Best of the Week: Our Picks for December 14-18, 2015
Welcome to Best of the Week, our recommendations for what to check out around town this week. If you’re wondering what to do in Boston this week, check out these events.
The Brattle hosts ‘An Evening with the Boston Yeti’ on December 17 / Courtesy photo via the Brattle Theatre
FILM
Monday, December 14
A Whole Week of Holiday Movies
There’s a lot to love about the holidays in Boston—but one of our favorite things has got to be the slew of holiday movies coming to our theaters. And this week, the lineup is top-notch. Brass Union kicks things off by wishing us a Murray Christmas—in the form of Scrooged, screening December 14 as part of their Movie Mondays. (You can also catch it as a midnight movie at the Coolidge December 18-19.) For something a little more deranged, the folks at RIffTrax are lending their MST3K talents to Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny on December 15. Then over at the Brattle, on the classic tip, they’ve got It’s a Wonderful Life (December 16 and 18-20), plus their “Alt-Xmas” series, which includes a few oddball Christmas films celebrating their 25th anniversary: Edward Scissorhands (December 17), Gremlins 2: The New Batch (December 18 and 21), and Die Hard 2 (December 19), and Home Alone (December 23). But most miraculous of all, they’re bringing the Boston Yeti in to host a special screening of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on December 17. Catch this Bumble before he bounces.
Ken Oringer / Courtesy photo
DINING
Tuesday, December 15
Celebrate Clio
It’s the end of an era for Boston dining, as this month sees the closing of Ken Oringer’s legendary restaurant Clio. But don’t think of it as the end—this is a new beginning for Uni, Oringer’s equally celebrated sashimi bar that’ll be taking over the full space. To celebrate its legacy, this week, Clio hosts a 19-course tour de force—complete with a $250 price tag—guest-starring a slew of Oringer’s protégés, including Alex Stupak, Tony Maws, and Monica Glass. They’ll be serving up such Clio classics as suckling pig, plus giant clam with ricotta, kimchi-brined fried chicken sliders, and much more.
$250/per person plus beverages, tax, and gratuity, December 15, seating begins at 6:30 p.m., 370 A Commonwealth Ave., Boston, 617-536-7200, cliorestaurant.com.
HUZZAH FOR HISTORY
Wednesday, December 16
Boston Tea Party
On the night of December 16, 1773, a group of as many as 130 rabble-rousers—some dressed in the Mohawk warrior disguises to obscure their identities—stormed a supply ship docked in Boston Harbor and jettisoned its contents into the drink, in protest of the taxes England was imposing on the colonies. The event prompted John Adams to write, “Last Night 3 Cargoes of Bohea Tea were emptied into the Sea. This Morning a Man of War sails. This is the most magnificent Movement of all.” Now, 242 years later, we relive this event with a full-blown re-enactment, complete with a fiery, rhetoric-laced showdown at Old South Meeting House, a fife-and-drum march to the site of Griffin’s Wharf, and a boisterous tea defenestration.
$25, December 16, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Old South Meeting House, 310 Washington St., Boston, Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum, 306 Congress St, Boston, bostonteapartyship.com.
Job Berckheyde, The Baker via Wikimedia Commons
ART BARGAINS
Thursday, December 17
‘Double Dutch’ at MFA
At the Museum of Fine Arts’ current exhibit, Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, the upper crust mingles with the hoi polloi on the same wallspace. Fitting this high-low theme, the MFA has concocted a special deal—so now you can wallow in the silk-and-satin-robed opulence of the Low Countries’ high society (as well as voyeuristically inspecting the shops and inner sanctums of its blue-collar workers), all for a wallet-friendly price. This week is your last opportunity to take advantage of the MFA’s “Double Dutch” nights, where they sell two-for-one admission to Class Distinctions (first RSVP on Facebook, then show the RSVP on your phone at the MFA ticket desk). To sweeten the deal, you can top off your MFA visit with a Belgian waffle from Zinneken’s, which will be serving “Rembrandt Raspberry” waffles from its truck parked outside the museum.
“Double Dutch” Nights: December 3, 10 and 17, at the Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave., Boston, 617-267-9300, mfa.org.
Gold Dust Orphans perform Little Orphan Tranny / Courtesy photo via Facebook
THEATER
Friday, December 18
Gold Dust Orphans’ ‘A Little Orphan Tranny Christmas’
What other Christmas show would put Little Edie from Grey Gardens, the Grinch, Donald Trump, Whitey Bulger on the same stage? For those who think holiday theater should be more naughty than nice, you’re going to want to make sure to catch Gold Dust Orphans’ ‘A Little Orphan Tranny Christmas.’ While over on the other side of the river, The Slutcracker adds an eye-popping, pastie-twirling burlesque twist to the Tchaikovsky classic, over in the Fenway’s “Ramrod Center for the Performing Arts,” Ryan Landry and his Orphans deliver their annual deranged holiday extravaganza, the musical tale of yet another orphan who roams the streets while dancing, singing and evading the evil Hermione P. Grinchley.
Show runs through December 20, Machine Nightclub, 1254 Boylston St., Boston, 617-266-2986, facebook.com/golddustorphans.
Looking for more winter arts coverage? Check out:
Your Guide to the Holidays in Boston
