Year: 2004

A humble fugitive trying to lead a life on the straight-and-narrow. A self-righteous inspector chasing the past. An orphan child in love with a man at war. The Victor Hugo classic, on a return trip to the Ordway for three weeks, has more characters than the Michael Jackson trial, but entertains with much more dignity. The original Broadway performance ended its sixteen-year run last May as the third-longest-running show in Broadway history—and now it’s hit the road as this four-million-dollar “replicate” production, which has drawn record sellout crowds in London, Chicago, and Boston. It’s the only production of Les Mis currently running in the States, so catch it while you can (or settle for more Jacko Court TV drama). (651) 224-4222; www.ordway.org

Guyton and Walker are two up-and-comers whose work was most recently seen, respectively, at the Whitney Biennial and at the legendary Paula Cooper gallery in New York. For this show, the pair engaged in some pretty heady collaborative hijinks. They subjected a limited selection of imagery—including a designer couch, a knife blade, a private jet, and a photograph of another art duo, Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss—to a formidable array of techniques: scanning, spray-painting, cutting, computer printing, silk-screening, etc. You might say that they’re exploding, expanding upon, then giving a tech update to the Warhol tradition of multiples. As with the exhibit title, XXXXX BBB XXXXXXFFFFFF FFF, the works are interestingly off-putting—it’s incumbent on the viewer to dig in, do some decoding, and figure out just what’s going on. 2500 University Ave., Suite C2, St. Paul; (651) 917-1851

You’ve probably seen Robert Polidori’s stark yet sumptuous architectural images in the New Yorker; here’s your chance to view some in their full-scale grandeur. In a brand-new series on view at the Weinstein, the photographer creates gorgeous, masterful, and telling pictures of the new New York. Times Square looks as if the rain Travis Bickle wished for finally came; Prada’s fabulously expensive, Rem Koolhaas-designed boutique completes SoHo’s transformation from scruffy artists’ enclave to sleek retail power center. And here’s something to really juice those who suffer from a “Minneapple” inferiority complex: These New York photographs haven’t been on display anywhere else yet—not even in New York. 908 W. 46th St., Minneapolis; (612) 822-1722

The Jerome Foundation and Intermedia Arts have been pushing boundaries for upwards of twenty years with this annual show of installation art; this year, they expand their mission outside the gallery space. In one of five commissioned pieces, the “installation” is the streets and sidewalks of Lyn/Lake, as Sean Kelly-Pegg openly borrows an idea from Canadian artist Janet Cardiff in creating his own version of one of her portable sound tours. As an audience of one, you check out a CD player and are directed on a neighborhood excursion that incorporates interviews with local characters, historical tidbits, and invented scenarios. Think of it as an engaged alternative to your iPod. Also on view: works by Barbra Nei, Barbara Claussen, tectonic industries, and Marcus Young. 2822 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; (612) 871-4444; www. intermediaarts.org

It’s amazing what some people will throw away. While most of us ignore scraps of discarded paper lying on the ground, Davy Rothbart collects them, scans them into his computer, and publishes them in his magazine, Found, and on www.foundmagazine.com. Taken together, the tossed-away and lost scraps become a wonderful showcase of accidental art, offering tantalizing glimpses into the lives of unknowable strangers. Together with his brother Peter, Rothbart is motoring across all fifty states to promote his new book, also called Found. The event promises to be more comedy and performance art than art exhibition, with the brothers sharing secrets of their favorite found items, some of which they’ve reworked into songs and even a short play. Meanwhile, the local Creative Electric collective has been busy with a silkscreening project designed to increase the number of groovy T-shirts in the world; it’s worth checking out. 2201 2nd St. N.E., Minneapolis; (612) 706-7879; www.creativeelectricstudios.com

Kats Fukusawa loves to mix things up. The Japanese native first learned dance by watching West Side Story and now has eight years’ experience with Indian dance as part of the local troupe Ragamala. He joyfully interweaves his own work with healthy skeins of other world cultures—Irish, Latin, jazz, whatever strikes his fancy. In Paneer Masala (which translates to “spicy cheese”), he embraces both the flavor and the kitsch value of cheesiness. In these four short pieces, he’ll pay tribute to African-American culture; explore the many meanings of the term “exotic,” with the help of an otherworldly Yma Sumac song; and send up Japanese monster movies in the piece “Blue Gojira.” (612) 340-1725; www.southerntheater.org

One of these days, k.d. lang is going to run out of musical forms to conquer. Her latest success is as a vocalist working with America’s top symphonies; this month, she’ll do a one-night stand with the tuxedoed Minnesota Orchestra, not one of whose members lower-case their initials. After the Orchestra struts its stuff through selections from the American songbook, lang will take the stage for the remainder of the program, and under the baton of conductor Charles Floyd, is expected to offer renditions of “Crying,” “Don’t Smoke in Bed,” “Helpless,” and “Constant Craving,” among others. Moving on to new territory, her album due in July, Hymns from the 49th Parallel, covers fellow Canadian songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Neil Young. 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; (612) 371-5656; www.minnesotaorchestra.org

Come for the scat, stay for the ballads. And be taken in by one of the most confident voices in modern jazz singing everything from Brazilian bossa nova to seventies soft rock à la Cat Stevens. While specializing in a Midwestern mix of blues, folk and pop, the versatile Allyson also borrows from genres the world over and makes them her own. She coos with an elegant yet robust style that is the stuff goosebumps are made from; add to that an angelic onstage presence unmatched by her peers. Her latest, Wild For You (out June 8), is a showcase of reworked seventies pop classics from Stevens, Elton John, and Roberta Flack, among others. 1010 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; (612) 332-1010; www.dakotacooks.com

When the hippest art museum in town throws a concert in a sculpture garden under the summer sun we have only one option: Rejoice. If you’re going through Walker withdrawal, this year’s Rock the Garden street party will be therapeutic as an event where the “without walls” concept is in full effect. For the last decade, former Talking Heads front man David Byrne has explored the music of traditional cultures from around the globe, reinterpreting the sounds through modern electronics and his own eccentric sensibilities. Check out Rei Momo for a great example of the Byrne world style, or pick up his new album, Grown Backwards, with the Tosca Strings (who’ll back him up in concert), to see where he’s headed. Opening act Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra will get bodies swaying with deep afro-funk sounds in the tradition of Fela Kuti. Did we mention it’s outside? (612) 375-7622, www.walkerart.org

If Phil Spector could produce the Ramones, why can’t Jack White, garage-rock hero of the White Stripes, take a whack at spinning the studio dials for honky-tonk goddess Loretta Lynn? No good reason at all, and Van Lear Rose, which White both produced and arranged, proves that opposites can indeed attract beautiful music. The most powerful song is “Family Tree,” in which Lynn escorts her children to the home of their father’s mistress so the whole brood can take a gander at the “woman that’s burning down our family tree.” Lynn delivers her usual repertoire—drinking, cheating men, and keeping the faith—but at seventy, she’s never sounded better. (Available now)