MUSIC
Pop & Rock
JON SPENCER The scuzzy groove-punk pioneer slash paragon of downtown cool released his first solo album, “Spencer Sings the Hits!,” last year; it surrounds his swaggering, street-preacher bellow with thick synths and clanking beats. Feb. 1, 9:15 p.m. $18, $16 advance. Great Scott. 617-566-0914, www.greatscottboston.com
PETAL “Magic Gone,” last year’s album from Pennsylvania’s Kiley Lotz, is a stunner, Lotz’s bell-clear voice serving as an anchor even when she’s recounting white-knuckle emotions and surrounded by pedal-borne distortion. Jan. 27, 7 p.m. $15. Brighton Music Hall. 617-779-0140, www.crossroadspresents.com
NAO This British singer-producer, on tour behind last year’s “Saturn,” has a sweetly powerful voice and a golden touch in the studio that make her blend of funk, R&B, and electro a sound delight. Feb, 1, 6 p.m. $25 and up. Royale. 617-338-7699, www.royaleboston.com
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MAURA JOHNSTON
Folk & World
STEVE GUNN The singer-songwriter-guitar virtuoso is touring in support of his transporting new release, “The Unseen In Between,” which is informed and inspired by, and conveys, the emotive force of his father’s death and the reconnection of father and son beforehand. Meg Baird and Mary Lattimore also perform. Jan. 31, 9 p.m. $16. Great Scott. 888-929-7849, www.axs.com
THE LIL SMOKIES This Montana band’s version of high-energy progressive bluegrass has been attracting attention and awards, including winning the Bluegrass Band Competition at Telluride and being named Momentum Band of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Feb. 1, 9 p.m. $15. The Sinclair, Cambridge. 888-929-7849, www.axs.com
DAWES The still rootsy (if less so than in the past) SoCal outfit turns its attention on its latest, “Passwords,” to what technology hath wrought: “I’m always lookin’ over shoulders/ Not knowing what I’m looking for/ Now that the feeling someone’s watchin’/ Isn’t just a feeling anymore.” Call it Dawes’s moods for moderns. Feb. 2, 8 p.m. $29.25-$68.25. Boch Center Wang Theatre. 800-745-3000, www.ticketmaster.com
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STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
RAN BLAKE SOLO In 1961, Blake and Jeanne Lee recorded the classic “The Newest Sound Around,” pairing his flinty piano with her poised vocals. On the occasion of the long-delayed release of their further 1960s collaborations, entitled “The Newest Sound You Never Heard,” the pianist reflects on the life of his dear departed colleague. Jan. 27, 3 p.m. Free. New England Conservatory, Plimpton Shattuck Black Box Theatre, 255 St. Botolph St. www.necmusic.edu/concerts
CHARLIE KOHLHASE’S EXPLORERS CLUB Adventurous multi-saxophonist and composer Kohlhase leads his intrepid octet in an exhilarating program of originals and numbers by Duke Ellington, Elmo Hope, Makanda Ken McIntyre, and former Kohlhase collaborators Roswell Rudd and John Tchicai. Feb. 1, 8 p.m. $15. Third Life Studio, 33 Union Square, Somerville. www.thirdlifestudio.com, www.mandorlamusic.net
ANTHONY GERACI & THE BOSTON BLUES ALL-STARS The veteran keyboardist-composer celebrates his latest album, “Why Did You Have To Go,” with his Boston all-star group of singer, guitarist, and harmonica player Dennis Brennan, guitarist-singer Troy Gonyea, bassist-singer Michael “Mudcat” Ward, and drummer-singer Jeff Armstrong. Feb. 2, 8 p.m. $20. Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Road, Shirley. 978-425-4311, www.bullrunrestaurant.com
KEVIN LOWENTHAL
Classical
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Conductor Juanjo Mena visits the Symphony Hall podium to lead a Haydn symphony, Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with soloist Julian Rachlin, and two pieces by Janácek. Symphony Hall. Jan. 31-Feb. 5. 888-266-1200, www.bso.org
NO TENORS ALLOWED The father and son-in-law duo of lyric baritone Thomas Hampson and bass-baritone Luca Pisaroni take the stage for a joint recital of songs for low voice from the opera, operetta, and Broadway repertoires. Presented by Celebrity Series of Boston. Jordan Hall. Feb. 1, 8 p.m. 617-482-6661, www.celebrityseries.org
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IL FLAUTO MAGICO Recorder expert Han Tol and the Boreas Quartett Bremen (all former students of his) bring a full arsenal of instruments to a Boston Early Music Festival-presented concert, covering centuries of music for recorder consort. First Church in Cambridge, Feb. 1, 8 p.m. 617-661-1812, www.bemf.org
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MADONNA
ARTS
Theater
OTHELLO Because questions of race and gender sit squarely at the center of this Shakespeare tragedy, watching it in 2019 underscores the extent to which his plays somehow manage to seem torn from any era’s headlines as well as from the fathomless depths of the human soul. Those dual qualities of timeliness and timelessness run through Bill Rauch’s sinewy production of “Othello,’’ which features a masterly performance by Chris Butler in the title role and a portrayal of Iago by Danforth Comins that is very nearly as impressive. Through Feb. 9. Production by Oregon Shakespeare Festival presented by American Repertory Theater at Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.americanrepertorytheater.org
THE END OF TV Among the achievements of this ingenious production, directed by Julia VanArsdale Miller, is the intimacy it achieves and sustains despite its screen-centric structure. Utilizing overhead projectors, video feeds, shadow puppetry, and live-action silhouettes, “The End of TV’’ poignantly dramatizes the relationship between an elderly white woman named Flo (Kara Davidson) who is slipping into dementia and a young black woman named Louise (Sharaina L. Turnage) who gets to know, and care about, Flo while working as a driver for Meals on Wheels. Through Jan. 27. Production by Manual Cinema presented by ArtsEmerson. At Robert J. Orchard Stage, Paramount Center. 617-824-8400, www.artsemerson.org
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THE WOLVES In this splendid group portrait of a girls’ soccer team, playwright Sarah DeLappe demonstrates an uncanny grasp of the everything-at-once nature and pace of teenage conversation. More important, DeLappe shows how those torrents of talk are the girls’ way of trying on personae while figuring out how to live in the wider world. Director A. Nora Long and her topnotch Lyric Stage cast make movingly clear how a team can function as a kind of surrogate family. Through Feb. 3. Lyric Stage Company of Boston. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com
SMALL MOUTH SOUNDS M. Bevin O’Gara directs Bess Wohl’s seriocomic gem of a play, in which six lost or wounded souls try to get whole again at a New Age-y spiritual retreat while navigating connections and conflicts that only complicate their elusive quest for inner peace. Featuring Marianna Bassham as their autocratic, unseen teacher, who does most of the talking — well, that and the sextet’s body language — in a play characterized by long stretches of expressive silence. Through Feb. 2. SpeakEasy Stage Company. At Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com
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DON AUCOIN
Dance
WONDERTWINS Known for combining hip-hop with tap, vaudeville, and theatrical dance, brothers Billy and Bobby McClain have carved a distinctive niche in Boston’s dance scene. As part of World Music/CRASHarts’s “Dance UP” presentations, this concert pairs two very different works: the Broadway/Vegas tribute “That’s Entertainment” and the Boston premiere of “Black,” a documentary-style exploration of police brutality toward African-Americans. Jan. 27. $32-$36. Institute of Contemporary Art. 617-876-4275, www.worldmusic.org
NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER 2 Nederlands Dans Theater’s acclaimed second company of young performers, now in its 40th year, returns to Celebrity Series of Boston for the first time since 2009. Though the dancers are classically trained, the company is known for nurturing new ballets that have a contemporary edge. The program includes works by Marco Goecke, Edward Clug, and collaborators Sol León and Paul Lightfoot. Jan. 27. $35-$77. Boch Center Shubert Theatre. 866-348-9738, www.celebrityseries.org
PEPPERLAND Might be a good idea to reserve your tickets early for the Celebrity Series presentation of this highly acclaimed full-evening production by Mark Morris Dance Group. Colorfully psychedelic, it commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ extraordinary “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” But don’t expect to sing along. Ethan Iverson’s original chamber music score (performed live) totally transforms some of the original music and adds new material inspired by the album. Feb. 8-10. $35-$75. Boch Center Shubert Theatre. 617-482-6661, www.celebrityseries.org
KAREN CAMPBELL
Galleries
SUARA WELITOFF: RIGHT NOW THIS MOMENT The Cambridge artist alters found video to toy with our perception of time passing. Slowing clips down, putting them on loops, and homing in on hitches and mistakes, she conjures an eternal present. Through April 7. Anderson + Grossman Galleries, School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University, 230 The Fenway. smfa.tufts.edu/events-exhibits/galleries
JOSH JEFFERSON: NOT FOR NOTHING Jefferson, a painter and Instagram wiz, makes dense, bustling canvases that refer, sometimes obliquely, to figures and heads, suggesting that his painterly fireworks represent an inner reality. Here, collaged painted scraps tease the viewer’s sense of texture, and butt up against declarative brush strokes. Through Feb. 23. Steven Zevitas Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave. 617-778-5265, www.stevenzevitasgallery.com
SOJOURN: SIX DAYS IN A SOVIET-ERA WEATHER STATION More than a century ago, Heddi Vaughan Siebel’s grandfather was marooned during an expedition to the Russian Arctic. In 2018, the artist and photographer visited the place he was stranded, explored the remains of a Soviet weather station, and considered humanity’s draw to unforgiving landscapes. Through Feb. 23.Soprafina Gallery, 450 Harrison Ave. 617-728-0770, www.soprafina.com
CATE McQUAID
Museums
JOAN JONAS: I KNOW WHY THEY LEFT In 2017, Jonas was the artist in residence at the Isabella Stuart Gardner Museum, mining its collection for representations of animals. Why? To create a small suite of mournful drawings that capture “the importance of nature’s life-force and our disruptive human presence.” Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way, through Oct. 14. 617-566-1401, www.gardnermuseum.org
JACE CLAYTON: THE GREAT SALT 1638 marked the arrival in the Massachusetts Bay Colony of at least two things: A piece of fine silver, owned by John Glover, and the first slaves from Africa. That polarized pairing — finery versus oppression, humanity at its best and absolute worst — piqued the interest of Jayce Clayton, who selected the piece (called “The Great Salt,” a fine vessel for the then-valuable mineral) as a symbol of the Middle Passage, where privilege assigned value to things over human lives. His response, an algorithmic thrumming of Afro-Cuban beats that emanate from a tangle of wires and components, haunts his installation like a ghost, and freights an object with meaning well beyond its form. Lightbox Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., through Feb. 4. 617-495-9400, www.harvardartmuseums.org
COLLECTING STORIES: NATIVE AMERICAN ART This show at the Museum of Fine Arts is the first of three extended exhibitions in which the museum dives deeply into an under-explored trove of its Art of the Americas collections. Native American objects are displayed here with often twinned labels: with words from an “expert,” who in some cases collected the piece, and from Native American sources that situate the piece in its use and social role. The show offers what appears to be a mea culpa: We’ve done too little, for too long. That changes now. Museum of Fine Arts, through March 10. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org
EVENTS
Comedy
HIDEOUT COMEDY The closing of Durgin-Park displaced this twice-weekly comedy show, which has moved to the White Bull Tavern. Hosts Dylan Krasinski and Same Ike welcome Sean Sullivan and Drew Dunn on Friday and Dan Crohn and Jiayong Li on Saturday, plus a few comics doing shorter sets. Feb. 1-2, 8 p.m. $10. White Bull Tavern, 1 Union St. 617-681-4600, www.thewhitebulltavern.com
GREG FITZSIMMONS A sharp wit and welcoming presence, Fitzsimmons got his start as a Boston college student, and now writes for HBO’s “Crashing.” Catch Fitzsimmons’s interview with Judd Apatow on the latest episode of his podcast, “Fitzdog Radio.” Jan. 31 at 8 p.m., Feb. 1 at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 2 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. $25. Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. 617-725-2844, www.laughboston.com
RON WHITE The “Blue Collar Comedy” veteran doesn’t let up on his fast and loose image in his latest Netflix special, “If You Quit Listening, I’ll Shut Up.” “I’ve drank so much in my life,” he says, “now on the back of my driver’s license there’s a list of organs I need.” Early show is sold out. Feb. 1, 10 p.m. $45-$240. Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. 617-248-9700, thewilbur.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
BOTSHOP Recycle outside of the bin. Using recycled materials like wood and rope, kids learn some engineering basics while building their own robots. Jan. 27, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m. $30. Minni, 71 Thayer St. minni.space
YOUNG COMPOSERS FESTIVAL Jam with the pros. Kids compose and perform alongside professional musicians. No previous experience necessary. Feb. 1-2. Free. Community Music Center of Boston, 34 Warren Ave. cmcb.org
FRANKLIN PARK WINTER FESTIVAL Take a break from trudging through the snow to enjoy it. Join the park coalition for sledding, snowshoeing, tracking animal prints, and more. Feb. 2, 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Free. Franklin Park Golf Course, 1 Circuit Drive. www.franklinparkcoalition.org
JENNI TODD
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
Feb. 13 Gin Blossoms at Paradise Rock Club songkick.com
Feb. 14 Car Seat Headrest at Royale songkick.com
Feb. 17 Chippendales at House of Blues livenation.com
Feb. 21 You Me At Six at Brighton Music Hall ticketmaster.com
Feb. 23 Anderson .Paak at Orpheum Theatre songkick.com
Feb. 25 Vince Staples at House of Blues livenation.com
Feb. 26 Wiz Khalifa and Curren$y at Royale songkick.com
Feb. 26 Le Butcherettes at Brighton Music Hall ticketmaster.com
JENNI TODD