Month: August 2005

With shows in Las Vegas and Disney World, performances on cruise ships, and six globe-trotting productions, what was once an artsy, small-scale French-Canadian circus has blossomed into a seriously big business entertainment. And, while it’s not exactly the exotic spectacle it once was, the troops enlisted by this troupe still put on one hell of a show. The latest production to sweep through Minneapolis bears the same kind of mysterious, seemingly made-up name (Corteo) we’ve come to expect from the troupe, along with contortionists, Euro-clowns (i.e., not the scary sort), child acrobats, tightrope walkers, aerialists, and the like. Actually, “Corteo” is the Italian for “cortege,” which is itself a French word for a procession or parade. But what, exactly, is The Grand Chapiteau? Why, that would be French for “big top,” which Cirque folk will erect, appropriately enough, on the Parade Stadium grounds. 600 Kenwood Parkway (west of the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden) 800-678-5440; www.cirquedusoleil.com

In a showdown between Saturday Night Live and Second City TV, SNL comes out the shrill, monotonous loser with the long, embarrassing sketches. SC was born onstage in Chicago in 1959, and expanded to the small screen during the seventies and eighties. Eight seasons of inventive ensemble comedy featured young comics like John Candy, Eugene Levy, and Martin Short. While the TV show has been relegated to DVD, the live show goes on, starring up-and-comers who no doubt toss coins into hotel fountains and wish for a contract doing more tedious work on SNL. Until then, they can tour with this live rerun, which revives some of the funniest skits from the SCTV archives, along with new and improvisational material. 2004 Randolph Ave., St, Paul; 1-800-277-6874, www.secondcity.com

Could the origins of reality TV be traced back to Depression-era dance marathons? These events played out as grueling contests, in which curious onlookers watched young, desperate couples compete for prize money by bopping, literally, til they dropped. Bankrupt City Ballad recalls those days as Peter Rothstein, the brains behind Theater Latte Da, and Mathew Janczewski, ARENA Dances mastermind, hook up to transform the Southern Theater into an old-time dance hall. With a penchant for pretty music and bittersweet plot lines, Rothstein’s singers promise to unearth any tenderness that might be flickering among those Darwinian foxtrots. Southern Theater; 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-340-1725; www.latteda.org

The strange phenomenon of classical cheesecake is not limited to nubile females posing naked behind their cellos. Violinist and conductor Joshua Bell only has to toss sweat off the ends of his long hair and the band geeks all swoon. Bell debuted at age thirteen with the Philadelphia Orchestra and has since played with many of the world’s renowned orchestras. He’s also the current owner of the Gibson Stradivarius, a storied violin that was made in 1713 and recently resurfaced fifty years after it disappeared backstage at Carnegie Hall. Bell is conducting Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Verdi’s Quartet in E Minor, and Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat for Strings. We’re pretty sure he’ll leave the Strad safely at home. September 23 at Ordway Center for the Performing Arts (651-224-4222; www.ordway.org) and September 24 at Ted Mann Concert Hall (612-624-2345; www.music.umn.edu/facilities/tedMann.php); www.thespco.org

It can be hard to find the blues in these parts, unless you’re also looking for joints with a bunch of crazy crap nailed to the walls frequented by tipsy grandmothers. But this event promises to give the blues lover a real feast for the ears, and in a fancy-pants setting to boot. In addition to performances by a live ensemble–including singer Jearlyn Steele, Spider John Koerner, harmonica player Howard Levy, accordionist Dan “Daddy Squeeze” Newton, and bassist Gary Raynor, the event will include host (and guitarist) Pat Donohue recounting legendary episodes from the blues experience and screenings of rare film footage showing the people whose music came up the Mississippi and got into the souls of a lot of northern folks. 651-290-1221, www.fitzgeraldtheater.org

You’d think we’d stay on top of these things: Sigur Ros, the superhip ambient slow-core band from Iceland, has a new record coming out this week, and we never got our secret-handshake-nudge-nudge-wink-wink advance copy, the better to let you know whether you should buy it when it becomes available to the masses. But when it comes to Sigur Ros, well, we figure we have time. Lots and lots of time. We still listen to the beautiful and fragile ( ), and that came out three years ago. Agaetis Byrjun, which sounds a bit like Cowboy Junkies spouting a made-up language on helium in an empty swimming pool with Erik Satie–yes, it’s that beautiful–is six years old, and it’s still in top rotation on our iTunes. Detect a pattern? It may be three years before they pass through town again–hint hint. 612-339-7007; www.hennepintheatredistrict.com

As a musician, you ought not name yourself after one of the wonders of the ancient world unless a) you’re damn sure of yourself and b) you’re going to be playing for a long time and assume iconic status. Taj easily meets both criteria: His ego’s as big as the stogies he smokes, and his tunes have taken him about as far as a folk-blues musician not named Dylan can go. His polyglot, border-crossing music takes from the American South, Africa, the Carribbean, Hawaii, Cuba, and beyond, and his proficiency on twenty-plus instruments, starting with his trademark Dobro, can be stunning. Throw in a rich, gruff but honeyed voice and an occasional whistling solo, and there’s no doubt he’s still got what it takes to cast a spell in concert. 651-290-1221, www.fitzgeraldtheater.org

Short and googly-eyed, cackling and sniveling, Bela Lugosi played the perfect piteous wretch in some of the greatest horror films ever made. He became a distinctively dank and unseemly type, one with no modern equivalent, not even Tom Cruise. Although he is best remembered for acting as sidekick to more commanding actors like Boris Karloff and Gene Wilder, early in his career Lugosi played dashing leading men with good posture, including Dracula. This set collects five films from the thirties and forties that showcase the work of this early and elegant Lugosi: Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, and Black Friday. Boasting quality writing and noirish cinematography, these Universal films are hallmarks of the horror genre.

The Heights is one of the things we love about these cities: It regularly screens silent black and white classics accompanied by a live Wurlitzer organ, just the way your great-granny saw them. Even the folks at the Heights have to agree that sound was a pretty great invention, though, and to celebrate seventy-five years of talkies, they are screening a dozen vintage Vitaphone short films from the twenties. After a break for boxed lunches and movie games, they’ll wrap up the evening with a showing of Follow Through, a Technicolor musical that originally showed at the Heights in 1930. By the way, Vitaphone, a recorded disc played at 33 rpms in sync with the film, was the first cinematic sound process. 3951 Central Ave N.E., Columbia Heights; 763-788-9079; www.heightstheater.com