baritone Davóne Tines joins A Far Cry for a program exploring the influence of spirituals. Highlights include Antonín Dvořák’s twelfth string quartet, nicknamed The American, arrangements of spirituals by Harry T. Burleigh, a new work from Pulitzer winner Tyshawn Sorey, and Frederick Tillis’ rendering of “Wade in the Water”.
$27-$85, 7:30 p.m., Jordan Hall, 30 Gainsborough St., Boston

COMEDY

Brian Simpson
“I don’t help people when their pets go missing,” says Austin-based comic and former Marine Brian Simpson in a set on Lights Out with David Spade. “When I see one of those signs and it’s like ‘Lost Dog,’ I’m like, okay, that’s one side of the story… Maybe he escaped.” Earlier this year, his debut special, Live from the Mothership, appeared on Netflix.
$27-$57, 7:30 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston

Liam McGurk
In this Cambridge Comedy clip, sardonic local standup Liam McGurk tackles Irish American identity (“Being Irish is like being gay—everyone is, probably”) and his curse of having the sort of eyes that always look stoned. He’ll be taping this Friday’ show for a special, so he’s bound to bring his A game.
$22.50, 7:30 p.m., White Bull Tavern, 1 Union St., Boston

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SATURDAY (10/12/24)

MUSIC

The Warren Haynes Band
A god in the jam band world for his work with the Allman Brothers Band and Gov’t Mule, his participation in the Grateful Dead extended universe, and his numerous collaborations with the Dave Matthews Band, Warren Haynes needs little introduction. His solo band hasn’t released a new album since 2015, but it’s always been about the live show.
$41.25-$357.75, 8 p.m., Orpheum Theater, 1 Hamilton Pl., Boston

Little Stranger
This Charleston, South Carolina rap duo seem born to be beloved by fratboys across the land, with songs like “Coffee & a Joint” and amiable acoustic party jams like “Sing It High”. Profound? Not too much, but fun? Very much so. Their newest album, Sat Around Trippin, manifested in June.
$25, 7 p.m., Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston

FIDLAR
The title of FIDLAR’s new album, Surviving The Dream, might indicate some jadedness, but the Los Angeles skate punk icons haven’t lost any musical enthusiasm—the record flies through catchy, noisy pop hooks at a breakneck pace, proving they’re still some of the most devoted custodians of the house the Ramones built.
$37-$67, 8 p.m., Citizens House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St., Boston

COMEDY

Tracy Morgan
Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan still has one of the loudest voices and goofiest minds in the biz. Barely prompted, in a recent Tonight Show appearance, to sing the praises of New York, he shouts: “King Kong died here! The Son of Sam was born here! The Warriors was filmed here! The Marshmallow Man walked through here!”
$69, 7 p.m., The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston

Max Wittert: I Can Steal Your Mother
With the help of over a thousand illustrations, Max Wittert (High Maintenance, Fantasmas) “attempts to sell his entire life” in this multimedia comedy show, touching on grief, family history, childhood obsessions, great moments of humiliation, and “haunting memories of French toast.” Bethany van Delft and Brieana Woodward are the opening acts.
$20, 7 p.m., The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Somerville

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SUNDAY (10/13/24)

MUSIC

Aaron Frazer
In his solo work, Durand Jones and the Indications drummer-singer Aaron Frazer stays relatively close to the classic soul sound of his main band, but some of the most interesting moments on his 2024 release Into the Blue are departures, whether it’s the 90s R&B pastiche “Fly Away” or the Latin infusions of “Dime”, provided by guest vocalist Cancamusa.
$36-$147.50, 8 p.m., Paradise Rock Club, 967 Comm. Ave., Boston

Sarah Kinsley
Raised to be a classical musician, brilliant 24-year-old singer-songwriter and producer Sarah Kinsley had drifted to pop by college, but there’s a symphonic grandness on her recently released debut album, Escaper, from the opening string salvo to the Phillip Glass-esque looping on “My Name Is Dancing” to the gargantuan synths on the fabulous closing title track.
$20, 7:30 p.m., Royale, 279 Tremont St., Boston

BOOKS + READINGS

Tom Colicchio
The celebrity chef (Top Chef, Best New Restraurant) stops by the Coolidge to discuss his hybrid memoir/cookbook Why I Cook, an intimate reflection on his life in cooking and the recipes that made him, from his first-ever attempt (stuffed eggplant) to his days flipping burgers at the local swim club to his break into the culinary world of New York City.
$38 (book included), 2 p.m., Coolidge Corner Theater, 290 Harvard St., Brookline

SHOPPING

Curated Vintage Market
There’s still time to complete that fall look before the season really gets into full swing! More than 80 vintage vendors are descending on Bow Market Sunday, selling not just clothes but accessories, furniture, art, and more. As in previous years, there’s also a Mender’s Row, where you can get small repairs done on the spot or schedule more complicated ones.
Free, 12 p.m.- 8 p.m., Bow Market, 1 Bow Market Way, Somerville

SoWa Open Market
This popular Sunday event features dozens of vendors selling their own jewelry, clothing, household items, art, and more, plus special performances and events, a chance to check out the open studios of dozens of local artists, and a rotating selection of food trucks. It runs every Sunday through October 27.
Free, 11 a.m-4 p.m., 500 Harrison Ave., Boston

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MONDAY (10/14/24)

MUSIC

Kokoroko
Led by trumpet player Sheila Maurice-Grey, this London-based jazz/Afrobeat octet are still touring behind their sublime 2022 debut Could We Be More—an ironic title, since it’d be hard to ask for more from their lofty, slightly psychedelic dreamworld of a sound, simultaneously chilled-out and wide awake.
$25, 8 p.m., The Sinclair, 52 Church St., Cambridge

BOOKS + READINGS

Dr. Anthony Fauci
Though he’s best remembered as the public face of the federal government’s response to COVID-19, that era was only the last in Anthony Fauci’s 60-year career in public health. His new memoir, On Call, also reflects on his experiences responding to AIDS, Ebola, SARS, West Nile, and other existential threats.
$45 (book included), 7 p.m., Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Ave., Boston

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Ongoing

SHOPPING

Copley Square Farmers Market
Farmers markets spring up across the Boston area this time of year, 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.
Free, Tuesdays and Fridays through November 26, Copley Square, 227-230 Dartmouth St., Boston

WELLNESS

Seaport Sweat
Get a little closer to your best self with the help of these outdoor classes, taking place Monday through Saturday until the end of summer. The regular weekday evening schedule features Pilates, yoga, Zumba, barre, and more; some of Saturday’s rotating morning classes include dance cardio/sculpting workout Sculpt That Sass, the high-intensity Broncore Bootcamp, the circuit-style class Peaches Guaranteed, and the kickboxing-inspired Kick It By Eliza.
Free, through September 28, Seaport Common, 85 Northern Ave., Boston

TOURS

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. 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 new 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 pay for a guided tour on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday through the end of October, or opt for a self-guided experience whenever you want.
Free-$20, now open, starts in Central Square, Cambridge or Downtown Crossing, Boston

WNDR Museum
This new gallery space in Downtown Crossing 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)

Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore
The San Diego Museum of Art assembled this traveling show comparing two of the biggest names in 20^th century art, with 60 works from O’Keeffe and 90 from Moore, alongside recreations of both artists’ studios. While Moore’s huge figurative sculptures and O’Keeffe’s portraits of flowers may seem unrelated, the pair prove to have a surprising amount in common.
$34, Sunday, October 13 through January 20, 2025, Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston

Manet: A Model Family
In the first exhibition of its kind, the Gardner Museum explores Édouard Manet’s frequent use of his family as models and subjects, delving into their relationships with him and each other—which, as with most families, were filled with both love and tension.
$22, Thursday, October 10 through January 20, 2025, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, Boston

Charles Atlas: About Time
Immerse yourself in the 50-year career of Missouri-born interdisciplinary artist Charles Atlas, who made his name filming the dances of Merce Cunningham. Eventually, he struck out on his own, but capturing dance and other performances—often in ways that challenged sexual and gender norms—remained central to his practice.
$20, Thursday, October 10 through March 16, 2025, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

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.
$20, through June 15, 2025, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Conjuring the Spirit World: Art, Magic, and Mediums
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, a mania for contacting the dead spread across Europe and the United States—it was the era of Spiritualism. This show brings together a wide array of objects and art—paintings, posters, photos, stage contraptions, and more—to try to get to the bottom of this macabre and often sensationalist pop cultural epoch.
$20, through February 2, 2025, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation
What does it mean to be German today, as the monoculture of old gives way to increasing diversity? This selection of work from 23 different German artists, dating back to 1980, highlights the strains placed on traditional ideas of nationality by increased immigration and the plight of those economically left behind.
Free, through January 5, 2025, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge

Dalí: Disruption and Devotion
Famous for his bizarre imagery, eccentric behavior, and unrivaled technical skill, the outlandish artist Salvador Dalí was also deeply rooted in tradition. The first-ever exhibition of work by Dalí at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston examines this sustained engagement with European art of the past. The exhibition presents nearly 30 paintings and works on paper on loan from the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, as well as books and prints from a private collection, which are shown alongside works from the MFA’s European collection made by artists who inspired him. Highlights include The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory (1952–1954), a reworking of Dalí’s single most famous picture, painted two decades earlier, which shows his preoccupation with the elasticity of time. — JACI CONRY
$27 (included with general admission), through December 24, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, 617-267-9300.

Tau Lewis: Spirit Level
Toronto-born, Jamaican-descended artist Tau Lewis crafts densely textured objects from a variety of found materials with some personal meaning—fabrics, photos, stuff from the beach, etc. In doing so, she reclaims the power to produce in a factory-made world and participates in a diasporic tradition of upcycling ingenuity.
$20, through Jan 20, 2025, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

J Rowen O’Dwyer: DEVOTIONS, to a dirty queer home
Bringing together paintings, zines, and other objects, this exhibition explores the notion of home from the perspective of trans and leather dyke communities, embracing not just the expected domestic spaces but parties and bars as well—any place of comfort, belonging, and chosen family.
Free, through December 7, Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, 551 Tremont St., Boston

Agustina Woodgate: Ballroom
Visitors to this installation pass over a set of globes on the floor, all carefully altered to erase national borders and other human-declared lines of divison. What’s the message—one of earthly unity, or humanity’s self-destruction? The answer is left for us to ponder.
$20, through February 23, 2025, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Innovation: Earth
Explore the newest advancements in sustainability at this interactive, “choose your own adventure”-style exhibit, part of the Museum of Science’s Year of the Earthshot. You’ll get the latest on urban farming, electric vehicles, and solar panels, as well as less-discussed topics, like using mushrooms to make leather, and you’ll get to simulate the impact of all of them.
$31, through December 31, Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston

Fragments of a Faith Forgotten: The Art of Harry Smith
Immerse yourself in the fascinating world of Harry Smith, a multimedia artist, scholar, and collector who drifted through the 20^th century avant-garde world on both sides of the United States. Smith is best known for his Anthology of American Folk Music, an invaluable compilation first pressed to wax in 1952.
Free, through December 1, Carpenter Center, Harvard University, 24 Quincy St., Cambridge

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.
$20, ongoing, Peabody Essex Museum, 161 Essex St., Salem

Displacement
How do humans change their environment, and what happens when that environment responds? Given the ever-increasing chaos of climate change, these are some of the most important of our time, and this multimedia exhibition, featuring sculpture, video, textiles, and even scent-based art, shows contemporary artists exploring them from myriad angles.
Free, through December 8, MassArt Art Museum, 621 Huntington Ave., Boston

Service and Sacrifice: World War II—A Shared Experience
World War II was a conflagration that not only brought millions of Americans into military service overseas but also pervaded every aspect of life at home. No one was left untouched, from the most marginalized citizens at the time to the highest echelons of society, including the Kennedy family. In this vast exhibition, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum highlights how all Americans were affected in both honorable and unjust ways. Amid countless artifacts and documents, visitors can see JFK’s U.S. Navy dress jacket and wartime correspondence, the flight suit worn by Tuskegee airman Woodrow W. Crockett, and Ansel Adams’s photographs of Japanese Americans held in an infamous internment camp. —MATTHEW REED BAKER
$3-$18, through January 5, 2025, Columbia Point, Boston, jfklibrary.org.

Wordplay
The Institute of Contemporary Art has mined its own collection for work highlighting the use of words in visual art, with pieces from Kenturah Davis, Taylor Davis, Joe Wardwell, Rivane Neuenschwander, Shepard Fairey, Jenny Holzer, Glenn Ligon, and more.
$20, through January 5, 2025, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Dr., Boston

Want to suggest an event? Email us.

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UPCOMING

2024

October

Oct. 9. Gracie Abrams at MGM Music Hall at Fenway. [Info]
Oct. 16. Orville Peck at MGM Music Hall at Fenway. [Info]

November

Nov. 1. Dresden Dolls at Roadrunner. [Info]
Nov. 5. GWAR at the Paradise Rock Club. [Info]
Nov. 7. Taste 2024, Boston‘s annual Top 50 Restaurants celebration, Artists For Humanity EpiCenter, 100 W. 2nd St., Boston. [Tickets]

Want to suggest an event? Email us.

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