WILL IN THE WESTWell, we knew Shakespeare was the gold standard — but so, it seems, did the California Forty-Niners. After a hard day of panning for precious metal, they were hungry for entertainment, and the Bard fit the bill. In Olivier- and Tony-winning playwright Richard Nelson’s
HOW SHAKESPEARE WON THE WEST, which gets its world premiere tonight courtesy of the Huntington Theatre Company, an eccentric troupe of New York actors travel West to perform Shakespeare in the midst of the Gold Rush. Enduring stiff competition and Indian attacks, they doubtless long for the tame old days when the biggest threat was the assault of the critics. Boston favorites Will LeBow and Jeremiah Kissel head a cast aptly helmed by California Shakespeare Theater artistic director Jonathan Moscone, at the Boston University Theatre, 264 Huntington Ave, Boston | September 5–October 5 | $20-$82.50 | 617.266.0800 or
www.huntingtontheatre.org.
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VINTAGE SONDHEIM
It’s 1971, and the wrecking ball is about to hit a once-grand New York theater. But not before a reunion of the aging showgirls who once worked there. The landmark musical
FOLLIES, which the Lyric Stage Company of Boston revives tonight, won a 1972 Tony for Stephen Sondheim’s score, which includes “Broadway Baby,” “Losing My Mind,” and that anthem to survival, “I’m Still Here.” And artistic director Spiro Veloudos helms a cast that’s a who’s who of Boston tonsils — Leigh Barrett, Jacqui Parker, Kathy St. George, Bobbie Steinbach, and Maryann Zschau, to name a few. The Lyric is at 140 Clarendon St, Boston | September 5–October 11 | $25-$50 | 617.585.5678 or
www.lyricstage.com.
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FREEBOPSan Francisco Bay–area saxophonist
MITCH MARCUS brings his sprightly bop-to-rock-to-free jazz quintet — with fellow sax man and composer Sylvain Carton and drummer Ches Smith — to the Lily Pad, 1353 Cambridge St, Cambridge | 7 pm | $10 suggested donation | 617.395.1393 or
www.lily-pad.net.
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WHO NEEDS VEGAS?A visitor to the gambling capital of Nevada can choose between a half-dozen offerings by
CIRQUE DU SOLEIL. The Montreal-based purveyor of mystery, spectacle, and acrobatics has not yet colonized Boston, but tonight it sets up its Grand Chapiteau — Big Top to you — for a month-long visit by its latest extravaganza,
KOOZA, which takes its name from the Sanskrit word for “treasure.” Like all Cirque offerings, this one is set in an exotic visual world where “themes of fear, identity, recognition, and power” waft through dazzling feats of juggling and trapeze including an act called the Wheel of Death. Okay, we see where the fear theme comes in. It’s at the Bayside Expo Center, 200 Mount Vernon St, Dorchester | September 5–October 5 | $55-$125; $38.50-$87.50 children; $49.50-$112.50 seniors, students, weekdays only; VIP Tapis Rouge package $215, $150.50 children | 800.678.5440 or
www.cirquedusoleil.com.
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SILVER JUBILEEWhen in 2006 the infamously stage-shy David Berman decided to take his
SILVER JEWS on tour, it was a big deal. Would the reclusive wordsmith be able to handle the spotlight? Would his loping and literary songs translate to a live setting? But it seems the tour was so much fun that they’re doing it again. The band’s latest release,
Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea (Drag City), is excellent. Berman has been enjoying a new outlook on life since a cornea transplant last year. And the Jews’ bassist — Berman’s wife, Cassie — will be reunited with her brother, Joe Marrett, who plays bass for Boston’s beloved
HALLELUJAH THE HILLS. Along with Western Mass kids
WHO SHOT HOLLYWOOD, they get the party started at the Middle East downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 8 pm | $15 | 617.864.EAST or
www.mideastclub.com.
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SEX MUSIC
THE CULT’s power goth has accrued lots of extra oomph through the years. The “She Sells Sanctuary” boys blended macho swagger with mucho muscle on last year’s
Born Into This (Roadrunner). Much of it comes from Ian Astbury. The lead singer was enough of a classic frontman to help the Doors fill Jim Morrison’s shoes a few years ago, and with his own band, that sexy charisma brings emotional cred to nasty riffs. “You know we need a dirty little rock star,” he sings in one tune, and it’s obvious that he has all the elements to fill the role himself. Watch the vets roar through their catalog at Lupo’s, 79 Washington Street, Providence, at 8 pm | $35 + $30 | 401.331.5876 | lupos.com
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A MORE PERFECT UNIONIt might be a little tricky to get to Somerville’s Union Square, but after tonight, it’ll be way trickier to leave. The good folks at the Somerville Arts Council’s ArtsUnion have put together an entire day of ways to make other Squares bitter with jealousy. From 3 to 7 pm, you can score more junk than William Burroughs in Tangiers when the
ROCK AND ROLL YARD SALE busts out kiosk after kiosk of vinyl, CDs, tapes (yes, tapes!), T-shirts, gear, and whatever else local girlfriends want out of local living rooms — plus there’ll be performances from
COSTARR, the ’
MERICANS, the
BLIND KING, CHRIS MONTI, and
DJ XDONRICKLESX. Later, at 8 pm, enjoy a demonstrational smackdown from
YANG’S MARTIAL ARTS ASSOCIATION before local improv heartthrobs
DEVIL MUSIC ENSEMBLE concoct a live score to the 1929 Chinese martial-arts classic
RED HEROINE. By the end of the night, you’ll have so many friends (with couches) in the hood that you’ll probably never have to leave again. Problem solved. And it’s free | 617.625.6600 x 2985 or
www.somervilleartscouncil.org.
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UNDER A LOWELL SKYThis, we think it’s safe to say, is the first of its kind: in honor of the 25th anniversary of U2’s live album/concert vid Under a Blood Red Sky, local tribute band the
JOSHUA TREE are attempting a “theatrical re-creation” of their idols’ June ’83 breakthrough performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre outside Denver. No word on whether the audience will be called upon to take part at the Lowell Memorial Auditorium, 50 East Merrimack St, Lowell | 8 pm | $8 | 978.454.2299 or
www.lowellauditorium.com.
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MEET MARKETFour authors. One theme. Enormous Room. So runs the list of crucial elements of Tracy Slater’s very cool
“FOUR STORIES” reading series. The new season begins this evening with “Friends and Strangers: Stories of the People We Meet,” writers
STEVE ALMOND,
ETHAN GILSDORF, MATT GROSS, and
FELICIA SULLIVAN serving up the encounter chronicles. Music starts at 6 pm, the readings start at 7, and the place fills up fast, so get there early to find a spot on a riser with some cushions | 567 Mass Ave, Cambridge | free | 617.491.5599 or
www.fourstories.org.
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PAUL’S WELLIt’s long perplexed us why
PAUL WELLER is a massive, smashing superstar at home in the UK but merely a cult figure (albeit a sizable one) here in the US. Maybe we really are as dumb as they say we are? Weller’s latest, 22 Dreams (Yep Roc), debuted at #1 in the UK, and by rights it should be moving major units here: its genre-hopping songs (soul, folk, jazz, spoken word, feedback-squealing rock), with contributions from countrymen Robert Wyatt, Graham Coxon, and Noel Gallagher, are as fine as anything he’s done in his more-than-30-year career. He takes the stage tonight at the Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass Ave, Boston | 7:30 pm | $39.50 | 617.747.2261 or
www.berkleebpc.com.
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DUB FOR LIGHT
On his sporadic solo jaunts, the Rastafarian shaman
H.R. tends to favor crooning, watery reggae over the white-lightning hardcore of Bad Brains, the band he’s fronted since 1977. But he’s a man of constant surprises, and a dub-slackened version of “Re-Ignition” is by no means out of the question. Expect blissed-out swaying, running-on-the-spot dancing, shuddering messianic calls, and thunderbolt vibes. Last year’s Bad Brains reunion album, Build a Nation (Megaforce), might have been unconvincing, but H.R. in person is anything but, so catch him with openers
DESTROY BABYLON at Harpers Ferry, 158 Brighton Ave, Allston | 9 pm | $15 | 617.254.9743 or
www.harpersferryboston.com.
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PRODIGALNOAH PREMINGER’s
Dry Bridge Road (Nowt Records) is shaping up to be the jazz debut of the year. “Mature” and “accomplished” are the words that get thrown at the 22-year-old New England Conservatory grad (now living in New York), but that doesn’t even begin to hint at the power and grace of his playing or his shapely, detailed compositions for small band. And it’s a great band, mostly drawn from the album, coming with him to Scullers: guitarist Ben Monder, pianist Frank Kimbrough, trumpeter Russ Johnson, bassist John Hebert, and drummer Jochen Ruechert | 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston | 8 pm | $18 | 617.562.4111 or
www.scullersjazz.com.
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TENORISTSaxophonist
CHRIS POTTER was everywhere at the Newport Jazz Festival a few weeks ago, in multiple performances with Herbie Hancock and an all-star group with Dave Holland and Gonzalo Rubalcaba and even in a short guest appearance with post-jazz keyboard man Marco Benevento. And he tore up the house every time — not least with his
UNDERGROUND band. Most likely, it will be Underground he brings to the Regattabar for two nights, with Fender Rhodes keyboard man Craig Taborn, drummer Nate Smith, and guitarist Adam Rogers | Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge | September 10-11 @ 7:30 + 10 pm | $25 early shows; $22 late shows | 617.395.7757 or
www.regattabarjazz.com.
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CRESCENT CITY STORIESIn his 2005 book
Why New Orleans Matters, esteemed music writer
TOM PIAZZA (he won a Best Album Notes Grammy in 2004 for his work on
Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: A Musical Journey) paid tribute to his recently devastated adopted city. His new
CITY OF REFUGE (Harper) is a sort of fictional follow-up to that non-fiction work, the story of “two families, one white and one black, as their lives are torn apart by the storm and then slowly stitched back together in its aftermath.” Piazza comes to our city to read from the book, at Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Brookline | 7 pm | free | 617.566.6660 or
www.brooklinebooksmith.com.
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TROUBADOURBoston singer-songwriter
DIGNEY FIGNUS, who broke out of the local punk scene with his MTV hit “The Girl with the Curious Hand” back in 1984, has more recently been doing the blues ’n’ roots thing. He follows up 2006’s
Trouble on the Levee with the new
Talk of the Town, continuing the story of Johnnie Boudreaux, “a man too good-lookin’ for his own good.” Fignus plies his crafty songwriting and sweet vocal chops at Scullers, DoubleTree Guest Suites Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Road, Boston | 617.562.4111 | 8 pm | $16 | 617.562.4111 or
www.scullersjazz.com.
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ONE MORE TIMEOops! Last week’s “Red Sox and Apple Pie” wasn’t the last free Hatch Shell concert of the summer from
CHARLES ANSBACHER and the
BOSTON LANDMARKS ORCHESTRA, as we told you in last week’s “8 Days a Week.” That would be tonight’s performance of the Verdi Requiem, with soprano Barbara Quintiliani, mezzo-soprano Mary Westbrook-Geha, tenor Yeghishe Manucharyan, baritone Robert Honeysucker, and Chorus pro Musica. We just hope it’s not lights out for the Sox on the Esplanade, Embankment Rd + Storrow Dr | 7 pm | 617.547.0079 or
www.landmarksorchestra.org.
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DANCING WITHOUT THE STARSWhen
A CHORUS LINE premiered at New York’s Public Theatre, in 1975, we knew we weren’t in
Oklahoma! anymore. The concept musical based on a dancers’ audition and culled from the real-life stories of its original performers quickly moved to Broadway, where it ran for 15 years, picking up nine Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. The recent 30th-anniversary revival of the landmark show hoofs its way into the Opera House tonight for a three-week run. Directed by its Tony-winning original co-choreographer, Bob Avian, the show replicates the legendary Michael Bennett’s original production right down to the cut of the leotards. So whether you’d like to see it again or weren’t around to see it the first time, now’s your chance to take in a chapter of Broadway history. The Opera House is at 536 Washington St, Boston | September 11–October 5 | $30-$91 | 617.931.2787 or
www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com/Boston.
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THE WIKIMAN COMETH
Say what you want about
JIMMY WALES, but Wikipedia — which he launched with Larry Sanger in 2001 — is, despite its imperfections, an Internet miracle. “Jimbo,” as he is annoyingly known to sycophantic Wikimaniacs, is in town to talk
“FREE SPEECH, FREE MINDS, FREE MARKETS: COMPETITION AND COLLABORATION” with local chatmeister
CHRISTOPHER LYDON, and in the Wiki spirit, their talk will be followed by an open discussion. It’s a Ford Hall Forum event at Suffolk University’s C. Walsh Theatre, 55 Temple St, Boston | 6:30 pm | free | 617.557.2007 or
www.fordhallforum.org.
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WORLD JAZZPioneering jazz/world-music quartet
OREGON come to Scullers with original members Ralph Towner on guitars, Paul McCandless on reeds and other winds, and Glen Moore on bass, and newer member Mark Walker on percussion | DoubleTree Guest Suites Hotel, 400 Soldiers Field Rd, Boston | 8 + 10 pm | $25 | 617.562.4111 or
www.scullersjazz.com.
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