Friday, February 24
Reality Bites
WHAT: Lifelike
WHERE: Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
WHEN: 9 p.m. to midnight
Is that a pack of cigarettes or an exquisite copy? A bag of trash or an iron sculpture? Leather or pleather? Nothing is what it seems in this major new exhibition tweaking the increasingly porous barrier between reality and the reality of our own invention. Which makes for an edgy opening night, featuring a soul/funk dance party. Learn more at walkerart.org.
Friday, February 24
Art Returns to Uptown
WHAT: Flanders Grand Opening
WHERE: Flanders Gallery, Minneapolis
WHEN: 6 to 9:30 p.m.
Douglas Flanders, the flannel-wearing savant of local art dealing, hosts a reception to celebrate his return to the scene with a new gallery, this time next door to the Highpoint Center for Printmaking. Acknowledging the proximity, Flanders will open with a show on fine-art printing, featuring David Hockney, James Rosenquist, Jim Dine, and other big names. Learn more at flandersart.com.
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Saturday, February 25
Forbidden Love
WHAT: Beautiful Thing
WHERE: The Lab Theater, Minneapolis
WHEN: 7:30 p.m.
Theatre Latté Da stages this award-winning story about two working-class teenage boys who struggle with their inexorable falling in love. Previously a hit in London’s West End and a movie in 1996, the production makes prodigious use of the music of Cass Elliot. Learn more at latteda.org.
Saturday, February 25
Love at First Laugh
WHAT: Blind Date
WHERE: Ordway Center, St. Paul
WHEN: 7:30 p.m.
Think of Tina Fey as a Parisian temptress named Mimi and you’re halfway to figuring out the appeal of Rebecca Northan’s interactive show in which she goes on a figurative blind date with a different guy from the audience every night. Produced by former Ordway director Kevin McCollum, it’s been a hit in New York and Toronto and figures to be one here, too, settling in for a long run. Learn more at ordway.org.
Sunday, February 26
Where the Cool Kids Are
WHAT: Rock the Cradle
WHERE: Minneapolis Institute of Arts
WHEN: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Kevin Kling tells stories, Current DJs lead tours of the MIA, Gabriel Douglas of 4onthefloor rocks the house (along with Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles, the Bunny Clogs, etc.), and everyone generally has an arty-pants kind of time in this celebration of all things creative for the juice-box set. Learn more at thecurrent.org.
Sunday, February 26
Master of Puppets
WHAT: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
WHERE: Open Eye Figure Theatre, Minneapolis
WHEN: 4 p.m.
Michael Sommers’s first full-length puppet production since opening his charmingly bohemian theater in 2007 is a tour-de-force of exquisite puppetry and subtle metaphor, a sympathetic look at youth, aging, and a life well-lived. Learn more at openeyetheatre.org.
