MUSIC
Pop & Rock
DROPKICK MURPHYS With a new album, the Woody Guthrie-honoring “Okemah Rising,” on the horizon for May, the boys of Boston continue their annual run of St. Patrick’s Day shows. March 16-18, 7 p.m., MGM Music Hall at Fenway. March 19, 6 p.m. House of Blues. dropkickmurphys.com
EPIK HIGH Blending K-pop’s high-gloss hooks with beats inspired by the grimier sounds of ‘90s hip-hop and the occasional alt-rock-inspired growl, this long-running Seoul trio comes to town in support of its recent EP “Strawberry,” which features the dreamy yet existentially preoccupied collaboration with vocalist Jackson Wang “On My Way.” March 18, 8 p.m. Roadrunner. roadrunnerboston.com
Advertisement
ANNA OF THE NORTH On last year’s “Crazy Life” — which gets the deluxe-album treatment next month — Norwegian singer-songwriter Anna Lotterud’s bright soprano, buoyed by insistent beats and spangles of synth, stays steadfast despite heartbreaks and slights. March 21, 7 p.m. Brighton Music Hall. 617-779-0140, crossroadspresents.com
MAURA JOHNSTON
Folk, World & Country
DAWES Much to their chagrin, the last time Dawes was in town their show was postponed as they were about to take the stage when a band member’s COVID test came back positive. They should have better luck this time around, and will be playing music from a brand new record, “Misadventures of Doomscroller,” to boot. March 17, 8:30 p.m. $35. Roadrunner. 888-929-7849, www.axs.com
RICHARD WOOD Prince Edward Island has long been a hot bed of fiddling, and this son of the island has become known for his fiery take on its fiddling traditions. March 22, 8:30 p.m. $20. Amazing Things Arts Center (atac), 160 Hollis St., Framingham. 508-485-2787, www.atac160.org
THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE Alberta native Nils Edenloff and crew bring their folk-rock back to town after they, too, experienced virus-interruptus during their 2022 tour. They’ve just released “The Rise” EP; informed by pandemic experience, it explores how the familiar can be transformed into something foreign. Fellow Canadian Georgia Harmer opens. March 22, 8 p.m. $20. Brighton Music Hall. www.livenation.com
Advertisement
STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
CAT TRIO Three rising stars join forces (and first initials) — pianist Carmen Staaf, drummer Austin McMahon, and bassist Tony Scherr — for an evening of compositions by each, drawing on influences ranging from classical piano, Afro-Cuban jazz, rock and pop music, and more. March 18, 8 p.m. $15. Hope Central Church, 85 Seavern Ave., Jamaica Plain. www.mandorlamusic.net.
MIKE TURK TRIO Bronx native Turk is a master of the chromatic harmonica — the type played by Toots Thielemans and Stevie Wonder. Over the years, he’s performed with many musicians of note. His trio includes pianist Ben Cook and bassist Bruce Gertz. March 19, 7 and 8:45 p.m. No cover; reservations recommended. The Mad Monkfish, 524 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. 617-441-2116, www.themadmonkfish.com
ELAINE MATA JONES: TALES OF A MODERN DAY MINSTREL The Boston-born singer, songwriter, and actress traveled as a young adult to Italy to study opera. Twenty-seven years later she was still there. In this show, through song and story, she recounts her adventures in art and love in il bel paese. March 21, 7 p.m. No cover; reservations recommended. Club Café, 209 Columbus Ave. www.clubcafe.com
KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA This week at Symphony Hall, the “Voices of Loss, Reckoning, and Hope” festival concludes with a program featuring Julia Wolfe’s BSO co-commission “Her Story,” featuring the acclaimed Boston-based women’s vocal group Lorelei Ensemble; and Henryk Górecki’s “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs” with Polish soprano Aleksandra Kurzak. Giancarlo Guerrero conducts. (March 16-18) Next week, English composer/conductor Thomas Adès returns to Symphony Hall to conduct his own music for a ballet based on Dante’s “The Divine Comedy.” (March 23-25) Symphony Hall. 617-266-1200, www.bso.org
Advertisement
LEILA JOSEFOWICZ The acclaimed violin soloist visits the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for a 20th-century program that promises to enchant: Szymanowski’s “Mythes,” Stravinsky’s Divertimento (after “The Fairy’s Kiss”), Debussy’s Sonata for violin and piano, and Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tuur’s “Conversio.” March 19, 1 p.m. 617-566-1401, www.gardnermuseum.org
CHINEKE! ORCHESTRA Britain’s Chineke! Orchestra makes its first Boston appearance, landing at Jordan Hall in a performance presented by Celebrity Series of Boston. Founded in 2015 to provide career opportunities for Black and other ethnically diverse and underrepresented musicians in the UK and Europe, the orchestra pairs music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Florence Price with Stewart Goodyear’s “Callaloo: A Caribbean Suite,” featuring the composer on piano. The orchestra performs a different program the next day at Mechanics Hall in Worcester. March 22, 8 p.m. NEC’s Jordan Hall. 617-482-2595, www.celebrityseries.org
A.Z. MADONNA
ARTS
Theater
WILD GOOSE DREAMS In this play by the innovative Hansol Jung (“Wolf Play”), set in Seoul, two lonely people meet online and have to deal with the complications of love in the digital age. Yoo Nanhee (Eunji Lim) is deeply conflicted about having defected from North Korea, because it meant leaving her father behind. Guk Minsung (Jeffrey Song) is a South Korean “goose father” who has sent his wife and daughter to America in search of a better life, then struggles to maintain his connection to them. Directed by Seonjae Kim. March 17-April 8. SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, SpeakEasyStage.com
Advertisement
THE WIFE OF WILLESDEN In Zadie Smith’s adaptation of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale,” from Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales,” Clare Perkins excels as Alvita, a Jamaican-born British woman in her mid-50s who holds court in a London pub, delivering an ode to sexual freedom while regaling patrons with tales about her five marriages. Directed with verve by Indhu Rubasingham. Through March 17. American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.AmericanRepertoryTheater.org
THE GREAT LEAP Against the backdrop of the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square, Lauren Yee’s play focuses on a driven, 17-year-old Chinese-American youth (Tyler Simahk, excellent) who lands a spot on a team of college basketball players headed for an exhibition “friendship” game against players from Beijing University. The US coach (Barlow Adamson, solid as usual) and the Chinese coach (Gary Thomas Ng) have a history with each other — and that’s not the only echo from the past. Also featuring Jihan Haddad. Directed by Michael Hisamoto. Through March 19. Lyric Stage Company of Boston. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com
INTO THE WOODS The yearnings and journeys of characters from classic fairy tales (and a couple of newly invented ones) are entwined in this 1987 musical by Stephen Sondheim (music and lyrics) and James Lapine (book), revived on Broadway to acclaim last year under the direction of Lear deBessonet. This touring production, directed by deBessonet, features Stephanie J. Block as the Baker’s Wife, Sebastian Arcelus as the Baker, Montego Glover as the Witch, and Gavin Creel as Cinderella’s Prince and the Wolf. (Block and Arcelus will not perform March 28-April 2. For those performances, the role of the Baker will be played by Jason Forbach and the Baker’s Wife will be played by Ximone Rose.) Emerson Colonial Theatre. March 21-April 2. 888-616-0272, www.EmersonColonialTheatre.com
Advertisement
DON AUCOIN
Dance
GIBNEY COMPANY Though it has been on the scene for more than three decades, the acclaimed New York-based performing arts/social justice organization’s contemporary dance company is just now making its Boston debut, courtesy of Global Arts Live. The collective of 13 performers brings a wide-ranging program of Boston premieres, including “Oh, Courage!” by Sonya Tayeh, “A Measurable Existence” by Yin Yue, and “Bliss” by Johan Inger. March 17-18. $54-$58. Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston. www.globalartslive.org
SOUTH ASIAN SHOWDOWN This national competition brings together Bollywood/fusion teams from all over North America. Combining Latin, Bollywood, bhangra, garba, hip-hop, and other dance genres, teams use their creative spirit and physical prowess to showcase their best routines. This is the 14th year of this colorful and lively family-friendly show, which often sells out. March 18. $20-$100. Strand Theatre. www.southasianshowdown.com/2023/
YOURS FOR ALWAYS In this teXtmoVes production by the Klein & Murphy Duo (poet-dancer Karen Klein and choreographer-dancer Sean Murphy), the two artists examine the physical, emotional, and spiritual elements of aging, including the existential questions we can only face alone. The work is based on poems, historical/biblical text, and contemporary lyrics. A reception with light fare and beverages will follow the performance. March 19. Dance Complex, Cambridge. www.dancecomplex.org
ARROW OF TIME Zoe Dance and Violet Nox join forces for this audiovisual production specially created for the Planetarium at the Museum of Science. Zoe Dance’s live theatrical performance, directed, designed, and choreographed by Callie Chapman, is integrated with an original musical score and video design to create an immersive, multisensory experience that asks, “What would it be like to remember the future?” March 23. $15. Museum of Science. www.mos.org
KAREN CAMPBELL
Visual art
FROM THE ANDES TO THE CARIBBEAN: AMERICAN ART FROM THE SPANISH EMPIRE Spain dominated global exploration from its beginnings in 1492 — the Columbus voyage — and held it for more than 300 years, leaving an indelible colonial mark on both North and South America. This exhibition examines the relationship between colonial plunder and cultural transposition, perhaps best expressed by the scholar Edward Said: “[C]ulture participates in imperialism yet is somehow excused for its role.” Through July 30. Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge. 617-495-9400, www.harvardartmuseums.org
MARÍA BERRÍO: THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE Legend has it that the Children’s Crusade of 1212 saw thousands of kids trekking through France and Italy, converting Muslims to Christianity. Berrío draws on centuries of paintings and drawings depicting the story for her own work, which conflates the age-old parable with the very real and devastating movement of migrants, especially unaccompanied minors. Through Aug. 6. Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. 617-478-3100, icaboston.org
PORTALS: THE VISIONARY ARCHITECTURE OF PAUL GOESCH Goesch was among a generation of German architects who, after World War I, was taken to sketching visions of a future utopia, buoyed by the hope and promise of the birth of German democracy. As we know, it didn’t last; the rise of Fascism followed soon after, and Goesch, who was schizophrenic, was institutionalized and finally murdered by the Nazis for his condition. He left behind a fanciful dreamworld of speculative design, most of it unseen, that portrays his rich spiritual world tethered, however tenuously, to his vision of the built environment. At the Clark, he’s shown alongside his visionary peers, including Wassily Kandinsky. March 18 through June 11. Clark Art Institute, 225 South St., Williamstown. 413-458-2303, www.clarkart.edu
MURRAY WHYTE
ANNA BERGHUIS: TO THINK THAT WE COULD STAY THE SAME The painter considers how our lives become performances for social media, and the ways the Internet influences how we see others. The figures Berghuis paints are distorted, frequently with giant heads and bugged-out eyes, and they fill the canvas to bursting. Often, there’s another presence — a stand-in for those watching through their screens, and a suggestion of the tension we navigate between what we present to people and who we really are. Through March 26. LaiSun Keane, 460 Harrison Ave. www.laisunkeane.com
CATE McQUAID
EVENTS
Comedy
COMEDY UNDERGROUND @THE GROG Mark Moccia, who mostly produces stand-up charity shows, hosts headliner Jody Sloan with Alex Giampapa, Theo Konstantino, Bill Douglas, and Mystaru for Simple Living, which operates sober living homes for addiction recovery. March 17, 8 p.m. $20. The Grog Restaurant, 13 Middle St., Newburyport. www.eventbrite.com
LAURA SEVERSE “One night, I’m on the couch with my husband, we’re just sitting there, we’re watching ‘Dateline,’ I’m trying to figure out how to murder this guy,” says the Boston comic in her “Don’t Tell Comedy” spot on YouTube. “It’s actually very easy. You just do it, shut your trap, lawyer up. The burden is on the state! Don’t text your BFF like, ‘I [expletive} did it, ha ha.’” March 17-18, 8 p.m. The Comedy Scene, 23 Patriot Place, Foxborough. www.thecomedyscene.club
ZAINAB JOHNSON “Actually had a guy break up with me because I was Muslim,” says “Upload” star Johnson. “He was like, ‘Zainab, I really want to marry you but I need you to be Christian. And I was like, ‘I really want to marry you, too, but I need you to be financially stable.’” Nonye Brown-West returns to Boston as a special guest. March 20, 7:30 p.m. $30-$35. City Winery, 80 Beverly St. 617-933-8047, www.citywinery.com/boston
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
INDOOR DRIVE-IN MOVIE Newton Free Library is hosting an event where children will decorate cardboard boxes to create their own cars for an indoor drive-in movie. All supplies will be provided, but the library also appreciates parents bringing in boxes if they have any. The screening is for ages 2-4, and registration is required. March 17, 10:30-11:15 a.m. Free. Newton Free Library, 330 Homer St., Newton. newtonfreelibrary.lical.com
ROCK AND ROLL PLAYHOUSE: THE MUSIC OF TAYLOR SWIFT FOR KIDS For Swifties of all ages, The Rock and Roll Playhouse band will play a full set list of Taylor Swift songs. There will also be games, stories, and movement to engage young kids. The event is recommended for children ages 10 and under. March 18, 11 a.m. $17.50. Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave., Boston. crossroadspresents.com
JOSH & THE JAMTONES If you are a music lover and want to share that with your children, you can attend a concert with Josh & the Jamtones, a family band focused on creating music for parents and kids to enjoy together. The event is recommended for ages 2 and older. March 19, 10:30 a.m.-noon. $11-$14. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline. jamminwithyou.com
MADDIE BROWNING