Best of the week: ‘All the Way,’ Imagine Dragons, Twin Cities Tap Festival, War on Drugs, more

For a change, the History Theatre is doing a non-Upper Midwest play — “All the Way,” a look at President Lyndon B. Johnson from the 1963 Kennedy assassination through his landslide election in 1964. The show, which won a Tony for best play in 2014, is a dense, high-stakes history lesson and a riveting look at political intrigue. Pearce Bunting gives a volcanic performance as LBJ. Other fine performances include Andrew Erskine Wheeler as Hubert Humphrey.GRAYDON ROYCE

2 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat. Ends Oct. 29, History Theatre, St. Paul, $15-$52, historytheatre.com

The foremost prodigy in jazz today is 14-year-old pianist Joey Alexander, whose stunning technique leaves jaws dropping as the eyes try to match up what the ears are hearing. Local listeners got their first exposure to Alexander at the Twin Cities Jazz Fest two summers ago. Already a two-time Grammy nominee, he is working clubs with a superb trio (including drummer Ulysses Owens Jr.), playing standards and, of course, Thelonious Monk.

BRITT ROBSON

6 & 8 p.m. Sun. Dakota Jazz Club, Mpls., $35-$50, dakotacooks.com

Tap dancers converge for the third annual Twin Cities Tap Festival, organized by Minnesota tappers Kaleena Miller and Brenna Brelie. By day, there will be workshops by Broadway veterans and others. On Friday and Saturday nights, some of the nation’s top tappers offer explosions of percussive movement, with a pair of masters concerts at the Cowles. Another highlight is Thursday night’s showcase of Minnesota’s best young tap talent.

SHEILA REGAN

Imagine Dragons are radio active once again with “Believer” and “Thunder” from their third album, “Evolve,” which was released this summer. Those tunes should give Dan Reynolds and his Grammy-winning Las Vegas bandmates more opportunities to bang their drums loudly in concert. Of course, they’ve got plenty of previous hits, including “Demons” and “Radioactive.” Grouplove and K. Flay open.

JON BREAM

7:30 p.m. Mon. Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, $39.50-$150, ticketmaster.com

For 20 years, the Sphinx Competition has worked to identify America’s finest young black and Latino string players. The competition’s alumni orchestra — the Sphinx Virtuosi — tours annually. This year’s program includes “Guardian of the Horizon,” a newly commissioned concerto grosso by award-winning composer Jimmy López. Also featured are Vaughan Williams’ Concerto Grosso, Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge and Michael Abels’ “Delights and Dances.”

TERRY BLAIN

After the breakout success of the 2014 album “Lost in a Dream” made them indie-rock’s hippest classic-rock-channeling non-hipsters, Adam Granduciel and his Philly band the War on Drugs mellowed out a bit and crafted some beautifully layered, ’80s-echoing jams on their widely acclaimed follow-up album “A Deeper Understanding.” It’s a headphones-zone kind of LP, but these guys know how to transfer their ornate recordings into a lively live show.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

8 p.m. Wed., Palace Theatre, St. Paul, sold out

In many ways Lillian Hellman’s drama “Watch on the Rhine” seems like it could have been written now instead of 1941. There’s activism against fascism. There is a morally right but legally wrong crossing of the Mexican border. People must decide whether to fight for what is right or acquiesce to what is expedient. This stately and absorbing Guthrie production is not ham-fisted or heavy-handed; rather, it’s very human.

ROHAN PRESTON

Accordo kicks off its 2017-18 schedule with a typically imaginative program. Mezzo-soprano Adriana Zabala sings two pieces for voice and string quartet, while the group’s elite chamber musicians play Samuel Barber’s iconic “Dover Beach,” the rarely heard “Il Tramonto” (“Sunset”) by Respighi and Dvorák’s Op. 97 String Quintet.

TERRY BLAIN

7:30 p.m. Mon., Plymouth Congregational Church, Mpls., $21-$32.50, schubert.org

Spend the day in the crisp autumn air learning what life in 1900 was like. Families did not have the modern conveniences to prepare for winter. Do some old-time chores such as shelling corn and grinding it into flour. Make a scarecrow, use an old-fashioned hand pump and participate in a pumpkin carving contest. Sleuths can join in the Dakota City Medallion hunt for a prize of $100.

MELISSA Walker