entertainment

All grown up -- or at least past puberty -- "MMMBop" sibling band Hanson will play the fair's bandshell Aug. 26-27.

Not that anyone expects Marijuana Deathsquads or any other current buzz bands, but you can get an idea of just how dated the lineup is for the Leinie Bandshell at the Minnesota State Fair this year when you note that the youngest act on the schedule had its big hit 16 years ago.

Sheila E. / AP Photo, Mark J. Terrill

With a couple grandstand concerts yet to be announced, fair organizers went ahead and unveiled the 2013 lineup for the bandshell and other free stages today. Oklahoma teen popsters Hanson of 1997's "MMMBop" fame -- who are now in their late-20s and early-30s and have maintained a cultish following -- are among the biggest names headed for the bandshell, scheduled Aug. 26-27.

Other bandshell acts will include Texas country starlet Sunny Sweeney (Aug. 22-23), undying “Don’t Fear the Reaper” rockers Blue Öyster Cult (Aug. 24-25), former Prince protégé and renowned percussionist Sheila E. (Aug. 28-29), fiery sacred-steel rockers Robert Randolph & the Family Band (Aug. 30-31) and Branson, Mo., mainstays Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers (Sept. 1-2).

Other acts playing the fair's free stages this year -- including the International Bazaar and Heritage Square --  will include the Okee Dokee Brothers, Pert Near Sandstone, Tonic Sol-fa, Dale Watson, Chubby Carrier, Bill Kirchen, Pieta Brown, Chastity Brown, Mary Jane Alm, the Daisy Dillman Band, the Native Pride Dancers, Rogue Valley, GB Leighton, Billy McLaughlin, the Roe Family Singers and Sena Erhardt.

Click here to see the full lineup.

Who knew Carol Burnett was still such a rock star? The adoring fans who gobbled up tickets fast to the legendary TV comic’s sold-out appearance Friday at the State Theatre came bearing gifts and even wearing Irish green Scarlett O’Hara dresses (with curtain rods, no less!). They had a whole lot of stories to share with Burnett, too, many of which involved some kind of ailment or sad story that her classic TV show helped them or their late parents bear. In fact, at times it felt like Friday’s interactive discussion – modeled after the opening Q&A montages of “The Carol Burnett Show” (CBS, 1967-1978) – was more about the fans than it was about the still-redheaded and resplendent-looking comic, who turned 80 last month.

When she wasn’t directly responding to the audience, Burnett made the show more about all the people she worked with in her storied career. She shared stories about her castmates from her series, like the time Vicki Lawrence called a jabbering Tim Conway a “little a-hole” in a famous blooper. Or when Conway came out of a bathroom at his wife’s bridge club party with Q-tips glued to his face (“They got divorced shortly after that,” Burnett deadpanned). Asked for a behind-the-scene story from rehearsals, she recounted one incident when the notoriously moody Harvey Korman threatened to quit the show. Burnett told him he would be welcomed back Monday morning if he came in skipping and whistling (he did).

She also told stories about all her guest stars, including Lucille Ball (who died on Burnett’s birthday in 1989, but somehow managed to still send flowers and a card) and Jimmy Stewart (who took a liking to Burnett after she bufoonishly stepped in a bucket of whitewash paint on a movie set upon meeting him for the first time). Each story was complemented with accompanying clips from the show, including the “Gone With the Wind” skit that prompted two theatergoers to come wearing the full curtain get-up – a gimmick she credited to her famed costume designer Bob Mackie.

A scene from "Went With the Wind," per CBS's "The Carol Burnett Show."

While the average age of the crowd would've made an AARP sales executive salivate, there were a few equally adulating young kids in the audience – most of whom probably know her from her role as the villainess Miss Hannigan in 1982’s big-screen adaptation of “Annie.” She relayed another story about having to reshoot one scene in “Annie” a few months after filming wrapped – and a month after she had a little cosmetic surgery. “Um, I have to tell you, I have a chin now,” she recounted telling the studio rep when they called.

She also laughed at how she knows whenever she’s recognized from that particular movie. “Every once in a while I’ll see a little girl stop in the aisle at the store and go, ‘Huh!?’” she said in mock terror. They must be the only people she regularly encounters not thrilled to see her.
 

ArtPlace America, a three-year-old Chicago-based consortium of public and private arts funders, has included three Minnesota projects in its 2013-14 round of grants totalling $52 million.

Two arts projects in St. Paul and one in Lanesboro, Minn., have each received six-figure amounts for efforts toward "creative placemaking."

Bedlam Theatre received $350,000 to develop a Lowertown space designed to serve as an arts nexus for the Central Corridor light rail.

Blue Ox, an artists' collective, also got $350,000 to construct a mini-golf course as the anchor attraction on a 15-acre redevelopment of teh Schmidt brewery site.

The city of Lanesboro in southeastern Minnesota received $313,000 toward its ambitious "arts campus" project, which aims to transform the city into one big arts experience.

This is the third grant cycle for ArtPlace, which has previously funded five other projects in Minnesota, for a total (including the above) of $3,073,000.

Another one we can thank Lollapalooza for: Collegiate New York jangle-pop rockers Vampire Weekend -- whose third album “Modern Vampires of the City” is shaping up to be one of the year’s most widely acclaimed albums – have added an Aug. 5 date at Orpheum Theatre to their summer tour itinerary. The gig is one day after the band performs in Chicago for Lollapalooza. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. for $35 and will be available through the State Theatre box office and Ticketmaster. Pre-sale offers begin Thursday. VW joins the busy first week of August that also includes the National, Postal Service and Killers all at Roy Wilkins Auditorium – also all Lollapalooza spillovers.

Laura Osnes at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway. Photo/Renee Jones Schneider

Laura Osnes has shown that her ascendancy to Broadway was not a flukey result of some reality TV show. The Eagan musical theater actor was among the winners when the Drama Desk awards were announced on Sunday.

Osnes landed on Broadway in the 2007 production of "Grease" after competing on the NBC show "You're the One That I Want." Her arrival, however, was greeted by some New York skepticism because she was chosen by TV rather than an audition. Osnes, who had starred in Chanhassen's "Grease," began quickly to win over the nay sayers with better-than-average notices as Sandy -- the good girl who goes bad to win her dude.

Shrewdly making smart choices, Osnes has now accumulated lead roles in "South Pacific," "Anything Goes," "Bonnie and Blyde" and "Cinderella." She was nominated for a Tony for her "Bonnie" and was picked again for "Cinderella." The Tony ceremonies are June 9.