Critic's picks - Arts

THEATER

ROCK 'N' ROLL Tom Stoppard's intense, intelligent drama, fueled by the energies of revolution and rock music, has its regional debut at the Huntington Theatre Company in a coproduction with the American Conservatory Theatre. Through Dec. 13. Boston University Theatre. 617-266-0800, www.huntingtontheatre.org

THE SEAFARER Carmel O'Reilly directs a stellar cast in a taut, lively rendition of Conor McPherson's infernally high-stakes card game. SpeakEasy Stage Company presents. Through Dec. 13. Boston Center for the Arts, Roberts Studio Theatre.617-933-8600, www.bostontheatrescene.com

AURELIA'S ORATORIO Aurélia Thiérrée, who grew up performing in her parents' "Cirque Imaginaire," brings her own dream of the circus, created with her mother, to the American Repertory Theatre. Through Jan. 3. Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge. 617-547-8300, www.amrep.org

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS Or, to give the expansive extravaganza its full title: "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical." Two sizes too small, indeed. Through Dec. 28. Citi Wang Theatre. 800-447-7400, www.citicenter.org

LOUISE KENNEDY

DANCE

THE NUTCRACKER The quickest way to kick-start the holiday season would be two hours in the company of Boston Ballet's Sugar Plum Fairy, waltzing flowers, battling mice, and Christmas tree, which soars up to the rafters right before our eyes. Bring your inner child. Through Dec. 28. $30-$150. Opera House. 617-931-2787, www.ticketmaster.com

ECHOES: A DANCE TRIBUTE TO MARTHA ARMSTRONG GRAY A star-studded cast of faculty and alumni celebrates Gray's four decades of inspired teaching at the Cambridge School of Weston. Choreography by Gray and others ranges from hip-hop to dance theater. Tomorrow. Free. Cambridge School of Weston's Mugar Center for the Performing Arts, 45 Georgian Rd., Weston. 781-642-8600, www.csw.org

UNFOLDING SPACES Local choreographer Lucy Stark teams up with Seattle-based dance company Dead Bird Movement for an evening of dance, live music, video, and sculpture, including the premiere of Dead Bird Movement's "The Gathering Storm," based on 100 short dance solos. Sunday. Free. Massachusetts College of Art's Pozen Center, 621 Huntington Ave., www.deadbird movement.com

KAREN CAMPBELL

MUSEUMS

ZEN MIND/ZEN BRUSH: JAPANESE INK PAINTINGS FROM THE GITTER-YELEN COLLECTION A show of painting and calligraphy inspired by Zen, the likable, pared-back version of Buddhism that has become popular in the materialist, God-doubting West. The works are from the Gitter-Yelen Collection in New Orleans, which only narrowly escaped destruction in Hurricane Katrina. Simplicity, directness, and an almost perverse way with composition are hallmarks of these works, which alternate between humor and grace, earthiness and spirituality. Through Jan. 4. Museum of Fine Arts. 617-267-9300, www.mfa.org

FAITH RINGGOLD: STORY QUILTS Five narrative story quilts and related works on paper, as well as a jaunty sculpture made from fabric, show off the open-hearted but slyly witty side of this renowned African-American artist. The show complements a display of original illustrations from "Aunt Harriet's Underground Railway in the Sky" in an upstairs space dedicated to children, two superb series of prints by Jacob Lawrence (through Jan. 4), and a room dedicated to sculpture from the studio of Meta Warwick Fuller (through May 17), an African-American sculptor who studied with Rodin. Through March 1. Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham. 508-620-0050, www.danforthmuseum.org

INVISIBLE RAYS: THE SURREALISM LEGACY Fans of Surrealism can see work by Salvador Dalí, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Joan Miró, and Yves Tanguy, among others, in this fun and boldly conceived show. Following the lead of Marcel Duchamp, who designed the International Surrealism Exhibition in Paris in 1938, Rose Art Museum director Michael Rush has turned down the lights and offered flashlights to visitors. Through Dec. 14. Rose Art Museum, Waltham. 781-736-3434, www.brandeis.edu/rose

PAUL CHAN: THREE EASY PIECES Acclaimed video artist Paul Chan finds entrancing ways to articulate big ideas with animation and video imagery projected against floors, walls, and the corners of rooms. This show comprises two digital projections and a single-channel video. Through Jan. 4. Harvard University's Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Cambridge. 617-495-3251, www.ves.fas.harvard.edu/ccva.html SEBASTIAN SMEE

GALLERIES

JÚLIO DE MATOS: FADING HUTONGS The Portuguese photographer and architect visited and shot disappearing traditional neighborhoods in Beijing. Through Dec. 19. Wolk Gallery, MIT School of Architecture + Planning, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. 617-258-9106, www.sap.mit.edu/resources/galleries/wolk_gallery

ANNETTE LEMIEUX: TAKING STOCK Lemieux, a Boston-based artist with an international reputation, works in a broad range of media and often fillets cultural idioms - such as "lipstick on a pig" - to explore what's inside them. Through Jan. 13. Barbara Krakow Gallery, 10 Newbury St. 617-262-4490, www.barbara krakowgallery.com

ENTANGLED Ever feel all messed up? Abstract art often deftly conveys psychological states. Here, artists Marc Van Cauwenbergh, Dorothea Van Camp, and Jane Hesser use gesture to explore mood and relationship. Through Dec. 17. Trustman Art Gallery, Simmons College, 300 The Fenway. 617-521-2268, www.simmons.edu/trustman

EXPOSURES: OTHER HISTORIES IN EARLY POSTCARDS FROM AFRICA Photographs for postcards shot by Africans from 1870 to the 1930s tell a different tale than those made by Europeans. Staged studio portraits by both lay out multivalent versions of the slave trade, colonialism, and modernism. Through Jan. 18. Boston University Art Gallery, 855 Commonwealth Ave. 617-353-3329, www.bu.edu/art CATE McQUAID