Thursday
7:30 p.m., tonight
“A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
Ted Mann Concert Hall
Also playing 7:30 p.m., Friday, Saturday; 1:30 p.m., Sunday
$5 for students; $20 for adults
“If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended”: you only had to pay five bucks to see a bona fide opera — and a funny and thought-provoking one at that. This weekend, the University Opera Theatre’s production will re-imagine this Shakespearian comedy in the early 1900s, a modern-ish twist sure to delight. If you’ve never gone to an opera before, Benjamin Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream“ is just the water to dip your toes into — you might not know the score, but you do know the story and probably a few of the students on stage.
Friday
The He(art) Show
1211 S. Washington Ave., Minneapolis
6-11 p.m.
Suggested minimum donation $10
Going out is hard. Not only do you have to leave your stuffed animals and fulfilling game of solitaire behind, you have to pick something to actually do. Dance night? Concert? Drag show? The abundance of choices is enough to send us scurrying back to our warm beds. Thankfully, the Friction Collective, in conjunction with the Queer Student Cultural Center, the Women’s Student Activist Collective and the Human Rights Program, is hosting a rollicking little show that looks like it will have it all — musical guests Carroll, Ginstrings, DJ Flying Saucer and Johnny Lewis will be joined by a healthy handful of poets and performers. And it’s all in the name of equality, with proceeds going to the Minnesota Transgender Health Coalition.
Saturday
Duluth Homegrown Music Festival: Twin Cities Invasion
Amsterdam Bar and Hall 6 W. 6th St., St. Paul
5 p.m.
$6
18+
Chances are good that you’ll be a little 4/20-tired by this point in the day, which is why we suggest making your way over to St. Paul for a cold drink and a broodje, a Dutch sandwich that’s almost too good to be true. Kick back, relax, and listen to our bros and sisters from the North Country strum their stuff all the live-long night. The Retribution Gospel Choir, Cars & Trucks, the Fontanelles and Sarah Krueger will all take a turn at this show, which doubles as a Record Store Day after-party for Eclipse Records and triples as a little taste of the eight-day Duluth Homegrown Music Festival, which will start April 25.
CULTURE TO CONSUME
See this: “To the Wonder” at the Uptown Theatre
The cool thing about Terrence Malick is that he’s become a well-regarded director without tirelessly cranking out movie after movie. His track record is dotted by earnest and successful projects, but there’s only a handful between his earliest feature film, “Badlands” (1973), and his latest, “Tree of Life” (2011). We’ll see that as a sign that being chill has its benefits; moreover, we’ll take it as a cue to go see Malick’s latest, “To the Wonder,” this weekend at the Uptown Theatre. Lovers played by Ben Affleck and Olga Kurylenko wilt and brood and feel lost to a score composed by Hanan Townshend that features St. Vincent, Thee Oh Sees, Morton Gould, the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra and more.
Watch this: “Veep” on HBO
“Veep” made a glorious return last week with the premiere of its second season, and boy did our screens miss this genius show. With Julia Louis-Dreyfuss as the vice president and Tony Hale (Buster Bluth in “Arrested Development“) as her altogether too devoted sidekick, “Veep” is destined to go down in history as one of the better woman-in-an-office sitcoms. Catch up on the first season quick, and join us as we watch the vice president and her staff of misfits as they fumble pass after pass from the media, the machine and each other. Here’s to hoping we get to meet Jonah’s POTUS this season.
Read this: BuzzReads
The World Wide Web is changing journalism all the time, and BuzzFeed gets that. With social media wrapped around its viral little finger, the Feed has been branching out into doing more original reporting — maybe just to show other news organizations that they can do that better, too. Whatever the reason, we’re excited to bookmark buzzfeed.com/longform. No need to tl;dr ’em: BuzzFeed has produced some sweet articles about everything from Mitt Romney’s dad to the final days of “30 Rock.”
