Sunday news and reviews

Art

The emotions of Easter, expressed in wood

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts adds an important 500-year-old religious sculpture to its collection.

- MARY ABBE , Star Tribune

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Books

The story of baseball's longest game is a fast read

Barry reconstructs that day, and night, and day, in 1981 when two minor-league teams were tied until the 33rd inning.

- CURT BROWN , Star Tribune

Author Elizabeth Berg embraces her role as a women's writer

She will be in the Twin Cities next week to promote her new book.

- LAURIE HERTZEL , Star Tribune

An obit writer struggles to uncover a murky truth

A longtime writer at a Nebraska newspaper investigates a girl's disappearance.

- STEVE WEINBERG , Star Tribune

A poet and memoirist explores the loneliness of grief

O'Rourke explores our culture's dwindling acceptance of grief, even as she mourns her mother's death.

-MEGAN DOLL , Star Tribune

The brain and the mind a delicate connection

After brain surgery, a chiropractor finds his entire personality has changed.

- MARTIN SCHMUTTERER , Star Tribune

Artist draws social anxiety to perfection

Twin Cities cartoonist Lars Martinson draws awkward interaction better than just about anyone.

- TOM HORGEN, Star Tribune

Julia Child's in subtitle, but on the fringe, of WWII story

In this brilliantly researched and written account, the Childs stand up for an OSS member accused of communism.

CURT SCHLEIER , Star Tribune

Duluth publisher lands Yolen collection

What a coup for Holy Cow! Press. The Duluth-based literary press will publish Jane Yolen's new poetry collection, "Things to Say to a Dead Man: Poems at the End of a Marriage and After," in September.

- Laurie Hertzel, Star Tribune

Dance

3 new dance works showcase Zenon troupe at its best

Review: The three premiere works commissioned for Zenon Dance Company's spring concert showcase an exciting new level of emotional and physical intensity from the members of the 28-year-old troupe. All are standout efforts, but New Yorker Kyle Abraham's contribution offers up a particularly potent brew of movement moods and styles.

-CAROLINE PALMER , Star Tribune

Music

3 composers, 1 goal: Exploration

Lovers of new music can hear the results Tuesday of a new initiative by the International Contemporary Ensemble.

- BRITT ROBSON , Star Tribune

Duran Duran spark fevered dreams of dancing angels at Epic

As I listened to the words of the next song, "Hungry Like the Wolf," a well of longing opened in my heart that felt like homesickness for a place I've never been before. And it occurred to me just then: this is synth-rock at its best. It acknowledges the sense of deep longing we all feel for something we cannot name, that sense of the mysteriousness endemic to the human condition, and in that shared acknowledgement, we no longer feel alone.

- Sarah Rattanavong-Wash, TC Daily Planet

Duran Duran show thrills Gen X crowd

Review: The pretty-boy Brits received rousing ovations for their '80s-heavy show at Epic nightclub.

- JON BREAM , Star Tribune

Black Lips and Vivian Girls throw back at the Varsity Theater

When the crowd realized that really, really, there was going to be no encore, the people in front looked at each other like they'd just been told we weren't going to have a summer this year.

- Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

Stage

Stepping into the limelight at age 12

Andover's Megan Fischer won the role of "Annie" at a Mall of America open audition.

- ROHAN PRESTON , Star Tribune

Spears channels Cole

The actor embodies Nat King Cole in the premiere of "I Wish You Love."

- Rohan Preston, Star Tribune

'Jersey Boys' at the Orpheum -- oh, what a night

That these nearly 50-year-old pop tunes can still jolt a crowd is a testament to the enduring power of the music, of course, and also to the talents of Joseph Leo Bwarie, Quinn VanAntwerp, Steve Gouveia and Matt Bailey -- who portray the Four Seasons in this touring production.

- Dominic P. Papatola, Pioneer Press

"Jersey Boys" in the hood at the Orpheum Theatre

The Jersey Boys script by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice makes a case for the Four Seasons as the working man's pop heroes.

- Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

Review: Arsenic and Old Lace entertains with murderous mirth

By equating social etiquette with mannerly homicides, the Guthrie Theater's new production of Arsenic and Old Lace succeeds in transforming unabashedly morbid humor into crowd pleasing entertainment.

- Brad Richason, Examiner.com