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Eric Ringham

Arts picks: Criminal justice and the Beach Boys

Cantus
Cantus performs Beach Boys music.
Courtesy Curtis Johnson

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Cantus does the Beach Boys

Warning: If you start reading online about the Beach Boys' 1966 album "Pet Sounds," you may be at it for hours. Considered among the first great concept albums in rock 'n' roll, "Pet Sounds" gets credit for inspiring the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper." So it's an interesting choice for Cantus, which is featuring "Pet Sounds" in its "Covers" concerts. The nine-member vocal ensemble is unfailingly precise in its harmonies and smart about its arrangements, so this adaptation of a historic album should be fun, fun, fun. (And no, that song does not appear on "Pet Sounds.") June 3 through June 11 at the Cowles Center in Minneapolis.

Reason to go: Wouldn't It Be Nice? (And yes, that one does appear.)

Kurt Vonnegut comes to life

You might think, judging from the title, that "And So It Goes"is a play by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. But it's not. It's a play by George F. Walker, and Vonnegut — in the form of a "mental apparition" — is a character. (Readers of "Slaughterhouse-Five," Vonnegut's signature, sort-of autobiographical novel, will recognize the "So it goes" phrase as the refrain that greeted every death.) The piece is being staged June 2 through June 25 by Dark & Stormy Productions at the Grain Belt Warehouse in northeast Minneapolis.

Reason to go: Sally Wingert is in it.

Andrew Erskine Wheeler
Andrew Erskine Wheeler as Pastor Paul in "The Christians."
Courtesy Walking Shadow Theatre Company

Church as theater

The end is near: of "The Christians, that is. This excellent production by Walking Shadow Theatre finishes its run at Mixed Blood on June 11. Walking Shadow puts the flexible space of Mixed Blood to good use, transforming the theater into a megachurch where the talented cast enacts a spirited theological debate that turns into an existential crisis. Like many other really good plays, this one makes the audience uncomfortable. And some of the performances may bring you to tears.

Reason to go: Discomfort can be good for you.

Dean Strang, left, and Jerry Buting
Dean Strang, left, and Jerry Buting are touring the country with a conversation about equal justice.
Courtesy Daniel Andera

Interesting lawyers

If you need proof that something deeply wrong may be lurking in America's justice system, watch the Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer." If this is how the system works when the whole world is watching, what goes on the rest of the time? Two of the voices that were so compelling in that series, attorneys Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, are at Northrop Thursday evening to talk about the system and whether it works as well as it should. (Spoiler alert: It doesn't.)

Reason to go: Wisconsin is right next door.