Seven Can’t-Miss Events in Boston, March 2017
Łódź ghetto: Children talking through fence of central prison on Czarnecki Street prior to deportation, Henryk Ross. Art Gallery of Ontario. Gift from the Archive of Modern Conflict, 2007. © Art Gallery of Ontario. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
PHOTOGRAPHY
“Memory Unearthed”
At the start of World War II, the Nazis entered Łódź, Poland, and penned more than 160,000 Jews into just 1.5 square miles. Their numbers included photojournalist Henryk Ross, who, after four years spent documenting this tragic, trapped society, buried his film to safeguard the record. By 1945, only 877 people had survived. One of them was Ross, who exhumed his 6,000 negatives and found that more than half were still intact. A mere 16 years later, he testified at the war-crimes trial of Adolf Eichmann, where the photos were used as evidence.
This remarkable story now yields this exhibition, making its U.S. debut at the MFA and featuring hundreds of Ross’s original prints and newly minted digital images. Most haunting are the calm portraits of parents and children, taken during the ghetto’s early days, which serve to remind us that buried beneath the saga of global history are thousands of individual lives long lost.
March 25–July 30, Museum of Fine Arts, 617-267-9300, mfa.org.
ICONS
The Chieftains
Ring in St. Patrick’s Day early with a rousing concert with Paddy Moloney and the gang. Over 50-plus years, these pioneers have made Grammy-winning Irish music that upholds old Celtic tradition and infuses it with current pop-music vigor.
March 1, Chevalier Theatre, 781-391-7469, chevaliertheatre.com.
R & B
Beyoncé’s Original All-Female Band
Members of Beyoncé’s all-female touring band celebrate their 10th anniversary, led by Berklee professor Tia Fuller. The group will perform with students in the college’s Beyoncé Ensemble, while current touring dancer Ebony Williams leads some of Boston Conservatory’s finest.
March 2, Berklee Performance Center, 617-747-2261, berklee.edu/BPC.
DANCE
Sydney Dance Company
Australia’s landmark contemporary-dance company performs a three-work slate featuring innovative twists of the human body choreographed by Jacopo Godani, Gabrielle Nankivell, and artistic director Rafael Bonachela and set to au courant classical and electroacoustic music.
March 4–5, Shubert Theatre, 866-348-9738, bochcenter.org.
Courtesy Photo
BOOK
A Psalm for Lost Girls
Jamaica Plain novelist Katie Bayerl wrote this tale of Callie da Costa, a Massachusetts teen coping with the legacy of her deceased sister, Tess, whose achievements inspired a movement to make her a saint. When a missing girl reappears at one of Tess’s shrines, Callie sets out to solve what may be less a magical event than a dark tale of kidnapping.
Out March 14, Putnam, $18.
THEATER
Finish Line
A world premiere staged by Boston Theater Company, this production focuses on the healing after the horror of the marathon bombings and is based on the actual words of survivors and their families, trauma surgeons, runners, and notables such as Police Commissioner William Evans.
March 15–26, Shubert Theatre, 866-348-9738, bochcenter.org.
Courtesy Photo
DRUMZDRUMZDRUMZ
Kodō
With elaborate stagecraft, this revered Japanese ensemble plays some of the most furious percussion on some of the biggest drums you will ever see. This month, their thunderous pummeling meets the pristine acoustics of the BSO’s home venue.
March 19, Symphony Hall, 617-482-6661, celebrityseries.org.
