Saturday news and reviews
Art
The wide-eyed opening day visitors to the Science Museum's King Tut exhibit found much to fascinate them.
- BILL WARD, Star Tribune
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Ta-Coumba Aiken listens to the song of ancestors
There are a thousand voices singing at the Gordon Parks Gallery, where Ta-coumba Aikien's "In the Spirit" exhibition is now on display.
- Sheila Regan, City Pages
The Experimental Print: Stanley William Hayter and the Artists of Atelier 17
Gallery 263, nestled between a Minnesota-specific exhibit and a room of photography at the MIA, is currently host to a bold, modern, and colorful show.
- Coco Mault, City Pages
Artists "Navigating the Aftermath" of the Iraq War at the University of Minnesota's Quarter Gallery
Through art, film, and special events, the artists--including anti-war activists, Iraq war veterans, and Iraqi artists--explore how we exist after experiencing the devastations of war.
- Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet
Dance
Sarah Michelson pushes her dancers to heroic limits in a work about faith and belief.
- CAROLINE PALMER, Special to the Star Tribune
The performers seen and heard in Devotion are extraordinary creatures, moving with power and precision. However, they're put to the service of a piece that, while technically accomplished and clearly very personal, is ridiculously pretentious and becomes ridiculously boring.
- Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet
Movies
"Cedar Rapids": More enjoyable than a trip to the actual Cedar Rapids
Local audiences may be offended at the portrayal of the inhabitants of the Midwest as dopey, unsophisticated, and easy to take advantage of, but what they will appreciate are the references to sports teams, neighboring cities, and the attention to detail in our regional dialect.
- Emily Weiss, TC Daily Planet
Music
Minneapolis woman wows 'em on 'Idol'
A regular at the Dakota and in Target commercials, Sophia Shorai has already made a name for herself outside her mother's shadow.
- PAUL WALSH and CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune
Sara Jane Olson's daughter makes splash on 'American Idol'It turns out local vocalist Sophia Shorai, who made a splash on Thursday's "American Idol," is also the daughter of one of St. Paul's most famous former fugitives -- Sara Jane Olson.
- Amy Carlson Gustafson, Pioneer Press
SXSW 2011: Minnesota roll call
With South by Southwest less than a month away (the music portion kicks off on March 16), we thought it a good time to start compiling our list of Minnesotans making the haul down to Austin, Texas this year.
- Andrea Swensson, CIty Pages
A little bit of Burgundy at the Basilica
A visit to an art museum can take you back to other millennia, lending insights through images created in earlier eras. But music might be the best way to travel to centuries passed.
- Rob Hubbard , Pioneer Press
A sneak peek at songs from Kahlo opera
The tumultuous life of Frida Kahlo is dramatized by Dawn Upshaw and SPCO.
- WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD, Special to the Star Tribune
Clarinet concerto in U.S. premiere
The work by Kalevi Aho gets an emotional performance by the Minnesota Orchestra and guest clarinetist Martin Fröst.
- LARRY FUCHSBERG, Special to the Star Tribune
Jeremy Walker of the Small City Trio: "There is always something to improve on and discover
Small City Trio return to Minneapolis promoting their album Pumpkins' Reunion with a February 25th show at famed jazz club the Dakota.
- Dwight Hobbes, TC Daily Planet
Stage
Theatre Latté Da takes on a play informed by music, but it's not your standard musical theater.
- GRAYDON ROYCE, Star Tribune
Nimbus opens space with 'The Balcony'
Considering what has happened in Egypt in the last two weeks, along with the general instability in the Middle East, and the political unrest in neighboring Wisconsin, it's certainly prescient of Nimbus to tackle Jean Genet's The Balcony as the inaugural piece in the company's new northeast Minneapolis space.
- Ed Huyck, City Pages
Teatro del Pueblo's 10th Annual Political Theatre Festival examines questions of Latino identity
"Latinos in Transition" is the theme for the 10th Annual Political Theatre Festival, presented by Teatro del Pueblo and Pangea World Theatre.
- Bev Wolfe, TC Daily Planet
Penumbra Theatre Company's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" at the Guthrie Theater: Blues under glass
What stands out most at the end of the production is not just the incredible ability of Rainey, but instead her disheartening struggle for respect.
- Jason Zabel, TC Daily Planet
Walking Shadow Theatre Company dances with desire in "Drakul"
Walking Shadow Theater Company breathes new (and yet eternal) life into Bram Stoker's Dracula with their latest production, Drakul, written and directed by John Heimbuch.
- Rebecca Collins, TC Daily Planet
"Leave": Urban Samarai takes on Don't Ask Don't Tell
Set against the backdrop of Clinton's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, the play tells the story of four gay men--two marines, an ex-army soldier, and "a marine wife"--whose lives get tangled together in a searing drama in the midst of war.
- Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet
Lily Tomlin at the State Theatre: Still makin' 'em laugh
It's Agnes! It's Ernestine! It's Lucille! Yes it is. And even more when you're lucky enough to catch the many personalities brought to life during "An Evening of Classic Lily Tomlin."
- Betsy Gabler, TC Daily Planet