Category: Article

This year marks the hundredth anniversary of Henrik Ibsen’s death. And what better way to commemorate the solemn dramatist than with a wallop of theatrical desperation, accompanied by some Norwegian rosemaling workshops? Around these parts, there’s no finer Ibsen-obsessed company than Commonweal Theatre. Based down in the hip hamlet of Lanesboro, Commonweal Theatre is firmly rooted in southern Minnesota’s Scandinavian community, where it hosts an Ibsen festival that is now nine years strong (the festival runs February 3 – 6). This year, Commonweal stages When We Dead Awaken, a stoic play about an aging artist that is, coincidentally, the last in the Ibsen catalog. 206 Parkway Ave. N., Lanesboro; 800-657-7025; www.commonwealtheatre.org

Minneapolis’ Theatre de la Jeune Lune and Cambridge, Massachusetts-based American Repertory Theatre seemed to be a match made in heaven when the pair put on Molire’s The Miser last year. But the dream team will wander into uncharted territory this year with a joint adaptation of Franz Kafka’s unfinished book, Amerika. Kafka, whose feet never touched American soil, wrote of confused and cruel American landscapes, including an impossibly long bridge connecting Boston to Manhattan, and a sword-wielding Statue of Liberty. This stage adaptation will likely be dark and brooding–it is Kafka, after all–but we’re holding out hope for a few moments of profound beauty. 105 First St. N., Minneapolis; 612-333-6200; www.jeunelune.org

This audacious revision turns Tchaikovsky’s dainty and classic ballet on its head. And in the process, it shakes out a story with more complexity, emotional depth, and humor than any production of Swan Lake we’ve seen before. A bare-chested bevy of cobs–that’s the word for male swans, you know–helps express the frustrations of a young prince who is struggling to find his place in the royal world, understand his sexuality, and forge relationships with uptight family members and exotic new friends. This thoroughly modern psychological drama takes the prince to dark places where drugs, suicide, and repression help uncover deeply buried truths. But a thick edge of humor, along with bold staging and special effects, makes this event as thrilling as it is thought-provoking. 805 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-339-7007; www.hennepintheatredistrict.com

I wonder: If I live to be ninety-three years old, will I fundamentally be the same person I am now, only four inches shorter and with twenty-seven additional cats? The people who extol the virtues of “clean living” say it’ll add ten years to your life. Like that’s some big incentive. I love and worship the elderly; I’m just not so sure that being elderly myself is going to be so hot. And then I spoke with Studs Terkel. My conversation with this ninety-three-year-old man changed my life. If I could be half the man he is, I’d do a shot of wheat grass right now. Here’s a dude who survived not only several wars and forty-seven years in radio, but also open-heart surgery at the age of ninety-three! Seven weeks later, he was on a book tour. He and I talked for forty-five minutes about the unequivocal need for music, questioning authority, and relationships with strangers that everyone must maintain throughout one’s life. We spoke very little about the book he’s promoting and more about the little things that mean everything. I know he wasn’t aware of how this conversation was affecting me, but after every anecdote he rasped, I silently slapped my forehead in complete agreement. There is always something amazing about anyone’s survival in this world, let alone for more than ninety years.

Email Mary at popularcreeps at yahoo dot com.

We have to admit it: Sheer exoticism is part of the appeal of this group from the tiny Siberian republic of Tuva. Elaborate silk outfits, stringed instruments with horse-head headstocks, and an otherworldly singing style in which one man produces up to three tones simultaneously–it doesn’t get much “other” than this. But the remarkable thing, when you sit in a roomful of people spellbound by this spectacle, is just how universal this quartet’s art is. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself recalling a lost love or contemplating the heavens. 416 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-338-2674; www.thecedar.org

Nick Cave has forged an incredibly sprawling, prolific career. The brooding Australian punk rocker, novelist, and Goth balladeer has been known to leave his audiences in tears of rapture with live renditions of his exquisitely miserable music. He’s enhanced the film world with his soundtracks for several Wim Wenders films and the 2003 documentary Winged Migration, and he’s even acted in a few movies (most notably in Wings of Desire). For The Proposition, his latest film project, he provided both the story, about a pair of outlaw brothers roaming the Australian Outback during the 1880s, and this appropriately haunting and ambient soundtrack, a collaboration with violinist Warren Ellis.

Transforming a homely, second-rate child actress into a scorching-hot indie rock femme fatale is an endeavor usually plotted more with wishful thinking than actual viable talent. But Jenny Lewis, whom you’ll remember from, well, nothing (her acting career included Beverly Hills Troop and other 1980s atrocities), has a sweet and silky voice that deftly plays many roles, including Postal Service backup singer and Rilo Kiley frontwoman. Now, with Rabbit Fur Coat, she’s added country-soul songstress. For this outstanding side project, Lewis’s off-kilter pop sensibility is inflected with country, 1960s soul, and folk motifs; working with the gospel-slinging Watson Twins on backup was an inspired choice for these thematic explorations of religion, romance, and revenge.

The fact that folk music around here not only outgrew the paisley and leather-fringe years, but continues to thrive, evolve, and inspire young musicians, is due in no small part to the passion of Red House Records founder Bob Feldman, who died last month. Feldman’s spirit will no doubt be the toast of many a guitar-toting songwriter at this event, a fundraiser for the Minnesota Folk Festival, which boasts a lineup featuring numerous friends of Feldman, including Red House artist and blues legend Spider John Koerner, guitar king Cam Waters, Ceili band Barram, and local folk sextet the Eddies. 910 Montreal Circle, St. Paul; www.minnesotafolkfestival.org

Zorn is the anti-Kenny G, an inveterate risk taker whose prodigious technical talent on the sax is matched only by his willingness to use it in radical ways. In his music, which he’s dubbed “radical Jewish culture,” the cacophonous coexists with the sublime, and complexity isn’t an end in itself but rather a means to full-flowered ecstatic expression. This program, dubbed “Zorn x 3,” is a typically ambitious undertaking for the New York artist, encompassing a conversation with Zorn (6 p.m.), a concert with his Electric Masada ensemble (7 p.m.), and several short experimental films with live accompaniment by members of the group (9:30 p.m.). An itinerary like this would exhaust most artists, but for the relentlessly creative Zorn, who leads several bands and a record label, and has a discography the size of a phone book, it’s another night out. With all due props to the talk and the films, it’s the Electric Masada gig that really has us excited. The group’s concerts are often as intense as a lightning strike, thanks to an all-star lineup of New York players such as guitarist Marc Ribot and drummer Joey Barron. Expect Zorn’s tzitzit to be swinging and his horn stinging as he lays down the heavy Jewish skronk. 612-375-7622; www.walkerart.org

The religious right is not only destroying America, but eroding the positive powers of religion by linking spirituality to values that are pro-money, pro-war, and pro-business, as well as anti-environmental and anti-intellectual. So says Rabbi Michael Lerner in his new book, The Left Hand of God, in which he also contends that these values will ultimately alienate thoughtful and spiritually minded Americans. (Maybe that’s the good news, if it means eventual change.) Lerner’s writings and his work as editor of the Jewish political magazine Tikkun have made him a polarizing figure in the Jewish world, particularly where Israeli-Palestinian matters are involved, so his appearance here, thanks to Magers & Quinn Booksellers, is bound to be lively and thought-provoking. 4537 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; www.magersandquinn.com