Welcome to the Big To-Do: Short Cuts, our guide highlighting the top things to do in and around Boston each weekend, as curated by Globe critics, editors, and writers.

On tap this Labor Day weekend: Bruno Mars is in town, plus King Richard’s Faire returns. — Matt Juul

Things to do in and around Boston this weekend

KING RICHARD’S FAIRE The popular Renaissance festival opens its eight-weekend season on Saturday. Spread across 200 acres, the festivities feature more than 70 daily live shows and are home to New England’s largest jousting field. See some knights, grab a turkey leg, and take a stab at a Renaissance-era costume (encouraged, but entirely optional). Opens Sept. 5. Tickets are $36 for adults and $22 for children through Sept. 20. 5 Pine St. Carver. kingrichardsfaire.net  — Daisy Levine

ASIAN AMERICAN DAY FESTIVAL Boston’s annual celebration of Asian American heritage returns for its 16th year this weekend. Visitors can enjoy performances, arts and crafts, community booths, plus Asian food and vendors. The fest comes ahead of Asian American Day for Massachusetts, which was first declared by former Gov. Charles Baker and Mayor Marty Walsh in 2016. Sept. 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. Boston Common, corner of Charles and Beacon streets.  aaaboston.org/aaday — Janira Skrbkova

DETOUR MUSIC & CREATIVE FESTIVAL This fashion, music, and art fest makes its debut in Worcester. Visitors can enjoy live music performances from rising local artists, curated DJ sets, fashion and art showcases, plus food and beverages from The Taco Spot, Scoop’s Scoopz, and more. Sept. 5, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets are free, donation optional. Outside Fuel America Grove Street, Grove Village, 100 Grove St., Worcester. detourfestival.live — JS

HAPPY GILMORE It’s been 30 years since Happy first quit hockey for golf. This weekend, the Adam Sandler classic is playing on the center field video board at Fenway Park. The first 1,000 guests will receive a golden hockey stick memento. Fans are also encouraged to come in costume, dressed like Sandler. Sept. 5. 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults and $7 for children. Fenway Park, 4 Jersey St. mlb.com/redsox/tickets/events/movie-night  — DL

ALOK: EAT PRAY LEAVE TOUR In their latest special “Biology,” Alok gives the audience an easy way to remember how to pronounce their name. “As in, ‘tell me a joke, Alok,’” they say. “Every time people tell us as trans people that we can’t change biology, I’m like, ‘nice haircut.’” Sep. 5, 7 p.m. $49-$60. The Wilbur, 256 Tremont St., Boston. thewilbur.com — Nick A. Zaino III

JAMES TAYLOR The Grammy-winning legend performs in Boston again this weekend with his All-Star Band. Known for songs like “Fire and Rain,” the Boston-born singer returns to MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Saturday. Read more about upcoming concerts in this week’s Sound Check column. Sept. 5. 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $109.25. MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St. crossroadspresents.com  — DL

BRUNO MARS In a stop along “The Romantic Tour,” Bruno Mars will make his Gillette Stadium debut with Silk Sonic collaborator Anderson .Paak (performing as his alter ego, DJ Pee .Wee) and rising star RAYE of “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” fame. This run marks Mars’s first full headlining tour in nearly a decade, which comes on the heels of his fourth solo album, “The Romantic.” Sept. 5-6, 7 p.m. Tickets start at $170. Gillette Stadium, 1 Patriot Place, Foxborough. gillettestadium.com/events/bruno-mars-the-romantic-tour — JS

GRIEF SUCKS: A ONE MAN SHOW BY KEVONSTAGE KevOnStage usually keeps it light. But this one-man show, which he considers the best work he’s ever done, deals with the loss of his brother in 2022. “It’s unlike anything I’ve ever done, it’s unlike anything I’ll ever do in the future,” he says. “I might cry, you might cry, but you will laugh.” Sep. 6, 6:30 p.m. $68.50-$110.50. Citizens House of Blues, 15 Lansdowne St. 888-693-2583, boston.houseofblues.com — NZ

LENNY CLARKE AND FRIENDS There is a lot of Boston comedy history on this lineup topped by Lenny Clarke with Steve Sweeney, Ken Rogerson, Tony V, Christine Hurley, Frank Santorelli, Artie Januario, Chris Pennie, and Johnny Pizzi. Sep 6, 7:30 p.m. $44.52. Giggles Comedy Club, 517 Broadway (Route 1), Saugus. 781-233-9950, princerestaurant.com/giggles-events — NZ

ICA FREE ADMISSION Celebrate Labor Day weekend with a pair of free admission days at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Take advantage of the Boston Family Days promotion on Sunday, followed by another free day on Monday, in observance of the holiday. Sept. 6. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free with Boston Family Days pass. Sept. 7. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free with advance ticket. Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Drive. icaboston.org  — DL

Critics’ picks

Don Aucoin’s picks

RHINOCEROS  Diane Paulus directs a brilliantly realized production of Eugène Ionesco’s allegorical 1959 play about a small French village whose residents suddenly and inexplicably turn into rhinoceroses. An anguished John Turturro gets under your skin as Berenger, the lone holdout, refusing to follow his fellow residents as, one by one, they surrender their human identities. As Jean, his pompous friend, Paul Giamatti executes a convulsive transformation into a snorting, bellowing rhino that you won’t soon forget. Also featuring Tatiana Maslany, Alex Ross, and Kristine Nielsen, who delivers a dose of the comic juice that made her a favorite of the late Christopher Durang. This is a “Rhinoceros” equal to our present, precarious moment, serving as a warning about the speed with which a community – and a nation – can acquiesce to authoritarianism. And it puts a searing exclamation point on what has been the Year of Ionesco in Boston-area theater. Through Sept. 27. American Repertory Theater. At Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge. 617-547-8300, americanrepertorytheater.org

PURPOSE Reportedly inspired by the late Rev. Jesse Jackson and his family, this Pulitzer- and Tony-winning drama by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins (“Appropriate”)  explores the charged dynamics within a politically and religiously prominent Black family in Chicago. Featuring Ezra Knight as father and civil rights icon Solomon Jasper; Phyllis Yvonne Stickney as Claudine Jasper, his wife; Ugo Chukwu as Solomon “Junior” Jasper, their older son; MarHadoo Effeh as Morgan Jasper, wife of Solomon Jr.; Omari K. Chancellor as Nazareth Jasper, the younger son; and Kalyne Ashley Coleman as Aziza Houston, a friend of Nazareth’s. Directed by Josiah Davis. Sept. 10-Oct. 11. The Huntington. At Wimberly Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St. 617-266-0800, huntingtontheatre.org

ELEANOR Paula Plum portrays legendary First Lady and social activist Eleanor Roosevelt in a solo drama by the prolific Mark St. Germain, who has drawn on such other real-life figures as Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis (“Freud’s Last Session”) , F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway (“Scott and Hem in the Garden of Allah”), Dr. Ruth Westheimer (“Dr. Ruth, All the Way,’’ later renamed “Becoming Dr. Ruth”), and Henry Ford and Thomas Edison (“Camping with Henry and Tom”). Directed by Bryn Boice. Sept. 10-Oct. 11. Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge. 617-576-9278, centralsquaretheater.org

Odie Henderson’s pick

AKIRA  Starting Friday, the Coolidge has a 4k restoration of the 1988 Japanese anime classic, “Akira.” A pioneer of the genre, “Akira” did well in its 1989 English-language theatrical release. But its popularity exploded a few years later once it was released on home video, creating a generation of anime fans. This cyberpunk tale of telepathy, gang violence and friendship is set in 2019, 31 years after an apocalyptic event destroyed Tokyo. Director Katsuhiro Otomo adapts his 1982 manga into a two-hour sensory experience. “Akira” was the most popular rental at the video store I worked at back in the day, and the film served as my introduction to anime. See why this stunner has influenced numerous Hollywood directors, including Jordan Peele, who paid visual homage to it in “Nope.” The Coolidge is presenting the film in its original Japanese, with subtitles. Through Sept. 10, the Coolidge, 290 Harvard St., Brookline. coolidge.org/films/akira-4k-restoration

A.Z. Madonna’s pick

TANGLEWOOD POPULAR ARTISTS  The BSO might have vacated the premises for the winter, but Tanglewood doesn’t go dark just yet; this weekend, spread out the picnic blanket for a feast of Southern roots and blues rock, catered first by Americana troubadour Jason Isbell with his backing band the 400 Unit and folk songstress Patty Griffin (Sept. 4); then, the freshly reunited Alabama Shakes on the heels of its first album in over a decade, with Chicago gospel-rock godmother Mavis Staples (Sept. 5). Finally, rock n’ roll all-timers John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival) and Steve Winwood (Blind Faith, Traffic) bring their co-headlining tour to close down the Shed for the season (Sept. 6). Sept. 4-6. Tanglewood, Lenox. 617-266-1200, tanglewood.org

Victoria Wasylak’s pick

ZOLA SIMONE One of Zola Simone’s early tunes, 2021’s “Sideways,” crafted an earworm out of a laundry list of modern crises; five years later, the Boston pop artist hasn’t let the woes of the world erode her spirit. Simone celebrates the release of her refreshingly tender new LP, “I CARE A LOT,” at Deeps Cuts in Medford alongside fellow locals Shallow Pools and Twam. Read about more upcoming shows in this week’s Sound Check. Sept. 4, Deep Cuts, 21 Main St., Medford.  dice.fm/event/l87n2b-zola-simone-shallow-pools-twam-4th-sep-deep-cuts-medford-tickets

Murray Whyte’s picks

THE BOOK OF ESTHER IN THE AGE OF REMBRANDT It’s a classic hero’s tale: An orphan rises to become queen, just in time to save her people. That’s the story of the biblical heroine Esther, whose beauty led to her being chosen from the masses as the bride of the Persian monarch Ahasuerus, giving her the power to keep the Jewish people from destruction. That ancient story has always been central to the Jewish faith, celebrated on the annual holiday of Purim; but in 17th century Netherlands, it was a pop-culture phenomenon, celebrated far and wide and taken up by none other than Rembrandt and his peers as a tale worth painting over and over again. Why is a worthy guess: The Netherlands, under oppressive Spanish rule, might have felt some affinity for a heroic tale of liberation; and as a commercial crossroads of an expanding world, keen interest in faraway cultures, too. This show takes up the story’s mass appeal in that era, presenting works by Rembrandt, Jan Lievens, Jan Steen, and others, all of them rallying around the rebel courage of an ancient heroine. Through Jan. 18. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way. 617-566-1401, isgm.org

AMERICA IN THE MAKING Opening soon: Joining the not-overly-populous ranks of exhibitions marking the United States’ semiquincentennial this year, this show puts on view a vast array of the Addison’s formidable collection of American art, which stretches from well before the 1776 signing of the Declaration of Independence to right about now. Taking over the entire building, it aims to be the opposite of conclusive, instead offering a view of the centuries of flux that has combined to make America what it is — and making clear that the project can and never will be finished. Sept. 8-Jan. 31, 2027. Addison Gallery of American Art​ at Phillips Academy, 3 Chapel Ave., Andover. 978-749-4015, addison.andover.edu

Last chance

LUCY RAVEN: ROUNDS Closing soon: Summer’s winding down (pause for deep sigh) which means the end of the Watershed, the ICA’s seasonal annex on the East Boston side of the harbor. This year, Lucy Raven, has kept it thunderously active all summer lonf. Known for her meditative film installations that set the heroic landscapes of the American West on a collision course with the historic exploitation and extraction economies that have left it heavily scarred, Rounds comes as advertised: “Murderers Bar,” a 2025 film that witnesses the removal of a colossal concrete dam in northern California, is a sonorous ode to the cathartic, destructive deluge of release. Through Sept. 7. 256 Marginal St., East Boston. 617-478-3100, icaboston.org/ica-watershed — MW

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