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The Beatles: A Rockumentary — March 1

Crossings brings Justin Ploof and the Throwbacks to Zumbrota's State Theatre on Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 pm for "The Beatles, Part 1: A Rockumentary." Tickets are $22 in advance, $25 at the door, and can be purchased online or by calling 507-732-7616. Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Hear the music of The Beatles while enjoying news and film clips about the groups’ meteoric rise to become the biggest name in rock music history at “The Beatles: Part I,” a concert and “rockumentary” by Justin Ploof and the Throwbacks.

Unmatched and unsurpassed, The Beatles became the greatest rock band the world has ever seen. From 1964 to 1966 the “Lads from Liverpool” would boast 27 songs in the Top 40, with 12 of those singles reaching the top of the Billboard Charts. They would star in two feature films, all the while conquering the hearts and radios of teenagers the world over. From the Cavern to Candlestick Park, witness the rise and evolution of The Beatles.

The Throwbacks have previously brought the music of Creedence Clearwater Revival and Bob Dylan to Zumbrota in their rockumentary format. The core group, Justin Ploof, Jason Ploof, and Dan Ploof have a multitude of professional music experience and have shared the stage with the likes of Soul Asylum, Bobby Vee, Joan Jett, and Jessie Lang. Their incredible attention to detail and quality of musicianship will wow audiences from the first chord. They work to emulate the songs the way the artists meant for them to be performed.

Justin Ploof & the Throwbacks

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4th Street in Zumbrota. For more information call 507-732-5210.

Fascinating Rhythm: A Gershwin Tribute — January 12

“Fascinating Rhythm: A Tribute to the Gershwin Brothers” is Sunday, January 12 at 2 pm at Zumbrota’s historic State Theatre. Doors open at 1:15 pm.

Admission is FREE thanks to a grant from the Zumbrota Community Trust.

"Fascinating Rhythm" is a narrated musical tribute to George and Ira Gershwin, the 20th century composer-lyricist brothers who changed, shaped and defined American music more than any other musical team in America's history. Their work was featured in more than 20 films including “Porgy and Bess,” “An American in Paris,” and “A Star is Born.” They had dozens of Broadway shows to their credit, including the 1992 Tony Winner “Crazy For You.”

The hour-long show will have five short sets featuring patriotic tunes like "Strike Up the Band"; swing tunes like "Nice Work if You Can Get It"; folk opera tunes from "Porgy and Bess" like "Summertime"; jazz tunes like "Fascinating Rhythm"; and love songs like "Someone to Watch Over Me." In addition, an excerpt from the beloved piano concerto "Rhapsody in Blue" will be played. Musical selections will be performed by an outstanding group of highly regarded artists from southeast Minnesota. The music will be intertwined with a narration of interesting facts and anecdotes about the Gershwins' personal and professional lives. The program is written to be both educational and entertaining for audience members of all ages and backgrounds.

Originally performed last winter at the Mayo Clinic as part of the Harmony for Mayo concert series, most of the original artists are appearing for this presentation. Vocals will be provided by Laurie Helmers and Tom Overlie. Laurie is a private voice and piano teacher in Stewartville. She has a long resume as a soloist, writer, director and stage performer throughout the Upper Midwest. She is a familiar face on the Rochester stage with recent roles in “Chicago” and “Young Frankenstein.” Tom Overlie is well known as the Emmy-Award winning news anchor for KTTC-TV in Rochester. Music is a large part of his life with many guest appearances as a soloist for Rochester Civic Music concerts. He is also the co-host of the KTTC Eagles Cancer Telethon. Jan Matson is a professional pianist and accompanist in the Rochester area. She has been involved in more than 75 theater productions in southeast Minnesota, most recently with “Les Mis” at the Rochester Civic Theatre. Narration for the program will be provided by John Helmers, who also has extensive behind the scenes and onstage experience in the Rochester area. In his professional life, he is a respected presenter at national conferences and a spokesperson to the media.

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4^th Street in Zumbrota. 507-732-5210.

The Great Gatsby — May 16

Join us a for a FREE evening of fun at the State Theatre on Thursday, May 16. The evening starts at 6:30 with a brief lecture by noted Fitzgerald scholar David Page on the significance of F. Scott Fitzgerald's life in Minnesota as it relates to his writing career. Then we will be screening the 1974 Academy Award winning film "The Great Gatsby" starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.

Rated PG

Free Admission

Free Popcorn

This event is part of the concluding celebration of Zumbrota Reads. Copies of The Great Gatsby are available at the Zumbrota Public Library. For information on this community wide reading event, visit http://www.zumbrota.info/zumbrota-reads/

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4th Street in Zumbrota.

Gravitone, The Musical — April 14

We are proud to bring you "What's The Matter With Captain Gravitone?" featuring the music of String Theory on Sunday, April 14, at 2 p.m. We have been selected as one of six venues for this original production funded in part by the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council.

General Idiocy and Siren Seductress Leather Alice are teaming up to make the world "more stupider." It's up to Captain Gravitone to use his super powers to make people pick the best choices, save the world and gather the courage to ask his long time love, Emma, out on a date. Featuring the music of String Theory http://elihoehn.com/stringtheory/ and poetry of John Rezmerski, it's a family-friendly comic-book farce that will have you laughing and dancing.

Advance tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for children 12 and under and are available at Crossings and Wild Ginger in Zumbrota. You may also purchase them online at http://gravitone.wix.com/gravitone. Doors open at 1:15 p.m. Tickets at the door are $7 for adults, $5 for children under 12 and ZAAC members.

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4th Street in Zumbrota.

(Above) Captain Gravitone dukes it out with the evil General Idiocy. It's up to Gravitone to stop Idiocy's plan to make the world "more stupider."

Photo by: Wayne Schmidt photography

Michael Perry & The Long Beds — April 12

Crossings brings Michael Perry and the Long Beds to Zumbrota's State Theatre at 7:30 on Friday, April 12. Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 the day of the show. To purchase tickets call 732-7616. Doors open at 6:30.

Appearing onstage with his band the Long Beds, Michael Perry will weave stories and humor (including material from The Clodhopper Monologues) throughout a lively concert of original songs, including those on his albums and a couple of tunes fresh out of the pen.

The music of the Long Beds has been called everything from country folk to roughneck folk and folk-twang to good old Americana. The band prefers the description given by an audience member after a benefit concert in Perry’s old high school gym: “You sound just like Gordon Lightfoot… only zippier!”

Perry's songs are a direct reflection of his life growing up in small town Wisconsin. Ranging from straight-up twang to churchly harmonies and populated by characters drawn straight from rural and small town America, they launch from places like the overpass outside Perry’s beloved hometown of New Auburn, Wisconsin (population currently 562), a gospel service in a granary, and the kitchen floor of a woman about to drop a world of hurt on her drunken husband. “I was raised by farmers and preachers and tough country women, and I suppose my songs reflect that,” says Perry. “Then again, certain wisdoms are available only from whistlers, frauds, and sinners, so I try to slide them a line or two as well.”

Band members include backup vocalists and musicians Billy Krause on guitar and banjo, Chuck Roll on bass guitar and autoharp, and Christopher Ramey on guitar and keyboard, and special guests.

Perry is the author of bestselling memoirs "Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time," "Truck: A Love Story," "Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting," and "Visiting Tom: A Man, A Highway, and the Road To Roughneck Grace," as well as the essay collection "Off Main Street." He will give a lecture the day after the concert entitled Writing from the Middle of Nowhere. Perry will discuss his book and magazine writing techniques, how to survive the freelance life and the publishing world, and most importantly, how "the middle of nowhere" can be the most powerful writing element of all. The lecture is $35 and takes place at Crossings on Saturday, April 13, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Read more about it here!

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4th Street in Zumbrota.

Collective Unconscious Presents “The Last Waltz” — April 6

Collective Unconscious returns to Zumbrota's State Theatre at 7:30 pm on Saturday, April 6, for their latest concert, The Last Waltz. This tribute to The Band is brought to you by Crossings. Tickets are $32 in advance, $35 the day of the show and can be purchased by calling 732-7616. Doors open at 6:30.

The band that set the bar in magnificent album shows brings to life one of the greatest rock concerts of all time, The Last Waltz. Collective Unconscious is renowned for staging such mega-hits as The Beatles' Abbey Road, The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, CSNY’s Déjà vu, and most recently as half of the super group that performed Takin’ It To The Limit, a Tribute to The Eagles. For The Last Waltz, the stage will once again be filled with special guests as they bring to life one of the greatest evenings of music ever performed.

Collective Unconscious will be joined by special guests Stacy Bauer, Leon Laudenbach, Mark Hazzy Hasbrouck, Grant Haake, Jeff Lee, and Dan Barth. Collective Unconscious is Nathan Nature Nesje, Jeff Engholm, Muggsy Lauer, George Maurer, and Andy Deckard.

The program includes the hits "Up on Cripple Creek," "The Shape I'm In," "Who Do You Love," and "The Night they Drove Old Dixie Down." Before it was a three-disc album, The Last Waltz was a 1976 farewell concert by The Band, filmed by director Martin Scorsese and made into a documentary of the same name. The concert itself was on Thanksgiving in San Francisco, and The Band was joined on stage by more than a dozen special guests, including Paul Butterfield, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Dr. John, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Ringo Starr, Muddy Waters, and Neil Young.

The Band, which continued to tour in the '80s without guitarist Robbie Robertson, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. In 2004 Rolling Stone ranked them No. 50 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and in 2008 The Band received the Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award.

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4th Street in Zumbrota.

Movie Event: Sideways — March 22

This More Than a Movie showing brings you right into the film with our very own wine tasting pre-show event! Starting at 6 pm, wine expert Shannon Fitzgibbons will explain the ins and outs of wine and food pairings while you sample the wine and the food. ZZest will be catering artisan cheeses and other fine pastry. Tickets are $20 (movie admission included) and can be reserved by emailing statetheatre@zaac.org.

Make sure you reserve your tickets early–only 40 pre-show tickets are available!

Just interested in seeing the film? No worries. Movie-only tickets will be available at the door for our usual bargain price of $5. The film begins at 7 pm.

Nominated for five Oscars in 2005 (and winning one) "Sideways" stars Paul Giamatti, Thomas Haden Church and Virginia Madsen in a compassionate vintage comedy about friendship and all its imperfections. It follows two men who have reached middle age with not much to show for it but disappointment. They embark on a week long road trip through California's wine country, just as one is about to take a trip down the aisle.

Rated R.

For more information, call (507) 732-5210.

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4th Street in Zumbrota.

April Verch — March 16

Crossings brings this CD release show to Zumbrota's State Theatre on Saturday, March 16, at 7:30 pm. Internationally renowned fiddler April Verch performs the folk music of Canada and the southern United States, Celtic ballads and more, always finding the heart of the music and singing it truly, with no need to imitate .Tickets are $20 in advance, $22 the day of the show. To purchase tickets call (507) 732-7616.

The April Verch Band—rounded out by bassist and clawhammer banjo player Cody Walters and guitarist Hayes Griffin, who has a Masters in jazz improv from the New England Conservatory— is an energetic, virtuosic, tradition-celebrating outfit, not to mention one that’s not soon forgotten when they depart the stage. It doesn’t hurt that the thrilling grand finale involves Verch fiddling and step dancing—and often executing two entirely different intricate rhythmic patterns—at once.

The trio wins over audiences with sheer musical virtuosity as well as charm, humor and boundless energy on stage. Audiences are also drawn in by subtle things – April's pure voice, the finely detailed elegance of her fiddle phrasing and the depth of a repertoire that ranges from bluegrass to Brazilian to Celtic, from a jaunty Canadian folksong to a poignant contemporary ballad.

Verch doesn’t just perform music, she exudes it, sometimes engaging in fiddle licks so intense her bow sheds hair. This world class fiddler, singer, songwriter and stepdancer has a passion for performing. Her goal is to touch the lives of those who are listening. She became the first woman in history to win both of Canada’s most prestigious fiddle championships, the Grand Masters and the Canadian Open. When Canada hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics, she was asked to represent her country’s music at the opening ceremonies.

April Verch

Tiptoe Through the ’60s — March 9

Join "child of the sixties" Prudence Johnson and fellow musician Dan Chouinard as they perform the music of a revolutionary decade in "Tiptoe Through the '60s" on Saturday, March 9, at 7:30 pm. Crossings is bringing the concert to Zumbrota's State Theatre. Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 the day of the show and can be purchased by calling (507) 732-7616. Doors open at 6:30.

"Tiptoe" features the triumphs, tragedies and trends of the 1960s with over 300 images on two giant screens. Audiences can sing along to songs such as, "Hit the Road Jack," "Surfer Girl," "Blowin' in the Wind," "Hey Jude," and "Hello Dolly." Stories will be shared, and there's even a chance for audience members to become part of the experience by submitting personal stories and song ideas online. Submit your memories or suggestions here!

Prudence Johnson is a true child of the sixties, emerging from the decade freshly graduated from high school and ready to join a hippie commune. However, her life took a different turn. She became a professional singer, recording more than a dozen albums, working in films such as "A River Runs Through It," and "A Prairie Home Companion," touring across the country and the world, and appearing on and off on Garrison Keillor's live weekly radio show. These days, she loves pursuing her passions for history, literature and music as a writer, producer and performer in multi-media shows like "Tiptoe Through the 60s."

Dan Chouinard was born in 1961, too late to remember anything about JFK but in plenty of time to memorize every word of the "Mary Poppins" soundtrack LP. He grew up in Richfield and Lindstrom, learning music along with a houseful of brothers and sisters. He lives in St. Paul and works not only as a pianist and accordionist, but also as the creator and host of live shows for Minnesota Public Radio, the Minnesota Historical Society and many others. When not performing he can be found bicycling interesting places with his tent and accordion.

Dan and Prudence were last seen delighting audiences at the State Theatre for the sold out "Hometown Holiday Show" in December.

Tip Toe Through the 60's!

Prudence Johnson

Dan Chouinard

This activity is made possible in part by a grant provided by the
Minnesota State Arts Board through an appropriation
by the Minnesota State Legislature from the Minnesota arts and
cultural heritage fund with money provided by a vote of the
people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

Rumours & Dreams: Fleetwood Mac Tribute — March 2

This Saturday night, March 2, the music of an iconic '70s and '80s pop rock band plays again at Zumbrota's State Theatre with “Rumours and Dreams: The Music of Fleetwood Mac.” Tickets are $28 in advance, $30 the day of the show and can be purchased by calling (507) 732-7616. Doors open at 6:30 pm. The show begins at 7:30.

The concert is back by popular demand after filling the vintage theatre a year ago. Singer/songwriter Pamela McNeill has assembled an all-star band to bring the music of Fleetwood Mac to life. Joining her will be Minnesota Music Hall of Famer Mary Jane Alm along with Jeff Engholm, whom State Theatre audiences remember well from Collective Unconscious concerts. Also in the band are Tom Bard, Jay Graf, and Dugan McNeill.

Concert-goers will revel in the group’s hits, including “The Chain,” “Landslide,” “Rhiannon,” and “Don’t Stop (Thinking about Tomorrow).” Some deeper cuts will gratify the most dedicated fans of this British-American rock band.

McNeill’s distinctive “voice of a fiery angel,” lends itself to the music, while the impeccable musicianship of the band and Engholm’s vocals top it off like whipped cream on a sundae.

Fleetwood Mac formed in 1967 in London. Their second album after the incorporation of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham was the 1977 hit “Rumours,” which produced four U.S. Top 10 singles (including Nicks' song “Dreams,” which was the band's first and only U.S. number one). The album remained at No.1 on the American albums chart for 31 weeks. To date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the ninth highest selling album of all time.

“…McNeill packs one helluva punch. The style is originally home-cooked, countrified rock done to a smoldering turn. The execution is emotive, articulate, full-throated vocals. And a world of stage presence.” – The Pulse of the Twin Cities

Pamela McNeill

The State Theatre is located at 96 East 4th Street in Zumbrota, MN.