Every week, WGBH Arts Editor Jared Bowen sums up the exhibitions, theater, movies and music you should check out in and around Boston.
Voicing Woods: Jeremy Adams, Instrument Maker, on view at the Cape Ann Museum through February 26
Cape Ann Museum's Synopsis: "This exhibition showcases the prodigious skills and artistry of Jeremy Adams, one of the most gifted musical instrument makers in New England. The exhibition, which will be held in the Cape Ann Museum’s 1,500 square foot special exhibitions gallery, will include a one-stop chamber organ, a demonstration organ chest, a 1995 clavichord and a selection of harpsichords, each built in its entirety by Adams in his Danvers, Massachusetts workshop. In addition to the instruments that will be shown in the gallery, a selection of Adams’s furniture will be displayed in the Museum’s 1804 Captain Elias Davis House, offering an interesting contrast to the period furniture in the House."
Jared Says: "A show that invites slow looking to marvel at the maker."
Making Modern, on view at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston through January 15, 2018
MFA's Synopsis: "A five-gallery exhibition on the third floor of the MFA’s Art of the Americas Wing explores what it meant to be in the vanguard of modern art in the 20th century. From Frida Kahlo to Jackson Pollock, original voices of modern artists working in the Americas were influenced by a variety of contemporaries, teachers, rivals, and friends. Incorporating diverse sources of inspiration, 20th-century painters took their artistic practice in dramatic new directions. Each gallery represents a moment—from Mexico City to New York to Boston—illustrating the evolution of modern art in North America. Featuring new acquisitions, rarely seen loans, and masterpieces from the MFA’s collection, the installations provide fresh perspectives on modern artists working in the 20th century."
Jared Says: "Deliriously good art, stories, and history."
Hidden Figures, in theaters January 6
Twentieth Century Fox's Synopsis: "Hidden Figures is the incredible untold story of Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe)—brilliant African-American women working at NASA, who served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in history: the launch of astronaut John Glenn into orbit, a stunning achievement that restored the nation’s confidence, turned around the Space Race, and galvanized the world. The visionary trio crossed all gender and race lines to inspire generations to dream big."
Jared Says: "Told with an upbeat, positive sensibility, Hidden Figures is both a revelation and an inspiration."
The Scottsboro Boys, now extended through January 22 at SpeakEasy Stage Company
SpeakEasy's Synopsis: "In this, their final collaboration, legendary songwriting team John Kander and Fred Ebb (Cabaret, Chicago) bring to light one of the most infamous events in American history: the shocking true story of nine African American boys jailed in Alabama in 1931 for a crime they did not commit. Featuring a mix of gospel, jazz, and vaudeville, this audacious musical uses the construct of a minstrel show to tell the harrowing true story that provoked a national outrage and helped launch the American civil rights movement."
Jared Says: "On the one hand you feel like you're getting this big, rousing Broadway musical, but at the same time you're seeing the prejudice, feeling the prejudice that these men did."
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This post has been updated.
