Tuesday news and reviews

Here's a look at what's making headlines in the arts world...

Dance

Coming soon: A 'Nutcracker' near you

- Caroline Palmer, Star Tribune

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Whether you like your ballet traditional or avant-garde, you can find a version to suit your taste.

Walker Art Center presents a Choreographers' Evening full of pizazz

- Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

Sometimes, contemporary dance growls and barks at you. Other times, it wags its tail, jumps up in your lap, licks your face, and pees on you a little bit.

Art

Minnesota identity and art explored at Intermedia Arts

- Shelby Meyers, City Pages

With all the galleries, exhibits, theaters, museums, and other artsy-fartsy things around town, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize Minnesota is a goldmine for creative talent.

Music

Jayhawks to tour behind January reissues

- Chris Riemenschneider

With reissues of their two best-known albums coming in January, the Jayhawks have announced a short five-city tour that will culminate with another First Ave gig on Jan. 29.

Mavis Staples brings church to the Cedar on Sunday night

- Jon Bream, Star Tribune

It was the last show for Mavis Staples in 2010 and she was in good spirits - very good spirits -- on Sunday at the jam-packed Cedar Cultural Center.

Byron Gustafson, Brainerd native who managed performers, dies in New York

- Associated Press

The former managing partner of the firm that managed the careers and tours of performers from Suzanne Vega to Patti LuPone, has died in Manhattan. Byron Gustafson was 56.

Bob Dylan's handwritten lyrics to sell in NYC

- Associated Press

Bob Dylan's original handwritten lyrics for "The Times are A-Changin'" are heading for the auction block in New York City. They could sell for an estimated $200,000 to $300,000.

Holiday gifts: Bob, the Boss and Ol' Blue Eyes- Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune

The industry seems more focused on baby boomers in this year's offerings for music fans.

Theater

'Nativity' uncorks spirit

- Star Tribune

The tweaked holiday show returns with soulful flavor and zesty song.

Guthrie's revamped 'Christmas Carol' adds touches of comedy, cruelty

- Renee Valois, Pioneer Press

The new version helmed by artistic director Joe Dowling takes some intriguing liberties with the original under the influence of a couple of Dickens' fellow Brits -- playwright Crispin Whittell and lead actor Daniel Gerroll.

The Guthrie's A Christmas Carol: the good, the comedic and the poignant

- Claudia Haas, Examiner.com

The Guthrie Theatre unveiled their new Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol on November 19th. It's poignant. It's good for the holiday spirit. And it's funny.

At the History Theatre, "The Christmas Schooner" wobbles but stays steady on its course

- Bev Wolfe, TC Daily Planet

Song and family underscore the History Theatre's warm reprise of the holiday musical The Christmas Schooner.

A Fringe Festival fave returns with a holiday twist in 'The Harty Boys Save Christmas'

- Dominic P. Papatola, Pioneer Press

Reviving a shtick they first developed for the 2009 Minnesota Fringe Festival, Scrimshaw and Weinhagen have developed an hour-long, holiday-flavored toffee that parodies the young gung-ho heroes of Franklin W. Dixon's Hardy Boys novels and the Twin Cities cultural scene.

"The Harty Boys Save Christmas," thanks to Comedy Suitcase, at the Bryant-Lake Bowl

Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet

The most magical moment in Comedy Suitcase's The Harty Boys Save Christmas had nothing to do with presents or snow or mistletoe: it was when a young child laughed out loud, with a contagious giggle, at a punch line involving Ayn Rand.

Deadpan stories of a department-store elf

- Lisa Brock, Star Tribune

Joe Leary plays Santa's helper in darkly humorous one-man show based on David Sedaris' "Santaland Diaries."

'Santaland Diaries' - Who knew humiliation could be so much fun?

- Quinton Skinner, Pioneer Press

Even in tight times, what can save us day to day is a wry, knowing laugh at the world, which this Frank Theatre production amply supplies.

Ordway gets grant for children's fest

- Pioneer Press

The annual Flint Hills International Children's Festival at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts has received a $30,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.