👸🏼💚 The Eras Tour for theater kids

Happy Friday, Boston!

🍪 Here’s a sweet start to the weekend: Levain (the iconic NYC cookie shop) is opening its second Boston location in the Seaport TODAY. If you’re one of the first 100 people to get there, a heap of free cookie swag is in your future. Not to mention, cookies.

😅 Also … we made an oopsie! We accidentally sent out a welcome email to our entire list last night. But don’t fret, you are very much still subscribed. <3

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Let’s (MBTA) GO!

• Time to get your REAL ID

• Mark Wahlberg look-alike contest

Up first…

ARTS & CULTURE

Defying gravity (and expectations)

The Eras Tour for theater kids is finally here. “Wicked,” the movie-musical adaptation of the Broadway classic, hits the big screen today. 

As self-proclaimed theater kids, we got a sneak peak of the film earlier this week to see if it lives up to the social media hype. 

Here’s what we thought:

🤓 New to “Wicked?” Here’s the TL;DR: The Broadway musical from Stephen Schwartz is loosely based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel “Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West,” a revisionist spinoff of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wizard of Oz.” The musical closely explores the friendship between Elphaba, Wicked Witch of the West, and Glinda the Good. Spoiler: Elphaba isn’t as bad as “The Wizard of Oz” plot suggests.

🎨 The fantasy Land of Oz gets supercharged with movie magic. If you know anything about director Jon Chu’s maximalist tendencies (he also directed “Crazy Rich Asians”), this comes as no surprise. Instead of slapping on a bunch of uninspired CGI, the sets for Munchkinland, Shiz University, and the Emerald City are spectacles that capture the world’s scale and grandeur. They even planted 9 million real tulips we see in the movie’s opening scene. 

🎭 Nothing can replace live theater, but this film comes close. Theater kids have been burned by a history of mid-movie-musical adaptations (most recently, “Mean Girls”), but the film’s Broadway star-studded cast, featuring almost-EGOT-winning actress Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and pop princess Ariana Grande as Glinda (who technically who began her career on Broadway), maintain the music’s soul. You can feel the roar of the bass in your seat, mimicking the sensation of a live orchestra.

🎥 Fun fact: The film’s gigundo 2 hour and 40 minute runtime is just part one, wrapping with the iconic number “Defying Gravity.” For context: The entire Broadway musical runtime is 2 hours and 45 minutes, including intermission. Part two hits theaters Nov. 21, 2025.

💚 Not for nothing, the “Wicked” marketing team has been working overtime. Whether it’s interviews of Grande and Erivo crying over the friendship they developed while filming, or Grande sharing how she prepared for her Glinda audition, the film’s social media blast of behind-the-scenes content convinces you of the cast’s chemistry before you even buy your popcorn. It feels akin to the lore of Taylor Swift, where having the parasocial “in” on the film’s creation only sweetens the viewing experience.

✅ The verdict? This will go down as one of the best movie-musical adaptations of all time. Full stop. Even the musical-averse will leave the theater humming along. You can find tickets here and learn more about the sing-a-long screenings here.

QUICK QUESTION

🧙‍♀️ Do you plan to see “Wicked?”

TOGETHER WITH AREA FOUR AND DOORDASH

Coffee + pizza = fuel for your brain

💪🍕Forget the food pyramid — this is what a balanced meal is all about. Make Area Four in Kendall Square your go-to spot for those WFH days or intense study sessions when you need a little boost. Start with a rich espresso that fuels your focus from A4 Cafe. Then, when it’s time to reward yourself with a little treat, order one of their perfectly charred wood-fired pizzas. If you don’t feel like leaving the house, no problem. You can get everything delivered right to your couch with DoorDash!

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

📲 H-O-T-T-O-G-O, here comes M-B-T-A Go. The days of using shoddy apps to track the T appear to be numbered as the MBTA’s new live tracking app, MBTA Go, is officially available for download. The agency said this new app will provide updates for riders like estimated arrival times and train or bus tracking (it’s also available in a handful of other languages). The only downside: Android users will have to wait till February 2025 to join the party; the app is only available to the iPhone gang right now. You can download the app here.

🦃 It’s been a rough go for Type A Turkey Day planners. Just in time for Thanksgiving, Stop & Shop and Hannaford shoppers are still grappling with inventory shortages after a cyber security issue earlier this month. Stop & Shop said they're "well stocked" with turkeys and other Thanksgiving supplies. But don’t be surprised if fresh staples like produce, milk, and meat are sparse. Stop & Shop is working to restock them in the coming days.

❄️ Could we see a white Thanksgiving? According to some maps circulating on social media, we’re getting two feet of snow. But if you ask any good meteorologist, they’ll tell you A. it’s likely wrong and B. it’s too early to tell. Multiple weather fronts will push rain and snow across the country ahead of Thanksgiving week, as ~80 million people are expected to hit the road. And while there’s clearly something brewing in the 10-day forecast, there’s still plenty of time for the storm to fizzle and move out of reach. Long story short: Keep your eyes peeled!

🪪 PSA: It’s time to get your REAL ID. If you haven’t thought about REAL IDs since they last pushed back the enforcement deadline … we get it. But by May 7, 2025 — less than six months from now — everyone will need an upgraded ID to fly domestically and to enter certain federal buildings. As of right now, 2 million Mass. residents still haven’t made the switch, and every single one will have to book an appointment. Translation: You should probably get cracking on that upgrade.

THINGS TO DO

Weekend plans

🪩 Check out Boston’s trippiest museum. If science and art had a baby, it’d be the Museum of Illusions in downtown Boston, which opens Saturday. Expect perspective-changing rooms and intriguing installations.

🍂 Pre-game Thanksgiving week. Castle Island Brewing is hosting a Friendsgiving celebration Saturday. In the spirit of friendship, several local bars will be guest-tapping brews, and there will be pizza, vinyl, and cookie decorating.

🫶  Help local families put dinner on the table. It’s the season of giving, and you can do just that by volunteering at the Allston-Brighton Food Pantry’s Thanksgiving distribution on Saturday. Bonus points if you speak Cantonese, Russian, Spanish, or Portuguese.

🍸 Sip on some complimentary cocktails. A.k.a. Time Out’s Cocktail Challenge on Saturday. A ticket gets you free booze, bites, and swag from the market’s vendors.

🍷 Or … sip on some FREE wine. Eataly is offering free wine tastings from over 150 vendors all weekend. Seriously, no ticket or RSVP required. Just show up, show some ID, and get to sipping. 

📚 Visit Boston’s newest bookstore. The grand opening of JustBook-ish in Dorchester is slated for Saturday at 11 a.m. You’ll find a smattering of titles, including many with a social justice focus.

❓ Put your thinking cap on. There’s a general knowledge trivia on Friday at Trident and a murder mystery dinner on Saturday. The theme is “time warp,” and a ticket gets you a script, a dinner buffet, and “a night of mayhem.” 

💍 Grab yourself a little trinket. You’ve seen the Brighton Bazaar before. But on Sunday, it’s all about the trinkets. This week’s vendors will showcase tiny, shiny items (think: jewelry, gems, and baubles).

ONE LAST THING

Mark Wahlberg’s doppelganger(s)

Do you have short brown hair, a weathered face, and a brawny build? You might be the perfect candidate for this Mark Wahlberg look-alike contest.

A recent post on Bluesky showed a flier for a Mark Wahlberg look-alike contest set for 1 p.m. today on the Common. The prize? A Dunkin’ gift card (obviously).

ICYMI: Look-alike contests are having quite a moment. The trend all started last month in NYC, where hundreds of people resembling Timothée Chalamet gathered to find the actor’s best doppelganger (here’s the winner).

And it appears the Wahlberg contest might not be Boston’s only one. Only in Boston shared a Tom Holland look-alike contest on Nov. 24 and a John F. Kennedy look-alike contest on Dec. 8 (both on the Common).

So if you’re a short king with a boyish face or blessed with Kennedy good looks, it’s your time to shine.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

👯 Thanks for reading! If I find a Dakota Fanning look-alike contest it’s over for you all. 

💜 Special shoutout to today's sponsors, Area Four and DoorDash, for supporting local journalism and serving up some of the best pizza North of the Charles. 

🎄 The results are in: 34% of readers guessed “Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story” was NOT a real holiday movie coming out this year. One reader said, “There's no way they could afford that copyright.” And yet, they somehow did, as it is a very real title. The fake one was “The Christmas Tree Whisperer.” Got ya!

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].

📝 Correction: The new bookstore in Dorchester is called JustBook-ish, not Bookish. We apologize for the error!