Revelations
Dancing on the Town: On May 16 at Northrop Auditorium, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will perform its signature piece, Revelations, which dates to 1960—evidence of the New York troupe’s longtime influence on modern dance. To discover a new crop of innovators, head to the Southern Theater from May 5 to 7 to see the six Twin Cities–based dancers (including Toni Pierce-Sands) who earned McKnight fellowships in 2004 and 2005. They’ll perform works by 10 world-renowned choreographers, including the award-winning Wynn Fricke. • Northrop Auditorium, 84 Church St. SE, Mpls., 612-624-2345; Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Mpls., 612-340-1725.
Young Bob
Forever Young: Bob Dylan’s mystique largely emanates from a few years in the early 1960s, when he galvanized American music with a self-invented persona—equal parts hipster, humorist, and hobo. John Cohen, leader of the folk group the New Lost City Ramblers, was on the scene with his camera, and his photos of the nascent star comprise “Young Bob,” an exhibition opening May 13 at Icebox Gallery. In these gorgeously printed black-and-white images, Dylan’s myth has yet to coalesce: the baby-faced Duluthian, with his floppy hat and too-big guitar, appears both unguarded and calculating, a poetic study in ambition. • Icebox Gallery, Northrup King Building, Studio 443, 1500 Jackson St. NE, Mpls., 612-788-1790.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Samurai Shakespeare: Theater Mu adds yet another wrinkle to the repertoire of Shakespearean interpretation, wrapping Kabuki sword fighting, Korean mask dances, and Japanese taiko drumming into A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the Bard’s comedy of confused lovers in a fairy-tale woods. Performed May 13 to 28 at the Southern Theater, the local company’s production is filled with dance and music, all with an Asian-American spin. • Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Mpls., 612-340-1725.
Hamlet
Good Night, Sweet Guthrie: Despite the slings and arrows of architectural preservationists, the Guthrie Theater is closing the curtain on its original space May 7, the final night of a Hamlet production intended to bring the company full circle (Tyrone Guthrie opened the venue in 1963 with the same play). It’s fitting that the theater shuffles off with a show in which nearly everyone dies, though this production pointedly stars a fresh young face from the University of Minnesota acting program. In June, the Guthrie reopens on the Mississippi riverfront, but, at least to some theatergoers (the ones who’ll be ripping out seats for souvenirs on closing night), its heart will remain on Hennepin Avenue. • Guthrie Theater, 725 Vineland Place, Mpls., 612-377-2224.
Museum of Russian Art
Back in the U.S.S.R.: There’s nary a hammer and sickle in sight at the Museum of Russian Art, whose collection showcases realistic, religious, and pastoral paintings produced under Communist rule. With “Soviet Dis-Union: Socialist Realist and Noncomformist Art,” a smartly presented exhibition that opened at the museum on April 20, we finally get the full-on propaganda—with a twist: 37 artworks trace the pro-Socialist perspective of government-supported artists from the 1930s to the 1980s, while 40 others by nonconformist artists capture the dissenting point of view. • Museum of Russian Art, 5500 Stevens Ave. S., Mpls., 612-821-9045.
Educating Rita
Theater of the Mind: Local playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, who recently adapted Tuesdays with Morrie for the stage, is also an entertaining actor. In Educating Rita, running May 12 to 27 as the second production of Torch Theater’s inaugural season, Hatcher plays a disillusioned English tutor who rediscovers his talent for teaching when he meets Rita, a feisty blue-collar student. Expect the effervescent Stacia Rice to thrive as Rita, who wouldn’t know an ivory tower from Ivory soap—and is too hungry for knowledge to care. • Theatre Garage, 711 W. Franklin Ave., Mpls., 952-929-9097.
Duluth’s Homegrown Music Festival
Duluth Does Dulcimers: Duluth’s eighth-annual Homegrown Music Festival, which includes local rock, folk, and, yes, dulcimer jams, runs—quite literally—April 30 to May 7: participating musicians will warm up their lungs with an invigorating 5-kilometer jog before hopping onstage to jam the opening night away. Sounds like a scheme dreamt up by Alan Sparhawk—the leader of the well-known rockers Low and the Black-Eyed Snakes is co-chair of the festival this year. Along with the run, new events include showings of locally produced movies. As for the dulcimers, their day to get picked on is May 5; listen in or sign up for a class and strum along. • Various locations: visit www.duluthhomegrown.com for details and schedules.
Doors Opening: A Symphony of Dolls
Spiffed-up Ritz: One of the most anticipated, if under-the-radar, renovations of old Twin Cities theaters has been the Ritz rehab in northeast Minneapolis, not so much for the architecture as the art that will happen inside. The revamped Ritz will add yet another venue to the city’s burgeoning artists’ district in Nordeast, serving primarily as the home of Ballet of the Dolls, though other dancers, musicians, actors, and performers will also have access to the 225-seat auditorium. On May 12, Ballet of the Dolls officially dedicates the space with the aptly named Doors Opening: A Symphony of Dolls. • Ritz Theater, 820 NE 18th Ave., Mpls., 612-623-7660.
Stone Carving
Art That Rocks: Stone is hard; sculpting it is harder. But beginning May 22, more than a dozen of the world’s best stone carvers will travel here from as far away as Japan, Egypt, and Italy to create a massive number of public-art works in slightly more than a month’s time. On the front lawn of Saint Paul College, they’ll work stone taken from local quarries into decorative pieces for St. Paul, St. Anthony, and Vadnais Heights. • Open for public viewing at the corner of Kellogg Blvd. and Summit Ave. in St. Paul. For details, call 651-290-0921.
Maxim Vengerov
Violin to the Max: Russian violinist Maxim Vengerov’s last performance at the Schubert Club was in 1996, when he was a 22-year-old prodigy. On May 24, Vengerov returns with several Grammy wins under his belt and the title, awarded by several critics, of “the world’s leading violinist.” • Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, 651-224-4222.
