Theater
Minnesota Fringe Festival • Choose wisely, my friend. Your choices include Joseph Scrimshaw’s bid for a third straight attendance award—Nightmare Without Pants, featuring Anna Sundberg—and this play about a play: Joe Dowling’s William’s Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet” on the Moon, featuring Kate Mulgew as Lady Capulet. • 8/2–8/12, fringefestival.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Chicago • The “Cell Block Tango” still has legs at the Ordway. • 8/7–8/12, ordway.org
Waiting for Godot • Good things will come to those who wait at the Jungle Theater. • 8/24–9/30, jungletheater.com
Theatre in the Round’s Fall Preview • It’s the ultimate teaser, the ADHD of theater: nine plays in one night. • 8/25, theatreintheround.org
Music
Stillwater Music Festival • No beer cups. No Porta-Potties. This is summer music in name only, featuring several performances from innovative banjoist Béla Fleck and the hip string quartet Brooklyn Rider, the latter joined by Kayhan Kalhor (master of the Persian kehmancheh, an ancient stringed instrument) at the Cedar Cultural Center. • 8/15–8/23, stillwatermusicfestival.com
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Patio Nights • Bands, beer, and riverside relaxation, hosted by the Minnesota Museum of American Art Thursdays at City House. • 8/2–8/30, mmaa.org
Sharon Van Etten • The year’s biggest indie-rock star brings her shimmering venom to First Avenue. • 8/4, first-avenue.com
Mary Chapin Carpenter • The topical folkie plays the zoo. • 8/1, mnzoo.org
Film
Music and Movies • Inspired by the idea of dreams, the Walker Art Center’s Loring Park pairings range from surreal to silly: Afropop pioneer Oliver Mtukudzi with Artists and Models (a Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis retro romp), Rogue Valley with The City of Lost Children, and, on the Walker’s hill, Brute Heart backing the silent classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. • 7/30–8/20, walkerart.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Minneapolis Underground Film Festival (MUFF) • The unknown and unusual at St. Anthony Main. • 8/17–8/19, streamingmoviesright.com/blog/minneapolis-underground-film-festival/
Two’s Funny, Three’s a Riot • Classic comedy teams that still make us LOL, at the Heights. • 8/2–8/30, take-up.org
August Music and Movies • Mike Myers at the Lake Harriet Bandshell. • 8/3–8/24, vita.mn
Dance
Minnesota State Fair • This year’s Grandstand acts, taken together, mimic food on a stick, with KISS, Blake Shelton, and Wiz Khalifa bound together by sheer democracy. The free stages are your best bet, offering veterans like Bettye LaVette and Wanda Jackson, along with indie up-and-comers like Caroline Smith & The Good Night Sleeps. • 8/23–9/3, mnstatefair.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Minnesota Renaissance Festival • Hear ye, hear ye, your leg of turkey is ready. • 8/18–9/30, renaissancefest.com
Irish Fair • Kilts and corned beef. Need we say more? Maybe two words: amateur rugby. • 8/10–8/12, irishfair.com
Twin Cities Beer Fest • Beer and food trucks…at Mall of America? Take the light rail. Please. • 8/11, twincitiesbeerfest.com
Visual Arts
Art Fair Weekend • This is one shopping experience the Internet can’t ruin. In fact, this triptych of the Uptown Art Fair, Powderhorn Art Fair, and Loring Park Art Festival has only benefited from a growing interest in face-to-face retail. Any bargains, though, are in the eyes of the beholders. • 8/3–8/5, uptownartfair.com, powderhornartfair.com, loringparkartfestival.com
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
McKnight Visual Artist Fellowship Exhibition • The next big things show at MCAD. • 7/13–8/17, mcad.edu
Art in Bayfront Park • Breezy, beautiful browsing beside Lake Superior. • 8/18–8/19, artinbayfrontpark.com
Albrecht Dürer’s Melencolia • Greatest engraving ever? Judge for yourself as the MIA exhibits a recent acquisition etched in art history. • 8/11–11/11, artsmia.org
Events
Macy’s Glamorama • He’s not British, but Robin Thicke is about the bonniest singer/reality-TV star that Macy’s could have gotten to play its U.K.-themed fashion show, along with the similarly sexy band Karmin. Hey, it’s only rock ’n’ roll. Expect the designers here—Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan—to be just as loosely inspired. • 8/3, macys.com/glamorama
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Rhythmically Speaking 2012 • The work of nine jazz-inspired choreographers at the Southern Theater. • 8/16–8/18, rhythmicallyspeakingdance.org
African Summer • The summer-long music festival wraps with Malian stars Amadou & Mariam. • 8/7, thecedar.org
Red House Barnfest • Guitars, toted by Lucy Kaplansky and others, flood Red Wing. • 8/4, redhouserecords.com
