The 14 best things to do and see in the Twin Cities this week

Fans of Waxahatchee, Big Thief and any other lyrically driven folk-rock act of the day should finally take note of Alynda Segarra and their New Orleans-based ensemble. Their new record, “The Past Is Still Alive,” sets the high-water mark of a nine-album discography and stands as one of the year’s best LPs so far. Produced by Bon Iver affiliate Brad Cook, it’s laced with character-driven songs about train-hopping gutter punks, a beaten trans woman and other people struggling to find America’s so-called freedom. Chicago experimenter Nnamdi opens. (9 p.m. Fri., Amsterdam Bar & Hall, 6 W. 6th St., St. Paul, $21-$26, axs.com)

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

On last year’s “Altitude,” the country music historian and Hall of Famer and His Fabulous Superlatives fly high like the Byrds taking off from Bakersfield. A Byrds-meets-Buck Owens vibe permeates this spirited, jingly, jangly country-rock collection, punctuated by Kenny Vaughan’s nifty guitar. Stuart gets tender at times, too, notably on the redemptive “The Angels Came Down.” A road trip is warranted for this always rewarding, Grammy-winning progressive traditionalist. (7:30 p.m. Sat., Mayo Civic Center, 30 Civic Center Drive, Rochester, $46-$76, ticketmaster.com)

JON BREAM

After an unplugged promo gig and opening date with Clairo, this ultra-charming and über-personal British poet-turned-singer is finally set for her first full-scale headlining date in town since her captivating 2021 coming-out gig at 7th St. Entry. The soothingly voiced Londoner — still a mere 23 — was a prime candidate for a sophomore slump after her debut album, “Collapsed in Sunbeams,” won her the Mercury Prize and multiple Grammy and Brit Awards nominations. But last year’s follow-up, “My Soft Machine,” added a fuller, darker and more sonically frayed sound to her jazzy bedroom pop to great effect. (7 p.m. Fri., First Avenue, 701 1st Av. N., Mpls., all ages, $30, axs.com)

C.R.

That’s a curious moniker for a throwback R&B show featuring a parade of stars who were big in the ‘90s and ‘00s. Our homies Next remind us they climbed to No. 1 with “Too Close” and scored with “Wifey” and “Butta Love.” Ginuwine, the singer-turned-actor and 2023 “Masked Singer” participant, rides “Pony” and “Differences.” Also scheduled to appear are H-Town, remembered for “Knockin’ Da Boots”; Case of “Missing You” fame; Bobby V of “Slow Down” renown; Pleasure P, known for “Boyfriend #2″; Shai, harmonizers on “If I Ever Fall in Love,” and J Holiday, the “Bed” hitmaker. (8 p.m. Sat., Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $70-$200, ticketmaster.com)

Round up your blackest clothes and your saddest friends as the Twin Cities’ ever-clever piano rocker and his band take a spin through eyeliner-smeared ‘80s and ‘90s alternative classics from the Cure, Sisters of Mercy, Cocteau Twins and many more. Guests will include Lydia Liza, Cloud Cult’s Shannon Frid and Pony of the Melismatics, plus Jake Rudh couldn’t resist DJ-ing this one. Mallman has also issued a new dark-synth single, “Seen My Own Ghost,” tied to the show. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Av. S., Mpls., $20-$25, theparkwaytheater.com)

C.R.

The mountains loom as the inspiration for the low-voiced octet’s latest program, which features songs of Hungary’s Zoltán Kodály, Estonia’s Veljo Tormis and China’s Chen Yi, among others. It also can be streamed. March 15-24. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Westminster Hall, Nicollet Mall and Alice Rainville Place, Mpls.; 3 p.m. Sun., Trinity Lutheran Church, 115 N. 4th St., Stillwater; 11 a.m. Tue., Meetinghouse Church, 6200 Colonial Way, Edina; 7:30 p.m. March 22, Sundin Music Hall, 1531 Hewitt Av., St. Paul; 3 p.m. March 24, St. Philip the Deacon Lutheran Church, 17205 County Road 6, Plymouth; $5-$45, 612-435-0046 or cantussings.org)

ROB HUBBARD

You’re never going to meet anyone quite like Melanie DeMore. The Oakland-based “vocal activist” believes in the power of singing as a source of healing, peace, comfort and hope, leading choirs and audiences in some uniquely soul-cleansing music. She’s the special guest for the 2024 incarnation of VocalEssence’s “Witness” concert, an annual celebration of Black musicians and other history makers. Be prepared for some stick pounding and the urge to lend your voice to the mix. (4 p.m. Sun., Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $15-$50, 612-371-5656 or vocalessence.org)

“You Can’t Stop the Beat” or the youngsters who just wanna dance while changing their parents’ backward world. Tony-winning musical “Hairspray” returns with a bouncy evening for self-empowerment and against segregation in 1960s Baltimore as teenager Tracy Turnblad tries to get onto a national dance show. This tour is staged and choreographed, respectively, by Broadway legends Jack O’Brien and Jerry Mitchell. (7:30 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 1:30 p.m. Sun., Ordway Center, 345 Washington St., St. Paul, $44-$165, 651-224-4222, ordway.org)

ROHAN PRESTON

Philadelphia-based actor-turned-playwright James Ijames won the Pulitzer Prize in 2022 for “Fat Ham,” his tartly comic riff on “Hamlet” set on a contemporary Black family in the American South. But his incisive wit has been on display much earlier, including in “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington.” In this 90-minute one-act, all the enslaved people titter with anticipation as Martha Washington, mother of the new American republic, lies at death’s door. Her late husband had promised that the captives would all be free when she dies and freedom can’t come soon enough. Pirronne Yousefzadeh, who earned an MFA from Columbia University and was recently interim producing artistic director of the Playwrights’ Center, directs. (10 a.m. & 7:30 p.m. Wed., 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Ends March 31. Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. 4th St., Mpls. Pay-as-you-are. 612-338-6131, mixedblood.com)

R.P.

Tragic love, curses and transfiguration abound in this famous ballet set to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. On Saturday, a nationally touring group brings its 50-dancer version of the ballet to downtown Minneapolis and teams up with local group StrinGenius Symphony. Based out of Los Angeles, the World Ballet Series, produced by Gorskaya-Hartwick Productions, presents Marius Petipa’s original choreography, as adapted by Russian choreographer Nadezhda Kalinina. The show features hand-painted scenery. Irina Strukova, the senior prosthetics artist for “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” TV series, designs the makeup and special effects. (3 & 7 p.m. Sat., State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Av. S., Mpls., $50-$150, 612-339-7007, hennepintheatretrust.org)

Bloomington-based Continental Ballet Company brings the French ballet “Coppelia,” based on an E.T.A. Hoffmann story called “Der Sandmann,” to life. The comic tale bares some similarity to Hoffmann’s “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” Both stories have a toy that comes to life, and there are resemblances between Herr Drosselmeyer in “The Nutcracker” and Dr. Coppelius in “Coppelia.” It’s a tale of mixed identities and young love, with a bit of magic and foolery mixed in. (7:30 p.m. Sat., 3 p.m. Sun., through March 24, Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 West Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington, $25 adults, $13 ages 12 and under, continentalballet.com)

S.R.

Photographer R.J. Kern’s portraits of people, animals, landscapes and sometimes all three together spark curiosity, a sense of the uncanny and, at times, connections to holy imagery. This mini-retrospective features 12 years of work, including his series “The Unchosen Ones,” of young people at local county fairs in Minnesota who didn’t win Grand Champion ribbons, “Divine Animals: The Bovidae,” “The Best of the Best,” and his newest series, “The Last Fair.” Ends April 13. (11 a.m.-3 p.m. Fri., 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat. and by appt., Veronique Wantz Gallery, 901 N. 5th St., Mpls., free, 612-254-2838 or veroniquewantz.com)

ALICIA ELER

In Guggenheim Fellowship-winning artist, activist and educator Ta-Coumba T. Aiken’s second solo exhibition “Can’t Turn Around” at Dreamsong Gallery, he continues exploring the visions of his ancestors through masked and layered paintings, painted tape collages, intuitive drawings and more. Aiken creates art “to heal the hearts and souls of people and their communities by evoking a positive spirit,” he wrote. Ends April 20. (Noon-5 p.m. Wed.-Sat. and by appt., 1237 NE. 4th St., Mpls., free, 646-703-4473 or 917-373-0216 or dreamsong.art)

With most of the Twin Cities celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, this festival pays tribute to a different kind of green. Billing itself as a “cannabis friendly event for the curious and serious,” the alcohol-free event features a black light lounge, smoking patio, food tent and entertainment. Local cannabis-friendly businesses will have their products for sale and on display. Compete in stoner bingo and score giveaways. (10 a.m. Sat.-Sun., $10, Maharaja’s, 205 W. 7th St., St. Paul. suemclean.com)