Weekly entertainment guide: ‘Glory days’ at the Constitution Center

    WHYY’s Arts Calendar curator Robin Bloom sorts through hundreds of listings each week to find out what’s happening in the Delaware Valley. Here are her picks and listings.

    Springsteen’s Glory Days at the National Constitution Center

    From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen, arrives at the National Constitution Center this weekend from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Museum with a comprehensive look at Bruce Springsteen’s entire career. The first major exhibition about the iconic American songwriter offers the opportunity to view numerous items that have never been seen by the public and to listen to unreleased songs, Bruce’s 1972 audition for Columbia Records, and much more, through September 3, with related programs and events, Independence Mall, Philadelphia. Included with museum admission: $24.50 adults, $23 seniors and students, $12 children ages 4-12

    Force of Nature

    • WHYY thanks our sponsors — become a WHYY sponsor

    Two exhibits celebrating nature-inspired art and artist Elaine Kurtz open this weekend at Woodmere Art Museum. Elaine Kurtz: A Retrospective, explores the Philadelphia-born artist’s geometric abstract works from the 1970s and her transition to nature-based abstractions using layers of paint, sand, mud, pulverized mica and quartz of the 1990s. Elemental: Nature as Language in the Works of Philadelphia Artists, brings together a diverse group of Kurtz’s peers and colleagues for whom nature has spurred creativity in form, style and composition. Artists include Edna Andrade, Diane Burko, Thomas Chimes, Neysa Grassi, Samantha Mitchell, Elizabeth Osborne, Warren Rohrer, Kevin Strickland, and many more, through April 22, 9201 Germantown Avenue, Chestnut Hill. $10 adults, $7 seniors (55+), Children and students free

     

    Time Stands Still at Act II Playhouse

    Opening this weekend at Act II Playhouse is the Philadelphia area premiere of the Broadway drama Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies, directed by Bud Martin, a co-production with Delaware Theatre Company, through March 11, the story of a photojournalist and a foreign correspondent trying to find happiness in a world gone crazy, 56 E. Butler Avenue, Ambler, PA. Tickets $27-33

     

     

    1833 Absurdist play onstage in Philadelphia

     

    Marriage: An Utterly Improbably Occurrence in Two Acts, by Russian playwright Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852), the hilarious, magical fable about a town matchmaker and a newly betrothed busybody who match wits in a race to marry off a gun-shy suitor, is onstage through February 26 at the Walnut Street Theater Studio 5, Philadelphia. The production is by the Idiopathic Ridiculopathy Consortium, who brings absurdist plays from around the world to Philadelphia and is directed by Tina Brock. Tickets $20

     

     

    Paleopalooza

    Paleopalooza, the annual two-day festival, comes to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, this Saturday, February 18 and Sunday, February 19, 10am-5pm, featuring rarely seen fossils from the Academy’s world-renowned collections, displays from the Delaware Valley Paleontological Society, demonstrations with scientists, hands-on crafts, activities, tours and interactive presentations for all ages, 1900 Ben Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. $12 adults, $10 children 3-12, seniors, college students, and military personnel, free for members and children under 3. Tickets for special shows required

     

    Abduction from the Seraglio

    Opera Company of Philadelphia’s director Robert B. Driver and Italian designer Guia Buzzi team up once again for a new production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, a humorous tale of a Turkish ruler’s comically passionate pursuit of his beautiful young prisoner, onstage this weekend through February 26, in German with English translations, Academy of Music, Broad Street, Philadelphia. Tickets $8-$225

     

     

    Iraqi jazz at the Philadelphia Art Alliance

    Ars Nova Workshop hosts Iraqi-American trumpeter and composer Amir Elsaffar & the Two Rivers Ensemble, Saturday, February 18, 8pm, Philadelphia Art Alliance, 251 S. 18th Street, Philadelphia. Tickets $15

     

     

    Arden Concert Gild hosts February & March concerts: David Johansen, Saturday, February 18, 8pm, Hoots & Hellmouth, Saturday, March 3, 8pm, The Horse Flies, Friday, March 9, 8pm, The Bad Plus, Saturday, March 31, 8pm, Arden Gild Hall, 2126 The Highway, Arden, DE. Tickets $12-30

     

     

    The Lenape Chamber Ensemble returns for its 37th season with pianist Natalie Zhu, oboist James Austin Smith and a program of Haydn, Clara Schumann, and the English composer Arnold Bax, Friday, February 24, 8:15pm at the Upper Tinicum Lutheran Church, Upper Black Eddy, PA, and on Sunday, February 26, 3pm at Delaware Valley College, Doylestown, PA. Tickets $18 adults, $15 seniors and students, $5 children.

     

     

    Other events and listings in the Delaware Valley region:

    Public Eye: Artists for Animals hosts “Stories from the Wild,” storytelling, art projects and creative movement featuring the book Lightfoot the Deer, written by naturalist and author Thornton W. Burgess, Saturday, February 18, 2-4pm, The Parkway Central Library, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia. Free and open to the public.

    Onstage this weekend at Lehigh University’s Department of Theatre is the Lillian Hellman play The Little Foxes, directed by Lehigh professor Kashi Johnson and in celebration of 40 years of undergraduate women at the university, through February 25 in the Diamond Theater, Zoellner Arts Center, Bethlehem, PA. Tickets $12, $5 students

    Delaware Friends of Folk hosts a monthly coffeehouse series this Saturday, February 18, doors open 7pm, music starts at 7:30pm, as Sean Cheezum and Jay Mullin bring their percussive acoustic rhythms to Wesley College Chapel, Division & Bradford Streets, Dover, DE. $5 members, $7 non-members, half price for ages 13-18, free for Wesley College students and ages 12 and under.

    Group Motion’s Spiel Uhr, “play clock” in German, a semi-annual performance with local and guest artists is this Saturday, February 18, 8pm and Sunday, February 19, 8pm, offering excerpts of works in progress and experimental pieces, and new works by Lindsay Browning, Darcy Lyons, David Konyk, Charles Tyson, Leanne Grieger, and Ellie Goudie-Averill, CEC Meetinghouse Theater, 3500 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia. $20 general admission, $15 students, seniors, DancePASS holders

    The Delaware Museum of Natural History celebrates President’s Day with Natural Leaders: Presidents and Nature, a family friendly event with hands on activities and crafts about presidents’ roles in environmental preservation and conservation, Monday, February 20, 9:30am-4:30pm, 4840 Kennett Pike, Wilmington. $8 adults, $6 children (3-17), $7 seniors, free for children 2 and under. While there, check out the exhibit Giants: African Dinosaurs, through February 26.

    Raices Culturales Latinoamericanas presents their monthly Tertulia in honor of Black History Month with Cuba’s African Roots, Friday, February 24, 7-10pm,  a lecture and demonstration highlighting the African Roots of Cuba’s culture featuring Dorothy Wilkie, Artistic Director of Kùlú Mèlé dance and drum ensemble, Timbalona folkloric Latin American dance and music group plus the opening of the exhibit Voces y Colores featuring Colombian artist Erika Gomez Henao, on display through March 25, at the Crane Old School, 1417 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia. $10 admission

    The Kimmel Center hosts The New York Philharmonic, appearing for the first time in Philadelphia with music director Alan Gilbert, Friday, February 24, 8pm, Verizon Hall, Max Raabe and the Palast Orchester, Friday, March 2, 8pm, Merriam Theater, Paddy Maloney and The Chieftains for traditional Irish music for St. Patrick’s Day celebration, Friday, March 9, 8pm, Verizon Hall, The Canadian Brass, Saturday, March 10, 3pm, Verizon Hall, Broad Street, Philadelphia. Tickets $25-100

    The first exhibit to tell the story of rock and roll with an emphasis on the photographers who fashioned its image is on view at the Allentown Art Museum. Who Shot Rock & Roll: A Photographic History, 1955 to the Present provides visual access to some of the biggest names in the music industry over the past 50 years with more than 175 images including album cover art, rare and revealing candid snapshots taken behind the scenes, publicity portraits, and images of live performances of popular artists and their fans, through May 13 at 31 N. 5th Street, Allentown, PA.

    Philadelphia Art mentor Moe Brooker’s new works in acrylic, oil, encaustic, paintstik, and oil pastels are on display in the Alumni Sales Gallery in the Historic Landmark Building at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, through April 15 at 118 North Broad Street, Philadelphia.

    Onstage at the Players Club of Swarthmore Theater is the musical comedy I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, through February 25, Fairview Road, just off of Chester Road, Swarthmore, PA. Tickets $25 adults, $13 students

    Tin Angel hosts February concerts & events: Close to Good, Saturday, February 18, 10:30pm, Sonnifonic, Thursday, February 23, 8pm, Karen Gross presents The Black Cat Cabaret Gets Frisky, Friday, February 24, 8:30pm, Laura Mann & the Lifeboys, Saturday, February 25, 7:30pm, Viv & the Revival, Saturday, February 25, 10:30pm, John Condron & Mickey Harte, Sunday, February 26, 7pm, 20 S. 2nd Street, Philadelphia. Tickets $10-$22

    Onstage at Theatre Exile is the Philadelphia premiere of Knives in Hens by David Harrower, about a young couple’s love that is challenged by an outsider, with a non-traditional relationship between audience and performance, through March 4, Studio X, 1340 South 13th Street, Philadelphia. Tickets $18-32, limited seating

    The Broadway Theatre of Pitman presents a children’s theater production of The Wizard of Oz, Saturday, February 18, 10am, 1pm & 7:30pm, a one-hour performance with a mix of creative sets, music, live actors, and audience participation, for ages 3-9, 43 S. Broadway, Pitman, NJ. Tickets $7-$9

    Sellersville Theater 1894 hosts February concerts: Red Molly w/Beaucoup Blue, Saturday, February 18, 8pm, Terri Clark “Roots & Wings Unplugged,” Saturday, February 25, 8pm, Playing for Change, Tuesday, February 28, 8pm, 24 West Temple Avenue, Sellersville, PA.

    To submit an event or listing to be considered on the Weekly Entertainment Guide email artscalendar@whyy.org.

    WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

    Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

    Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal