Monday news and reviews

Art

Public art gets street smart

Last fall, District 6 sent out a call to local artists to submit a design for a series of neighborhood landmarks-street markers or columns-that would identify the South Como area and the three streets intersecting Front Avenue where they would be located.

- Ruth Weleczki, Park Bugle

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Music

A high note in his vocal career

Next week, Tom Tipton will give what he considers "the biggest performance of my life."

That's an impressive claim for someone who has sung for millions of viewers on TV's "Hour of Power," soloed in jam-packed stadiums as part of Billy Graham's crusades and given command performances for two presidents.

- JEFF STRICKLER, Star Tribune

DeVotchKa at First Avenue, 4/1/11

If only from the film scores to which the band has contributed, it's apparent there's a theatrical streak that runs deeply in the group, but the results in a live setting weren't ostentatious--it's more vaudeville than summer blockbuster.

- Ian Traas, City Pages

Stage

Is work the answer?

Anton Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya," a meditation on wasted lives and frustration, gets a hopeful take in this fine staging.

- Graydon Royce, Star Tribune

Gremlin Theatre's update of Chekhov's 'Vanya' is potent

Local actor Johnson's adaptation makes dark tale of disillusionment more accessible for today

- Renee Valois, Pioneer Press

Original work, 'Oil! and The Jungle,' brings Upton Sinclair's classic novels to the stage

Created by University of Minnesota affiliate faculty Kym Longhi, and performed by 24 undergraduate theatre students, "Oil! and the Jungle" juxtaposes Sinclair's two novels and the worlds inhabited by workers and bosses.

- Steve Share, Minneapolis Labor Review