The 28-year old Georgia native flexes her emotional range on The Orchard (which dropped in late February), her third and best disc to date. Producer Craig Street concocts the sort of pop-jazz-soul-gospel stew he fashioned to break Cassandra Wilson into the mainstream, and Wright provides a similarly breathy, atmospheric vocal. Left field covers of Led … Read more
Gordy Johnson is a connoisseur of jazz piano trios, and not coincidentally the format is his metier as a bassist. As its title implies, GJ4 is the fourth time Johnson has mixed and matched trios from his impressive connections with national stars and local luminaries who are drummers and pianists, and it is arguably his … Read more
You’ve seen this image before. Of course you have — if nothing else, at least a cheap print in a college dorm. Gustav Klimt’s Gold Portrait, stolen from Viennese Jews in 1938, is now the most expensive painting ever sold — and the opening subject of The Rape of Europa, an "epic story of the … Read more
In celebration of the 40 years since Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Heights Theatre is showing the 1968 masterpiece, digitally remastered in 70mm, a project of Kubrick’s before his death in 1999. This historical depiction of the future raised many questions as to the existance of life and the mysteries of science and … Read more
Eleven truth-telling women passionately grieve and celebrate the myriad facets of their complex lives in the new Northfield women’s poet anthology, Penchant. The title implies an inclination, and the title poem, by Karen Herseth Wee, explains that each of these poets possesses a drive: "An uncontrollable urge to write, reveal, chant aloud that which otherwise … Read more
Life is no movie. We have no soundtrack. (Ok. Sometimes we do.) But we sure have plenty of background noise — background noise and visual noise, which somehow play off each other in a most fascinating way. Local artists Ben Garthus and Greg Priglmeier have joined forces to bring us Background Noise, an attempt to … Read more
Figure and landscape. Sculpture and photography — black and white landscape photography, to be precise. What’s the connection? Go see a beautiful exploration by recognized Minnesota sculptors and photographers at the Vine Art Center. Experience "the powerful and sensual nature of landscape and figurative work." The exhibition, which runs from May 2nd to June 24th, … Read more
The Minnesota Jewish Theater Company ends a strong 2007-2008 season with another regional premiere. The Triangle Factory Fire Project — directed by Carolyn Levy— tells the story of a fatal fire in the Triangle Waist Factory, in 1911, that took 146 lives. Author Christopher Piehler (in collaboration with Scott Alan Evans) offers a play-by-play of … Read more
What do you do if your daughter tells you that she’ll be dead by morning? This is essentially the premise for the 1983 play, ‘night, Mother, by Marsha Norman. Two years ago, when the Camden Workhouse Theater did a staged reading of the play, it was met with a standing ovation. (Yes, it’s that good.) … Read more
After having to postpone the opening for a week, due to illness in the company, the Theatre in the Round Players are finally commencing their production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. Considered by many to be O’Neill’s masterpiece (it won a Pultizer in 1957), Long Day’s Journey narrates a fateful, heart-rendering day … Read more