OPENS JANUARY 13 EDITOR’S NOTE: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED.VANCE GELLERT: REAL—ARTISTS AND LANDSCAPES
While many of us still mourn the demise of the Minnesota Center for Photography, the organization’s co-founder and former director, Vance Gellert, has been hard at work demonstrating that the medium is alive and well in Minnesota. This exhibit, with photographs by Gellert, features portraits of Minnesota’s farmers, motorcycle mechanics, and hairdressers, who also double as artists. Tweed Museum of Art, 1201 Ordean Ct., Duluth, 218-726-8222, duluth.umn.edu/tma/
OPENS JANUARY 8
THE MIRACLE WORKER
The History Theatre teams up with Torch Theater artistic director Stacia Rice as she reprises her role as Helen Keller’s tutor, Annie Sullivan. Rice, who won acclaim in the role in 2005, plays the blind teacher who works to free her pupil’s mind from tortured silence. History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul, 615-292-4323, historytheatre.com
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JANUARY 8 TO 10
OUT THERE 21: CHAUTAUQUA!
Step right up for an evening of big-top entertainment featuring vaudeville, acrobatics, feats of strength, and scientific experiments by one of New York’s most inventive young theater companies. Inspired by the 1930s Chautauqua Circuit, this act has all the eccentricities of a first-rate circus—minus the animals. Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, 612-375-7600, walkerart.org
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OPENS JANUARY 10
A DELICATE BALANCE
Edward Albee’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play is a vivid portrait of an American family. In this Guthrie debut, a couple’s adult daughter comes home after her fourth failed marriage, two friends suddenly move in, and repressed feelings erupt, upsetting the delicate balance of their family life. Guthrie Theater, 818 S. Second St., Minneapolis, 612-377-2224, guthrietheater.org
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JANUARY 15 TO 31
BERNSTEIN FESTIVAL
This month’s celebration highlights composer and classical-music conductor Leonard Bernstein’s better-known Broadway contributions, such as West Side Story and Candide. However, his biggest undertaking—and now the orchestra’s—was Mass, a theatrical production that Bernstein composed for the 1971 opening of the Kennedy Center in Washington. The rarely performed piece, commissioned by former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, features nearly 250 instrumentalists, singers, and dancers (here performed by James Sewell Ballet). Following the concert is a Q&A session with conductor Osmo Vänskä and Bernstein’s daughter, who will also perform during the festival’s run. Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, 612-371-5656, minnesotaorchestra.org
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JANUARY 15 TO FEBRUARY 8
PURE CONFIDENCE
Those lucky enough to have seen the odd, crass local cult flick Patti Rocks will be enthused to see its stars, Karen Landry and Chris Mulkey, onstage together again. This historical drama, written by Carlyle Brown, tells of the rise to fame of former-slave-turned-jockey Simon Cato, the unlikely star of post–Civil War horse racing. Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. Fourth St., Minneapolis, 612-338-6131, mixedblood.com
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JANUARY 16 AND 17
THE SPCO AND LONDON SINFONIETTA
Orchestra members read text from Gertrude Stein’s World War II autobiography against a backdrop of battle music, jazz, and synthesized sounds in the U.S. premiere of Heiner Goebbels’s Songs of Wars I Have Seen. This performance is part of SPCO’s International Chamber Orchestra Festival, a month-long series of concerts with orchestras from around the globe. Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, 651-291-1144, thespco.org
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OPENS JANUARY 23
WATER
This exhibit features ancient artifacts, hands-on activities, and innovative technologies—like a fog wall and a 68-inch globe that seems to float on air—to demonstrate water’s importance. The globe, for example, uses projected maps and satellite images to provide a stunning picture of just how much of the planet is covered in H2O, while ancient tools (5,000 years old!) show how human civilizations have utilized Earth’s most valuable resource. Science Museum of Minnesota, 120 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul, 651-221-9444, smm.orgGet More Info / Get Tickets
JANUARY 25
ROCK THE CRADLE
If your toddler is already banging on pots and pans, give them a day of rhythm with “Rock the Cradle,” hosted by the Current. Recommended for children ages 2 to 8, this free music festival lets kids interact with music through instruments, dance, and live performances. Also fun for adults: story hour with the Current’s DJs. Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Children’s Theatre Company, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; more info at mpr.org/rockthecradle
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JANUARY 29 TO FEBRUARY 1
JAMES SEWELL BALLET
James Sewell Ballet performs at the Southern for the first time, presenting choreography that was created through the Jerome Foundation–sponsored “Ballet Works Project.” The evening’s program features props, puppets, and a live feed from a Internet radio station. Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-340-1725
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DATEBOOK
More can’t-miss events in the Twin Cities this month
Theater
Frost/Nixon
State Theatre, January 6 to 11Get More Info / Get Tickets
The Gruffalo
Children’s Theatre Company, Opens January 13Get More Info / Get Tickets
Goodnight Moon
Stages Theatre Company, Opens January 16Get More Info / Get Tickets
Lights Up! Series
Illusion Theatre, Hennepin Center for the Arts, January 22 to February 1Get More Info
Faust
Minnnesota Opera, Ordway Center, January 24 to February 1Get More Info / Get Tickets
Spring Awakening
Orpheum Theatre, Opens January 27Get More Info / Get Tickets
Music
International Chamber Orchestra Festival
Various venues, January 8 to 30Get More Info / Get Tickets
AC/DC
Xcel Energy Center, January 19Get More Info / Get Tickets
Adele
Fitzgerald Theater, January 20Get More Info / Get Tickets
Jewel
Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, January 27Get More Info / Get Tickets
Bobby McFerrin with Cantus
Orchestra Hall, January 30Get More Info / Get Tickets
Lecture
Jane Pauley
SmartTalk series, Orchestra Hall, January 27Get More Info
Dance
Palladium Nights
Ballet Hispanico, Ordway Center, January 11Get More Info / Get Tickets
Ali Brady and Andrea Wagenknecht contributed to this story. Send event information to agenda@mnmo.com.
