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 … Read more
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 Molire’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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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, … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more