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CBS News
3 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Boston Ballet's "Roméo et Juliette" features unique form of dancing in the tragic love story
Boston Ballet's new production of "Roméo et Juliette" is unlike any you've seen before, with Juliette taking on a different form of dancing. The tragic love story in this contemporary piece is still intact but the presentation of the ballet is unique, with Juliette dancing some of the piece barefoot. "The barefoot dance is actually harder for classical ballet dancers," said principal dancer Seo Hye Han. "We are switching from pointe shoes to bare feet. That means we are using different muscles of the legs, so I do some exercises to turn on the different muscles." In rehearsals, the dancers wrap their ankles for extra support and in some cases, tape their toes to protect their feet from blisters. "[It] was a little challenging but now I understand why it must be barefoot because it changes the mood, it changes the movement, it gets more wild and more natural," said Han. "I think when you see a dancer, barefoot, hair down, just fully herself or himself, it makes it such a personal journey. It makes it so vulnerable," said second soloist Courtney Nitting. "Playing the nurse, I am very close with the Juliette and the Roméo even throughout the entire ballet and seeing those characters go through the starts in pointe shoes and then going to barefoot, you just really much of her soul that she can give to the audience. I think that's what dancing barefoot does. You're grounded in the floor, you're not really wearing anything, your hair is down, you're just completely you and you're in the story with the music." Combining dancing and acting For both dancers, acting is a key part of the performance. "I already danced a different version of Juliet many years ago and that Juliet was more girly, fragile, lyrical. So I needed to recreate my own Juliet again when I learned this ballet," said Han. "The funny thing is this Juliet is more close to my personality so I had so much fun doing not really shy in this version. She knows what she wants. She's very wild. She's bold, sometimes very rebellious." "I get to be super fun and silly and flirty as the nurse," said Nitting. "And then I also get to find those deeper, more intimate particular version of 'Roméo et Juliette' is just very human and I think that's something that's really special about it and it makes it personal for us as dancers and hopefully for the audience as well." "It drains lots of emotions from me and that's the actually hardest part, dancing in this Roméo et Juliette," said Han. "I have to put everything in it." Boston Ballet's production of "Roméo et Juliette" is at the Citizens Opera House through Sunday, June 8.
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Boston Ballet takes a leap of faith with Jean-Christophe Maillot's ‘Roméo et Juliette'
Boston has seen many versions of Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet' ballet. The Kirov brought Leonid Lavrovsky's 1940 Soviet première staging to the Wang Center in 1992. Over the past 40 years, Boston Ballet has offered versions by Choo San Goh, Daniel Pelzig, Rudi van Dantzig, and John Cranko. Now, as its 2024–25 season closer, the Ballet is presenting the stripped-down, streamlined creation that Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo director Jean-Christophe Maillot devised in 1996, and it's safe to say Boston has never seen a 'Romeo and Juliet' like this one. Thursday's opening night at the Citizens Opera House slid off the rails from time to time, but stupendous performances from Advertisement Prokofiev's score is a literal evocation of Shakespeare's play; that's why, regardless of choreography, stagings of the ballet tend to the traditional, with sumptuous Renaissance costumes and sets, a carnival atmosphere in the town square, and lots of swordplay. 'Roméo et Juliette' goes its own way. Ernest Pignon-Ernest's sliding white panels and ramps and blocks conjure the backdrop for a dream sequence; Dominique Drillot's atmospheric lighting sets the emotional tone for each scene. Jérôme Kaplan dresses the Montagues in pale tones and the Capulets in darker shades, everything long and flowing and floppy, no two outfits quite alike. Ernest Pignon-Ernest's sliding white backdrop and Dominique Drillot's atmospheric lighting provide emotion and contrast in each scene. Rosalie O'Connor The Prince, Lord Capulet, and Lord and Lady Montague have been eliminated from the cast, along with the Gypsies, the market wares, and anything resembling a sword or dagger. The full score can last close to 150 minutes; here, about a half hour has been removed, mostly ensemble numbers. Thursday's performance, with an intermission after act one and a pause between acts two and three, ran a reasonable 2½ hours. The Boston Ballet Orchestra under music director Mischa Santora was in top form; the erotic Knights' Dance in particular had the weight and accent it needs and doesn't always get. Advertisement 'Roméo et Juliette' opens with the credits — including the performance's principal cast — projected on a scrim while the orchestra plays the Introduction, a nice touch. When the curtain rises, we see Friar Laurence being hoisted aloft, in a crucified position, by two 'acolytes.' Maillot's conceit is that the story is being narrated by the friar, who's racked by regret at having failed the star-crossed lovers. It's a bold idea, given that he's a very minor presence in the score, but it's not a good one. Wearing a clerical collar and acting more like the Revivalist in Martha Graham's 'Appalachian Spring' than Shakespeare's humble Franciscan, this Friar Laurence stalks the action in one-dimensional anguish, his silent screams powerless to affect the outcome. It would be the same ballet, only better, without him. Maillot's contemporary choreography adds to a "Romeo and Juliet" unlike any other performed in Boston before. Rosalie O'Connor Maillot's version still has much to recommend it. His contemporary choreography is, like the costuming, flowing and floppy, but it has an angular quality that suits the music. His Romeo and Juliet are giddy, dizzy, frolicking teenagers; one moment she's backing off when he tries to kiss her, the next she's kissing him. In the balcony scene Thursday, Chae and Cirio were all speed and spontaneity, and their nuances made conventional ballet partnering seem generic. Advertisement A slinky, slit-skirted Rosaline (Emma Topalova on Thursday), who like Juliet is a Capulet, shines as Romeo's first love before a spiky Tybalt (Yue Shi) intervenes. Maillot's jittery, overworked Nurse (Courtney Nitting) is comic but not ridiculous; a sassy Mercutio (Sun Woo Lee) and a peacemaking Benvolio (Daniel R. Durrett) get room to ramble in the 'Masks' prelude to the Capulet party. Lady Capulet ( The delivery of the tragedies in the ballet's second and third acts occasionally feels out of place and uneven. Rosalie O'Connor Acts two and three are less rewarding. A slapstick puppet show in the square anticipates the deaths to come. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, slapstick Mercutio's prolonged death agony, a highlight of the score and a showpiece for the dancer, is cut. Romeo's pursuit of Tybalt is enacted in slow motion, a neat counterpoint to the lickety-split music, but the eventual brutal strangling seems out of place. Maillot is, again, at his best with Romeo and Juliet in the lovers' farewell, where she slaps him for killing Tybalt before falling into his arms and coaxing him back to bed. By now, though, the Nurse's idiosyncrasies and Lady Capulet's histrionics have begun to wear thin. An underused Paris exits the reluctant Juliet's bedroom and is never seen again. After a perplexing sequence with Friar Laurence and the acolytes that has nothing to do with the all-important potion, Juliet in bed becomes Juliet in the tomb. Romeo appears and rams his head into the base of the bier; Juliet wakes and, with Friar Laurence looking on helplessly, strangles herself with a long red rope of sheet that she seems to have pulled from Romeo's body. No Capulets or Montagues arrive to reconcile. Watching this bleak dénouement, you could sympathize with Prokofiev's original impulse to rewrite Shakespeare and give the ballet a happy ending. Advertisement ROMÉO ET JULIETTE Music by Sergei Prokofiev. Choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot. Sets by Ernest Pignon-Ernest. Costumes by Jérôme Kaplan. Lighting by Dominique Drillot. Presented by Boston Ballet. With the Boston Ballet Orchestra conducted by Mischa Santora. At Citizens Opera House, through June 8. Tickets $32-$232. 617-695-6955, Jeffrey Gantz can be reached at Jeffrey Gantz can be reached at
Boston Globe
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
82 fun things to do in and around Boston this summer
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 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 ' 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 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 – 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 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
Boston Globe
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Boston Ballet announces 2025-2026 season
Boston Ballet's Viktorina Kapitonova and SeokJoo Kim in company principal Lia Cirio's "After." Rosalie O'Connor, courtesy of Boston Ballet Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen describes the company's 62nd-anniversary season as combining 'some really long-term dreams coming true' and 'some visits to friends from the past.' 'Jewels' (Nov. 6-16), which premiered at New York City Ballet in 1967, is an evening-length triptych: 'Emeralds,' to music by Gabriel Fauré; 'Rubies,' to Igor Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra; and 'Diamonds,' to the last four movements of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony. Boston Ballet last did the piece in 2014. Nissinen considers it one of the great dance works of the 20th century, 'a jewel in the classical ballet repertory and also an absolute masterpiece from Balanchine. It's like one of your closest friends. We're just very happy to revisit.' Crystal Pite's 'The Seasons' Canon" will return for Boston Ballet's 'Winter Experience' in March 2026. Rosalie O'Connor, courtesy of Boston Ballet Advertisement The company's annual production of 'The Nutcracker' follows (Nov. 28-Dec. 28). Nissinen, citing this season's 46 sold-out performances of the holiday classic, isn't looking to change it. 'Winter Experience' (March 5-15) will couple Elo's 'Sacre' with Pite's 'The Seasons' Canon.' Nissinen likens the evening to an 'old-fashioned movie double bill, two amazing, contrasting works.' Set to the title Stravinsky score, 'Sacre' premiered in 2009, the final work Boston Ballet danced at the Wang Center. At the Opera House, Nissinen says, they'll have to reconfigure the line of tiny propane fires set along the rear of the stage. He adds, 'As you know, Jorma always tweaks it,' so audiences may be seeing something a bit different from the original. Advertisement Set to Max Richter's recomposition of Vivaldi's 'The Four Seasons' and calling for 54 dancers, 'The Seasons' Canon' was part of this season's 'Fall Experience' in October. Nissinen makes no apology for bringing the piece back so soon. 'It's a massive work that just about everybody related to last year. I have been in love with her work for such a long time, and now I just want to keep Crystal Pite coming in our rep year after year.' National Ballet of Canada's former principal dancer Jillian Vanstone and former second soloist Joe Chapman in Sir Frederick Ashton's "The Dream"; the ballet will be part of the Boston Ballet's 2025-26 season in March 2026. Aleksandar Antonijevic, courtesy of National Ballet of Canada 'The Dream' (March 19-29) pairs Ashton's one-act 'The Dream' with the Stromile world premiere. 'I love Ashton's 'Dream.' I was a 20-year-old young buck in Dutch National Ballet when I danced Puck, and then when I was at San Francisco I did the pas de deux. I also know that many people who come to Boston Ballet come year after year, and I want to show them a different 'Romeo,' I want to show them a different 'Dream.'' Stromile's premiere will be a different piece altogether. He retired from performing after this season's 'Nutcracker' to focus on choreographing. 'This is the 250th anniversary of America,' Nissinen reminds us, 'and I wanted to do a world premiere commissioned score.' Boston Ballet music director Mischa Santora will compose that score; for the choreography, Nissinen says he told Stromile, 'I want to give optimism, hope, for the future of this great nation.' Advertisement Jerome Robbins's "Dances at a Gathering" will appear as part of the Boston Ballet's 'Spring Experience' (May 7-17) also featuring Cirio's 'After" and Forsythe's 'Herman Schmerman." Pictured: Pacific Northwest Ballet in a previous production of "Dances." Angela Sterling, courtesy of Pacific Northwest Ballet 'Spring Experience' (May 7-17) will comprise Cirio's 'After,' Forsythe's 'Herman Schmerman,' and Robbins's 'Dances at a Gathering.' 'After' premiered at 'Fall Experience' 2024, with a score that Cirio assembled from Lera Auerbach's Preludes for Violin and Piano. 'I can't get enough of Lera Auerbach,' says Nissinen. 'I heard so many people loved it, and Lia did a very nice job with the choreography.' Forsythe created 'Herman Schmerman' for New York City Ballet's 1992 'Diamond Project,' and Nissinen recalls that's when he first saw the piece — 'Another pearl on the necklace of William Forsythe,' he calls it. Thom Willems's score is titled 'Just Ducky.' As for 'Dances at a Gathering,' Nissinen says, 'There hasn't been a day in my life that I haven't loved this ballet.' Robbins made the piece for New York City Ballet in 1969, setting it to an hour's worth of music by Frédéric Chopin, mostly mazurkas and waltzes. Nissinen was hoping to do 'Dances' for Boston Ballet's 50th anniversary, but the scheduling didn't work. And finally, 'The Sleeping Beauty' (May 28-June 7), which Boston Ballet last presented in 2023. Nissinen observes that even though Advertisement Jeffrey Gantz can be reached at Jeffrey Gantz can be reached at
CBS News
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- CBS News
Boston Ballet's "Vestris" allows male dancers to dream big and take center stage
When you go to the ballet, you often see female dancers in the spotlight. But in one special piece, it's the male dancer who is all alone and center stage. For the first time in six years, Boston Ballet is bringing "Vestris" back, as part of their Winter Experience program. It features a single male dancer on stage for several minutes. "The minute you put that costume on and you hear the music, you know that you're filling some big shoes," says Boston Ballet Associate Director Joan Boada. He has spent weeks working with the men who portray Vestris, in the piece originally created for Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1969. Principal dancer Derek Dunn says, "Anything that was created on Bridgenikov is like iconic. It's something that I think a lot of dancers inspire or aspire to perform. But it's quite a complex piece. There are a lot of different elements to it." Inspired by the famous French dancer Auguste Vestris, the role requires much more than just great ballet technique. Boada tells us, "It's a little more mental than physical in the demand because you have to play different characters as you play the role of Vestris." Soloist Daniel Durett explains, "One second, you are smiling and having a good time. The next second, you're angry, you're on the floor at one point. It's a rollercoaster of emotions for sure." Dunn says Vestris is a welcome return. "I first performed this role in 2019. And so I think I was about 24-years-old. I think what's nice coming back to it is being able to kind of build on the things that I worked on before and being able to kind of explore even further into these characters." With his performance, Durett became the first black man ever to dance the piece on a professional stage. He says, "When Mikko told me that I was doing Vestris, my reaction was, 'Really? Oh.' To have this opportunity to show myself and to show more artistry and technical aspects of my dancing? I'm very honored." "Especially for younger dancers to see a male dancer kind of in that spotlight and doing a solo like this? Hopefully is really inspiring," Dunn says. "We're just artists, we're just humans, we're just performing, so I want all the boys to dream big and do what they want," Boada agrees. "This solo is unlike anything I've ever done before in the sense that a lot of times with ballet you are inviting the audience to kind of observe the world you create on stage. And with this solo, you're, as the dancer, kind of inviting them in, and you're breaking down that boundary, and you're looking for their reactions, and you're feeding off of their reactions," Dunn continues. "And so it does feel almost like a duet with the audience, and so I would hope that people come into the theater excited to watch and feel like they can also energize the dancers as they do this piece." You can see "Vestris" as part of Boston Ballet's Winter Experience through March 30th at the Citizen's Opera House in Boston.
