The first mainstage concert of the Boston Early Music Festival was also the North American debut of Mozart’s own violin and viola.

Hallie Ephron offers reviews of “Once Upon a Lie’’ by Maggie Barbieri; “Shoot the Woman First’’ by Wallace Stroby; and “Drawn into Darkness’’ by Nancy Springer.

Selectmen have conditionally appointed two police officers to fill vacancies on the force, according to Town Administrator Michael McCue. Both men — Brian T. Timulty of Braintree and Manuel J. Valenzuela of New Bedford — are veterans, McCue said. Timulty served in the Army and Valenzuela was in the National Guard. After medical screenings, the two will attend the next Police Academy in Plymouth and then be sworn in as full-time officers. “We welcome these two men to our department and hope they have a long successful career here,” Selectman Chairman Frank Hegarty said in a press release.

Area residents are invited to participate Saturday in the annual Holiday House Tour sponsored by the Westborough Woman’s Club. The fund-raising tour will feature five beautifully decorated homes. Refreshments will be available from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Congregational Church, at Church and West Main streets, and the homes will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $20 , and can be purchased at the church on Saturday, or in advance by calling 508-654-3762 .

“Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?” consists of director Michel Gondry’s conversation with Noam Chomsky, the legendary linguist, political progressive, and public intellectual.

Director Michel Gondry’s whimsical filmmaking style draws from MIT professor Noam Chomsky’s academic gravitas to create “Is the Man Who Is Tall Happy?”

The set director Larry Coen and set designer Shelley Barish have devised for the rollicking 2008 comedy from Steven Dietz isn’t exactly simple, but it’s a hoot.

Ryan Landry’s latest, “It’s a Horrible Life,” the raunchy-yet-affectionate musical parody of Frank Capra’s 1947 Christmas classic, has a certain Capra-esque spirit behind it.

Boston Children’s Theatre’s fifth annual holiday production at the Boston Center for the Arts is a puppet-centric version of the classic children’s book.

Sean Graney is tackling a dream project in which all of the existing Greek tragedies are brought together in a single 12-hour performance.

The pianist‘s recital at Jordan Hall kicks off a three-concert residency with the Celebrity Series of Boston.

The affectionately spiky documentary about Kathleen Hanna, lead singer for Bikini Kill and icon of Riot Grrrl feminism, looks at the past.

Scott Cooper’s film offers a bleak vision of America’s rural economic woes before flattening out into a routine thriller about good men doing bad things.

What helps make Chris Marker and Pierre Lhomme’s documentary remarkable is its occurring at a moment in history whose specialness only became evident later.

The meticulously crafted four-hour, two-night miniseries airs across three separate outlets — sister networks A&E, Lifetime, and History.