This weekend we want to go to...

Moana skates into Disney on Ice's Mickey birthday celebrations.

Spark Arena: It's been 90 years (!) Since Mickey Mouse burst upon the scene and changed popular culture forever. Disney on Ice is celebrating with a new show that pays homage to the great Disney moments past and present. For the first time, fans of the ice spectaculars will be able to see Moana take her place alongside characters from classic and modern Disney stories including the stars of Finding Dory, Toy Story and Inside Out. And, in another significant first, Sunday's 5.30pm performance presents the Moana segment in te reo Māori.
Disney on Ice Celebrates Mickey and Friends, Spark Arena, Friday – Sunday.

Galatos: It seems a long time since the music festivals of summer so you may be missing your fix but Red Bull and St Jerome's Laneway comes to the rescue this weekend with an indie music bill to bring some midwinter sunshine into your life. Perth "art-rock" band Methyl Ethel, Auckland teenagers Daffodils and Wellington-based indie band Stink are on the bill. Since playing Laneway in 2016, Methyl Ethel have enjoyed phenomenal success with more than 25 million Spotify streams and sold-out Australian and UK tours; Daffodils secured a slot at this year's Laneway after winning the Smokefree Rockquest and have since sold-out Auckland's Tuning Fork while Stink's appearance follows their psych-pop debut single Lollipops.
Red Bull presents: curated by Laneway (R18), Galatos, Saturday, 9pm.

Herbs: songs of freedom celebrates the musicians from different islands in the South Pacific who gave voice to a generation and the issues of the day.

Civic: While it's not the season for music festivals, it most certainly is for films. As Auckland's turn with the NZ International Film Festival draws to a close, there are still some "big night" attractions to catch this weekend. Almost 40 years after its first gig as a support act to Stevie Wonder, Herbs: Songs of Freedom uses interviews and a soundtrack of the band's most popular songs to reflect on its place in entertainment history and connect its music to some of the biggest events in our recent history: the occupation of Bastion Point, the 1981 Springbok tour demonstrations and the dawn raids targeting the Pasifika community. As well as tracing Herbs' history, it brings us up to date with more recent developments and shows the power and appeal of its music stays strong.
Herbs: Songs of Freedom, Civic, Saturday, 8.30pm.

A scene from The Lodger - could this man be responsible for a string of London murders? Photo / British Film Institute.

And sticking with the film festival, return to the Civic on Sunday for music of a different note. The NZIFF's 20th collaboration with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra coincides with the 120th birthday of Alfred Hitchcock so, for this year's Live Cinema comes what's often described as the first true Hitchcock movie. Could there be a more atmospheric piece than The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog in which the UK's capital is haunted by a killer who only strangles … beautiful blondes. Matinee idol Ivor Novello plays a mysterious stranger who emerges from the London fog to seek lodgings with the family of Daisy, a beautiful young blonde. When he isn't prowling the city by night, he paces the floor in his upstairs room. What secrets is he concealing? The film itself is a 2K restoration with a new score by Neil Brand, considered one of the finest exponents of improvised silent film accompaniment in the world.
Live cinema, The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog, Civic, Sunday at 6.15pm.

David Aston, Elizabeth Hawthorne and Carmel McGlone in The Children.

Herald Theatre: Our love of – or, more accurately, morbid fascination with - all things nuclear was proved by the raging success of the HBO drama Chernobyl. Here's a play which further explores what happens in the wake of a nuclear disaster and builds on themes about just how seriously we take the future. In an isolated cottage on the English coast, two retired nuclear physicists have retreated to safety after a natural disaster. Life is tough, electricity is rationed and they keep a Geiger counter on hand for good reason. But they have worked all their lives for their retirement and now they are determined to enjoy it. Then they're visited by a friend with a problematic request and what looked like a taut domestic drama suddenly becomes a provocative eco-thriller.
The Children, Herald Theatre, until Sunday, August 18.