82 fun things to do in and around Boston this summer

Boston Globe

14-05-2025

Christiani Pitts (Robin) and Sam Tutty (Dougal) in rehearsal for "Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)."
Nile Scott Studios
TWO STRANGERS (CARRY A CAKE ACROSS NEW YORK CITY)
The two strangers in question in this musical two-hander are Dougal, a cheery Britisher in his mid-20s traveling to attend the wedding of his father — whom he has never met — and Robin, also in her 20s, a hard-bitten native New Yorker who is the sister of the young woman Dougal's father is about to marry. Robin has been tasked with picking up Dougal at the airport. He wants to see the sights; she is already late for work. Written by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan.
Directed and choreographed by Tim Jackson.
May 20-June 29. Produced by American Repertory Theater at Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300,
– Don Aucoin
BOSTON BALLET SCHOOL: 'NEXT GENERATION' 2025
This year's edition will include the world premieres of Jorma Elo's 'Five Etudes' and Adrienne Canterna's 'Hold Me Tight,' Helen Pickett's 'Tsukiyo' performed by Boston Ballet principals Paul Craig and Lia Cirio, Craig's 'The Fourth Way,' the pas de dix from 'Giselle,' the pas de six from Vakhtang Chabukiani's 'Laurencia,' the pas de trois from 'Paquita,' and an excerpt from the prologue of 'The Sleeping Beauty.'
May 21, 7 p.m. $25-$130. Citizens Bank Opera House, Boston.
– Jeffrey Gantz
Advertisement
IMPOSTER SYNDROME BY ALEXA ALBANESE
It's tough to pin this show down in advance, since it's a mix of character, stand-up, and desk pieces with some audience suggestion, mixed together by Albanese, who's studying journalism at the Harvard Extension, with an eye toward current events and daily news.
May 22, 7 p.m. $25. Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St., Boston. 617-725-2844,
– Nick A. Zaino III
Advertisement
WARD HAYDEN AND THE OUTLIERS
Local alt-country vet Hayden and his band of Outliers have moved from Hank to the Boss. With a couple of albums devoted to the music of Hank Williams under their belt, they've turned their interpretive talents to a set of Springsteen songs with 'Little By Little.' They'll celebrate the release over two nights.
May 22, 23, 8 p.m. $25. Lizard Lounge, 1667 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. 617-547-0759.
– Stuart Munro
"Accumulation-Searching for the Destination" by Chiharu Shiota.
Photograph by Sunhi Mang.
CHIHARU SHIOTA: HOME LESS HOME
A project for the Institute of Contemporary Art's summertime Watershed in East Boston, Shiota's mass-scale installation explores migration and the delicate nature of home — both making and losing one. At the Watershed, a vast grid of red and black ropes will suspend such objects as suitcases, passports, and even furniture, underscoring the precariousness of uprooting, and the challenge of finding new ground.
May 22 – September 1.
ICA Watershed
, 256 Marginal Street, East Boston
. 617-478-3100,
–
Murray Whyte
MELISSA CARPER
If you want a quick gloss on what Melissa Carper is about, her producer, multi-instrumentalist Chris Scruggs, put his finger on it when he nicknamed her 'Hillbillie Holiday' for how adroitly she incorporates both country and jazz into the music she makes. She's touring in support of new record 'Borned In Ya.'
May 27, 8 p.m. $25. Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Cambridge. 617-492-7679.
– SM
Advertisement
SCOTT THOMPSON IS BUDDY COLE
Thompson's Buddy Cole monologues were groundbreaking, presenting an out and downright scandalous gay character, when he debuted the character on 'Kids In the Hall' in the late '80s. The version of this show he did last year at City Winery proved Thompson, and Cole, have not lost their punch.
May 28, 7:30 p.m. $35-$45. City Winery, 80 Beverly St., Boston. 617-933-8047,
– NZ
ALLUMÉ
Have you ever heard of 'Cajun-country-cozy?' Neither have I, but that's apparently what we should look forward to hearing from Allumé, a brand-new collaboration featuring Miss Tess, KC Jones, Thomas Bryan Eaton, and Trey Boudreaux that focuses on the musical culture of Louisiana's Acadiana region.
May 29, 7 p.m. $25 The Burren, 247 Elm St, Somerville. 617-776-6896.
– SM
JARED SIMS QUARTET
The composer and multi-reed and flute man Jared Sims likes to keep various projects cooking — jazz-rock fusion with his band Hellbender, organ jazz-funk with Firecracker, a fetching 2024 album of jazz standards played on baritone sax, exploratory improvisations with his former mentor Ran Blake, or this Latin-inclined band that he's been working on for a while, with a superb rhythm section: pianist Rebecca Cline, bassist Fernando Huergo, and drummer Gen Yoshimura.
May 29, 7:30 p.m. Peabody Hall, Parish of All Saints, Dorchester. 617-877-0428,
– Jon Garelick
Advertisement
Colombian singer Shakira performs during her 'Las Mujeres ya no Lloran' tour at the GNP Seguros Stadium in Mexico City on March 30.
ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP via Getty Images
SHAKIRA
The Colombian pop explorer celebrates her three-plus-decade career—and her latest album, the sonically adventurous post-breakup chronicle 'Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran'—with a super-sized setlist of kinetic, globally minded jams.
May 29, 7:30 p.m. Fenway Park. 877-733-7699,
– Maura Johnston
BOSTON BALLET: 'ROMÉO ET JULIETTE'
The company's previous three productions of the Prokofiev ballet have given us John Cranko's choreography, but this time out, artistic director Mikko Nissinen has chosen the 1996 version by Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo director Jean-Christophe Maillot. The sets and costumes are minimalist; the tragic love story is told through flashbacks experienced by Friar Laurence.
May 29–June 8. $25-$225. Citizens Bank Opera House, Boston.
– JGantz
MRS. WARREN'S PROFESSION
British actress Imelda Stanton has said of this George Bernard Shaw play that it 'asks ever-pertinent questions about the role of women in society, and the choices they make for survival.' Melinda Lopez plays the title character, a former prostitute who is now the madam of a brothel, and Luz Lopez plays Vivie, her daughter, newly graduated from college and really not a fan of how mom makes a living. Also featuring Nael Nacer, Barlow Adamson, Wesley Savick, and Evan Taylor. Directed by Eric Tucker.
May 29-June 22. Central Square Theater, Cambridge. 617-576-9278 x1,
– DA
HANDEL AND HAYDN SOCIETY + CHAMBERQUEER
Get an early start on your Pride celebration with 'BaroQUEER: Historically Informed', a pay-what-you-wish collaboration between H+H and New York collective ChamberQUEER. Curated by H+H programming consultant and frequent performer Reginald Mobley and ChamberQUEER founders Brian Mummert and Jules Biber. The program includes selections from the Baroque era as well as music by modern LGBTQ+ composers who were markedly influenced by the Baroque, such as Julius Eastman and Caroline Shaw.
May 30, 7:30 p.m.
Hibernian Hall, Roxbury.
–
A.Z. Madonna
Advertisement
LUAR LA L
The Puerto Rican MC has a rugged rasp that matches his world-conquering swagger, qualities that add unexpected sweetness to more romance-minded cuts like his loping, heartbroken 2024 single 'Perdida.'
May 31, 7 p.m. House of Blues Boston. 888-693-2583,
– MJ
June
Dorrance Dance at Jacob's Pillow
Olivia Maggi
EISENHOWER: THIS PIECE OF GROUND
Richard Hellesen's solo play stars John Rubinstein as Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th president of the United States and the supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. Rubinstein originated the title role in 'Pippin' and won a Tony Award for his portrayal of a teacher at a New England school for the deaf in Mark Medoff's 'Children of a Lesser God.' Directed by Peter Ellenstein.
June 3-8. Presented by Barrington Stage Company. At Boyd-Quinson Stage, Pittsfield. 413-236-8888,
– DA
TINDER LIVE! WITH LANE MOORE
Comedian, author, and musician Moore leads the audience through her dating app choices and allows them to help pick potential matches in this show, which is celebrating 10 years of 'live-swiping.'
June 5, 7 p.m. $30. Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville.
– NZ
SAME PLACE, SAME TIME
Four headliners — Corey Manning, Corey Rodrigues, Chris Tabb, and Orlando Baxter — with four different styles and four different perspective, perform together under one roof at the Studio.
June 6, 9:30 p.m. $20-$25. The Comedy Studio, 5 John F. Kennedy St., Cambridge.
– NZ
Advertisement
DANCE FOR WORLD COMMUNITY FESTIVAL
José Mateo Ballet Theatre's 15th annual free, public, all-day festival will offer dance classes and performances in the JMBT studios and on four outdoor stages between Bow Street and Putnam Avenue, with more than 60 participating companies including Asian American Ballet Project, Benkadi Drum and Dance, City Ballet of Boston, Commonwealth Ballet Company, Margot Parsons Dance Company, Rozann Kraus, SambaViva, Sinha Capoeira, and Triveni Dancers. The day will end with a dance party from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Old Baptist Church parking lot.
June 7. Free. Harvard Square, Cambridge.
– JGantz
Dave Stryker
Courtesy
DAVE STRYKER QUARTET
Guitarist Dave Stryker learned the ins and outs of the jazz-organ combo in an early stint with one of the Hammond B-3 masters, Jack McDuff. He's since expanded on the 'soul jazz' format to take on all manner of post-bop adventures, with collaborators like Bob Mintzer, Steve Slagle, Walter Smith III, and Stefon Harris, plus countless sideman gigs. For this show, he brings in his longtime bandmates Jared Gold on the B-3 and drummer McClenty Hunter, plus saxophonist Troy Roberts.
June 7, 7 p.m. Scullers Jazz Club, DoubleTree Suites Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston. 617-562-4111.
– JGarelick
ELIANE ELIAS
The kinetic pianist, singer, and composer Eliane Elias long ago unlocked the doors between the samba-driven sounds of her native São Paulo and New York hard bop, between lilting bossa nova and Bill Evans impressionism. A special treat of her shows is a segment of old-school samba and bossa with a stripped-down instrumentation of a single drum alongside soft-spoken bass and guitar. For this show, she's joined by her longtime associate, guitarist Leandro Pellegrino, drummer Mauricio Zottarelli, and her husband and musical partner, the great bassist Marc Johnson.
June 7, 8 p.m. Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton. 978-486-9524,
– JGarelick
SAM TALLENT
The Colorado native poured his experiences in the rough-and-tumble world of stand-up into a novel called 'Running the Light,' and got comics like Doug Stanhope, Marc Maron, Bert Kreischer, and Jackie Kashian to narrate different sections. He is wonderfully odd, which is why pairing him with Studio regulars Brieana Woodward and Al Christakis is inspired booking.
June 8, 7 p.m. $25-$30. The Comedy Studio. – NZ
BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL '
Love and Power' is the theme of the upcoming iteration of Boston's biennial bonanza of early music. During the week, the Emerson Cutler Majestic Theatre hosts four performances of the festival's mainstage opera, Reinhard Keiser's 1705 'Octavia,' a tale of political maneuvering and betrayal from ancient Rome; while world-class performers of early music present several themed concerts each day at venues including Jordan Hall and Emmanuel Church. Try to get to one of the 10:30 PM concerts, which often offer unorthodox programs and empty seats.
June 8-15, various venues.
– AZM
GEOFFREY ASMUS
The comic notes that some places have gender neutral bathrooms, but he once encountered what he calls the opposite of that — a place that had photos of a blonde woman in a sundress and a steelworking man on the doors. 'I was just like, I don't identify with either of these,' he says. 'Is there a bathroom for boys who cry when it rains?'
June 11 at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. and June 12 at 7:30 p.m. $30. Goofs Comedy Club, 432 McGrath Highway, Somerville. 617-718-7200,
– NZ
(UN)SETTLED: THE LANDSCAPE IN AMERICAN ART
Across its entire history, American art is inseparable from the American landscape, from the beatific Romanticism of the Hudson River School to the coolly Modern views of Georgia O'Keeffe and Arthur Dove to the post-industrial visions of Stephen Shore and Ed Ruscha. Frequently left out across the arc of American art history are the people who were here first, Indigenous Americans, who haunt the American canon with absence; the unease of that omission is at the heart of the exhibition.
June 12 - September 14
. Wadsworth Atheneum
, 600 Main Street, Hartford, CT
. 860-278-2670,
– MW
DIERKS BENTLEY
One of modern country's most durable troubadours will arrive in Mansfield on the eve of his 11th album 'Broken Branches' coming out; similar to his biggest hits, like the brave-faced yet heartbroken 'Drunk On a Plane' and the affably rueful 'What Was I Thinkin',' the Arizona-born crooner's latest release will dig into life's chaotic yet beautiful moments.
June 12, 7 p.m. Xfinity Center, Mansfield. 800-745-3000,
–
MJ
OUR CLASS
This play by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, adapted by Norman Allen, was inspired by a horrific massacre in 1941 of hundreds of Jews — many of them burned alive — in the small town of Jedwabne, Poland. 'Our Class' chronicles the relationships of 10 Polish classmates and friends— half of them Jewish, half of them Catholic. Many villagers subsequently claimed the massacres were carried out by Nazis, but researchers found they were organized and led by Polish Catholics. Directed by Igor Golyak.
June 13-22. At Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts. 617-933-8600,
– DA
ROCKPORT CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
Under the artistic direction of Barry Shiffman, Cape Ann continues to be an early-summer magnet for intriguing and compelling performances. Highlights of this year's festival include Vienna's genre-irreverent Janoska Ensemble, Bach's Goldberg Variations from pianist Angela Hewitt, the Galvin Cello Quartet, and Grammy-winning soprano Karen Slack's 'African Queens' touring recital program. I'd also be remiss not to shout out my former colleague Jeremy Eichler, who joins forces with Boston-based conductorless string orchestra A Far Cry for a program inspired by his (deservedly, but I'm biased) award-winning book 'Time's Echo.'
June 13-July 13,
July 25, Aug. 3.
978-546-7391,
– AZM
MAKING HISTORY: 200 YEARS OF AMERICAN ART
With nearly 100 works from the collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, this exhibition offers a retrofit of the standard American art-historical tale with a broader, more inclusive story of the country's diverse cohort of creative giants who shaped – and continue to shape, and expand – the very notion of American creativity. Featuring such artists as Edward Hopper, Winslow Homer, Gilbert Stuart, Barkley Hendricks, Georgia O'Keeffe, Horace Pippin, Thomas Hart Benton, Mary Cassatt, and Stuart Davis, among many others.
June 14 to September 21
. Peabody Essex Museum
, 161 Essex Street, Salem, MA
. 978-745-9500,
– MW
FINDING MAINE: THE WYETH FAMILY OF ARTISTS
It would hardly be summer in Maine without an exhibition of some Wyeth, somewhere. This year, the Farnsworth checks the box with this exhibition, with three generations of Wyeths at once: N.C.; his son, Andrew; and his son, Jamie. The Wyeths' longstanding presence in and around Port Clyde is the stuff of local legend and considerable pride, but this is also an extended family affair, with works by Henriette Wyeth Hurd, John McCoy, Merle James, and others. J
une 14 - December 31
. Farnsworth Art Museum, 16 Museum Street, Rockland, ME
. 207-596-6457,
– MW
PETER ROWAN
The list of bands and collaborations in which this giant of progressive bluegrass and roots music has participated is simply exhausting.
For this date, he's playing with Sam Grisman and his group to revisit the music of one of those bands, the short-lived project that brought together Jerry Garcia, Rowan, and Grisman's father, David, as Old & In the Way.
June 14, 8 p.m. $29.50 and up. The Cabot, 286 Cabot St., Beverly. 978-927-3100.
– SM
From left: Tony Scherr, Kenny Wollesen, Doug Wieselman, Steven Bernstein and Briggan Krauss of Sexmob performed at Carnegie Hall in March.Tibet House US
STEVEN BERNSTEIN AND SEXMOB
Cheeky humor meets high musicianship in Steven Bernstein's long-running downtown-New York-born ensemble. Bernstein's writing credits range hither and yon in the worlds of pop and jazz, but Sexmob is still his signature outfit, drawing influences from all over the map — Prince, the Dead, the Stones, Nino Rota, an album of James Bond themes, plus any number of magnetic groove-centric originals — all taken to giddy extremes and played for keeps. Bernstein and his slide trumpet still front the Mob's original lineup: saxophonist Briggan Krauss, bassist Tony Scherr, and drummer Kenny Wollesen.
June 19, 7:30 p.m. Regattabar, Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St., Cambridge. 617-661-5099,
– JGarelick
THE VICTIM
Annette Miller stars in the premiere of a play by Lawrence Goodman built on three interconnected monologues. One is by a Holocaust survivor (Miller) looking for ways to heal as she is flooded with horrific memories; one is by a top New York physician (Stephanie Clayman) whose racial diversity training has taken a dreadfully wrong turn; and one is by a home health aide (Yvette King) forced to deal with racism in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 19-July 20. Shakespeare & Company, Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Lenox. 413-637-3353,
– DA
LEYLA MCCALLA
Multi-lingual multi-instrumentalist McCalla has carved out a distinctive career in the decade since leaving the Carolina Chocolate Drops, both with her own music, which ranges across folk, Tropicalismo, blues, Afrobeat, Haitian roots, and other genres to marvelous effect, and in ensembles such as Our Native Daughters.
June 20, 7 p.m. $40. Center for Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave., Somerville. 617-718-2191.
– SM
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Black American composer Ulysses Kay considered his opera 'Frederick Douglass' his greatest work; however, it has not been performed in full since its 1991 premiere. This changes this summer, as local powerhouse conductor and impresario Gil Rose unites his two projects (Odyssey Opera and Boston Modern Orchestra Project) to bring the piece to the stage. A commercial recording will also be forthcoming with the same cast, with bass Kenneth Kellogg slated in the title role.
June 20, 7:30 p.m.
NEC's Jordan Hall.
– AZM
Azamat Asangul of Asian American Ballet Project
Olivia Moon Photography, courtesy of Asian American Ballet Project.
ASIAN AMERICAN BALLET PROJECT: 'RECEDING AND REEMERGING'
This program will include AABP company dancer Azamat Asangul's 'Aigul,' about the origin story of the Kyrgyz moonflower; Zhanat Baidaralin's 'The Legend,' about the son of Genghis Khan and his fatal encounter with a herd of deer; Alexa Capareda's 'Gabi sa Gubat/Night Jungle,' which is set in a Philippine forest; Destiny Kluck's 'Entwined Destinies,' about the Chinese myth of the Red Thread of Fate; and AABP artistic director Beth Mochizuki's restaging of Michel Fokine's 1911 'Le spectre de la rose' inside a WW2 Japanese American 'assembly center.'
June 21, 7 p.m.; June 22, 3 p.m. $25-$35. Arrow Street Arts, Cambridge.
– JGantz
MAKING A NOISE: INDIGENOUS SOUND ART
A slate of interactive works using ceramics and textiles is brought to sonorous life in this exhibition of contemporary art that echoes, if you'll pardon the pun, across ancient Indigenous traditions, as artists such as Kite, who is Oglála Lakhóta, evoke connections across millennia.
June 21 - October 26
. Shelburne Museum
, 6000 Shelburne Road, Shelburne, VT
. 802- 985-3346,
– MW
OUTLOUD MUSIC FESTIVAL BOSTON
The West Hollywood-based LGBTQ+ festival debuts on the East Coast with a lineup headlined by the bawdy pop enigma Kim Petras and including performances by the gleefully reinvented Rebecca Black, the Australian multi-instrumentalist G Flip, and the stage-scorching local MC Oompa, as well as a DJ set from 'RuPaul's Drag Race' mainstay Trixie Mattel.
June 21, 2 p.m. The Stage at Suffolk Downs.
– MJ
GEORGE STRAIT/CHRIS STAPLETON
King George retired from touring more than 10 years ago, but promised he would bring his vast repertoire of traditional country and western swing back around occasionally. This is one of those occasions. Only with the stature of someone like Strait would Chris Stapleton be a support act.
June 21, 5:45 p.m. $116 and up. Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxborough. 800-653-8000.
– SM
SARAH MILLICAN: LATE BLOOMER
The UK comic is new to cooking, and recently forgot a word trying to describe a recipe to a friend. 'Get the chicken, you put some olive oil on it,' she says, 'then you get some lemon thyme, you put that in with it, and you cover it and leave it in the fridge overnight to fester.' The word was 'marinate.'
June 22 at 7:30 p.m. and June 27 at 8 p.m. Sold out. Boch Center Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St., Boston.
– NZ
Hozier performs at Boston Calling on May 26, 2024.
Ben Stas for The Boston Globe/The Boston Globe
HOZIER
'Unreal Unearth,' the 'Inferno'-inspired 2024 album from this Irish singer-songwriter, showcases his majestic vocal range, musical curiosity and willingness to peer intently at the modern world's messiness, even if he's not sure what he might find.
June 23 and 24, 6:30 p.m. Fenway Park. 877-733-7699,
– MJ
JACOB'S PILLOW DANCE FESTIVAL
The 2025 season of America's premier summer dance festival will include 'The Center Will Not Hold: A Dorrance Dance Production' (June 25-29), Bodytraffic (July 2-6), Trinity Irish Dance Company (July 10-13), the Sarasota Ballet (July 16-20), Stephen Petronio Company (July 23-27), Sekou McMiller & Friends (July 30–August 3), Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company (August 6-10), Ballet BC (August 13-17), Faye Driscoll in 'Weathering' (August 13-17), Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (August 20-24), and Matthew Rushing and Ailey Extension dancers in 'Sacred Songs,' which revisits omitted music from Ailey's 'Revelations' (August 21-22).
Through August 24. Tickets free and up. Becket.
– JGantz
MING FAY: EDGE OF THE GARDEN
Fay, who died earlier this year, was best known for his fanciful, outsize papier-mâché sculptures of botanical forms – a lichee, a walnut, a pear, a maple twirler – that he gathered together into fantastical hothouses conjured by his vivid imagination. An associated exhibition at the Pao Art Center in Chinatown will put Fay's work in league with the photographer Mel Taing and artist Yu-Wen Wu in an exploration of Boston's Chinatown gardens.
June 26 - September 21
. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way
. 617-566-1401,
– MW
JOSHUA REDMAN QUARTET
Following his 2023 masterpiece, 'where are we,' featuring the remarkable singer Gabrielle Cavassa, saxophonist and composer Joshua Redman returns with a new album, 'Words Fall Short' (due June 20), written for a new band. Two of those players, pianist Paul Cornish and drummer Nazir Ebo, join him for this show, along with the great bassist Larry Grenadier (in for Philip Norris). Based on a listen to the first single, 'A Message to Unsend,' this disc from the 56-year-old master promises to be no less exciting than the last, and this band one of his best.
June 27, 8 p.m. Groton Hill Music Center, 122 Old Ayer Road, Groton. 978-486-9524,
– JGarelick
PAM TANOWITZ DANCE: 'PASTORAL'
Tanowitz has already choreographed Bach's 'Goldberg Variations,' T. S. Eliot's 'Four Quartets,' and the Biblical 'Song of Songs.' For this world premiere at Bard University's SummerScape, she created movement to Beethoven's 'Pastoral' Symphony No. 6 and then removed the music, replacing it with silence and with a commissioned score by Pulitzer Prize and Grammy Award winner Caroline Shaw.
June 27–28, 7 p.m.; June 29, 3 p.m. $31.50-$101.50. Fisher Center, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.
– JGantz
Boston Dance Theater will perform in Kittery, Maine.
Melissa Blackal
BOSTON DANCE THEATER
Jessie Jeanne Stinnett's Boston-based company takes its 'Pinnacle Works' program to Maine. The line-up will include Itzik Galili's 'Man of the Hour,' 'Memories,' and 'Chameleon,' Alessandro Sousa Pereira's 'Delicate Blue' and 'Awa,' and Marco Goecke's 'Peekaboo.'
June 28, 7 p.m. $20-$25. The Dance Hall, Kittery, Maine.
– JGantz
DAILEY & VINCENT
Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent's bread-and-butter is bluegrass and gospel, but lately they've delved into country music, as their recent record, 'Let's Play Some Country!,' attests. Whatever the style, instrumental virtuosity and the group's spine-tingling vocal harmonizing are ever-present.
June 29, 7:30 p.m. $50. Bull Run Restaurant, 215 Great Rd., Shirley
. 978-425-4311.
– SM
FLORRY
This Philadelphia band has named their upcoming sophomore release 'Sounds Like….' What they sound like: countrified rock-and-roll or, if you prefer, rocking country, equal parts the Band and the Stones, crunchy guitar riffs meeting soaring pedal steel whine.
June 29, 8 p.m. $17. Deep Cuts, 21 Main St., Medford. 781-219-3815.
- SM
TANGLEWOOD
The Boston Symphony Orchestra has a predictably busy season in the works at its summer home in the Berkshires. Concertos, symphonies, and opera from the BSO; a quartet concert with Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, Antoine Tamestit and Leonidas Kavakos; the Festival of Contemporary Music helmed by Grammy-winning composer Gabriela Ortiz; film screenings with live orchestra from the Pops; photography classes and experimental theater at the Tanglewood Learning Institute; popular artists including James Taylor and John Legend; and a chance to catch the next generation of performers at the Tanglewood Music Center. Pick your pleasure and pack an umbrella, because those summer storms will catch you when you least expect it.
Late June through early September.
Lenox. 888-266-1200,
– AZM
July
Kasey Chambers performed in January at the Tamworth Country Music Festival in Australia.
Lisa Maree Williams/Getty
KASEY CHAMBERS
The veteran country singer/songwriter from Down Under returns to America after a long absence, and she arrives having just issued a book that serves as a memoir of sorts (with a title that would require a few asterisks were it to be included here, so you'll have to look it up for yourself). An accompanying album, 'Backbone,' draws vignettes from that memoir for its songs.
July 3, 7:30 p.m. $40-$65. City Winery, 80 Beverly St., Boston. 617-933-8047.
– SM
TYLER, THE CREATOR
In the 15 years since this Los Angeles multi-hyphenate crash-landed into hip-hop, he's become one of its most restless innovators; his latest album 'Chromakopia,' which came out last year, is a high-concept confessional featuring standouts like the plush yet regret-tinged 'Darling, I' and the proudly brassy 'Sticky.'
July 8 and 9, 7:30 p.m. TD Garden. 617-624-1000,
–
MJ
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
There's a reason this Arthur Miller masterpiece is considered one of the greatest American plays, with its devastating portrait of Willy Loman crushed beneath the weight of misguided dreams and the culture that fed him those dreams. Featuring William Zielinski as Willy; Stacy Fischer as Linda, his wife; and Alex Pollock and Jack Aschenbach as their sons, Biff and Happy. Directed by Robert Kropf.
July 10-August 2. Harbor Stage Company, at Harbor Stage, Wellfleet. 508-514-1763,
– DA
ASTON MAGNA
Now in its 52nd season, this summer early music series under the artistic direction of Daniel Stepner offers four weeks of mid-summer concerts on Thursdays in Newton and Saturdays in Great Barrington. Programs include 'Music from Thomas Jefferson's Library', and an intriguing slate of pieces directed by harpsichordist Peter Sykes encompassing Baroque chamber music from the actual period and from the modern day.
July 10-Aug. 3.
413-528-3595,
– AZM
Ashwini Ramaswamy of Ragamala Dance Company, which will perform at Bates Dance Festival in July.
Brian Rusch
BATES DANCE FESTIVAL
Bates College's summer performance series will feature Ragamala Dance Company in 'Invisible Cities,' a reimagination of the Italo Calvino novel (July 11 and 13, 7:30 p.m.); OzuzuDances in 'Space Carcasses' (July 18-19, 7:30 p.m.); and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company in two seminal works, 'Continuous Replay' and 'D-Man in the Waters' (July 31–August 1, 7:30 p.m.).
$5-$35. Schaeffer Theatre, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine.
– JGantz
GERTRUDE ABERCROMBIE: THE WHOLE WORLD IS A MYSTERY
A more apt title might never be imagined than for this artist, whose enigmatic canvases evoke parallel realities that give up their secrets uneasily, if at all. Defying categorization, she flirted with Surrealism and Symbolism while remaining utterly unique. A doyenne of the art and jazz scenes in 1920s Chicago, Abercrombie all but faded from view as the established narrative of American Modernism grew ever more narrow in the decades that followed; this show, the first-ever touring survey of her work, looks to establish her in a canon that left her aside long ago.
July 12-January 11
. Colby College Museum of Art
, 5600 Mayflower Hill, Waterville, ME
. 207-859-5600,
– MW
BOSTON FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
In its fifth summer season, Boston Festival Orchestra pairs evergreen orchestral repertoire (Symphonies No. 5 by Beethoven and Tchaikovsky) with contemporary pieces that took inspiration from the symphonies; BFO concertmaster Jae Cosmos Lee will also take center stage in 'Swept Away,' a 2023 violin concerto composed by founding conductor Alyssa Wang reflecting on her late father's battle with cancer. In addition to the staged concerts, the orchestra is planning a handful of events for underserved children, teens and families; dates and locations to be announced.
July 13 & Aug. 3, 3 p.m. NEC's Jordan Hall.
– AZM
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic in Hollywood in 2024.
ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images
'WEIRD AL' YANKOVIC: BIGGER & WEIRDER TOUR
It's hard to imaging how much weirder he could get, but this might be the largest production Weird Al fans have seen in quite some time, featuring an eight-piece band that includes his original players, a giant video screen, and a mix of the bigger hits and some rare material.
July 15, 8 p.m. $414-$1,230. Boch Center Wang Theatre, 270 Tremont St., Boston.
– NZ
NEWPORT DANCE FESTIVAL
Presented by Newport Contemporary Ballet, the festival will feature visiting dance companies to include the New English Ballet (UK), Tom Gold Performance Society (New York), and NSquared Dance (Manchester, New Hampshire), as well as Newport Contemporary Ballet.
July 16-20. $40-$50, available soon. Great Friends Meeting House, Newport, R.I.,
– JGantz
BOSTON LANDMARKS ORCHESTRA
Want to picnic during a concert but can't make it out to Tanglewood? This longrunning local summer orchestra has not yet announced details of its season, but if past years are any indication, expect a handful of Wednesday nights at the Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade, collaborations with dance companies and local community organizations, and a family-friendly atmosphere that makes for a perfect introduction to live classical music for listeners of all ages.
July 16-Aug. 27.
– AZM
TOM COTTER AND LENNY CLARKE
'Every time I go to Las Vegas, I always give money to the homeless,' says Cotter, who is paired with Boston legend Clarke for three shows. 'Topless! Sorry. The topless. I always give money to the topless because I support the arts.'
July 18 at 8:30 p.m. and July 19 at 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. $39.19. Giggles Comedy Club, 517 Broadway (Route 1), Saugus. – NZ
MARLBORO MUSIC FESTIVAL
This bucolic hilltop music festival in southern Vermont famously does not announce its programs more than eight days in advance of each performance, and by that time they're often sold out, so pick a date and prepare to be surprised. With a 2025 lineup of resident artists including clarinetist Anthony McGill, violist Kim Kashkashian, and composer in residence Reena Esmail not to mention all the up and coming performers, all under the artistic direction of pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Jonathan Biss – it's hard to go wrong.
Marlboro, Vt.
July 19-Aug. 17.
215-569-4690,
– AZM
OLIVIA DEAN
This next-generation neo-soul singer-songwriter's 2023 album 'Messy' showcases her strong, acrobatic voice on songs that channel old-school R&B ideals while sounding decidedly 21st-century; her latest single, 'It Isn't Perfect But It Might Be,' boosts its post-heartbreak rebound with sweeping strings and twinkling piano.
July 19, 7:30 p.m. Royale. 617-338-7699,
– MJ
AS YOU LIKE IT
Nora Eschenheimer, who shone as Miranda in Commonwealth Shakespeare Company's 2021 production of
July 23-Aug. 10. On Boston Common, Parkman Bandstand.
g – DA
Kesha performs during iHeartRadio KISS108's Jingle Ball 2024 Presented By Capital One at TD Garden on Dec. 15, 2024 in Boston.
Scott Eisen/Getty
KESHA AND SCISSOR SISTERS
The emancipated pop party girl and the fabulous downtown act bring their kiki on the road for shows featuring dancefloor-ready, high-energy tracks like Kesha's spaced-out 2024 single 'Joyride' and Scissor Sisters' hip-shaking celebration of familial bonds, 'Take Your Mama.'
July 24, 7 p.m. Xfinity Center, Mansfield. 800-745-3000,
–
MJ
THE YARD
Martha's Vineyard's annual summer dance festival will open with 's Nupumukômun/We Still Dance' (June 28, 7 p.m.), a multimedia theatrical composition created by members of Danza Orgánica and Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal members. Jody Sperling/Time Lapse Dance follows with a program of 'Arbor,' 'Wind Rose,' and 'Freedive' (July 18-19, 7 p.m.). Red Clay Dance closes out the season with 'REST.RISE.MOVE.NOURISH.HEAL,' a 'journey toward collective healing and reclamation of our spiritual and ancestral relationship to the land' (July 24-25, 7 p.m.).
$15-$55. Martha's Vineyard Performing Arts Center/Patricia Nanon Theater.
–JGantz
CAMBRIDGE JAZZ FESTIVAL
The Cambridge Jazz Foundation presents the 10th edition of this annual free event. The Saturday lineup includes the Zahili Zamora Quartet; Ron Reid's Precious Metals Project; singer Spha Mdlalose with drummer Lumanyano Bizana; Eguie Castrillo y Su Orchestra's 'Salsa Dance Party.' On Sunday, it's 'Sound of Soul,' with Ron Savage, Bill Pierce, Bobby Broom, Consuelo Candelaria-Barry, and Ron Mahdi; the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice ensemble; a sixtieth birthday retrospective from Grammy-winning drummer, composer, producer and Berklee professor Terri Lyne Carrington; and Elan Trotman and friends, featuring Aric B., for a 'Motown Dance Party.
July 26-27, 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free. Danehy Park, 99 Sherman St., Cambridge.
– JGarelick
KEN CARSON
'More Chaos,' the chart-topping latest album from this Atlanta MC, lives up to its name, with heavy, pummeling beats underpinning melting-down electronics and Carson's stream-of-consciousness raps.
July 29, 8 p.m. MGM Music Hall at Fenway.
– MJ
CAPE COD CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL
This festival kicks off with a free community concert in Hyannis by New York-based horn quartet Genghis Barbie, and continues through the dog days of summer with performances around Cape Cod by artists including the Catalyst Quartet, the Claremont Trio, and several chamber ensembles coordinated by artistic directors Jon Manasse and Jon Nakamatsu.
July 29-Aug. 22.
508-247-9400,
– AZM
TV ON THE RADIO
After a decade-plus hiatus, these art-rockers have reunited to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their 2004 debut 'Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes'—still a standout document of New York's crowded early-'00s rock scene because of how it made sonic nerviness and lyrical unease feed off one another.
July 30, 8 p.m. Roadrunner Boston.
– MJ
August
Janelle Monae attended the Human Rights Campaign's dinner in March in Los Angeles.for Human Rights Campaign
NEWPORT JAZZ FESTIVAL
The granddaddy of all festivals (b.1954) covers the usual broad spectrum in its annual three-day extravaganza: John Scofield & Marcus Miller, Lakecia Benjamin, Ron Carter, Christian McBride, Darius Jones, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Marcus Gilmore, Aaron Parks' Little Big, the Roots, De La Soul, Janelle Monáe, a 'Centennial Tribute to Roy Haynes,' and a whole lot more.
Aug. 1-3. Fort Adams State Park, Newport, R.I.
– JGarelick
YORON ISRAEL AND HIGH STANDARDS
The busy Boston drummer (and chair of Berklee's percussion department) Yoron Israel is getting ready to release a new album with his band High Standards. In the meantime, the band is playing this free
Aug. 4, 5 p.m. Free. Highland Park, 20 Fort Ave., Roxbury.
– JGarelick
SOUTHERN HARMONY: A MURDER BALLAD
The premiere of a musical about the murder of a monied widow by a mortician, inspired by a real-life case in Carthage, Texas. Book, music, and lyrics by Kevin Fogarty. Directed and choreographed by Sam Scalamoni, with musical direction by Nevada Lozano. Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, Wellfleet.
Aug. 6-Sept. 6.
508-349-9428,
– DA
NO CHILD...
In a district where the iron grip of poverty is hard to escape, a teaching artist (Valyn Lyric Turner) uses theater to help her high school students understand both the power of the individual and the importance of making connections with others. To write 'No Child…,' a solo play, Nilaja Sun drew on her own near-decade of experience as a teaching artist in New York City. Directed by Pascale Florestal.
Aug. 7-23.
Gloucester Stage Company, Gloucester. 978-281-4433,
– DA
esperanza spalding
The virtuoso bassist, singer, songwriter, and conceptualist — whose work has included collaborations with Wayne Shorter and Milton Nascimento, among numerous genre-spanning works of her own — plays this intimate show with her longtime collaborator, the phenomenal pianist Leo Genovese.
Aug. 10 at 7 p.m. Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main St., Rockport. 978.546.7391,
– JGarelick
THE WIZ
Nearly three decades before
Aug. 12 – 24. Presented by Broadway In Boston. At Citizens Opera House, Boston. Tickets at BroadwayInBoston.com – DA
CLIPPING
Blending Daveed Diggs' knotty verses with the explosive beats of producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes, this Los Angeles trio issues urgent, noisy dispatches from a bleak future.
Aug. 13, 8:30 p.m. The Sinclair, Cambridge. 617-547-5200,
– MJ
CODY JINKS
'We're hippies, we're cowboys—and we're everything in between,' says Cody Jinks in elaborating on the name of his current 'Hippies and Cowboys Tour.' And in the midst of a divided time in America, the outlaw country purveyor says he wants hippies, cowboys, and everything in between to come and listen to listen to his music together.
Aug. 16, 7 p.m. $54.50 and up. Leader Bank Pavilion, 290 Northern Ave., Boston.
– SM
Comedian Pete Holmes in Los Angeles in March.for Homeboy Industries
PETE HOLMES: PETE HERE NOW
Fans might have noticed this tour used to be called 'Pete Holmes PG-13,' but after a show in Austin, the Lexington native realized he is not really a PG comic, and changed it.
Aug. 23, 7 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. $35-$55. The Wilbur, 246 Tremont St., Boston.
– NZ
BAY STATE HOT JAZZ FESTIVAL
This free two-day festival (formerly known as the Medford Trad Jazz Festival) plays its third year with seminal folk revivalist Jim Kweskin headlining. Kweskin's new album, 'Doing Things Right,' harks back to '20s swing, folk, blues, and other hot forms, with occasional forays to later decades. Kweskin and his Berlin Hall Saturday Night Revue play Sunday, along with the SheBop Swing Orchestra, the Orleans Kids, and Annie and the Fur Trappers. Saturday, it's the 'Gypsy jazz'-inclined 440, the Busted Jug Band, the impressive standards-loving singer Rahsaan Cruse Jr., and others TBA.
August 23-24, 11 a.m.- 3 p.m. Free. Condon Band Shell, 2501 Mystic Valley Parkway, Medford.
– JGarelick
RACHEL RUYSCH: ARTIST, NATURALIST, PIONEER
The first-ever comprehensive survey of Ruysch's vibrant, nature-driven paintings, this exhibition highlights the rare bird that she was: A successful – even renowned – female artist of the Northern Renaissance, in a time where significant commissions and exhibitions went almost exclusively to men. The exhibition will span the late 17th and early 18th centuries and include 35 of her paintings, each of them mysterious paeans to various flora and fauna, heavy with the secrets they held for her.
August 23 - December 7
. Museum of Fine Arts Boston, 465 Huntington Ave, 617-267-9300,
–
MW
TATE MCRAE
'So Close To What,' the third album by this Calgary-born pop upstart, takes the moodiness of her earlier releases and channels it through jagged synths and stomping grooves, then adds just enough romantic contentment to bring a curious tension to the fore.
August 26 and 27, 7:30 p.m.
TD Garden. 617-624-1000,
(Also October 17.) – MJ
DAVID C. DRISKELL: COLLECTOR
Driskell, known more as an educator and advocate for centuries – yes, centuries – of lineage of Black art in America than for his own paintings, died in 2020 with an art collection that reflected his deeply held priorities. This exhibition, drawn from those personal holdings, puts on view for the first time since his death works that served as touchstones over a lifetime of advocacy and artistic production. Paintings from the 19th century onward by Black artists like Edward Mitchell Bannister, Loïs Mailou Jones, Romare Bearden, and Elizabeth Catlett hang with Driskell's own, and help frame a legacy as much rooted in those he held up as his work itself.
August 29 - March 1
. Portland Museum of Art
, 7 Congress Square, Portland, ME. 207-775-6148,
– MW
Don Aucoin can be reached at