Our Friday best: Big Top at Mall of America, MSP Film Festival, Cactus Blossoms & more

Royal Canadian Circus
The big top has gone up at the Mall of America — the first stop for this circus' North American tour. Ninth-generation daredevil Joseph Dominik Bauer serves as ringmaster for an international cast that includes the Flying Cortez trapeze family, the Chicago Boyz Acrobatic Team (from "America's Got Talent"), motorcycle thrill riders and a human Slinky. (4 & 7:30 p.m. Fri.; noon, 4 & 7:30 p.m. Sat.; 1 & 5 p.m. Sun. Mall of America East Lot, 60 E. Broadway, Bloomington. royalcanadiancircus.com)
MELISSA WALKER

'Benediction'
Terence Davies may be the most acclaimed writer/director in the entire Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival, so his latest highlights MSPIFF's second weekend. A biographical portrait of English poet Siegfried Sassoon, it shares with other Davies films "The Long Day Closes" and aptly named "A Quiet Passion" his customary blend of delicacy and fire. "Benediction" investigates a man who, traumatized by fighting in World War I, became a fierce antiwar activist. Films continue on five screens through Thursday. (5 p.m. Sun., MSP on Main, 115 SE. Main St., $15, mspfilm.org)
C.H.

Cactus Blossoms
Their album "One Day" came out in February just as the siblings-led country harmony band finally hit the road again, but vinyl copies were delayed until recently. So why not call their first hometown gig since January a release party? The record is slow-stirring and more laid-back-vibe-y than their previous two, but those harmonies shine like never before, as does the romance (all kinds!) in their lyrics. Second-generation Americana songwriting great Lilly Hiatt opens. (8 p.m., First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $20-$25, axs.com)
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

'The Labyrinth and the Minotaur'
Artists from Wonderlust Productions gathered stories from more than 230 people involved with the Minnesota corrections system, including inmates, public defenders and corrections officers, to create this work. It uses the classical myth of the labyrinth to describe the prison system, which traps people on both sides of the law. The play will be performed by a mix of pro actors and veterans of the incarceration system. (7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Thu., Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. 4th St., Mpls., pay what you can, wlproductions.org)
CHRIS HEWITT

Roger McGuinn
He pioneered the jingle-jangle sound with the Byrds, who landed in the Rock Hall of Fame. But McGuinn was connected to other big names, including Bobby Darin, Simon & Garfunkel and, of course, Bob Dylan, touring with his Rolling Thunder Revue. He even recorded with the Twin Cities' own Jayhawks. McGuinn spins tantalizing stories and produces goosebumps with his Rickenbacker on "Turn Turn Turn" and "Mr. Tambourine Man." (8 p.m. Sat., Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, $25-$35, hopkinsartscenter.com)
JON BREAM

Jorja Fleezanis and friends
When one of America's best writers about classical music, Michael Steinberg, died in 2009, his widow — violinist and longtime Minnesota Orchestra concertmaster Fleezanis — started a fund to commission new compositions. She'll premiere "Where You Love From," composed by Jessica Meyer using poetry by Rumi, and also play a Brahms quintet with help from some former Minnesota Orchestra colleagues, cellist Anthony Ross and percussionist Brian Mount, as well as pianist Lydia Artymiw and actor Stephen Yoakam. (4 p.m. Sat., Westminster Hall, 1200 Marquette Av. S., Mpls., $10-$25, steinbergfleezanisfund.org)
ROB HUBBARD

'Tellus'
For its inaugural show, Analog Dance Works partners with the University of Minnesota's Outreach for Science and Art for a program that draws on wildlife imagery to explore the psychological impact of climate change. Artistic director Brenna Mosser and company member Zoë Koenig pair their works with an interactive exhibition that delves into the science behind the ideas. (7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., interactive exhibit open 6-9 p.m. Fri. & Sat., 1-4 p.m. Sun., Tek Box at Cowles Center, 528 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $5-$20, analogdanceworks.org)
SHEILA REGAN

Dijon
Influenced by Frank Ocean and Miguel, the experimental Los Angeles alt-soul man dropped his solo debut, "Absolutely," last year. He's a deeply personal singer who can be mesmerizingly minimalist, kaleidoscopically Americana or stonerly off-the-cuff. Musically, he seems disjointed, but his lyrics focus on yearning. Dijon is an acquired taste but a major curiosity. (7 p.m. Mon. First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $20-$22, first-avenue.com)
J.B.

'Contrapunctual'
This haunting installation by Los Angeles artist Na Mira inaugurates Midway Contemporary Art's new second-floor space above a waffle shop. Projecting a two-channel 16mm black-and-white film onto plexiglass hanging from the middle of the space, the artist imagines scenes from "White Dust From Mongolia," an unfinished project by the late artist Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, whose work is in this year's Whitney Biennial. The double projection lends the sense of a memento mori. An artist-made magazine of "re-memory and research" accompanies the show. (Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. through June 25, 1509 NE. Marshall St., Mpls. midwayart.org)
ALICIA ELER

Natalie Fideler
Sometimes with a wicked grin and sometimes with gnashed teeth, this rising Twin Cities lyrical rocker spoofs and lambastes homophobia, hatred, hypocrites and sometimes her own eccentricities on her second self-produced album, "Three Man Army," made with help from the Music Forward Foundation's LGBTQ+ Emerging Artist Award. "I kissed more boys than you / but somehow I think I'm more man than you," Fideler sings in the folky opening tune "Kisses," a mellow start to what turns into a stormy affair that's equal parts Alanis and Paramore. (8 p.m. Sat., 7th St. Entry, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., $12-$15, axs.com)
C.R.

'Airness'
Air-guitar competitors are judged on three qualities: technical merit, stage presence and the trickiest one, "airness." This comedy aims for a high degree of airosity as it follows competitors in their pursuit of immortality. (7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., 7:30 p.m. Thu., Park Square Theatre, 20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, $40-$55, parksquaretheatre.org)
C.H.

Italian Doc Remix
Imagine if New York's bristling new-music scene were transplanted to sunny southern Italy. IDR, led by Naples-born guitarist Marco Capelli — an associate of six-string wizard Marc Ribot — mashes up folkloric sounds with free jazz, rock, classical and what-have-you in its freewheeling, propulsive sets. The Twin Cities' own Cafe Accordion Orchestra will set the stage. (7:30 p.m. May 19, Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Av. S., Mpls., $18 advance, $23, thecedar.org)
TIM CAMPBELL

'Moulin Rouge!'
The stage adaptation is coming later this month but, meanwhile, the Ewan McGregor/Nicole Kidman movie returns, in glorious 35mm, to the big, beautiful screen at the Heights Theater. The Oscar winner for costume design and art direction was directed by Baz Luhrmann and the mashed-up musical numbers run the gamut from Nat King Cole to David Bowie to Elton John. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Heights Theater, 3951 Central Av. NE., Mpls., $12, heightstheater.com)
C.H.