Prince gives surprise (brief) performance at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres

Even though Prince has been ensconced in Chanhassen since 1987, he's never reportedly been to his neighborhood's most famous cultural landmark, the 48-year-old Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. Until Saturday night, that is.

In the late afternoon, one of Prince's associates bought two tickets to that evening's Ray Charles' tribute show in the 234-seat Fireside Theatre. The person mentioned that the tickets were for his boss.

So Chanhassen staffers whipped into motion. They called a maintenance man and did some hasty work to create a private viewing area in the so-called "attic" that spills over from the adjacent Brindisi's Bar.

"We had to rip out a wall and some windows and make it look good," explained Nick Haug, Chanhassen's associate marketing director.

Haug knew about Prince's possible attendance but wasn't allowed to mention it to any of the 250 staffers on duty for the night's "Beauty and the Beast" performance in the main theater. Haug didn't even call his boss.

Band leader Mick Sterling was tipped off but he said he's been through similar situations where rumors circulate that Prince will show up and he never does. Sterling did not mention it to his band.

Prince arrived about 10 minutes into the show. "He wanted to ghost in and out," said Haug.

"I pointed to [pianist] Scottie Miller to do another turnaround [instrumental passage]," Sterling recalled. "And all of a sudden I hear this guitar and I thought it was Stephen Morgan. After four or five seconds, I realize there's Prince. He did three turnarounds of 12 bar blues. He pointed at our background singers. They were thrilled. I came back in [to sing] and that was the last I saw of him."

Haug had shown Prince's people a private stairway to the stage. The Minnesota icon apparently knew some members of Sterling's band, including saxophonist David Eiland.

"The crowd was very excited," Sterling said on Sunday. "It was a beautiful thing, a fun memory."