Theater
Out of the Pan Into the Fire • The closure of Theatre de la Jeune Lune, a long five years ago, scattered its primary actors. But Dominique Serrand and Steven Epp have quietly revived the brand in their new troupe, The Moving Company, and here, joined by Nathan Keepers and Christina Baldwin, they get the band back together for a physical, image-heavy riff on the Brothers Grimm. • 5/3–26, southerntheater.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
An Iliad • Stephen Yoakam shares Homer’s great poem in an intimate one-man show.
• 5/4–26, guthrietheater.org
Anything Goes • Cole Porter’s best, with sailors. • 5/7–12, ordway.org
A Streetcar Named Desire • New Mu Performing Arts artistic director Randy Reyes guest-directs.
• 5/2–26, tenthousandthings.org
Music
Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires • Last time through town, Bradley blew the roof off the Fine Line, set it on fire, and ate it. More or less. Hard to believe we’ll be treated to this kind of soul, forged over two decades of hardship (including a stint as a James Brown impersonator), at the intimate Cedar. But it’s perfect for playing off his second, more psychedelic Daptone album. • 5/7, thecedar.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Natalie Merchant • Hits and new songs, backed by the Minnesota Orchestra.• 5/10, mnorch.org [Canceled]
Jane Monheit • The dazzling jazz singer branches into pop, bossa nova, and standards.
• 5/15–16, dakotacooks.com
Engelbert Humperdinck • Didn’t see this coming. Let the chest hair out and enjoy. • 5/11, mysticlake.com
Film
Hitchcock Film Festival • The Birds, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rope—Hitchcock is hip again, and the evidence, so to speak, is right here. Riverview Theater and the Trylon Microcinema team up for this fifth-annual suspense fest running the length and breadth of the master’s career, from Jimmy Stewart’s peeping-Tom turn in Rear Window to the silent The Lodger (with live accompaniment).
• 5/10–12, take-up.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Sustainability Film Series: The City Dark • Sleepless cities, the science of darkness, and what’s lost when night disappears. • 5/2, bellmuseum.umn.edu
Nabucco • Verdi’s opera about King Nabucco’s persecution of the Jews. • 5/12, heightstheater.com
Starcrash • Aliens and secret missions circa 1978. • 5/22, take-up.org
Dance
Pilobolus • Any dance troupe inclined to name itself after a fungus that shoots spores at 45 miles per hour, as these brilliant contortionists did in 1971 at Dartmouth College, deserves your cash and attention. They’ve been reshaping perceptions of what the body can do ever since, and they’ll bring their mind-bending and body-bending act to the Ordway for a rare laugh-fest of a dance show. • 5/4, ordway.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Zenon Dance Company • Two world premieres in two weekends. Because they can.
• 5/3–12, thecowlescenter.org
Fierce/Feminine • Women choreographers inspired by their creative foremothers.
• 5/16–19, thecowlescenter.org
TU Dance • A world premiere by Uri Sands and Camille A. Brown. • 5/31–6/2, oshaughnessy.stkate.edu
Visual Arts
Fritz Haeg: At Home in the City • Landscape designer/educator/gardener Fritz Haeg gives the phrase “flower power” new meaning this summer at the Walker. First, he’ll install a geodesic dome surrounded by native Minnesota plants in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Then comes Domestic Integrities A05, his exhibition examining how landscapes are harvested and brought indoors. Groovy. • 5/11–11/17, walkerart.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Art(ists) On The Verge • Interactive art goes digital, proving we can’t escape technology.
• 5/4–26, soapfactory.org
From Space to Place • Can a place ever truly stay the same? Our relationship with spaces.
• 5/28–6/15, art.umn.edu
[Insert Title Here] • Look at art. Think about art. Name art. • 5/2–30, alteredesthetics.org
Events
May Day Parade • In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre has always been run on a shoestring. This year, that string became shorter and more frayed than usual. Yet the show will go on, trundling down Bloomington Avenue into Powderhorn Park. This year’s theme, “See the World,” serves up a cautionary tale about taking care of the earth—a repetitive message that’s powerful nonetheless. • 5/5, hobt.org
[THE RUNNERS-UP]
Festival of Nations • Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars play the multicultural celebration.
• 5/3, festivalofnations.com
Mars in Minnesota • MPR’s Tom Weber chats with the head of NASA’s Curiosity mission.
• 5/21, fitzgeraldtheater.org
Isabel Allende • The author discusses Maya’s Notebook at Talking Volumes. • 5/8, fitzgeraldtheater.org
