MUSIC
Pop & Rock
BEABADOOBEE The TikTok-beloved songwriter comes to town in support of her latest EP, “Our Extended Play,” which includes the grunged-up crush story “Cologne” and the sprawling “Animal Noises,” the latter of which further proves — in a good way — the alt-power-ballad legacy of the Goo Goo Dolls’ 1998 cut “Iris.” Nov. 5, 6:30 p.m. Royale. 617-338-7699, royaleboston.com
THUNDERCAT An extraordinary bassist whose list of collaborators includes the likes of Erykah Badu, Michael McDonald, Mac Miller, and Suicidal Tendencies — and there are many more — this Los Angeles-raised jazz-funk master comes to town in support of 2020′s defiantly exuberant “It Is What It Is.” Nov. 7, 6:30 p.m. House of Blues. 888-693-2583, houseofblues.com/boston
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WIDOWSPEAK This New York duo makes warm, inviting dreampop. “Plum,” their most recent album, is a warm blanket of a listen, with vocalist Molly Hamilton’s drawl curling through the swirling guitars of her bandmate Robert Earl Thomas. They open for the Virginia shimmer-rockers Turnover. Nov. 7, 7 p.m. Paradise Rock Club. 617-562-8800, crossroadspresents.com
MAURA JOHNSTON
Folk, World & Country
ELEANOR BUCKLAND Eleanor Buckland first came to our attention as a member of Lula Wiles, but now she’s given us reason to pay attention to her on her own. She’s just released her debut solo album, “You Don’t Need to Know,” a collection of hooky, anthemic folk-pop music. She celebrates the release with two shows Sunday. Nov. 7, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. $20. Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. 617-492-7679, www.passim.org
DUSTBOWL REVIVAL/SMOOTH HOUND SMITH An attractive pairing of two outfits sporting divergent roots-music takes, with Dustbowl Revival’s folk ‘n’ soul amalgam and the roots-rock leanings of husband-and-wife duo Zack Smith and Caitlin Doyle-Smith, who perform as Smooth Hound Smith. Nov. 7, 8 p.m. $18-$25. City Winery, 80 Beverly St. 617-933-8047, www.citywinery.com/boston
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HAYES CARLL With the release of “You Get It All,” singer-songwriter Carll has reached album number eight, and his trademark sardonic wit and heart-on-sleeve professions are again on full display, from the title track’s warts-and-all pledge of eternal love to the barely-hanging-on stone-country duet “In the Mean Time” to the chronicle of a road-trip to Earth by God in “Nice Things.” Nov. 8, 8 p.m. $25. Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave. www.livenation.com
STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
FALL BLUES FESTIVAL 2021 This year’s Cabot blues bash features the debut screening of documentarian Ted Reed’s “Blues Trail Revisited,” followed by an all-star concert featuring the James Montgomery Band, Sugar Ray Norcia, Erin Harpe, and the Uptown Horns. Nov. 6, 7 p.m. $32.50. The Cabot, 286 Cabot St., Beverly. 978-927-3100, www.thecabot.org
WAYNE ESCOFFERY QUARTET The Grammy-winning tenor saxophonist was mentored by the great Jackie McLean, has played with everyone from Herbie Hancock to the Mingus Big Band, and was a mainstay of the Tom Harrell Quintet for a decade. He has recorded 10 albums as a leader and two more with his Black Art Jazz Collective. Nov. 6, 8 p.m. $30. Scullers, 400 Soldiers Field Road. 866-777-8932, www.scullersjazz.com
BART WEISMAN KLEZMER SWING GROUP Accomplished drummer Weisman’s ebullient band combines Central and Eastern European Jewish music with 1930s and ‘40s American jazz. With vocalist Leslie Boyle, violinist Lary Chaplan, clarinetist and saxophonist Ryder Corey, guitarist Alan Clinger, and bassist Ron Ormsby. Nov. 7, 3 p.m. $20. Cultural Center of Cape Cod, 307 Old Main St., South Yarmouth. www.cultural-center.org/events-main
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KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
A FAR CRY The chamber orchestra unveils its new program “Emergence,” featuring pieces by Lei Liang, Benjamin Britten, and Leoš Janáček. Nov. 5, 8 p.m. Jordan Hall. 617-553-4887 www.afarcry.org
BOSTON PHILHARMONIC Soloist Stefan Jackiw takes center stage for Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 2 in this program that also includes Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides” Overture and Brahms’s sublime Symphony No. 4. Benjamin Zander conducts. Nov. 10, 8 p.m. Symphony Hall. Livestream also available. 617-236-0999, www.bostonphil.org
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Italian pianist Beatrice Rana makes her BSO debut with Dima Slobodeniouk conducting (Nov. 6); next week, conductor Roderick Cox takes the podium for his BSO debut, conducting principal clarinetist William Hudgins in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (Nov. 11-13). Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
A.Z. MADONNA
ARTS
Theater
MACBETH IN STRIDE Created by Whitney White and starring her as Woman/Lady Macbeth, this electric work delineates the gulf between women’s — especially Black women’s — opportunities and their capabilities in broad but incisive strokes. Featuring nearly a dozen new songs composed by White, “Macbeth In Stride” is bolstered by vividly expressive performances from the dynamic trio of Phoenix Best, Kira Sarai Helper, and Reggie D. White as the Witches. Codirected by Tyler Dobrowsky and Taibi Magar. Through Nov. 14. American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org
BLKS Three Black women in their early 20s try to navigate the hairpin turns of romance, careers, friendship, connection, and intimacy — all of which isn’t easy when the wheels are coming off, as they often are in “BLKS.” The exuberance of Aziza Barnes’s comedy is leavened with honesty about the need to find a sense of belonging amid the chaos and confusion of early adulthood, the playwright’s awareness that joy and sadness are never more than an inch apart, and the knowledge that racism can rear its head without warning. Directed by Tonasia Jones and featuring Shanelle Chloe Villegas, Thomika Marie Bridwell, and Kelsey Fonise. Through Nov. 20. SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.SpeakEasyStage.com
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THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW Richard O’Brien’s cult-classic musical about a mad scientist, a naïve engaged couple, and an artificially created Adonis is directed by David Lucey, with music direction by Mindy Cimini. Featuring Peter Mill as Dr. Frank ‘N’ Furter, Christina Jones as Janet, Ryan Norton as Brad, and Jack Manning as Rocky Horror. Through Nov. 6. Presented by Moonbox Productions. At pop-up theater at 25 Brattle St., Harvard Square, Cambridge. Tickets at https://bit.ly/ROCKYTKTS
DON AUCOIN
Dance
BOLSHOI BALLET: SPARTACUS Choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich in 1968 and set to the soaring romantic lyricism of Aram Khatchaturian, this hit ballet is based on a slave rebellion in 73 BC Italy and could be seen as a subversive cut at Soviet authoritarianism. In any event, it offers three-plus hours showcasing Bolshoi virtuosity and grandiose staging. The ballet is streamed live on the big screen locally at three locations. Nov. 7, 12:55 p.m., $18-$22. Regal Fenway, AMC South Boston, and The Majestic, Watertown. www.fathomevents.com/categories/performing-arts
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JACOB’S PILLOW DANCE INTERACTIVE The internationally renowned dance festival has just released a fascinating new playlist called “Effective Lighting.” The utilitarian title belies the luminous creativity in these 16 excerpts, which range from works presented just this past season to classics like José Limon’s 1951 masterpiece “The Moor’s Pavane.” Collectively, they show how lighting not only defines a space and conjures a specific world, but is critical to setting a work’s tone and mood. Free. https://danceinteractive.jacobspillow.org/
KAREN CAMPBELL
Visual Arts
LINDA LESLIE BROWN: ENTANGLED As plastics infuse our oceans, Brown examines possible adaptations and evolutions of life in the future. This exhibition of hodgepodge creatures, rather like Frankenstein’s monsters for the post-Anthropocene era, features abstract sculptures crafted from ceramics and found objects. They are Brown’s vision of genetic recombinations in which organic forms merge with man-made ones. Through Nov. 28. Kingston Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave. 617-423-4113, www.kingstongallery.com
CATE McQUAID
DEANA LAWSON “I photograph family, friends, and strangers,” Lawson once said, “and I operate on the belief that my own being is found in union with those I take pictures of.” In this first museum survey of the Brooklyn-based artist, which opened this week, the level of intimacy is frequently disarming: a couple making love while their infant sleeps nearby; three young women, naked and prone on floral rug. Often meticulously staged, Lawson’s pictures offer a view into “real Black Life,” writes the critic and curator Greg Tate in an essay for the exhibition catalog. “In her relatively brief career, Deana Lawson has become a Diogenes, a signifying truth-seeker of unviolated Black humanity and beauty.” Through Feb. 27, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. 617-478-3100, www.icaboston.org
BY HER HAND: ARTEMISIA GENTILESCHI AND WOMEN ARTISTS IN ITALY 1500-1800 Gentileschi, the first woman ever admitted to Florence’s Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, produced one of the most arresting and singular artworks of her era: “Judith Slaying Holofernes,” circa 1614, a wildly violent scene of two women murdering a man with a knife. In the Renaissance, when depicting violence against women was hardly uncommon, the piece was an outlier, to say the least. But so was Gentileschi: Raped around two years before by the painter Agostino Tassi, Gentileschi had radical intention for her work, given the times — female empowerment. This show draws a line from her defiance through centuries of women artists demanding their seat at the table, against the odds. Through Jan. 9, Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main St., Hartford. 860-278-2670, www.thewadsworth.org
JOANA VASCONCELOS: VALKYRIE MUMBET Less an opening than a do-over, MassArt’s brand-new museum opened in late February 2020 and shut down days later with the pandemic rumbling ever closer. So, for practical purposes, its October reopening feels very much like a first try, with everything from the grand opening kept in mothballs all that time. Certainly the most imposing is Vasconcelos’s colossal soft sculpture, several stories high, that feels like a plush version of a multi-limbed, interdimensional invader. Honoring Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman, an enslaved woman who in 1781 won a court battle for her freedom that helped make slavery illegal in Massachusetts, the piece is monumental, glittering liberation. It’s been waiting for you for a long time — the least you can do is show up. Through Dec. 31, MassArt Art Museum. 621 Huntington Ave. 617-879-7333, maam.massart.edu
MURRAY WHYTE
EVENTS
Comedy
COMEDY AT BILL’S BAR Bill’s is back up and running and featuring regular stand-up showcases on different nights, including a monthly Saturday show, like this one with Bethany Van Delft, Jay Whittaker, and Mike Whitman. Nov. 6, 7:30 p.m. $10. Bill’s Bar, 5 Lansdowne St. 617-247-1222, www.billsbar3.eventbrite.com
THE BOSTON COMEDY FESTIVAL After an all-virtual 2020 edition, the BCF returns to live stages with five days of shows featuring a distinctly New England flavor. There is the traditional stand-up contest; a few showcase shows with festival founder Jim McCue, Will Smalley, Bethany Van Delft, Tony V, and others; and one-man shows starring Kevin Flynn and Steve Sweeney. In the finale, voice actor Billy West gets the Lifetime Achievement Award and Orny Adams gets Comedian of the Year. Nov. 9-13. Check www.bostoncomedyfest.com for individual show details.
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000: THE TIME BUBBLE TOUR After getting canceled by Netflix, the classic movie-riffing show “MST3K” is at work on new episodes for its own platform, and back on tour with host Emily Marsh and her robot friends. Nov. 10-11, 7:30 p.m. $38-$199. The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St. 617-248-9700, www.thewilbur.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
FRUITLANDS ANNUAL BONFIRE Huddle close and celebrate the season with s’mores kits and snacks available for purchase at this eighth annual bonfire. Families and friends can also write down their hopes and wishes to place in the fire pit before it’s lit. To add to the ambience of the event, Dave Curry will be leading a drum circle as well. Nov. 6, 5-7 p.m. $10 member carload, $15 nonmember carload. Fruitlands Museum, 102 Prospect Hill Road, Harvard. thetrustees.org
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN The town of Hamelin has a rat problem, and the CactusHead Puppets will tell the tale of the Pied Piper and his fate. The production features a silly hat contest, dancing rats, and different puppetry styles. If patrons choose to stay home, the virtual show takes place on Sunday at 3 p.m. Through Nov. 7, various times. $12.50, $9 member tickets. Puppet Showplace Theater, 32 Station St., Brookline. puppetshowplace.org
BOSTON RIVER RUN Lace up those sneakers and bring on the cold in this fun 5K walk/run along the Charles River. All proceeds go toward the Andrew Graham Semper Fi Fund at Bunker Hill Community College. Participants can also register as virtual runners to go the distance wherever and whenever they like. Nov. 7, 9-10:30 a.m. $40 until Nov. 6, $45 on race day. DCR’s Artesani Park, 1255 Soldiers Field Road. bostonriverrun
VETERANS DAY PARADE The annual parade will take place rain or shine, starting at Boylston and Charles streets, with marchers proceeding until they reach City Hall Plaza. Celebrate and honor our veterans on this day. Nov. 11, noon. Free. Boylston and Charles streets. boston.gov
RIANA BUCHMAN