THEATER & PERFORMANCE
The Fortunes of King Croesus
We’ve known it for at least three centuries, apparently: money doesn’t buy happiness. And yet we can’t seem to help ourselves, as we continue to search our shopping cart for the meaning of life, for peace, for the ole H-word — as we continue to work 24/7, searching for the perfect formula, vying for that million-dollar break-through. Composed by Reinhard Keiser, a contemporary of Handel, The Fortunes of King Croesus tells "a bittersweet and twisting tale of love and conquest where all is right in the end." Ah, a happy ending. Definitely not Shakespeare. Definitely not Puccini. But beautiful nonetheless, perhaps moreso if you’re looking for a glimmer of hope in the end, for which we all seem to be desperately grasping these days. The German Baroque opera, performed by The Minnesota Opera — accompanied by The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra — will be sung in German with English captions projected above the stage. British tenor Paul Nilon stars as Croesus.
7:30 p.m., Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St, St Paul, 651-224-4222; $50-$130.
Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire
If you’re looking for some interesting theater tonight, you might want to check out Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire, a one-woman play about nine Iraqi women’s lives during war. I’ll be sure to tell you more as soon as I see it on Wednesday, but with director Joel Sass and Kate Eifrig as the lone performer, it’s bound to be worthwhile.
7:30 p.m., Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; $18-$34.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Laura Flynn’s Ocean
Now that her new novel is out, you’ll be seeing quite a lot of Laura Flynn this month — if you so desire. Catch her this afternoon at the University of Minnesota Bookstore, or catch her next month at Magers & Quinn. She is sure to be at several venues in between. And her latest novel is likely worth the effort. Swallow the Ocean tells the tale of three young girls dealing with their mother’s downward spiral into schizophrenia. Might as well have her sign it and hear what she has to say.
4 p.m., University of Minnesota Bookstore, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-626-0559; free.
BOOKS
The World and Its Double: The Life and Work of Otto Preminger
Smart as Hitchcock, incisive as Wilder, and independently minded as
Cassavetes, Otto Preminger remained largely peerless during his career.
He was one of the first Hollywood auteurs to challenge censorship rules
and explore his own vision—one populated with honest studies of drug
addiction, sexual deviance, and corrupt politics. As an establishment
director, he introduced an anti-cinema subversion that inspired the Cahiers du Cinema
crew. Unfortunately, many will only remember him for his role as Mr.
Freeze in the original Batman TV show. Film historian Chris Fujiwara’s
exceptional biography aims to change that with an analysis that
achieves the seemingly impossible: It actually manages to inspire the
reader to take another look at Exodus. —Christopher Hontos
Available in bookstores nationwide.
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