UP to SPEED
S pring in Your Step
Sweet Honey in the R ock soothes the
soul during its performance at the
Grand Opera House in Wilmington.
Grammy-winning African
American female a capella
ensemble, will bring the
crowd to its feet during its
March 27 concert at the
Grand Opera House as
part of Mid-Atlantic Arts
Foundation’s American
Masterpieces Tour, spon-
sored by Amtrak. Founded in
1973, this enduring and ever-
evolving musical mainstay
continues its fourth decade
of singing, swinging and
rocking out. grandopera.org.
The winter blues are making way for a springtime hopping with possibilities.
Now that the thaw has set in and you’re beginning to feel those toes again,
get your feet moving and enjoy some of the arts, entertainment and sporting events awaiting you along the Northeast Corridor. Here’s just a sample:
Proving that film careers don’t die, they just transition to a different stage,
Tony Award nominee Lou Diamond Phillips takes on King Arthur in Camelot.
Oprah’s passion helped ensure a place for The Color Purple in Broadway
history—now it’s heading to a city near you. Plus, there’s a Baltimore film
festival featuring a pick by local celluloid hero John Waters, a rare chance
to see the life work of Frida Kahlo, a boat show and a ball to be had in the
Garden State. Climb aboard and let Amtrak deliver you to the sights and
sounds of springtime in the Northeast. And remember to mention the special
rail fares to select destinations detailed below. — COMPILED BY MICHAEL HAMMETT
If it ain’t baroque ...:
Colombian-born artist
Fernando Botero was renowned for his extravagantly
rounded figures combining
Spanish colonial baroque
with the social realism of
the Mexican muralists. Now,
the Delaware Art Museum
showcases the humorous
exaggeration that belies the
more serious content of
Botero’s work—colonialism,
political instability in Latin
America, the vernacular artistic traditions of the region
and European art history.
March 15–June 8. delart.org.
DELAWARE
Double Vision:
Winterthur in the 1930s: Stereographs (3D photographs)
provide visitors rare snapshots of the fabled rooms
of Winterthur—a 960-acre
American country estate
and former home of Henry
Francis du Pont (1880–1969).
The exhibition, on view
March 8–May 18, transports
visitors back in time to the
1930s to witness the genesis
of an avid antiques collector and horticulturist. The
exhibit runs in conjunction
with Winterthur’s second
annual Chic It Up! design
conference, celebrating
American design in the
1930s. winterthur.org.
Art book: Elihu Vedder’s
Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám
was an immediate smash.
The first edition appeared
in Boston on Nov. 8, 1884,
and sold out six days later.
Critics proclaimed it a
masterwork of American
art and Vedder (1836-
1923) a master artist. Now,
more than a century later,
designs for the book are in
an exhibit organized by the
Smithsonian American Art
Museum at the Brandywine
River Museum. March
15–May 18. brandywine
museum.org.
Touch of honey: Sweet
Honey in the Rock, the
The Piano Lesson: Director Kevin Ramsey returns to
Delaware Theatre to stage
the late August Wilson’s
masterpiece. The play,
which won the Pulitzer
Prize in 1990, is one of the
pillars of Wilson’s 10-play
saga representing each
decade of the African-American experience in the
20th century. In The Piano
Lesson, the ghosts of slavery
and family fight to the
