A Prince dance party, and other arts events not to miss this weekend
'Tonight I'm gonna party...'
This weekend, mourning for Prince is going to seem like a way of life. First Avenue in Minneapolis plans to hold no-cover all-night dance parties starting at 1:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Reason to go: You sleep almost every day; this happens once.
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Guthrie cast gets the jump on "Harvey"
There wouldn't be much sense in doing "Harvey" halfway. It's a comedy about a giant rabbit and the humans who see him, or don't see him, or who see him and pretend not to. The characters are outsized and the comedy is broad. The Guthrie's current production takes all that into account, and hops to it.
Elwood P. Dowd, Harvey's constant companion and the only person who's able to see him all the time, drunk or sober, seems to have lost his marbles. He's an embarrassment to members of his family, and they resolve to have him committed. Soon, though, it becomes clear that he functions at least as well as they do. So who needs to be committed?
Elwood (David Kelly) is a shining beacon of warmth and good fellowship. His sister, Veta (Sally Wingert), is a mess of self-delusion and social anxiety. Her daughter, Myrtle Mae (Sun Mee Chomet), is a screeching bundle of ambition, resentment and thwarted sexuality. The practice of psychiatry is reduced to "hydro tubs" and experimental injections, enforced by the "sanitarium strong-arm," Mr. Wilson (played as a straight-up thug by Tyson Forbes). And alcohol, which is very much a character in this play, comes off as nothing worse than the natural, helpful lubricant of human relationships.
Mary Chase's 1944 script is steadily amusing, punctuated with moments that are uproariously funny. And it manages to be sweet at the same time — as when Dr. Chumley, a ramrod-stiff psychiatrist (Steve Hendrickson), articulates his fondest dream: two weeks in Akron. The moral of the play: It's possible to cure the Elwoods of this world, but then they'll be perfectly normal human beings - "and you know what bastards they are." At the Guthrie in Minneapolis, through May 15.
Reason to go: For the laughs.
Casualties of the revolution
There are no giant rabbits in "Sunset Baby," a play about sacrifice and justice now in production at Penumbra Theatre. Dominique Morisseau's script tells a story filled with pain, but also touched with passion, humor and hope. James Craven and Jasmine Hughes play Kenyatta and Nina, a father and daughter struggling with the legacy of a family pulled apart by drugs, revolution and the prison system. At Penumbra Theatre in St. Paul, through May 8
Reason to go: A killer cast.
An American style of Japanese drumming
It's not as if people in the Twin Cities never get to see taiko drummers, blessed as we are with the talents of Mu Daiko. But the Los Angeles-based TAIKOPROJECT may bring a new sense of showmanship to the traditional Japanese art. The group claims Zimbabwean and Nigerian influences in its work, and defines its mission as "seeking to create a truly American style of taiko." (Maybe that's why they use only capital letters in their name.) TAIKOPROJECT is performing one night only, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, at Ordway Music Theater in St. Paul.
Reason to go: Extreme drumming.
A good weekend for a requiem
It only makes sense that, for a performance of Brahms' stately and beautiful German Requiem, the Minnesota Orchestra would bring in the stately and beautiful German conductor Helmuth Rilling. The 82-year-old Rilling will conduct the orchestra and the Minnesota Chorale, as well as deliver a lecture-demonstration about the Brahms work. Performances at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday, Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis.
Reason to go: As the Star Tribune noted in its irresistible headline, Rilling is a "heavyweight for a requiem."
Gang life at White Earth
Speaking of requiems, here's your chance to see a powerful film about gang life on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. Produced by Terrence Malik and Natalie Portman, "The Seventh Fire" recently screened at the White House and is the closing night gala presentation of the 35th Minneapolis St. Paul Film Festival. Showing at 7 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, St. Anthony Main, Minneapolis.
Reason to go: You live in Minnesota.
Jungle goes to alternate universes
Meet Marianne the quantum physicist and Roland the beekeeper. They take audiences on a heady ride as their romantic lives play out across parallel universes in Jungle Theater's "Constellations." Anna Sundberg and Ron Menzel are utterly convincing in all the emotional permutations of their relationship as it warps from one reality to another. It's a reminder of all the little choices we make each day, and how our present situation is just one in an infinite number of possibilities. Performances through May 29 at the Jungle Theater, Minneapolis.
Reason to go: You never know what direction your life might take if you don't.