Free July events: Shakespeare on the Common, Art on the Plaza, plus the Moth Ball
Michael Dwyer
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PARK PHILHARMONIC
Boston Landmark Orchestra performs free concerts every Wednesday on the Charles River Esplanade. This week's program includes familiar favorites by Leonard Bernstein and John Williams, and highlights works by Florence Price, a pioneering Black female composer. The concert will be preceded by a performance from the Boston String Academy, a primarily middle- and high-school-age
student ensemble, at 6:30 p.m.
Wednesdays, 7-9 p.m. DCR Hatch Memorial Shell, 47 David G. Mugar Way.
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Shakespeare on the Common's performance of "The Tempest" in 2021.
Ben Stas for The Boston Globe
ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE
For the 29th year,
July 23-Aug. 10, performance times vary. Boston Common, Parkman Bandstand. 139 Tremont St.
CURB APPEAL
School may be out for the summer, but some campuses still have plenty on offer. The MassArt Art Museum's yearly Art on the Plaza offers family-friendly musical activities to get the blood pumping. Grab a complimentary scoop of ice cream, join a follow-the-leader dance session, play a game of hopscotch, or jam out to featured artists
July 24, 6-9 p.m. RSVP required. MassArt Art Museum, Arne Glimcher Plaza,
621 Huntington Ave.
Need to show off your Shark Week knowledge? Try your luck at Craft Hall's shark-themed trivia night.
Uncredited/Associated Press
AS SEEN ON TV
Can't get enough of Shark Week? Test your chops on your favorite elasmobranchii with a shark-themed trivia night. Winners of each of the four rounds will win a prize. The competition is free, but participants can choose to order food from the Craft Hall's restaurants, including a selection of wines, beers, IPAs, and batch cocktails from a self-pour tap wall for 21+
contestants.
July 25, 6-8 p.m. RSVP required. Craft Food Halls, 35 Cambridgepark Drive, Cambridge.
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SAND ART
Looking for a beach day with a view? Over the weekend, the 21st annual International Sand Sculpting Festival will bring participants from around the world to compete over three days to make the most impressive sculptural art piece out of Revere Beach sand. This year, contestants are encouraged to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in their sculptures. If you want to make a day of it, the beach's vendors sell a variety of treats, from lobster rolls to egg rolls.
July 25-27, 10 a.m. Revere Beach, Revere.
The Boston Race Amity Festival will return to Faneuil Hall on July 26.
Boston Race Amity Art and Music Festival
INCLUSION AND ICE CREAM
Faneuil turns musical
on Saturday for the annual Boston Race Amity Festival, which features a wide variety of music with the goal of inspiring cross-cultural unity. The eclectic list of performers includes folk-rock band Fantastic Cat, African diasporic music group Zili Misik, and Cambridge DJ Trigga Tre, among many others. Attendees can contribute to a big collaborative mural all day, and Ben and Jerry's, the event's cohost, will be serving free ice cream from noon-5 p.m.
July 26, noon
-6 p.m. Faneuil Hall, 4 South Market St.
Send info on free events and special offers at least 10 days in advance to
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Ryan Yau can be reached at
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Buzz Feed
21 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
15 Actors That Took Roles They Now Regret
We all have our career mistakes, and actors aren't immune to these either. Even major stars take roles they go on to regret. So here are 15 actors and the roles they regret: Viola Davis – The Help Viola's filmography is certainly nothing to be sniffed at. She's excelled in a number of roles and has become one of the best that Hollywood has to offer. But for all of her amazing, complex roles, she does have one regret; The Help. The film centres around a young white journalist who builds a relationship with two Black maids who are tormented by the white families they work for. While it received commercial and critical success, earning a Best Actress nomination for Viola, the movie was criticised for adhering to the white saviour narrative, and Viola, looking back, felt that the film didn't focus on Black voices. 'I just felt that at the end of the day that it wasn't the voices of the maids that were heard... They're invested in the idea of what it means to be Black, but…it's catering to the white audience." Timothée Chalamet – A Rainy Day in New York Timothée essentially disavowed A Rainy Day in New York, and it's director, Woody Allen, before it had even been released. After completing filming for the picture the year previously, in 2018 the actor posted on Instagram, expressing that the least year had 'changed the way I see and feel about so many things'.He went on to add: 'I am learning that a good role isn't the only criteria for accepting a job – that has become much clearer to me in the past few months, having witnessed the birth of a powerful movement intent on ending injustice, inequality and above all, silence."He then revealed that he would not be taking any of his salary for the role, and instead donating it to various charities: 'I have been asked in a few recent interviews about my decision to work on a film with Woody Allen last summer. I'm not able to answer the question directly because of contractual obligations. But what I can say is this: I don't want to profit from my work on the film, and to that end, I am going to donate my entire salary to three charities: Time's Up, the LGBT Centre in New York, and Rainn [the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network]." Zac Efron – High School Musical While the cheesy teen film rocketed Zac to stardom, he does not look back fondly on the film, or his role in it. While insisting that he has nothing but love for the cast and fans, he doesn't enjoy thinking about his character, or the fame he got from playing him. Speaking about playing Troy Bolton and what it did for his career, here's what he had to say:'I step back and look at myself and I still want to kick that guy's ass sometimes. "He's done some kind of cool things with some cool people – he did that one thing that was funny – but, I mean, he's still just that fucking kid from High School Musical." Channing Tatum – G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Channing has pathed out quite the career for himself, particularly from his non-traditional route into acting. However, there is one particular role that he does not look back fondly on. It was the 2009 film, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, and despite turning it down seven times, they had an option on him so he had to agree to taking the role here's what the actor had to say: 'I was pushed into doing it. The script wasn't any good. I didn't want to do something that was, one, bad, and two, I just didn't know if I wanted to be GI Joe."In fact, he hated it so much that, for the sequel, he asked to be killed off in the first 10 minutes in order to rule him out of any subsequent continuations of the franchise. Sandra Bullock – Speed 2: Cruise Control Sandra made no attempts to hide her regret for Speed 2, and in an interview in 2022 said that she wished that she hadn't done it. Her main qualm with it was the plot itself, saying that it "made no sense." She described the plot as a "Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island," and explicitly said that she's embarrassed to have been in it. Her embarrassment was reflected in the sequels reception amongst critics and cinema-goers alike, with the film earning a string of negative reviews, and it's run at the box office barely making back the production costs. Matt Damon – The Bourne Ultimatum Even though The Bourne Ultimatum turned out to be a huge financial success, taking home over $440 million, Matt wasn't happy about the production, the script, or any of it really. Speaking about the initial script he read, he had some damning things to say: 'I don't blame Tony [Gilroy] for taking a boatload of money and handing in what he handed in. It's just that it was unreadable. This is a career-ender. I mean, I could put this thing up on eBay and it would be game over for that dude. It's terrible. It's really embarrassing. He was having a go, basically, and he took his money and left.'Matt also had problems with the chaotic, disorganised filming process, saying, "We had a start date. Like, 'It's coming out August of next year.' We're like, 'Hang on, we've got to figure out what the script is'.' Stanley Tucci – The Lovely Bones For some actors, it isn't the actual movie itself that they regret being in, rather it's the character they played that they found difficult to deal with. For Stanley, it was the role of George Harvey, the sadistic serial killer that struck fear into the eyes of viewers. On playing the role, he said: "I would not play George Harvey again in The Lovely Bones, which was horrible. It's a wonderful movie, but it was a tough experience. Simply because of the role. I asked Peter Jackson why he cast me in that role. I tried to get out of playing the role, which is crazy because I needed a job." Theo James – Divergent After staring in Divergent and its subsequent sequels, Theo James felt as though he was stuck in similar roles, ones that he didn't particularly want to do. Speaking about being pigeonholed, he said: "You do a certain type of film and you sign contracts where you are beholden to those roles for a certain period of time and people see you in a certain light that you have to wrestle your way out of. That is a hundred percent the case with actors — and it was definitely the case with me."He went on to add that this rigidity within the industry was frustrating for him, expressing his discontent with playing those type of parts: "I felt I didn't have the fluidity to move in the directions that I wanted. You're very much in a certain type of role — and those roles can be pretty fucking boring." Jessica Alba – Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer Jessica was a rising star when she got the blockbuster role of Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, in Fantastic Four. The movie's commercial success had the studio rush to release a sequel a couple of years later. It was this movie, Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer, that caused Jessica to consider leaving the industry all together, she hated it that much. Speaking about the experience of making it, she said: 'I wanted to stop acting. I hated it. I really hated it. I remember when I was dying in Silver Surfer. The director was like, 'It looks too real. It looks too painful. Can you be prettier when you cry? Cry pretty, Jessica''. Michelle Pfeiffer – Grease 2 Michelle admitted that, when she actually took the role, she was "young and didn't know better." Her main regret was to do with simply how bad she thought the film was, saying: "I hated that film with a vengeance and could not believe how bad it was."Even though it garnered a rather poor reaction, Michelle was at least pleased to find out that the movie has become somewhat of a cult classic! Colin Farrell – Miami Vice There are a number of reasons why Colin doesn't look back fondly on the 2006 movie, one of which was the personal turmoil that he was facing during the filming. It acts as a reminder of a particularly trying time for him, as he'd been feeling the effects of 16 years of being "drunk and high," and immediately checked himself into rehab after filming concluded. The film itself though is also something Colin's not proud of, with the actor saying that he didn't like it, calling it "style over substance." He accepted his fair share of the responsibility but also felt like they missed an opportunity, saying: 'It was never going to be Lethal Weapon, but I think we missed an opportunity to have a friendship that also had some elements of fun. ' George Clooney – Batman & Robin While the competition for "worst superhero movie" is stiff, Batman & Robin is certainly a contender, and it seems that George, who starred in the film, agrees. 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Speaking about working with both disgraced directors, she said: 'It's like, what the fuck was I doing working with Woody Allen and Roman Polanski? It's unbelievable to me now how those men were held in such high regard, so widely in the film industry and for as long as they were. It's fucking disgraceful.' She went on to add that it's something she has to face, and that there's no point shying away from it, adding; "I have to take responsibility for the fact that I worked with them both. I can't turn back the clock. I'm grappling with those regrets, but what do we have if we aren't able to just be fucking truthful about all of it?' Ben Affleck – Daredevil The critic and audience responses to Daredevil clearly suggest that no one was a big fan of this movie, and that's something Ben Affleck, wholeheartedly agrees with. He certainly didn't mince his words when talking about the film, saying, "I hate Daredevil so much." He spoke about why the movie didn't work, saying: "That was before people realised you could make these movies and make them well. There was a cynical sense of 'put a red leather outfit on a guy, have him run around, hunt some bad guys, and cash the cheque'.'In fact, Ben's feelings about the movie played a part in his accepting the role in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, saying, "Part of it was I wanted for once to get one of these movies and do it right – to do a good version." Sylvester Stallone – Judge Dredd Sylvester has had some major highs in his career, most notably the knockout success of Rocky. He does, however, have a number of notable regrets, the most severe of these is the 1995 comic book movie Judge Dredd. He called the movie "The biggest mistake I ever made." He also described the handling of the film as "sloppy." A lot of the regret comes from his idea of what the film could have been, saying: "It could have been a fantastic, nihilistic, interesting vision of the future – judge, jury and executioner. That really bothered me a great deal.' What other actor regrets have you heard about? Let us know in the comments below!
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
Gen Xers mourn drowning death of actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, known as Theo on ‘The Cosby Show'
Warner was swimming Sunday afternoon at Playa Cocles in Costa Rica's Limon province when a current pulled him deeper into the Caribbean, according to that country's Judicial Investigation Department. Advertisement First responders found him without vital signs. Cori Murray, executive vice president of content at Ebony Magazine, was saddened upon hearing about Warner's death. She said his Theo character mirrored the everyday Black teenager, which was rare to see on TV at the time. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up While so many portrayals of young Black teenagers leaned negative, 'The Cosby Show,' especially Theo, showed warmth, joy and relatability. 'He wasn't just a character. We saw ourselves in him,' Murray said. 'You know how Kendrick Lamar has the song 'Not Like Us'? Well, Theo was one of us. He was like us.' Murray, who met Warner a few times, recalled his character off-screen matched the warmth he exuded on television. She called him respectful and pleasant and said he had a 'megawatt smile' that lit up the room. Advertisement 'His energy stayed with you,' Murray said. 'You don't have a bad memory when it comes to Theo or Malcolm-Jamal Warner. As much as we loved the character, we also watched Malcolm grow up in real life. No scandals. No mess. Just a talented young man who matured into an upstanding, handsome adult.' 'The Cosby Show' was groundbreaking and a ratings giant, drawing in viewers across racial, cultural and economic backgrounds. The show ran for 197 episodes from 1984 to 1992. In 1986, Warner earned an Emmy nomination for supporting actor in a comedy. The show starring Bill Cosby as Cliff Huxtable and Phylicia Rashad as his wife, Clair, 'made the wider society aware that there are Black people who live like white people do,' said Cammock, who is Black. 'The perception that we don't live like they do was hurtful.' Gil Robertson, co-founder and president of the African American Film Critics Association, reflected on Warner's rare path in the entertainment industry. 'There was never any scandal, no controversy,' said Robertson. 'He transitioned from a teen star to a respected adult without the baggage we often see from others in his generation. That's no small feat.' Robertson added: 'The legacy of Theo Huxtable — and Malcolm's performance — will live on. It left an imprint that will continue to resonate in our culture for generations.' Lynn Reasonover, 62, of Oak Lawn, Illinois, began receiving messages Monday afternoon about Warner's death. Her initial thoughts were 'Nope, didn't happen.' 'Then, I kept seeing the news flashes and friends started sending texts,' Reasonover said. 'So, it's sinking in. Makes you realize how much some celebrities help shape our memories. His work had such a huge impact. I'm feeling a personal loss because we grew up with him. It's like losing a part of our childhood.' Advertisement Reasonover saw much of her family in the Huxtables, where both parents were professionals who valued education and handled family issues with understanding and love. 'They had similar problems to what we experienced growing up,' she said. 'We could relate and that's why we laughed.' Rasheda Williams, 46, of Detroit was about the same age as Rudy, the youngest character on 'The Cosby Show' and Theo's little sister. Williams said she and others are mourning Warner's passing because of what they saw in the character he played. 'He's like the ideal cousin you wish you had,' Williams said. 'Hearing the news has really affected some of us. It was unexpected. He wasn't sick. That makes it even more tragic.' 'He wasn't just an actor,' she said. 'He was also an activist, a positive role model, not just for young Black men, but for young Black women as well.' AP Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Eater
an hour ago
- Eater
D.C.'s Activist Hub Busboys and Poets, 20 Years In
is a James Beard Award-winning food and travel journalist, cookbook author, and Senior Editor at Eater. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Saveur, and others. In 2013, when I was 21 years old, I traveled with my Model African Union team from the University of Houston to Howard University in Washington, D.C. Trayvon Martin's murder the year before had a sweeping impact on me and my classmates — all of us ignited with a charge to have an expert-level understanding of our Black history, and the tools to make the world a better place once we graduated. We discussed these issues with our professor at Busboys and Poets, known as the intellectual hub of D.C.'s Black, immigrant, and progressive community. At the time, this was the spot to be in D.C., according to my professor, and to the coolest and most elite of the progressive 'Chocolate City.' Being in that space made us feel like we were Texas's coolest college students. The walls of vivid, colorful artwork enchanted us. Bookshelves filled with works from Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, and Zora Neale Hurston grounded us. And the conversations we had over shrimp and chicken chorizo pasta (to this day, still my favorite thing on their menu) nourished us as we became more and more inspired about the lives that potentially lay ahead of us. Iraqi American immigrant Andy Shallal opened Busboys and Poets in 2005. Since then, the restaurant-bookstore-community space has led with progressive ideals first, and has been patronized by politicians, musicians, and college students; it's hosted the likes of Angela Davis, Harry Belafonte, Alice Walker, and Howard Zinn. But Busboys' tenure thus far hasn't gone without challenges: As a business centered around Black culture and activist ideals owned by a non-Black man, it's been the center of contention and has endured internal and external changes. But the mission and values of Busboys remain ever present, and thus far, its reputation within a conscientious group of diners continues. I recently spoke to Shallal about opening the business amid the United States invasion of Iraq, operating a space anchored by Black history as an Iraqi American, and the importance of combining food and activism in the restaurant space. The restaurant, internet cafe, and bar section of Busboys and Poets in 2005. Susan Biddle/The Washington Post via Getty Images The Busboys dining room today. Busboys and Poets Eater: Why open a restaurant that's also a bookstore and a place for community engagement? Andy Shallal: I always imagined a place like this, and I wanted to create a place that I didn't find elsewhere in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Restaurants in particular and gathering places like this are perfect for the type of conversations that we need as a society to bring people together. People ask us this a lot, so I wrote about my experience of being in the country in my memoir, A Seat at the Table: The Making of Busboys and Poets. It talks about my upbringing in this country, the way that I was exposed to politics, to race, to different parts of the restaurant business, and the decision to bring all of those elements into one place. This is clearly a space rooted in African American ideals, activism, and intellectualism. Was there any particular part of your upbringing or childhood that made you particularly invested in the Black American experience? It was more about how race plays out in every part of life in this country, and I experienced that because of the way I looked: different. I wasn't white; I was mistaken for Black many times in many spaces. I started to understand — I was almost like a fly on the wall, hearing what the other side says about the other side — and started to understand this race issue. We sometimes say it's just a social construct, but it has huge ramifications on someone's upbringing, and where they live, who they date, whether or not they get in trouble with the police, how much income they make, their health. Everything is really focused around this social construct that we call 'race.' I was trying to understand it. How is it possible that something so constructed has so much impact on one's life and outcomes? It's always been at the forefront of my social and political interactions because of my experiences coming to this country as a child and experiencing race firsthand: Being called the n-word when I didn't know what that meant; being called terms attributed to light-skinned Black people, when I didn't know what that meant; being, for a time, uncomfortable to associate with any particular group at the cafeteria, because I didn't fit in with anyone. It was difficult, managing and navigating the racial undertones of this country, and I wanted to create a place for people to come into and be able to interact with one another without feeling uncomfortable. Can you tell me about the earliest days of Busboys and Poets? What was going on in D.C.? It was shortly after 9/11. Being an Arab and a Muslim, I felt very much like an outsider, and I really wanted to find my tribe. So I started thinking of creating a place that is welcoming to people who, historically, have been unwelcome in these types of places. And I started searching for a space in D.C. I wanted it to be in an iconic location: The U Street Corridor, at one point called Black Broadway, was ideal. I found the place and decided to just go from there. I tried to create a place that would become a hub for activists, for people who believe a better world is possible, for people who feel that being marginalized and being a country that's always going to war is not necessarily the way to go. I wanted to bring in the dreamers, the people who believe in a better world. I created it with a bookstore at the front; a lounge for people to interact and hang with people, a space in the back for poetry, author talks, and panel discussions; murals and artwork that represent the various types of people that make up our country, and the values we hold. At that time, the Iraq War was in full force. When we were opening, it just happened that one of the largest anti-war marches was taking place here in D.C. I've been an activist most of my life, and so I was fairly known in the peace movement in this arena. We had the peace and justice movement basically hanging out here days before and after the march. And people responded positively. The Busboys and Poets menu circa 2011. The favorite shrimp and chicken chorizo pasta was $16 then — it's still on the menu at $25 now. Pizza is no longer available, replaced with a section on the current menu of vegan bowls. Busboys and Poets isn't a traditional restaurant. What makes this space so distinct? There's no minimum expense to be here; you don't have to spend any money. You can hang out, drink water and enjoy some of the programming we have; 90 percent of it is free of charge. People come in and listen to amazing authors and talks just by showing up. I wanted to make sure the food was really good, because if you don't have really good food, people are going to eat before they get here. It's open to the public, and it's open all the time. From the beginning, I wanted to make sure that the food was accessible to as many people as possible. We have a handful of meat options, but a lot of our food is vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based. We opened in 2005 with vegan options; we were one of the first places that offered vegan and vegetarian food options in the city. There's a full range, not only of choices of food, but choices of prices. What was getting investment like to open the space? When I first was getting ready to open this place, I went to different banks looking for a loan, and many turned me down: Bookstores didn't make money. Coffee shops didn't really make that much money. Panel discussions of anti-war activism weren't going to make money. None of these things, in their mind, seem to make money. But bring them all together, and the synergy that creates is what I was looking for. Intuitively, I knew that would work. Finally, Industrial Bank agreed and went ahead and gave me the loan that I needed to get started. So, you opened the flagship location on 14th and V Streets, NW, which also happens to be the first location I visited when I was a college student. What does Busboys look like now? Once I got started and people saw how the business was, those banks that turned me down before were knocking on my door, telling me that they wanted to lend me money. So it's funny how that works. I was approached by developers and other people who said, 'Oh, you should open a place in my neighborhood. You should open the place here.' Slowly but surely, we started opening several places – we're up to eight so far. We have eight locations now in the D.C. area — two in Maryland and one in Virginia. But I didn't start with the intention of opening more places. Around 2008, the Washington City Paper used to do a Reader's Choice [award], and they asked the readers what would be their favorite place to take an out-of-towner. They ranked Busboys and Poets over the National Mall, which I thought was fascinating. That was a really big moment, where people really did see us as a place that represented D.C. The Busboys datebook from the week of September 4, 2006, when the restaurant celebrated its first anniversary. Busboys and Poets You're running a restaurant vocally rooted in activism during this current administration, just blocks away from the White House. How have you and your team grappled with the current and previous challenges at the restaurant? We've gone through many different iterations and issues that we've had to face, not the least of which was, of course, COVID. With the first Trump administration and the changes in the energy of the city, this was also very challenging. It's the people's business. It's a service. During the second Trump administration, we have become that much more important for people. The fact that there is a space that is safe, that people come to and retreat from the insanity that's around us, I think, is really one of our strengths. Dealing with issues of Palestine, dealing with issues of what's happening with this administration, and the DEI debacle that's taking place, dealing with all of the anti-immigration sentiment, eliminating taxes on tipped wages, and so on: policy and other issues not only happening here locally, but also nationally. So I am aware that you know, as you grow bigger, your responsibilities get more serious, and we are getting bigger. What do you see for the future of Busboys and Poets? I really want to be at the forefront of progressive ideas and progressive policies. So, whether it's making sure that immigrants are safe, making sure we source our food well, use green energy, and so on. I want us to be able to continue to do the work that we do. I think all of these things are important. Speaking up on international issues is important. We have a voice, we have a platform, and I want to make sure that it's used judiciously in a way that's going to really make the world a better place. This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. Sign up for Eater's newsletter The freshest news from the food world every day Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
