1.10-15
The Bodyguard
The 1992 film depicting a superstar singer and the one-time Secret Service hunk charged with protecting her from a scary stalker (wait for it . . . they fall in love) was driven by the considerable star power of Kevin Costner and the late Whitney Houston. But it was also a fun popcorn fantasy of improbable romance and a handful of absolutely killer songs. This musical adaptation originated on London’s West end in 2012, where it picked up four Olivier Award nominations. This U.S. tour is kicking off in Minneapolis at the Orpheum and features Canadian R&B goddess Deborah Cox in Houston’s metaphoric shoes. It’s pretty much worth the price of admission for the Dolly Parton-penned “I Will Always Love You.” hennepintheatretrust.org (Photo by Joan Marsuc)
1.14
Kris Kristofferson
Texan Kris Kristofferson has managed to pack a remarkable amount of living into his 80 years. He was a Rhodes scholar and noted rugby player in his youth, and reached the rank of Captain in the army (though his resignation from the military reportedly opened a wound with his family that never fully healed). He’s enjoyed a career as a film actor that has seen him play opposite everyone from Barbra Streisand to Wesley Snipes. This visit to Pantages Theatre, though, will be squarely focused on that gravel-road country voice and his songwriting—anyone who could pen “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down,” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” has earned a place in the pantheon of hard-living, heart-on-sleeve anthems, a natural outlaw still kicking in his ninth decade. hennepintheatretrust.org (Photo by Mary Ellen Mark)
through 4.30
“Heyday: 35 Years of Music in Minneapolis”
This exhibit at Mill City Museum accompanies the book of the same name featuring the work of local photographer Daniel Corrigan—which, if you’re of a certain age, you might have received for the holidays. If not, it’s worth a spin through the imagery of a gifted shooter who was at the center of the rock scene beginning at the dawn of the 1980s. Corrigan was the house photog for First Avenue in the time when Prince, the Replacements, Soul Asylum, Babes in Toyland, and Hüsker Dü painted a sonic mosaic of a soulful northern land that eventually enticed me to pack up a truck from Cambridge MA and see what all the fuss was about. Corrigan was also on hand for the likes of the Clash, Michael Jackson, and Bruce Springsteen, and in recent years has pointed the lens at everyone from Bon Iver to the Flaming Lips. mnhs.org
through 2.25
Camelot
Lerner and Loewe’s epic deep-dive into the psyche of myth is a famously accessible, moving, and downright fun musical. The opening scenes are all angsty doubt about the burden of royal history, and what unfolds is a matter of honor, equality, infidelity, and the wages of war. Arthurian England is a mishmash of medieval history with archetypal weirdness into a moving meditation on lost love and the claws of history . . . with a passel of winning tunes. I recently saw a documentary showing how Jackie Kennedy promoted her late husband’s fondness for this show as a way to frame his legacy after his assassination. With its feel of halcyon days lost to bluster and big mistakes, it’s not a terribly off-target interpretation of the times. chanhassentheatres.com (Photo by Heidi Bohnenkamp)
1.27-29
Written in Water
I can remember being a child and having the board game Snakes and Ladders reveal to me a quasi-mystic sense of the capriciousness and inscrutable intentions of fate. Little did I know that it was based on a second-century game from India called Paramapadam, or that in 2017 the brilliant sisters Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy of Ragamala Dance would combine it with a 12th-century Sufi text (The Conference of the Birds) to create an entirely intriguing dance performance. With projections of original artwork and a score interweaving jazz trumpet with original South Indian compositions, Written in Water is a multimedia meditation on ecstasy, longing, and loss that promises to evoke those bittersweet games of youth and all of the ups and downs that they foretold. thecowlescenter.org (Photo courtesy of Opening Nights)
‘Written in Water’ trailer from Ragamala Dance Company on Vimeo.
