TU goes big
For one night only, St. Paul's TU Dance heads to the Ordway for a blowout concert featuring "Through This Light" by New York choreographer Ronald K. Brown. This world premiere draws upon West African and Afro-Caribbean traditions, with music by Conjunto Folklorico Nacional de Cuba and more. The program also includes a rather brutal reflection on historic injustice by TU co-founder Uri Sands and two other works highlighting the company's athleticism and artistry.
SHEILA REGAN
7:30 p.m. Sat., Ordway Center, St. Paul, $22, 651-224-4222, ordway.org.
One of the greatest Americana singer/songwriters ever, Lucinda Williams has a knack for making her First Avenue gigs special occasions, like when she got married on stage after a 2009 show. This time it's to mark the 25th anniversary of her album "Sweet Old World," featuring such classic songs as "Something About What Happens When We Talk" and the suicide-fighting title track, named one of the 40 saddest country songs by Rolling Stone. She's performing the whole LP, and much more.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
9 p.m. Fri., First Avenue, Mpls., $35, eTix.com
It's Arbor Day this week. Celebrate nature's skyscrapers, which give us shade and a spot to anchor hammocks and swings, with a scavenger hunt at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska. Pick up a map from the visitor center and go on the hunt for 20 varieties of trees marked on the grounds. There will be docent-led tours, too. Plus, check out the exhibits, including a group show by the Minnesota Watercolor Society.
MELISSA WALKER
8 a.m.-8 p.m. Sat., tours begin at 11 a.m. $15 for ages 16 and up. arboretum.umn.edu.
"The Secret Garden," about an orphaned girl sent to live at her widower uncle's country manor, is a moving tale of redemption. Adapted into a musical by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon, it's getting a sumptuous production by director Lisa Channer that's full of memorable visuals and heartfelt emotions. Caitlyn Carroll is engaging and very real as young Mary while Gavin Nienaber, as her bratty invalid cousin, works hard to shift him to a scared but hopeful young man.
ED HUYCK
2 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Mon. & Thu.-Sat. Ends May 14. Bloomington Center for the Arts, $12-$41, artistrymn.org.
Nominated for best electronic album at the Grammys for its sixth effort, "Epoch," Tycho offers a modern update on the type of mellowed-out, stylish instrumental music made for H&M mall stores and fans too young to own St Germain and Air records. Regardless of how boring it sounds on record, the San Francisco trio has become a popular enough live act to sell out First Ave two nights last time around and earn choice slots at Coachella earlier this month.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
8 p.m. Thu., Palace Theatre, St. Paul, $30, eTix.com.
What makes the SFJazz Collective the best repertory jazz ensemble in the world? Each year since 2004, the band's eight members refresh tradition by arranging a song apiece by a legendary composer. This year's pick is Miles Davis, which means creative reconstructions of standards such as "So What," "Nardis" and "Milestones." And there isn't a weak link — among arrangements, compositions or instrumentalists — in the entire enterprise.
Britt Robson
7 and 9 p.m. Mon. and Tue., Dakota, Mpls.; $25-$40, dakotacooks.com.
John Sandford moved away from the Twin Cities a few years ago but he always comes back to launch his books. This week he'll be in three locations to kick off the book tour for his latest Lucas Davenport mystery, "Golden Prey." The usual Minnesota locale may have changed — Lucas is now a federal marshal, and this book takes place in Mississippi — but Sandford's nonstop action has not.
LAURIE HERTZEL
7 p.m. Wed., Barnes & Noble Har Mar Mall, Roseville; noon Thu., Barnes & Noble Galleria, Edina; 7 p.m. Thu., Once Upon a Crime, Mpls.
Italian baroque composer Domenico Scarlatti wrote 555 keyboard sonatas that are relatively short and simple in structure, but endlessly inventive rhythmically and full of chirpy tune-making. French pianist Alexandre Tharaud is one of Scarlatti's finest exponents. He'll launch his Schubert Club recital with seven Scarlatti sonatas that are sure to set the pulses racing. Tharaud also tackles works by Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Mahler.
TERRY BLAIN
7:30 p.m. Thu., 10:30 a.m. Fri.; Ordway Concert Hall, St. Paul; $28-$67, 651-292-3268 or schubert.org.
He was called "the Jewish James Bond" and "the Yiddish Colombo." Simon Wiesenthal, a survivor of the atrocities of World War II, hunted down Nazi war criminals, bringing more than 1,000 to justice. He's the subject of Tom Dugan's solo play "Wiesenthal," which has played Los Angeles and off-Broadway and comes to Minneapolis for a brief run this week, with Dugan playing the Nazi hunter who died in 2005 at age 96.
ROHAN PRESTON
10 a.m. Tue., 7:30 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 1 & 8 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. next Sun. Illusion Theater, Mpls. $30-$45. illusiontheater.org
