Events

10 things to do in Boston this weekend

BosTen is your weekly guide to the best events and coolest happenings in and around Boston.

Aaron LaVigne (left) and Tommy Sherlock in "Jesus Christ Superstar." Handout

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With more and more Massachusetts businesses and cultural institutions reinstating COVID-19 restrictions in the face of a resurgent coronavirus pandemic, residents may be torn on whether to venture out of their homes this weekend. With that in mind, this week’s BosTen offers a mix of in-person and virtual things to do in Boston this weekend. Have an idea about what we should cover? Leave us a comment on this article or in the BosTen Facebook group, or email us at [email protected].

Get a taste of the tropics in Salem

Snow may be forecast for this weekend, but you wouldn’t know it at Deacon Giles Distillery in Salem. The distillery’s Speakeasy Lab will offer its tiki menu all day on Friday, a menu typically only available to members of their Tiki Mug Club. From 2 p.m. to 11 p.m., sip on tiki classics like a Corpse Reviver or Mai Tai, ideally while you’re wearing your most colorful Hawaiian shirt. It’ll almost make you forget about the snowstorm raging outside.

Enjoy one last twinkle of holiday joy at ZooLights

If you haven’t had your fill of holiday cheer yet (and given the state of the world, who can blame you?), head to Stone Zoo this weekend for ZooLights before it shuts down for the season January 9. The twilight winter wonderland features thousands of lights, which illuminate several animal enclosures along the zoo’s Yukon Creek. Reservations are required, and can be made on the Zoo New England website.

Raise a glass to the Fifth Annual Horatio Day Beer Fest

Bone Up Brewing’s annual Horatio Day Beer Fest is back for another weekend, inviting guests to its Everett taproom Friday, Saturday, and Sunday for a mini festival showcasing barrel-aged beers, sour and wild ales, and more. Named for its mustachioed mascot, Horatio, the festival will also feature a slew of food trucks to keep everyone well-fed. Want to drink out of a fancy glass while you’re there? Pre-order a gold-rimmed, 14-ounce goblet here.

Enjoy Ben Affleck’s latest film from your couch

If you’re looking for a conventional but perfectly pleasant family drama to watch this holiday season, “The Tender Bar” delivers the goods, especially when Ben Affleck is on screen. Filmed in the Boston area earlier this year (mostly on the North Shore), the George Clooney-directed film is a coming-of-age story about J.R., an aspiring writer whose lack of a father figure is filled by the rest of his extended family, who all live together under one roof. Most central to J.R.’s upbringing is Uncle Charlie (Affleck), who dispenses endless wisdom from behind the bar at The Dickens, a Long Island watering hole (played on-screen by Jacob’s Corner in Beverly). If you don’t want to see it in theaters (as of now, it’s showing in Cambridge, Dedham, and Beverly), you’ll be able to enjoy it from your couch starting this Friday when “The Tender Bar” begins streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

Check out a new poke bar in Somerville

As a result of an undeniable poke craze that seemed to peak a few years ago, there are plenty of poke restaurants scattered around the Boston area. Meet the latest: Waikiki, a poke bar which recently debuted in Somerville’s Davis Square. The shop, located at 27 Holland St., allows you to craft your own poke bowl, but also offers around 10 featured bowls — including a Hawaiian Bowl, Teriyaki Salmon Bowl, and Thai Spicy Steak Salad Bowl. A selection of sushi rolls are also available to order, along with smoothies, fresh fruit teas, and hot and cold milk tea.

Bear witness to ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s seminal rock opera “Jesus Christ Superstar,” a revival tour of the ’70s-inspired musical is touring the nation, and arrives at the Emerson Colonial Theatre this week through January 16. Taking the story of Jesus’s life and adapting it for a contemporary audience, the musical pays special attention to Judas, who shows the audience why he believes Jesus’s teachings have led to out-of-control followers, leading Judas to eventually betray him.

Extend your holiday celebrations with Miracle at Mystic Station

Over the holidays, Mystic Station participated in Miracle, a global holiday pop-up which highlights the same menu of festive cocktails in bars around the world. While most participants wrapped up their Miracle menu and decorations at the end of the year, Mystic Station has extended its own version of Miracle to Jan. 9 — meaning we don’t have to let go of the holiday spirit quite yet. Settle into the Malden bar for the tequila-soaked Christmas Carol Barrel, or a Snowball Old Fashioned featuring rye and gingerbread, and pretend like it’s Christmas 2021 all over again.

Fangirl it up with fellow Swifties

It seemed like a dream for local fans of Taylor Swift: The singer’s Lover Fest tour would only visit two venues in the entire U.S., and one of them was set to be Gillette Stadium. The pandemic had other plans, however, and in February 2021 Swift scrapped the entire tour. For Swifties seeking solace, Brighton Music Hall will dedicate an entire night to the singer as part of Fangirl Fantasy, a touring event series started here in Massachusetts.

Join fellow film freaks at Coolidge Corner Theatre’s After Midnite screenings

Each year, Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre showcases some of its campiest, creepiest, zaniest films for its After Midnite series, where film aficionados gather to catch rare and unconventional delights. On the docket for this weekend are cult classic “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Stanley Kubrick’s final masterpiece “Eyes Wide Shut,” and the 1964 Italian murder mystery “Blood and Black Lace,” an exemplar of the country’s giallo film movement.

Strap in for a WWE Supershow

Before the WWE brings its Survivor Series to Boston later this year, the wrestling company will stage a smaller-scale event at TD Garden this Sunday. Among the wrestlers scheduled to perform are Roman Reigns, Big E, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Damian Priest. And unlike Survivor Series, a massive spectacle that will undoubtedly fill the Garden to near-capacity, Supershow will offer fans a more intimate experience, only selling seats along the ringside and in parts of the loge sections. To grab a seat (not a folding chair), head to Ticketmaster.

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