Arts & Entertainment
Baltimore’s state-of-the-art arena highlights spring arts scene
Lizzo, Janet, Bruce, Joan Jett and more to christen renovated space
For years, Baltimore missed out on performances by big-name musicians, comedians and others because it didn’t have a 14,000-seat arena capable of attracting them, but not anymore.
Starting in April, more than a dozen acts will be coming to town when the CFG Bank Arena at 201 West Baltimore St. — formerly known as the Royal Farms Arena — reopens following a $200-$250 million renovation designed to turn it into a state-of-the-art sports and entertainment venue.
The arena’s reopening after more than a year of construction is one of the highlights of the spring arts season in Baltimore, along with new exhibits at the Baltimore Museum of Art; new shows at the Hippodrome and Lyric; a new book festival, a John Waters book signing and other events around town.
On April 7, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band will be the first performers to appear at the CFG Bank Arena, a concert that’s being billed as opening night for the refurbished and rebranded hall.
The Boss will be followed by: Eagles Hotel California Tour, April 8; Straight Jokes No Chaser, April 14; Jeff Dunham Still Not Canceled, April 15; Adam Sandler, April 21; New Edition: Legacy Tour with Keith Sweat, Guy and Special Guest Tank, April 22; Monster Jam, April 28 to 30; AEW Dynamite, May 3; Lizzo, May 9; Janet Jackson: Together Again with Special Guest Ludacris, May 13; Anita Baker: The Songstress with the Legendary Babyface, May 14; blink-182 Tour 2023, May 26; Stars on Ice, June 2; Bryan Adams: So Happy It Hurts 2023 with Joan Jett and The Blackhearts, June 6, and Dude Perfect PandaMonium, June 25.
Performances scheduled for later in 2023: Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show; Thomas Rhett, Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire, and Kiss – the End of the Road Tour. The CFG Bank Arena website is cfgbankarena.com.
Owned by the City of Baltimore, the arena opened in 1962 as the Baltimore Civic Center and later was renamed the 1st Mariner Arena (2003 to 2013) and the Royal Farms Arena (2014 to 2022). It was one of the first places The Beatles appeared during their augural trip to America in 1964, and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke there in 1966. The Baltimore Bullets and Baltimore Clippers played there for many years.
As the arena grew older, city officials contemplated constructing a replacement elsewhere but couldn’t decide on a location. They eventually opted to keep the existing venue and bring in a new management team to upgrade it to be competitive with other East Coast arenas. The decision was part of a larger effort to revitalize the west side of downtown Baltimore, where a new building for the city’s historic Lexington Market recently opened several blocks away.
The CFG Bank Arena team is led by the Oak View Group of Los Angeles, in association with Thirty Five Ventures, the investment company of NBA player Kevin Durant and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, and recording artist Pharrell Williams. The Oak View Group team funded the improvements in return for rights to manage and lease the facility, and it’s offering seat leases as part of the ticketing options.
Renovation work began in early 2022 and included a revamped seating configuration; new concourses, restrooms, and concessions areas; updated mechanical systems and a redesigned exterior. The refurbished arena had a test run last month, when Baltimore hosted the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments, but there was still more work to finish. Starting in April, managers say, all the renovations will be complete and it will be ready for the entertainers.
Visual arts events
Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive (artbma.org): From April 5 to July 16, the BMA will present “The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century.” Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the emergence of hip hop in the 1970s, the exhibit will examine the global phenomenon of hip hop and its impact on music, fashion, technology and the visual and performing arts.
More than 90 works of art and fashion, including many by LGBTQ artists, will show the many ways hip hop has influenced contemporary society. According to the BMA, queer artists with work in the exhibit include: Lauren Halsey; Rashaad Newsome; Mark Bradford; Julie Mehretu; Dapper Dan; Telfar Clemens; Tschabalala Self; Amani Lewis; John Edmonds; Nina Chanel Abney; Jonathan Lyndon Chase; Caitlin Cherry; Devan Shimoyama; Texas Isaiah; Shabez Jamal; Eric N. Mack and Rozeal. Non-cisgender artists include Isaiah, Chase, Lewis and Jamal.
The exhibit is co-organized by the BMA and the Saint Louis Art Museum. One of the curators is Asma Naeem, the BMA’s new Dorothy Wagner Wallis Director. Other curators include Gamynne Guillotte, the BMA’s chief education officer, and Hannah Klemm and Andrea Purnell, from the Saint Louis museum.
Also opening at the BMA this spring: “Histories Collide: Jackie Milad x Fred Wilson x Nekisha Durrett,” April 26, 2023 to March 17, 2024: New works by Milad and Durrent in dialogue with Wilson’s Artemis/Bast (1992); “Martha Jackson Jarvis: What the Trees Have Seen,” May 7 to October 1, 2023, featuring mixed media works by Jarvis that imaginatively trace a free Black militiaman’s journey from Virginia to South Carolina in the American Revolution; “Recasting Colonialism: Michelle Erickson Ceramics,” May 7 to October 1, 2023; “The Matter of Bark Cloth,” May 7 to October 1, 2023, and “Wild Forms: Fauve Woodcuts,” May 14 to October 15, 2023.
American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Highway: The main exhibit is “ABUNDANCE: Too Much, Too Little, Just Right” (Championing good, honest work from the hand and the heart), curated by Gage Branda. Also: AVAM’s Logan Visionary Conference 2023, March 19, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.; Kinetic Sculpture Race, May 6.
Walters Art Museum: 600 North Charles St. (thewalters.org): “Quiet Beauty: The Watercolors of Leon Bonvin,” opened in February; “Arts of the Medieval Mediterranean,” is ongoing, and “Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World,” a new installation of the museum’s Asian and Islamic collections, opens April 23.
The Peale, 225 Holliday St. (thepeale.org): “Compensation for Loss” exhibition, March 19 to April 30, and Submersive Productions Performances: Katalepsis, March 24 to April 30.
Maryland Center for History and Culture, 610 Park Avenue (mdhistory.org): “Claire/McCardell,” an exhibit about Claire McCardell, an influential designer of women’s clothing from the 1930s to the 1950s and beyond; “Discover Maryland;” “The Unfinished Revolution: Maryland in the Wars for Independence,” and “Passion and Purpose: Voices of Maryland’s Civil Rights Activists.”
Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Highway (thebmi.org): “Fire & Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Bethlehem Steel,” documenting the 125-history of the Sparrows Point steel mill.
B&O Railroad Museum, 901 West Pratt Street (borail.org): New permanent exhibit: “Freedom Seekers on the B&O Railroad.”
Waverly Book Festival (waverlymainstreet.org): A new book festival organized to replace the Baltimore Book Festival, 32nd and Barclay streets and other locations, April 28 to 30.
John Waters at Atomic Books, 3620 Falls Road (atomicbooks.com): As part of a book tour for the release of the paperback version of his novel, “Liarmouth: A Feel Bad Romance,” writer and filmmaker John Waters will sign books on May 12 starting at 7 p.m.
Performing arts events
Hippodrome Theatre, 12 South Eutaw St., (Baltimore.broadway.com): Spring shows include: To Kill A Mockingbird, March 14 to 19; Respect – Aretha Franklin Tribute, March 23; Aziza, March 25; Lewis Black, April 2; Hadestown, April 12 to 22; Rock From The Heart, April 22; Shen Yun Performing Arts, April 28-30; Dino Ranch Live, May 6; Six the Musical, May 9 to 14, and Frozen, June 7 to 18.
The Lyric Baltimore, 140 West Mount Royal Ave., (lyric.baltimore.com): Royal Comedy 2023: Sommore, Bruce Bruce, Lavell Crawford and Special K, March 18; Hits! The Musical, March 19; Killer Queen, March 25; Bored Teacher Comedy Hour, March 31; Good Friday: Carl Thomas, Lyfe Jennings and Christopher Williams, April 7; Brit Floyd, April 15; Soul Marathon: Bloodstone, April 22; Yes Epics & Classics featuring Jon Anderson and The Band Geeks, May 6; Fortune Feimster, May 19; Boz Scaggs, May 20; Puscifer, June 1; John Mellencamp, June 2; Kansas – The Band, June 3; Luis Angel, June 4; Bad Friends Podcast: Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee, June 16; Stephen Sharer, June 17, and Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and W.I.T.C.H.
Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. (creativealliance.org): The High & Wides with Hannah Lee Thompson, March 31; 2023 Marquee Ball, April 22; Alison Crockett Presents Echoes of an Era: The Jazz Sides of Chaka Kahn, April 28, Ngaiire, May 5; Brandee Younger, June 22, and Madison McFerrin, June 23.
Baltimore Center Stage, 700 North Calvert St., (centerstage.org): Tiny Beautiful Things, March 9 to April 2.
Everyman Theatre, 315 West Fayette St. (everymantheatre.org): The Sound Inside, March 7 to April 2; Harvey, April 25 to May 21, and The World Goes Round, June 6 to July 2.
Arena Players, 801 McCulloh Street (arenaplayersinc.com): Open Admissions and When Men Reduce as Women Do, March 17, 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31 and April 1 and 3; Sizwe Banzi is Dead, April 21, 22, 23, 28, 29, 30, May 5, 6, and 7, and Nina, May 26, 27, 28, June 2, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17 and 18.
Live! Casino Hotel Maryland, 7002 Arundel Mills Circle, Hanover, Md., (maryland.livecasinohotel.com): Patti LaBelle, March 10; Air Supply, March 11; Hoops Fest Watch Parties, March 14; Lovers in the Night Spring Concert, March 19; Mixed Martial Arts: Shogun Fights, March 25; Jerry Seinfeld, May 19, and Kevin Hart, June 11.
Baltimore Soundstage, 124 Market Place, presents the Hell in the Harbor Festival over the Memorial Day weekend, May 27 and 28. Its complete spring lineup for March to June, with dozens of acts, is on its website, Baltimoresoundstage.com.
a&e features
Tickets on sale for chef Patrick O’Connell’s book launch event
Sept. 18 kickoff to feature José Andrés, Tom Sietsema
Acclaimed chef Patrick O’Connell is preparing to publish his new memoir, “Main, Middle & Gay” in September and he’s launching the book with an event on Sept. 18 at 6 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium featuring Chef José Andrés and former Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema.
Tickets for the event go on sale Tuesday, July 21 at Ticketmaster; prices start at $55.
O’Connell, who’s gay, is the pioneering Michelin-starred chef and longtime proprietor of the Inn at Little Washington. He spoke with the Blade about the September event and the launch of his first memoir.
“I’ve known [Andrés and Sietsema] for more than 25 years and I have great respect for them,” O’Connell said. “I felt that it would allow us to add a different dimension rather than just have an interviewer. The chemistry will be fun and lively and unpredictable and exciting. I think we’re all different personalities and we’ll compliment each other.”
O’Connell has published cookbooks but this is his first memoir. The event will feature a short film that will highlight his work and the Inn.
“What I hope to do with the event is bring the book to life visually,” he said. “So we’re producing a short film that will be part of it. Most of the audience will not have read the book so it’ll give them a visual flavor of the book. It parallels the evolution of American cuisine over 50 years. It’s a rare perspective to be in the trenches for that long.”
The book’s title refers to the location of the garage on the corner of Main, Middle, and Gay streets in Washington, Va., where he launched his restaurant that became an international culinary destination.
The Blade will publish the rest of its wide-ranging interview with O’Connell in September in conjunction with the book’s release.
Arts & Entertainment
Sci-fi has long been at vanguard of LGBTQ representation
Story lines now criticized as ‘woke’ is weird
Since I was a teenager, I have liked sci-fi because of the depth with which it explores social issues. At the time, I didn’t know that I was autistic and queer, so I couldn’t see myself in other autistic and queer people. Instead, I saw myself in androids, mutants, telepaths, and sometimes aliens who were portrayed as minorities persecuted by the human majority. It was a universal language for talking about alienation, systemic discrimination, conversion therapy, segregation, and internalized self-hatred.
Now, when so many sci-fi stories are being criticized online as “woke,” it seems weird for me. This is especially true when we are talking about franchises, such as the British TV series “Doctor Who” and American franchise “Star Trek,” both of which have always been remarkably progressive by the standards of their own time.
Let’s take a closer look at “Doctor Who.”
In June 2026, the BBC cancelled the planned Christmas special, saying that viewers would have to wait longer for the next season after internal studio issues, and now the BBC is looking for new production partners. “Doctor Who” is the longest-running science fiction television series in the world, originally airing from 1963 to 1989 before returning in 2005. The future of the franchise is currently unclear, and many people online immediately began blaming “wokeness” for what had happened to their favorite show.
After all, the Doctor, an alien Time Lord who can regenerate and literally change faces, had traditionally been played by white men. But the last, Fifteenth Doctor was played by Ncuti Gatwa, a Black Scottish-Rwandan actor who has publicly identified as queer (and the doctor himself was first presented as queer character after a queer romantic episode where he kissed a man), while the Thirteenth Doctor was played for three seasons by Jodie Whittaker, the first woman to portray the Doctor. In 2023, the series also introduced Rose Noble, a trans feminine nonbinary teenager and supportive character played by transgender English actress Yasmin Finney.
But despite popular stereotypes online, “Doctor Who” did not suddenly “go woke.” The program has existed in two main eras: the classic series, which aired from 1963 to1989, and the modern revival, which has been broadcast on BBC One since 2005.
Even in the 1960s, one of the program’s earliest stories, “The Daleks” (1963–64), presented an obvious allegory for fascism, racial purity, bigotry and the horrors of war. Throughout the classic era, the Doctor frequently opposed militarism, authoritarian governments, and dictatorships. Many fans have also pointed to moments of queer coding and subtext throughout the classic series.
However, openly queer characters appeared as soon as the modern revival began.
The 2005 revival introduced Captain Jack Harkness, played by John Barrowman, one of the first openly queer recurring characters in the “Doctor Who” universe. He openly flirted with people regardless of their gender and later became the lead character of the spin-off series “Torchwood.” “Torchwood” went even further with LGBTQ representation, featuring multiple queer characters, including trans and nonbinary characters whose identities were treated as a normal part of the story.
“Doctor Who” has always been remarkably progressive for its time. The franchise doesn’t suddenly change its values, it’s always been “woke.”
The same happened with the American franchise “Star Trek.”
It is widely known as one of the most openly left-wing and progressive television franchises ever broadcast. The original series, which aired from 1966-1969, was created during the Cold War and featured the utopian United Federation of Planets, a society without poverty or money that can be characterised as socialist or even communist. It also featured Lt. Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, a Black woman serving as a highly respected bridge officer at a time when Black women weren’t portrayed in positions of authority on American television. The series also included one of the first interracial kisses in modern American television, between Capt. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Uhura in the 1968 episode “Plato’s Stepchildren,” a moment that had a significant cultural impact.
Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the franchise, said that he had wanted to include openly queer characters as well, but believed it would have been impossible to keep the show on the air because it had already pushed social boundaries in so many other ways.
Today, many viewers — including Elon Musk — claim that “Star Trek” has only recently become “woke.” In reality, I think it actually became less radical than the original series. Even queer characters are not a recent addition to the franchise. One of the earliest major queer characters appeared in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (1993–1999): the Trill officer Jadzia Dax, played by Terry Farrell. In the 1995 episode “Rejoined,” she shared one of the first same-sex kisses in the history of the franchise.
However, for some reason, it was the openly gay couple Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) in “Star Trek: Discovery” (2017–2024), together with the trans Trill character Gray Tal, played by trans actor Ian Alexander, that triggered a major backlash among conservative parts of the fandom. That backlash reached another peak with “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” which features the canonically gay Klingon cadet Jay-Den Kraag. The actor has spoken about receiving abuse and threats because of the role, despite the fact that there was nothing especially ideological about his character. He was simply a gay character whose sexuality was only one aspect of who he was. In fact, considering the ideals of the original “Star Trek,” I was more surprised that the franchise still includes relatively few trans or polyamorous characters, and that they are not part of the lead cast. After all, the franchise was created to imagine a future that was ahead of its time.
So why do conservatives and anti-LGBTQ people continue to watch franchises that have always been deliberately progressive? And why do they keep claiming that these shows have only recently “gone woke”?
A more logical explanation is that parts of the audience have become less willing to accept the same kinds of progressive ideas that these franchises have embraced for decades. In other words, it is not the shows that fundamentally changed. Some long-time viewers have become more conservative than they were in their youth, while newer conservative audiences have joined them and begun criticizing franchises without knowing their real history.
In many ways, geeks have changed more than these shows have. Sci-fi hasn’t “gone woke.” Some of its fans have simply become less comfortable with the same progressive values these franchises have promoted for decades.
JR.’s Bar held a “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars” watch party followed by a live drag show on Friday, July 17. The Vitamin C weekly drag show was hosted by Citrine with performers Brooke N Hyman and Rosie Beret.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
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