"Roads of Arabia" at the Sackler Gallery

6 Winter Picks

Roads of Arabia, through Feb. 24, Sackler Gallery (asia.si.edu). The groundbreaking exhibit takes visitors on a road trip to the ancient trade routes along the Arabian Peninsula. It reveals exquisite riches, including treasure from the 1st-century B.C. tomb of a young royal girl from the lost city of Gehrra...discovered in 1998.

Hughie, Jan. 31–March 17, Lansburgh Theatre (shakespearetheatre.org). Late in life, Eugene O’Neill wrote this simple story about a complicated man, but the premise is as strong as any of his best work: how we separate fantasy and reality before illusion crushes us.

Shooting Stills: Silent Film Stills and Andy Warhol Polaroids, Feb. 10–April 23, Corcoran Gallery of Art (corcoran.org). The juxtaposition of photos once used to promote Hollywood’s silent movies with Warhol being Warhol is both odd and ambitious, which is why we like it.

Arena Stage (arenastage.org). Sure, we’ve seen the gritty Boston blue-collar tableau plenty of times (“Mystic River,” et al.), but not in the capable hands of Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright David Lindsay-Abaire.

Angels, Demons and Savages: Pollock, Ossorio, Dubuffet, Feb. 9–May 12, Phillips Collection (phil lipscollection.org). More than 50 postwar works from three international artists who could be on Abstract Art’s Mt. Rushmore.

Buckwheat Zydeco, Feb. 20, Barns at Wolf Trap (wolftrap.org). Stanley Dural leads a night of pure Cajun party music in a place sturdy enough to withstand the tumble of a mad midweek dance that anyone with a pulse will love.