Bombastic Bromberg
When the inimitable David Bromberg puts on a show, anything could happen, especially when you add top-notch singers and a rockin’ big band. See the fireworks when the guitar virtuoso returns to The Grand Opera House in Wilmington May 5. Mandolins, fiddles, horns and, of course, guitar range through tunes from blues to folk to bluegrass as the players trade leads and solos during group jams. See why the 2008 Grammy-nominated Bromberg has become a legend. 652-5577, thegrandwilmington.org
Behind the Music
Ever wonder what happened to music? UD history prof David Suisman will explain on May 2 when he talks about his recently published book, “Selling Sounds: The Commercial Revolution in American Music.” From Tin Pan Alley to grand opera, player-pianos to phonograph records, Suisman explores the rise of music as big business and the creation of a new musical culture. It all happens at Hagley, and the lecture is free. 658-2400, hagley.lib.de.us
Patriot Games
The Dover Symphony Orchestra will present “Spirit of America” during the annual Dover Days. Hear it May 5 at the Calvary Assembly of God in Dover. Selections include “Fanfare for the Common Man,” “Mr. Holland’s Opus” and patriotic pieces by American composers. 270-1903, doversymphony.org
Gushing Over Gershwin
It’s almost summertime, and the livin’ is easy. You know the tune—one of the best of Broadway. Hear it when OperaDelaware presents “Porgy and Bess” May 6-12 at The Grand Opera House. Be transported to Catfish Row for a real lesson in the love of life—and hear classics such as “A Woman is A Sometime Thing” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” (800) 374-7263, operade.org
Going to Jackson
See what happens live when America’s seventh president is re-imagined as a rock ’n’ roll god hell-bent on creating a government for the people, by the people—and how it works out—when City Theatre Company stages “Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson” through May 12. This is the East Coast premiere of a rock musical The New York Times critic Ben Brantley said “feels unconditionally (and alarmingly) of the moment.” Starring Melissa Bernard, Jim Burns, Maggie Cogswell, Dylan Geringer, Righteous Jolly, Kerry Kristine McElrone, Dana Michael, Michael Renn, Frank Schierloh, and Adam Wahlberg. This is not politically correct, or historically accurate, but it sure is fun. See it at the OperaDelaware Black Box. 220-8285, city-theater.org
Cathouse or Convent?
Come on down to Miss Mona’s Chicken Ranch—“The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”—for a good time, as provided by the Wilmington Drama League. Follow reporter Melvin P. Thorpe as he tries to shut down Miss Mona. Is anything dirty really happening here? Inspired by a true story, “Whorehouse” delighted audiences for four years on Broadway. 764-3396, wilmingtondramaleague.org
The Shows Go On
Who can resist this? In “The Skin of Our Teeth,” the inventor of the wheel, his family and his saucy maid face calamity after calamity—war, flood, famine, climate change and economic collapse—yet somehow manage to pull through. Yes, there is hope. This uproarious Pulitzer winner even offers wooly mammoth. Need we say more? Catch the UD’s Resident Ensemble Players production at Roselle Center for the Arts through July 5. 831-2204, rep.udel.edu
Get the kids to Delaware Children’s Theatre in Wilmington for “Cinderella,” which plays Saturdays and Sundays through May 6. This is a musical version of the fairy tale that will delight everyone. 655-1014, dechildrenstheatre.org
You roared at the movie with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Now you can see “The Wedding Singer” on stage in a musical at The New Candlelight Theatre. As the good people there say, party like it’s 1985. We promise lots of laughs. See it through May 20. 475-2313, nctstage.org
A Rare Opportunity for Art Lovers
Those of us who grew up around the local military will be interested in “Picturing WWI: The American Illustration Collection of the Delaware National Guard,” but there’s something for everyone in this new exhibition at the Biggs Museum of American Art in Dover. The exhibition shows works by local illustrators such as Frank E. Schoonover (1877-1972) and Gayle Porter Hoskins (1887-1962) as created for magazines such as Ladies Home Journal to depict key events of the war. It’s a rare opportunity to view the collection of the Delaware National Guard. Visit May 4-June 24. 674-2111, biggsmuseum.org
Most Artful
Cheers to Winterthur for “Uncorked! Wine, Objects & Tradition,” a celebration of 300 objects and imagery created in response to our love of wine. “Uncorked!” shows how wine was marketed and consumed in America and Britain from the 1600s through the 1800s. See unique wine bottles, decanters and cellarettes, lead figures of Bacchus, “Champagne Charlie” song sheets, advertisements and more. Special events include wine dinners, cellar tours, local winery tastings, and a lunchtime lecture series by wine historians, collectors and curators of drinking vessels. There’s something for every wine enthusiast. The exhibition will be on view through January 6. winterthur.org/uncorked.
“American Masters Art of the 19th and 20th centuries” at Sommerville Manning Gallery in Greenville shows works by contemporaries of the Wyeth family. You’ll see works by N.C., American Impressionists Childe Hassam, Mary Cassatt and John Henry Twatchtman, Ashcan School artists Maurice Prendergast, Everett Shinn and William Glackens, and masters John Singer Sargent and Thomas Anschutz. There’s more. See it through June 2. 652-0271, somervillemanning.com
Those interested in publishing and illustration may want to visit the Brandywine River Museum soon to see “Scribner’s Magazine: The Early Years in Illustration” to learn about the importance of illustrated magazines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of the important artists Scribner’s hired, you’ll notice Maxfield Parrish, Howard Pyle, Frank Schoonover and N.C. Wyeth as notables, men who helped make the magazine one of the most popular in its day. Learn more about “golden age of illustration” through May 2. (610) 388-2700, brandywinemusuem.org; 645-9095, rehobothfilm.com
