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THURSDAY - SATURDAY
PERFORMANCE
CYNTHIA HOPKINS
The title alone should tell you that Hopkins' Accidental Nostalgia: An Operetta on the Pros and Cons of Amnesia won't be filled with peppy patter tunes. For her part, the Obie- winning Hopkins says she and her band Gloria Deluxe are aiming for something akin to Twin Peaks: The show concerns the enigmatic reflections of an afflicted neurologist under suspicion for her father's disappearance. Gilbert and Sullivan it ain't. Hopkins' idiosyncratic art-song stylistics have critics calling her everyone from Lotte Lenya to Loretta Lynn, but On the Boards' track record for importing original voices means she's probably not quite like anyone you've ever heard before. 8 p.m. Thurs., June 3–Sat., June 5. $18. On the Boards, 100 W. Roy St., 206-217-9888. STEVE WIECKING
WEDNESDAY - SUNDAY
STAGE
UBU
It's your last weekend to catch what will surely remain one of the year's best performances: Sarah Rudinoff in the title role of Alfred Jarry's late-19th-century Macbeth burlesque. Director Ki Gottberg's adaptation places Rudinoff's oafish, tyrannical man-child at the center of a savage pop monarchy, taking a nasty potshot at Dubya's administration with the subversive energy of a cartoon. Rudinoff goes at it like some foul-mouthed refugee from Hanna-Barbera—large, lewd, and fiercely unassailable. You can't take your eyes off of her. 7:30 p.m. Sun. and Tues.–Thurs.; 8 p.m. Fri.–Sat. Ends Sun., June 6. $10–$40. Empty Space Theatre, 3509 Fremont Ave. N., 206-547-7500. STEVE WIECKING
THURSDAY
VISUAL ARTS
ELLEN WIXTED
Considering that many of us spend most of the daylight hours within the fluorescent confines of the office, it's surprising that more artists haven't mined the corporate world as subject matter (sorry, Dilbert doesn't count). In a new collection of deadpan paintings from the land of the cubicle, Wixted demonstrates a mature ambivalence toward the workplace. This isn't some polemic—she endows her subjects with a smidgen of nobility: In Whiteboard (below), a portly employee ponders some bit of fascinating functionality while the blue glow of the outside world breaks in through a nearby window. First Thursday reception: 6–8 p.m. Thurs., June 3. Regular hours: noon–5 p.m. Wed.–Sat. Free. Gallery 110, 110 S. Washington St., 206-624-9336. ANDREW ENGELSON
THURSDAY
DANCE
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM
For someone who claimed to eschew narrative in dance, George Balanchine sure knew how to tell a story when he wanted to. In Dream, he fitted a danced version of Shakespeare's text concisely into the first act, then let his imagination loose on the world of fairies and mortals in the second half. Pacific Northwest Ballet's production, first restaged by Francia Russell in 1997, has been a hit here and on tour, and was even filmed for the BBC. Opens 7:30 p.m. Thurs., June 3. Days and times vary through Sun., June 13. $16–$125. McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer St., 206-292-ARTS. SANDRA KURTZ
TUESDAY
MUSIC
FRANZ FERDINAND
Hearing a rock band through deafening hype can be extremely difficult, especially when it's along the lines of, "[L]ukewarm is as far as anyone has managed to stray from the universal tone of heated adulation in discussing Franz Ferdinand" (blame Salon's Thomas Bartlett). But while natty boys that fall in line with '90s Britpop at its jauntiest (Blur, Pulp) are easy targets for the auto-backlash set, the fact is that FF know what they're doing: "Take Me Out" is a pretty commanding single, and Franz Ferdinand (Domino) is as assured a first album as you're likely to hear this year. We hear good things about them live, too—though "universal" is probably not the right word for it. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tues., June 8. $15. Showbox, 1426 First Ave., 206-628-3151. MICHAELANGELO MATOS
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