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The buttery-yellow walls with navy-blue accents may make you think you’ve wandered into a Scandinavian wine bar. But the menu at Willie’s, which comforts downtowners in fitting style from sunrise to nightfall, has just a few Nordic touches. Daytime visitors enjoy choice selections like tangy kielbasa salad–plump grilled sausages atop tart, lemony frisee or tatsoi leaves, dressed with goat cheese and pinot noir. At night, when the lights are dimmed and the yellow backs down, the food and wine find center stage. Sophisticated small plates pair nicely with the extensive wine list: A taste of pork and apple mingles amicably with a sweet Riesling; chorizo and roasted pepper are kept in check by a quenching Rioja. 1100 Harmon Pl., Minneapolis; 612-332-8811

A woman finds herself torn between two loves, one with a beautiful body and one with a beautiful mind. Of course, the triangulated longing Thomas Mann wrote about in his 1941 novella The Transposed Heads, which was based on an Indian folk story, is a theme that keeps cropping up again and again. Ragamala Music and Dance Theatre, a foremost local authority on East Indian culture and dance, has crafted an evening-length production that debuted to enthusiastic reviews in 2001, and whose storytelling is reliant on movement, gesture, and sign language. Nicole Zapko, a deaf actor, and Ragamala artistic director Ranee Ramaswamy play multiple characters. 1501 4th St. S., Minneapolis; 612-338-6131; www.ragamala.net

John Guare’s script could rightly be called the star of this classic Jungle Theater production, but the cast includes a surefire lineup of local stage wonders: Jungle artistic director Bain Boehlke, the indefatigable and inimitable comic actress Wendy Lehr, and the ex-Twin Citizen Rosalie Tenseth, who’s returned from New York to reprise, for a third time, her role as Bunny, the mistress who favors hot-pink spandex and leopard prints. Guare’s acerbic, eighties-era tale makes light of a host of modern predicaments: terrorism, infidelity, mental illness, and celebrity lust. The resulting production is at once gut-busting and biting–a must-see. 2951 Lyndale Ave. S.; 612-822-7063; www.jungletheater.com

Next month the Guthrie will grab all the attention when it re-opens, but right now you need to train your sights on Northeast Minneapolis, where the long-shuttered 1920s-era Ritz Theater will once again open its doors. In its heyday the Ritz was the lynchpin of a friendly neighborhood entertainment district–back before people drove to the mall for dinner and a movie. Once a number of galleries and watering spots revived the neighborhood, the savvy Ballet of the Dolls troupe recognized that it was high time for the old theater to be reborn too. The Dolls celebrate their new home–and their twentieth anniversary–with a brand-new ballet whose score includes music ranging from Mozart, Rachmaninoff, and Schubert to Mary J. Blige and David Bowie. 345 13th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 651-209-6689; www.balletofthedolls.org

Ever adept at adapting novels, the Hardcover Theater goes a bit off its own beaten path with A Princess of Mars. Edgar Rice Burroughs’ pulpy, eighties-era sci-fi book concerns a Civil War-era Southern gent who’s inadvertently transported to the red planet. There, he finds he has Herculean physical strength and, of course, falls in love with a beautiful Martian princess. The movie version of A Princess of Mars is reportedly in the works–no word yet on who gets to play the protagonist, John Carter, or alien hottie Dejah Helias–but one of our favorite local troupes will beat Hollywood to the punch in bringing this bizarro vision of Mars to life. What’s more, they’ll do it in their own humble-yet-industrious fashion, using puppets, masks, and colorful costumes. 2301 Franklin Ave. E., Minneapolis; 612-581-2229; www.hardcovertheater.org

The most thought-provoking piece the Theatre in the Round has staged in some time, Bruce Graham’s play centers on two death-row inmates who strike up a friendship. As they reveal their circumstances, they raise the kind of questions that trouble a civilized society: What is an appropriate punishment for killing someone? What kind of crime is so heinous it merits no mercy? Do some murderers deserve more mercy than others? On one side of the wall is Bobby, a disarmingly charming white supremacist who says he did God’s bidding in burning alive a church full of black worshippers. On the other is John, an arrogant and educated newsman who deliberately murdered an evil man for the “larger good of society.” Audiences may step out into the night feeling their own convictions about capital punishment have been rattled. 245 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis; 612-333-3010, www.theatreintheround.org

Theater companies, like most of us, are driven to find a permanent place to call home (see Ballet of the Dolls to the right). But the Skewed Visions performance troupe is at home as a nomadic concept; previous productions have been designed to suit such makeshift “stages” as a parked car and a private home. Now they bring their highly stylized aesthetic to an office building–a pretty good-looking one. The Grain Belt Office Building, housed in the nineteenth-century Grain Belt Brewery complex, hosts Skewed Visions’ Days and Nights, an evening-length, interactive, and labyrinthine event that mixes live performance with video feeds, puppetry, and doll actors. Three distinct pieces–A Quiet Ambition, The Hidden Room, and Time for Bed–take place in their own respective corridors and board rooms, linked together by the roaming audience. 1215 Marshall St. N.E., Minneapolis; 612-201-5727; www.skewedvisions.org

Live! Onstage! Tonight at the synagogue! OK, this Minnetonka temple is an unusual venue, perhaps, forone of the world’s finest violinists, but lucky are the few who take advantage of a rare opportunity to see such spectacular musicianship in an elegant and intimate milieu. Israel-born Perlman plays “the Devil’s instrument” ferociously, as if he were indeed possessed, and his devotion to the bow has recently led not just to inspired collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Jessye Norman, but to ventures into jazz and klezmer as well. Then there are the movie scores for John Williams and that gig conducting the Detroit Symphony. A couple months ago, we even spotted him wandering about the red carpet before the Academy Awards, looking a bit dazed amid all the silliness, but clearly having a well-deserved good time. 10500 Hillside La. W., Minnetonka; 952-545-2424; www.adathjeshurun.org

Another Texan songbird, Tish Hinojosa, retains the love of her home state by performing in both Spanish and English. She’s equally at home within the Latino music community, or with folkies like Lucinda Williams and Nancy Griffith, or touring internationally with her fellow “Global Divas,” Peru’s Susana Baca and Zimbabwe’s Stella Chiweshe. Her vision of Latina beauty and talent is fresh and simple (Jennifer Lopez and Shakira would look like drag queens beside her); she puts the focus on songwriting that draws on contemporary folk and roots rock, while honoring her Mexican heritage. And Hinojosa’s voice, crystalline and sweet as spring bluebonnets, can stop anyone in his tracks. 900 Mount Curve Ave., Minneapolis; 651-293-9021

What to make of this latest Springsteen recording? On the one hand, it means he’s so hugely successful that he can make whatever kind of music he pleases. On the other, it shows that he’s cemented his star so far in the past that his latest endeavors can slip by unremarked upon, even by many of his fans. Songs like “Froggie Went a-Courtin’” and “Buffalo Gals” won’t garner the Boss much radio play (much less undies thrown onstage during the upcoming tour), but this album is more than just a novelty set. It’s an homage to an American original, one to whom Springsteen feels he owes a debt of inspiration. Like Wilco’s Woody Guthrie sessions, it’s a fascinating exploration of songwriting history and an unusual gift to Springsteen’s most dedicated fans.