MUSIC
Pop & Rock
KISS CONCERT 2019 Joe, Kevin, and Nick Jonas — the Jonas Brothers — are probably the pop comeback story of the year, with a chart-topping reunion single (the sinewy “Sucker”) and a hot album (“Happiness Returns”). They’re headlining the pop radio stalwart’s annual summer kickoff, which will feature sets by paper-moth-voiced electro muse Ellie Goulding, inad-vertent country chart-topper Bebe Rexha, “Fame”-era Lady Gaga cosplayer Ava Max, and genial boy band Why Don’t We. June 16, 4:30 p.m. $23.50 and up. Xfinity Center, Mansfield. 800-745-3000, www.livenation.com
CUCO Combining dream-pop atmospherics with inspiration borrowed from modern Latin pop, this California-born romantic is getting ready to release his major-label debut by releasing singles like the blissed-out “Hydrocodone” and the bossa nova-trap hybrid “Bossa No Sé.” June 19, 7 p.m. $22, $20 advance. Paradise Rock Club. 617-562-8800, www.crossroadspresents.com
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SOAK Irish singer Bridie Monds-Watson’s elliptical songwriting is in fine form on “Grim Town,” the dreamy, yet plainspoken second album from the Derry-based pop auteur. June 19, 8;30 p.m. $16, $14 advance. Great Scott. 617-566-0914, www.greatscottboston.com
MAURA JOHNSTON
Folk & World
RACHEL SUMNER Sumner recently departed string band Twisted Pine to concentrate on her solo career. Sunday’s show kicks off a summer residency at this Cambridge establishment, which should provide ample opportunity to hear what she’s been up to lately on her own. June 16, 10 p.m. $10. Atwood’s Tavern, Cambridge. 800-838-3006, www.brownpapertickets.com
WESTERN CENTURIES They remain at heart a country outfit, but last year’s album, “Songs From the Deluge,” shows that all three of the songwriters this West Coast band sports are not averse to periodically dipping their pens into a wider range of roots forms. June 16, 7 p.m. $15. The Burren, Somerville. 617-776-6896, www.burren.com
SUNNY SWEENEY Add this visit from Sunny Sweeney to Sunday’s Western Centuries show, and it’s a good week for unalloyed country music. She’ll do unapologetically hurtin’, cheatin’ fare, wedded to the delicious, natural twang of her singing voice. This one’s a don’t-miss for any lover of old-school honky-tonk music. June 18, 7:30 p.m. $20. City Winery (Haymarket Lounge). 617-933-8047, www.citywinery.com/boston
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STUART MUNRO
Jazz & Blues
THEY SAY IT’S WONDERFUL: A QUEER CABARET Singer and raconteur Wes Hunter, with music director and pianist Scott Nicholas, reprise their popular show, an intimate evening of funny and deeply felt stories of Hunter’s coming out and dating dilemmas, illuminated by selections from the great musical theater composers you know and love. June 17, 7:30 p.m. $20. Club Café, 209 Columbus Ave. www.clubcafe
FRED TAYLOR SCHOLARSHIP BENEFIT CONCERT An evening of music produced, directed, and emceed by renowned saxophonist, singer, and songwriter Grace Kelly, benefiting the Berklee scholarship fund named for legendary Bay State jazz impresario Fred Taylor, and featuring jazz artist Kelly, plus folk singer Livingston Taylor and bluesman James Montgomery. June 19, 7 p.m. $45. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline. 617-734-2501, www.coolidge.org
LADIES OF BLUES & SOUL A blues summit of mostly top-notch bandleaders in their own right, performing originals and classic blues and R&B tunes. With singer-harmonica player Diane Blue, saxophonist Myanna, guitarist-singer Wendy Sobel, keyboardist-singer Alizon Lissance, bassist-singer Lisa Mann, and drummer Diane Gately. June 20, 8 p.m. $25-$40. Scullers. 866-777-8932, www.scullersjazz.com
Classical
SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE PRACTICE Shorten it to SICPP, pronounce it “Sick Puppy.” This summer intensive includes a gamut of lunchtime concerts at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and evening programs at Jordan Hall, featuring many works by composer-in-residence Michael Finnissy. The final “Iditarod” marathon concert often goes until the wee hours of the next day. All concerts free, though Jordan Hall programs require tickets. June 16-22, various venues. www.sicpp.org
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NEMPAC OPERA As this year’s main-stage opera production, the North End Music and Performing Arts Center mounts Rachel Portman’s charming adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “The Little Prince.” June 20 and 22, Faneuil Hall. 617-227-2270, www.nempacboston.org
ROCKPORT CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL This week at Rockport: Violinist Philippe Graffin and friends offer an homage to Eugene Ysaÿe (June 20), pianist Piers Lane plays Chopin’s Nocturnes by candlelight (June 21), cellist Pieter Wispelwey plays sonatas with pianist Pei-Shan Lee and Metropolitan Opera Orchestra concertmaster Benjamin Bowman (June 22), and the Art of Time Ensemble frames music by Beethoven and Shostakovich with clips from “Glenn Gould on Television” (June 23). Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport. 978-546-7391, www.rockportmusic.org
ARTS
Theater
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK A young Robert Redford starred on Broadway in 1963 as stuffed-shirt Paul opposite Elizabeth Ashley’s free-spirited Corie in this Neil Simon comedy about a pair of New York newlyweds adjusting to marriage. Gloucester Stage Company’s production features two real-life married couples: Joe Short and McCaela Donovan as Paul and Corie, and Paula Plum and Richard Snee as Corie’s mother, Ethel Banks, and the couple’s neighbor, Victor Velasco. Directed by Shana Gozansky. Through June 30. Gloucester Stage Company, Gloucester. 978-281-4433, www.gloucesterstage.com
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THIS GIRL LAUGHS, THIS GIRL CRIES, THIS GIRL DOES NOTHING Marta Rainer directs the New England premiere of Tasmanian dramatist Finegan Kruckemeyer’s whimsical, modern-day fable about young triplet sisters who set out on individual journeys after they are abandoned by their woodcutter father in a forest. Portrayed by Erin Eva Butcher, Meredith Gosselin, and J Taylor D’Andrea, the sisters meet two decades later after adventures that include battles with Vikings, crossings of oceans, and toppling of lighthouses. Through June 30. Wellesley Repertory Theatre. At Ruth Nagel Jones Theatre, Wellesley College. 781-283-2000, www.wellesleyrepertorytheatre.org/get-tickets
PACIFIC OVERTURES You have to tip your cap to producing artistic director Spiro Veloudos for ending Lyric Stage’s season with this austere historical musical about the impact of Western cultural imperialism on insular, tradition-bound 19th century Japan. It’s not exactly a surefire crowd-pleaser. But his elegant production of “Pacific Overtures’’ — which features intricate choreography by Micheline Wu — proves to be a worthy addition to the cycle of 10 Sondheim musicals Veloudos has directed in the past two decades. Through June 16. Lyric Stage Company of Boston. 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com
FUN HOME A remount of Paul Daigneault’s exquisite production of one of the finest musicals of our time. Adapted from Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel, it’s a powerful coming-of-age story, told retrospectively, of a self-described “lesbian cartoonist’’ who journeys back through her family history in hopes of finally understanding the tormented, closeted gay father who committed suicide. Featuring an incisive book and lyrics by Lisa Kron and wonderfully varied music by Jeanine Tesori, who became the first all-female songwriting team to win a Tony Award for best original score. Through June 30. SpeakEasy Stage Company, at Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600, www.speakeasystage.com DON AUCOIN
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Dance
JACOB’S PILLOW DANCE FESTIVAL The celebrated summer festival opens this week with a bang. The boundary-pushing Canadian company Ballet BC graces the big theater with a program that includes the US premiere of “Bedroom Folk” by Israeli collaborators Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar. The intrepid performers of the Australian contemporary circus arts company Circa will be flying high in the Doris Duke Theatre. June 19-23. $35-$78. Becket. 413-243-0745, www.jacobspillow.org
FESTIVAL OF US, YOU, WE & THEM For three days, the Dance Complex gathers artists from a range of movement practices to collaborate, explore, showcase their best moves, and bring the rest of us along for the ride in classes and workshops. If you’ve always wanted to indulge your inner hip-hopper or step into a West African groove, here’s your chance. June 21-23. Most activities free. Dance Complex, Cambridge. 617-547-9363, www.dancecomplex.org
VWAYAJ 2019 Jean Appolon Expressions offers its latest iteration of “Vwayaj” (in Haiti, it means “travel”), an exploration of the immigrant experience. Appolon’s personal story weaves through the narratives of others, all enriched by Haitian contemporary dance and original music by Val Jeanty. June 20-23. $20-$39. At Lyric Stage Company. 617-585-5678, www.jeanappolonexpressions.org
KAREN CAMPBELL
Galleries
THE AUTO SHOW Before the Big Dig, the elevated Central Artery overshadowed the strip of land that became the Rose Kennedy Greenway. This year, the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy has installed public art all about transportation, including sculptor Erwin Wurm’s UFO-styled Porsche and three augmented reality projects that span 1.5 miles. Through October. Rose Kennedy Greenway. 617-292-0020. www.rosekennedygreenway.org
KAREN MOSS: ABANDONED Moss’s paintings, drawings, and collages can pull the rug out from beneath familiar associations. The benign sight of thrift-store shelves overloaded with stuffed animals prompted this body of work. It brought to the artist’s mind a 1945 photo shot in a concentration camp, and the plight of refugees today. Through July 23. Howard Yezerski Gallery, 460 Harrison Ave. 617-262-0550, www.howardyezerski.com
INSPIRED BY THE SUBLIME Painter Sarah Meyers Brent and fiber artist Jodi Colella upend romantic 19th-century notions of the sublime as a glorious, gorgeous, and sometimes terrible expression of the divine. They repurpose the idea: Imagine the sublime in hard and exacting labor, or in the day’s trash, or in the everyday mess of family life. Through July 8. Suffolk University Gallery, 8 Ashburton Place. 617-816-1974, www.suffolk.edu/nesad/gallery
CATE McQUAID
Museums
RENOIR: THE BODY, THE SENSES The title more or less says it all, as this exhibition focuses on the Impressionist master’s fascination with the sensuality of the flesh and paint both. While the body is a constant, the style is far from it, as the show charts an artist’s evolution through a favorite subject: the female form. Through Sept. 22. Clark Art Institute, 225 South St., Williamstown. 413-458 2303, www.clarkart.edu
TOULOUSE-LAUTREC AND THE STARS OF PARIS It’s fair to be wary of the same old crowd-pleasing Lautrec show warmed over and served up dozens of times, but this MFA show is not one of those. Brought to life by digitally remastered fin-de-siecle films by the Lumiere Brothers, the show is a lively and surprising look at the much-hyped artist’s gift as a proto-brand builder, as well as his resonance with artists much more exalted — if not as well-loved — like Edgar Degas and Pierre Bonnard. Through Aug. 4. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org
GORDON PARKS: SELECTIONS FROM THE DEAN COLLECTION A greatest-hits compilation from one of the great American photo-documentarians of all time, this selection from the collection of Kasseem Dean and Alicia Keys contains at least a few surprises — namely, the grainy, full-color and mysterious images that greet you at the entrance, little seen amid Parks’s more famous works on Southern segregation, Black Muslims, and celebrities like Muhammed Ali. Through July 19. Ethelbert Cooper Gallery of African and African American Art, Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University, Cambridge. 617-496-5777, www.coopergallery.fas.harvard.edu
EVENTS
Comedy
HANNAH GADSBY Her 2018 special “Nanette” made the Australian comic a stand-up star. Now she’s back with “Douglas,” which touches on everything from art history to autism. The show will go off-Broadway this summer and make its way to Netflix in 2020. June 19-20, 8 p.m. $43.75-$63.75. Boch Center Shubert Theatre, Boston. 866-348-9738, www.bochcenter.org. June 21, 8 p.m. $39.75-$59.75. Emerson Colonial Theatre. 888-616-0272, www.emersoncolonialtheatre.com
JOE DEROSA There are two types of people DeRosa doesn’t trust — calm people who aren’t on medication and sober people who never had a drinking problem. “Really?” he says. “You look at this world and go, ‘Huh, looks good to me! Don’t need to fog that up at all.’ You’re lying.” June 20 at 8 p.m., June 21 at 7:30 p.m., and June 22 at 7:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. $20-$25. Laugh Boston. 617-725-2844, www.laughboston.com
PAULA POUNDSTONE The former Boston comic is grappling with the idea that her kids are all adults now, making their own decisions. One daughter became a vegan, a decision she applauds. “I can’t feed her,” says Poundstone, “but I am proud of her.” June 21, 7:30 p.m. $30-$50. Chevalier Theatre, Medford. 781-391-7469, www.chevaliertheatre.com
NICK A. ZAINO III
Family
CELEBRATION OF SUMMER Get into the groove at the city’s annual roller disco party honoring five-time Grammy winner and Boston native Donna Summer. Festivities will include a roller skating rink, food trucks, interactive exhibits, and, of course, music. June 21, 6 p.m.-10 p.m. Free. Boston City Hall Plaza, 1 City Hall Square. facebook.com
BOSTON PICKLE FAIR Pop over to the Seaport for pickles aplenty. Enjoy samples, a brand new indoor pickle lounge, and pickle products. June 22, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. $20. One Design Center Place and 21-23-25 Drydock Ave. facebook.com
WORLD GIRAFFE DAY Learn about the challenges giraffes face in the wild through zookeeper encounters and special activities. June 22, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Free with admission. Franklin Park Zoo, 1 Franklin Park Road. facebook.com JENNI TODD
MARK YOUR CALENDAR
June 24 The Lonely Island at Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion livenation.com
June 27 Jeff Goldblum & the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra at Wilbur Theatre ticketmaster.com
July 5 Phish at Fenway Park phish.com
July 7 Rolling Stones at Gillette Stadium ticketmaster.com
July 7 Ra Ra Riot at Gateway City Arts songkick.com
July 8 Third Eye Blind and Jimmy Eat World at Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion songkick.com
July 10 Blink-182 and Lil Wayne at Xfinity Center livenation.com
July 12 Florida Georgia Line at Xfinity Center songkick.com
JENNI TODD