May 2012 Arts Calendar

What you need to do, see, and hear this month

Theater

The Amen Corner • Can we get a witness to the greatness of Greta Oglesby (see “The Gospel of Greta“)? The preacher’s daughter (who married one, too) plays a pastor torn between faith and family in this gospel-infused, hallelujah-shouting story performed by Penumbra Theatre at the Guthrie. • 5/5–6/17, penumbratheatre.org
 

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The Addams Family • Ba-da-da-dum, snap, snap—the musical. • 5/8–5/20, ordway.org

Vasa Lisa • Sally Wingert stars in TTT’s new play on womanly wisdom. • 5/4–5/27, tenthousandthings.org

The Hollow • Lust, jealousy, murder—in that order—at Theatre in the Round. • 5/25–6/24, theatreintheround.org
 

Music

Preservation Hall Jazz Band • These are the guys you want to play you out: men with trombones, tubas, and an elastic sense of time. At Orchestra Hall, the jazz legends will conduct a New Orleans-style funeral, complete with a “second line” dance parade, for the temporarily closing venue. • 5/26, mnorch.org
 

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Girls Got Rhythm Fest • Ronnie Spector, the Muffs, and the 5.6.7.8’s play a new festival at the Amsterdam. • 5/11–5/12, amsterdambarandhall.com

Grandmothers of Invention • Strangest Mother’s Day show? Frank Zappa’s former band keeps his social criticism alive at the Cedar. • 5/11, thecedar.org

St. Vincent • Annie Clark brings her beguiling art-rock to First Avenue. • 5/12, first-avenue.com
 

Film

Minneapolis Hitchcock Festival • Choose your weapon: rope, knife, necktie. It’s the annual suspense fest, splitting time between the Riverview Theater and the cozy Trylon microcinema and focusing on the master’s darker, more hallucinatory films, from the eccentric Frenzy to the surreal Spellbound. • 4/16–5/14, takeup.org
 

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The Cedar Bar • The Trylon screens this salute to the legendary Abstract Expressionist-era hangout. • 5/2, takeup.org

The Bright Stream • The Heights screens the Bolshoi Ballet’s take on the Shostakovich classic. • 5/15, heightstheater.com

To the Arctic • Meryl Streep narrates this new IMAX film, screening at the Minnesota Zoo theater, about survival at Earth’s upper limit. • Opens April 20, imax.com
 

Dance

L’affaire de Ballet • Cities Classical Dance Ensemble, the area’s newest ballet company, blends traditional pointe work with modern movement, giving notions of tutu-clad princesses a slippered kick in the rear. At the Ritz, they’ll weave six choreographers’ work into a classy but cool affaire.  • 5/17–5/20, ritzdolls.com
 

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Zenon Dance Company • After 29 years, the modern-dance company’s edge still gleams at the Cowles Center. • 5/4–5/13, zenondance.org

TU Dance • The most crowd-pleasing troupe in town gets its Cowles moment. • 5/18–5/20, thecowlescenter.org

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater • The company brings an American masterpiece (“Revelations” from 1960) to the Orpheum, along with other works. • 5/1–5/2, hennepintheatretrust.org

Visual Arts

Art-A-Whirl • So you’re hitting the largest art crawl in the country, right here in northeast Minneapolis, where more than 500 artists invite you into their studio buildings. Just remember: always start on the top floor, and, no, that skull vase won’t look nearly as cool in your house. • 5/18–5/20, nemaa.org
 

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Minouk Lim • The Walker gives the Korean video artist her first major U.S. exhibition. • 5/31–9/2, walkerart.org

Landscape of the Mind • The wild new frontier of landscape art at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery • 5/22–6/30, nash.umn.edu

ATLAS • Cameron Zebrun’s mystical sculptures at the Traffic Zone Gallery. • 5/31–7/6, trafficzoneart.com
 

Events

May Day Parade • Weird bikes, weirder people (we mean that in the best way)—we can’t wait. Because nothing brings out the best in this annual spectacle of people-watching like an election year. Expect colorful railing against greed and other downers amongst all the awe-inspiring puppets. • 5/6, hobt.org
 

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Wits • John Moe hosts comedian Paul F. Thompkins and musician Aimee Mann at the Fitzgerald Theater. • 5/11, mpr.org

Dylan Days • Hibbing toasts its favorite son, 50 years after his first album. • 5/24–5/27, dylandays.org

Standstill Parade • Whalan: the pretty bluffside town so small you move while the parade stands still. Yep. • 5/19, lanesboroweb.com