Seven Can’t-Miss Events in Boston, February 2017

Courtesy Photo

DANCE
Artifact

For decades, William Forsythe has revolutionized dance in a way that put him on a level with Balanchine and Graham. So Boston Ballet scored quite a coup last May when artistic director Mikko Nissinen announced a five-year partnership with the choreographer. The deal involves adding one new Forsythe ballet to the repertoire each year, collaborating on programming and staging, and reviving many of Forsythe’s esteemed works. That’s where Artifact, a massive four-act ballet that premiered in 1984, comes in. Forsythe employs more than 30 dancers in eclectic ways, from vast groups to pas de deux, and transforms classical forms into postmodern structures. In addition to designing the movement, Forsythe also designed the sets, costumes, and atmospheric lighting. In fact, this opus is so magnum that it’s rarely performed in full. Not a bad way to kick off a new era for our local troupe.

February 23–March 5, Boston Opera House, 617-695-6955, bostonballet.org.

FINE ARTS
“Love/Lust”

Nothing says “I love you” quite like giving your special someone a pair of copulating ornamental reindeer. That’s just one of the absurd, abstract, or plainly beautiful sculptures created around this exhibit’s amorous theme, with prices ranging from $100 to $500.

February 8–26, Boston Sculptors Gallery, 617-482-7781, bostonsculptors.com.

Courtesy Photo

FILM
Boston Science Fiction Film Festival

The country’s oldest genre-based film festival returns for its 42nd year with more than 100 science-based or science-fiction flicks. As always, the 11-day festival builds up to the legendary ’Thon, a 24-hour overload of old, new, and schlocky cinematic treats.

February 10–20, Somerville Theatre,  617-625-5700, bostonscifi.com.

VIDEO ART
Ashes

Director Steve McQueen is best known for the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave. But he’s also an accomplished conceptual artist, and this work juxtaposes dreamlike 2002 footage of a young Grenadian fisherman with a film shot eight years later that details his tragic fate.

February 15–July 9, The Institute of Contemporary Art, 617-478-3100, icaboston.org.

COMEDY
Trevor Noah

The Daily Show host is finally hitting his stride on the small screen, and he’s just released a memoir, Born a Crime, about growing up biracial in apartheid South Africa. Now the comedian visits Boston, with an almost-residency of six shows over three nights.

February 17–19, The Wilbur Theatre, 617-248-9700, thewilbur.com.

THEATER
The Night of the Iguana

A steamy Mexican locale. A disgraced southern preacher. A motley crew of travelers battered by storms raging outside their hotel and within their troubled souls. Tennessee Williams’s classic play gets a revival, with none other than the mighty James Earl Jones as the headliner.

February 18–March 18, Loeb Drama Center, 617-547-8300, americanrepertorytheater.org.

Photograph by Ricardo Feiticeira

FUNKENTELECHY
George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic

If you need the funk, and gotta have that funk, then prepare to tear the roof off the sucker and pledge your groovallegiance to Dr. Funkenstein, when he descends from the Mothership onto Lansdowne Street.

February 25, House of Blues, 888-693-2583, houseofblues.com/boston.