Arts & Entertainment

Baltimore arts preview: John Waters, Tina Turner, and more

Busy season in Charm City with ‘Hamilton,’ Randy Rainbow among standouts

Published

3 years ago

September 17, 2022

Catherine Opie took this portrait-style of John Waters. (Image courtesy BMA)

What sort of art does gay writer and filmmaker John Waters collect? Does it reflect his subversive sense of humor and empathy for outsiders? How did he get to be such a savvy art collector?

Fans will get some answers from “Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection,” an exhibit opening Nov. 20 at the Baltimore Museum of Art. It’s one of many shows and exhibits coming to Baltimore this fall, including the national touring productions of “Hamilton,” “Jagged Little Pill” and “Tina: The Tina Turner Musical,” and appearances by Randy Rainbow, Trixie Mattel, Chelsea Handler and others.

“Coming Attractions” will feature about 90 works of art selected from 372 works that Waters, a BMA trustee, plans to leave to the museum upon his death. When his donation was announced in 2020, representatives promised the museum would have a preview of what’s to come while Waters was still alive, and this show is it.

Although Waters’s donation to the museum includes works by himself and others, “Coming Attractions” will focus on art he has collected and displayed at his homes in Baltimore, New York City, and San Francisco.

The guest curators are photographer Catherine Opie and artist Jack Pierson, both of whom have been friends with Waters for years and are represented in his collection. The exhibit is organized by Leila Grothe, the museum’s Associate Curator of Contemporary Art.

Among the featured works are paintings, sculptures, photographs, and prints by Diane Arbus; Nan Goldin; Mike Kelley; Richard Prince; Cindy Sherman; Gary Simmons; Cy Twombly; Andy Warhol; Christopher Wool and others.

Part of the exhibit is a grouping of works that represent Waters’s relationships with people in the art and film worlds, such as Brigid Berlin; Colin de Land; Cookie Mueller and Warhol. There’s also the first work of art by a non-human that the BMA has ever agreed to display (or add to its collection) – a painting by Betsy the Chimpanzee, who lived and painted at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore in the 1950s.

“We have both known John Waters for years as an auteur filmmaker, a writer, an artist, an art collector, and a friend. We are honored to have the opportunity to curate a presentation of his collection, which so richly reflects his personality and imagination,” Opie and Pierson, who both identify as queer, said in a statement.

“Our hope is to share with audiences another aspect of John’s creative vision by offering a glimpse into what he values: artists who are unafraid to take risks, who do not compromise, and who create their art on the margins.”

Waters’s last major show at the BMA was “John Waters: Indecent Exposure,” a retrospective of his own work as a visual artist, which ran from Oct. 7, 2018 to Jan. 6, 2019. “Coming Attractions” will be on view until April 16, 2023.

Other major shows opening this fall at the Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, include:

“Darrell Ellis: Regeneration,” from Nov. 20, 2022 to April 23, 2023. This is the first comprehensive museum exhibition devoted to the work of a multi-faceted artist who died of AIDS-related causes in 1992 at the age of 33. The show is co-organized with The Bronx Museum of the Arts.

“A Movement in Every Direction: Legacies of the Great Migration,” from Oct. 30, 2022 to Jan. 23, 2023. For this exhibition about Black Americans moving from the South to other parts of the United States starting around 1900 and continuing into the 1970s, the BMA and the Mississippi Museum of Art co-commissioned 12 artists to create works that examine the impact of the Great Migration on the social and cultural life in the United States. Participating artists include: Akea Brionne; Mark Bradford; Zoe Charlton; Larry W. Cook; Torkwase Dyson; Theaster Gates Jr.; Allison Janae Hamilton; Leslie Hewitt; Steffani Jemison; Robert Pruitt; James Richmond Edwards and Carrie Mae Weems.

“Baltimore, Addressed: Baker Artist Awards,” from Nov. 13, 2022 to March 12, 2023. Five past winners of the coveted Baker Artist Award — Laura Amussen; David Page; Ernest Shaw; Susan Waters-Eller and Pamela Woolford — respond to “the past, present and imagined future of the city.”

“Omar Ba: Political Animals,” from Nov. 20, 2022 to April 2, 2023. This is the first U.S. museum exhibition of the work of painter Omar Ba, a leading contemporary African artist.

“Stanley Whitney: Dance with Me Henri,” from Nov. 20, 2022 to April 23, 2023. Works on paper by a Philadelphia-born artist whose compositions and use of color and light have strong parallels to the work of Henri Matisse.

More visual arts events:

American Visionary Art Museum: The next “mega exhibit” at the American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Highway, is “ABUNDANCE: Too Much, Too Little, Just Right (Championing good, honest work from the hand and the heart),” from Oct. 8, 2022 to Sept. 2023. The curator is AVAM curatorial and development curator Gage Branda. It’s the first major exhibit at AVAM under new director Jenenne Whitfield, who this month succeeded founding director Rebecca Alban Hoffberger, who retired in April.

Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles St. After cancelling its fall gala last year, the Walters has scheduled its 2022 celebration and fundraiser, An Evening at the Walters, for Oct. 15 from 6 p.m. to midnight. More information about that event and others is on the museum’s website, thewalters.org. Its current blockbuster, “Activating the Renaissance,” opened in April and continues until February 26, 2023.

The Peale, 225 Holliday St. After a five-year, $5.5 million renovation, Baltimore’s historic Peale Museum reopened in August as The Peale, Baltimore’s Community Museum. Inaugural exhibits include “Spark: New Light,” a collaboration between Towson University and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, featuring the work of more than 20 faculty members and MFA student artists celebrating the building’s reopening with “illuminated and illuminating works of art, until Sept. 25, and Peale Faces, until Aug. 13, 2023, featuring artist and “participatory history specialist” Lauren Muney’s hand-cut silhouette portraits of city residents. More information about Peale events is at ThePealeCenter.org.

Maryland Center for History and Culture: 610 Park Ave. On Nov. 5, the Mount Vernon history center will open “Claire/McCardell,” a yearlong exhibit about Claire McCardell, an influential designer of women’s clothing from the 1930s to the 1950s and beyond. More information about the history center and its collections is on its website, mdhistory.org.

Performing arts events:

Hippodrome Theatre, 12 S. Eutaw St.: Fall shows include Hamilton, October 11 to 30; State Ballet of Ukraine – Swan Lake, November 5; Randy Rainbow: The Pink Glasses Tour, November 11; Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, November 15 to 20; Nutcracker! Magic of Christmas Ballet, December 7 and 8; Paw Patrol Live! The Great Pirate Adventure, December 10 and 11; Little Jagged Pill, December 13 to 18.

Lyric Baltimore, 140 West Mount Royal Avenue: CoComelon Live!, September 16; Trixie and Katya Live, featuring drag stars Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolodchikova, September 19; Michael Blackson and Jess Hilarious, September 24; The Price is Right Live, October 7; Baltimore Soul Jam; October 15; Disney Junior Live on Tour, October 21; and Whose Live Anyway?, featuring Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis and Joel Murray, October 29.

Also Joe Gatto Night of Comedy, November 4; Taylor Tomlinson, The Have It All Tour, November 5; New Jack City Live On Stage, November 6; Spy Ninjas Live, November 18; Alton Brown Live: Beyond the Eats – the Holiday Variant, November 19; Disney Princess Concert, November 25; Cameo Featuring the Rolex Band, November 26; Steve-O (from Jackass) The Bucket List Tour, November 30; Steven Crowder and Dave Landau’s Rebel with a Cause Tour, December 3; Mannheim Steamroller Christmas by Chip Davis, December 4, Chelsea Handler, December 15; Eddie B. Teachers Only Comedy Tour, December 16.

Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Avenue: On October 6, drag performer Betty O’Hellno and friends will host two singalong presentations of a 1975 cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, at 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Costumes are encouraged. The following two nights, October 7 and 8, Creative Alliance will present “Chocolate Covered Rocky Horror,” a musical performance that promises to take the Rocky Horror experience to “a whole different dimension.” A full calendar of events, including Sidewalk Serenades, Dr. Sketchy’s classes in “life drawing with a twist,” and the popular Art to Dine For series, is at creativealliance.org.

Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert Street: Our Town, September 15 to October 9; Kulu Mele African Dance and Drum Ensemble and the Osagyefo Dance Company, September 17; Baltimore Butterfly Sessions, September 19, November 7 and December 5; BCS Sound Check with Michelle J. Rodriquez in Concert, October 21; Ain’t No Mo’ (in association with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company), October 27 to November 20; The Rocky Horror Picture Show, featuring EarlOrrin Productions’ Chocolate Covered Rocky Horror, in partnership with Creative Alliance, October 28 and 29; and BCS Sound Check with Eze Jackson in Concert, November 18.

Everyman Theatre, 315 West Fayette Street: Dinner and Cake, September 6 to October 2; The Lion in Winter, October 18 to November 13; Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery, December 6 to January 1, 2023.

Doors Open Baltimore: A popular annual program that allows participants to tour places that aren’t usually open to the public returns on October 1 and 2, with more than 40 sites open this year. Examples include the Arabber Preservation Society; the Bromo Seltzer Arts Tower; Chesapeake Shakespeare Theater; the H. L. Mencken House and Humanim at American Brewery. The complete list is at doorsopenbaltimore.org.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: One highlight of the BSO’s fall series is a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore on September 16, 1982. To mark the occasion, the BSO has planned a 40th Anniversary Season Opening Celebration for September 17, with Jack Everly as conductor and Ledisi as vocalist. More information about the symphony’s fall schedule is on its website at bsomusic.org.

Baltimore Soundstage, 124 Market Place: Madonna Gaga Britney Dance Party!, September 16; Shrek Rave, September 17; Old 97’s with Vandoliers, September 18; Pusha T, September 20; Wednesday 13, Bag of Humans, Space Lumberjacks, September 22; Dead Like Disco with Brothers Clair, September 23; Maddie & Tae with Sacha and Abbey Cone, September 24; The Get Up Kids, September 27; Nine Inch Naans Tour with Bloodywood, A Killer’s Confession and Iris Divine, September 29; and Japanese Breakfast, September 30.

Up Next

Fall events in Rehoboth Beach

Don't Miss

Pride in the fall

FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM

Sports

US wins Olympic gold medal in women’s hockey

Team captain Hilary Knight proposed to girlfriend on Wednesday

Published

14 hours ago

February 19, 2026

Staff reports

(Public domain photo)

The U.S. women’s hockey team on Thursday won a gold medal at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Team USA defeated Canada 2-1 in overtime. The game took place a day after Team USA captain Hilary Knight proposed to her girlfriend, Brittany Bowe, an Olympic speed skater.

Cayla Barnes and Alex Carpenter — Knight’s teammates — are also LGBTQ. They are among the more than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes who are competing in the games.

The Olympics will end on Sunday.

Movies

Radical reframing highlights the ‘Wuthering’ highs and lows of a classic

Emerald Fennell’s cinematic vision elicits strong reactions

Published

23 hours ago

February 19, 2026

John Paul King

Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi steam up a classic in 'Wuthering Heights' (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.)

If you’re a fan of “Wuthering Heights” — Emily Brontë’s oft-filmed 1847 novel about a doomed romance on the Yorkshire moors — it’s a given you’re going to have opinions about any new adaptation that comes along, but in the case of filmmaker Emerald Fennell’s new cinematic vision of this venerable classic, they’re probably going to be strong ones.

It’s nothing new, really. Brontë’s book has elicited controversy since its first publication, when it sparked outrage among Victorian readers over its tragic tale of thwarted lovers locked into an obsessive quest for revenge against each other, and has continued to shock generations of readers with its depictions of emotional cruelty and violent abuse, its dysfunctional relationships, and its grim portrait of a deeply-embedded class structure which perpetuates misery at every level of the social hierarchy.

It’s no wonder, then, that Fennell’s adaptation — a true “fangirl” appreciation project distinguished by the radical sensibilities which the third-time director brings to the mix — has become a flash point for social commentators whose main exposure to the tale has been flavored by decades of watered-down, romanticized “reinventions,” almost all of which omit large portions of the novel to selectively shape what’s left into a period tearjerker about star-crossed love, often distancing themselves from the raw emotional core of the story by adhering to generic tropes of “gothic romance” and rarely doing justice to the complexity of its characters — or, for that matter, its author’s deeper intentions.

Fennell’s version doesn’t exactly break that pattern; she, too, elides much of the novel’s sprawling plot to focus on the twisted entanglement between Catherine Earnshaw (Margot Robbie), daughter of the now-impoverished master of the titular estate (Martin Clunes), and Heathcliff (Jacob Elordi), a lowborn child of unknown background origin that has been “adopted” by her father as a servant in the household. Both subjected to the whims of the elder Earnshaw’s violent temper, they form a bond of mutual support in childhood which evolves, as they come of age, into something more; yet regardless of her feelings for him, Cathy — whose future status and security are at risk — chooses to marry Edgar Linton (Shazad Latif), the financially secure new owner of a neighboring estate. Heathcliff, devastated by her betrayal, leaves for parts unknown, only to return a few years later with a mysteriously-obtained fortune. Imposing himself into Cathy’s comfortable-but-joyless matrimony, he rekindles their now-forbidden passion and they become entwined in a torrid affair — even as he openly courts Linton’s naive ward Isabella (Alison Oliver) and plots to destroy the entire household from within. One might almost say that these two are the poster couple for the phrase “it’s complicated.” and it’s probably needless to say things don’t go well for anybody involved.

While there is more than enough material in “Wuthering Heights” that might easily be labeled as “problematic” in our contemporary judgments — like the fact that it’s a love story between two childhood friends, essentially raised as siblings, which becomes codependent and poisons every other relationship in their lives — the controversy over Fennell’s version has coalesced less around the content than her casting choices. When the project was announced, she drew criticism over the decision to cast Robbie (who also produced the film) opposite the younger Elordi. In the end, the casting works — though the age gap might be mildly distracting for some, both actors deliver superb performances, and the chemistry they exude soon renders it irrelevant.

Another controversy, however, is less easily dispelled. Though we never learn his true ethnic background, Brontë’s original text describes Heathcliff as having the appearance of “a dark-skinned gipsy” with “black fire” in his eyes; the character has typically been played by distinctly “Anglo” men, and consequently, many modern observers have expressed disappointment (and in some cases, full-blown outrage) over Fennel’s choice to use Elordi instead of putting an actor of color for the part, especially given the contemporary filter which she clearly chose for her interpretation for the novel.

In fact, it’s that modernized perspective — a view of history informed by social criticism, economic politics, feminist insight, and a sexual candor that would have shocked the prim Victorian readers of Brontë’s novel — that turns Fennell’s visually striking adaptation into more than just a comfortably romanticized period costume drama. From her very opening scene — a public hanging in the village where the death throes of the dangling body elicit lurid glee from the eagerly-gathered crowd — she makes it oppressively clear that the 18th-century was not a pleasant time to live; the brutality of the era is a primal force in her vision of the story, from the harrowing abuse that forges its lovers’ codependent bond, to the rigidly maintained class structure that compels even those in the higher echelons — especially women — into a kind of slavery to the system, to the inequities that fuel disloyalty among the vulnerable simply to preserve their own tenuous place in the hierarchy. It’s a battle for survival, if not of the fittest then of the most ruthless.

At the same time, she applies a distinctly 21st-century attitude of “sex-positivity” to evoke the appeal of carnality, not just for its own sake but as a taste of freedom; she even uses it to reframe Heathcliff’s cruel torment of Isabella by implying a consensual dom/sub relationship between them, offering a fragment of agency to a character typically relegated to the role of victim. Most crucially, of course, it permits Fennell to openly depict the sexuality of Cathy and Heathcliff as an experience of transgressive joy — albeit a tormented one — made perhaps even more irresistible (for them and for us) by the sense of rebellion that comes along with it.

Finally, while this “Wuthering Heights” may not have been the one to finally allow Heathcliff’s ambiguous racial identity to come to the forefront, Fennell does employ some “color-blind” casting — Latif is mixed-race (white and Pakistani) and Hong Chau, understated but profound in the crucial role of Nelly, Cathy’s longtime “paid companion,” is of Vietnamese descent — to illuminate the added pressures of being an “other” in a world weighted in favor of sameness.

Does all this contemporary hindsight into the fabric of Brontë’s epic novel make for a quintessential “Wuthering Heights?” Even allowing that such a thing were possible, probably not. While it presents a stylishly crafted and thrillingly cinematic take on this complex classic, richly enhanced by a superb and adventurous cast, it’s not likely to satisfy anyone looking for a faithful rendition, nor does it reveal a new angle from which the “romance” at its center looks anything other than toxic — indeed, it almost fetishizes the dysfunction. Even without the thorny debate around Heathcliff’s racial identity, there’s plenty here to prompt purists and revisionists alike to find fault with Fennell’s approach.

Yet for those looking for a new window into to this perennial classic, and who are comfortable with the radical flourish for which Fennell is already known, it’s an engrossing and intellectually stimulating exploration of this iconic story in a way that exchanges comfortable familiarity for unpredictable chaos — and for cinema fans, that’s more than enough reason to give “Wuthering Heights” a chance.

Photos

PHOTOS: Clash

New weekly drag show held at Trade

Published

2 days ago

February 18, 2026

Michael Key

Tatianna and Crimsyn host the drag show, Clash. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Crimsyn and Tatianna hosted the new weekly drag show Clash at Trade (1410 14th Street, N.W.) on Feb. 14, 2026. Performers included Aave, Crimsyn, Desiree Dik, and Tatianna.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)