Jon Bon Jovi will appear in “An Evening of Conversation” with Stephen Colbert at NJPAC in Newark, Oct. 26.
Stephen Colbert will host “An Evening of Conversation” with Jon Bon Jovi, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m. at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, as the signature event of this year’s Montclair Film Festival. All proceeds from the event will benefit Montclair Film, the nonprofit organization that hosts the festival, owns and operates the Clairidge movie theater, and offers educational programs.
Bon Jovi is, of course, best known as a musician, though he has acted in movies such as “Moonlight and Valentino,” “Little City” and “No Looking Back,” and received an Academy Award nomination in the Best Original Song category in 1991, for “Blaze of Glory” (from the “Young Guns II” soundtrack). The four-part documentary series “Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story” premiered on Hulu and Disney+ in April.
Colbert is a member of Montclair Film’s advisory board and his wife, Evelyn, is the president of its board of trustees. In the past, Colbert has interviewed people such as Meryl Streep, Martin Scorsese, Jimmy Fallon and Jon Stewart as benefits for the fest.
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Here is a roundup of other arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Nov. 1.
JOHN CAVANAUGH
From left, Bruce Springsteen, Mavis Staples, Darlene Love, Dion DiMucci, John Mellencamp and Jackson Browne perform at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, April 24.
MUSIC
• This year’s remarkable April 24 American Music Honors show at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University — featuring Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Mavis Staples and others — was filmed by the organization that presented it, the university’s Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music. And the Archives has announced a screening of it, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m. at the university’s Pollak Theatre.
Mellencamp, Staples, Jackson Browne and Dion were honored, with Springsteen, Darlene Love, Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau (who produced Browne’s The Pretender album) and Stevie Van Zandt, respectively, giving speeches about them. Brian Williams hosted, and Van Zandt’s Disciples of Soul served as the house band. Performances included a duet on Mellencamp’s “Small Town” by Mellencamp and Springsteen, “River Deep — Mountain High” by Love, and a grand finale of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” by everyone.
(Click HERE for a more in-depth look at the April 24 event.)
• It Was 50 Years Ago Today, the all-star Beatles tribute tour that came to four New Jersey venues on its 2022 tour, will be back this year, with a different lineup.
The 2022 tour featured Todd Rundgren, Christopher Cross, Jason Scheff (formerly of Chicago), Joey Molland (of Badfinger) and Denny Laine (formerly of The Moody Blues and Wings). Laine died in December 2023, and Rundgren will not be participating in this year’s tour. But Cross, Scheff and Molland will be joined by David Pack (of Ambrosia) and Maxi Priest. Tour stops will include The Music Box at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, Oct. 26 at 9 p.m.; and The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, Oct. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
The Beatles’ Rubber Soul and Revolver albums were the focus of the 2022 tour, though the musicians also performed some of their own material. The Beatles’ Let It Be and Hey Jude albums will be emphasized, on this tour.
HENRY DILTZ
JIMMY WEBB
• Jimmy Webb is best known for writing songs such as “MacArthur Park,” “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Up, Up and Away,” “Galveston,” “Didn’t We” and “All I Know.” But he has also been a recording artist since 1968, and he will perform his own songs, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank.
• Keyboardist Greg Hawkes, a co-founder of The Cars, and the seven-piece Boston-based band Eddie Japan will team up for an evening of Cars music at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, Nov. 1 at 8 p.m.
Hawkes produced Eddie Japan’s 2017 album, Golden Age. In addition to playing keyboards for The Cars, he co-wrote some of the band’s material, including “Moving in Stereo.” He also has released two solo albums.
• New Jersey Hall of Famer Tommy James and his band The Shondells will perform The URSB Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center, Oct. 26 at 7:30 p.m. James, who grew up in Ohio and Michigan but has lived in New Jersey since the early ’70s, had a remarkable string of hits in the ’60s and ’70s — including “Hanky Panky,” “Mony Mony,” “I Think We’re Alone Now,” “Crimson and Clover,” “Crystal Blue Persuasion” and “Draggin’ the Line” — and remains a dynamic concert performer.
EMMA SWIFT
ROBYN HITCHCOCK
• Robyn Hitchcock will present a solo concert at The Outpost in the Burbs at The First Congregational Church in Montclair, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m., with Imogen Clark opening.
The eccentric British singer-songwriter’s most recent project was a memoir, “1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left,” that was published this summer. According to promotional material, the book “explores how that pivotal slice of time tastes to a bright, obsessive-compulsive boy who is shipped off to a hothouse academic boarding school as he reaches the age of thirteen — just as Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited starts to bite, and the Beatles’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band explodes.”
Hitchcock also released a companion album, 1967: Vacations in the Past, featuring his own versions of songs from 1967 such as The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life,” The Kinks’ “Waterloo Sunset,” Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” and Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
THEATER
• The State Theatre in New Brunswick will present “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations,” Oct. 25 at 8 p.m., Oct. 26 at 2 and 8 p.m. and Oct. 27 at 2 p.m. The jukebox musical, which ran on Broadway from 2019 to 2022, is based on Otis Williams’ book “The Temptations”; Williams co-founded the great Motown group in 1960 and continues performing with them to this day. The book originally came out in 1988, though an updated 60th anniversary edition was published in 2020.
The Williams Center in Rutherford will screen “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Oct. 31.
FILM
Many New Jersey theaters will presenting Halloween-themed movies for one night only, on Oct. 31. These include:
• The Union County Performing Arts Center, Rahway (“The Lost Boys,” preceded by a Spooky Organ Concert and followed by a Goth Rave).
• The Barrymore Film Center, Fort Lee (“Nosferatu,” with organ accompaniment by Ian Fraser).
• Cranford Theater (“A Nightmare on Elm Street”).
• Williams Center, Rutherford (“The Rocky Horror Picture Show”).
• SModcastle Cinemas, Atlantic Highlands (“House of 1000 Corpses”).
• Brook Arts Center, Bound Brook (“Dressed to Kill”).
• ShowRoom Cinema, Asbury Park (“Halloween”).
• The Clairidge, Montclair (“The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” “Tremors,” “Mimic,” “The Night of the Living Dead”).
• Princeton Garden Theatre (“Suspiria”).
OTHER
• The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, whose current production is of Shakespeare’s timeless “Macbeth” will present a “Something Wicked Trivia Night Fundraiser,” Oct. 26 at 7 p.m. at its Thomas H. Kean Theatre Factory in Florham Park. In addition to the trivia contest, the event will offer light snacks and desserts, a cash bar, a tricky-tray raffle and a costume contest; costumes are encouraged but not required. (The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey uses the Theatre Factory for rehearsals, storage, office space and more.)
MOLLY RINGWALD
• The Chiller Theatre Toy, Model & Film Expo takes place at the Hilton Parsippany, Oct. 25-27, with autograph sessions featuring Molly Ringwald, John Cusack, Kate Jackson, Tommy Chong, Vicki Lawrence, Mira Sorvino, Corey Feldman, Bam Margera and many others, plus music, vendors, costume contests and other attractions.
• Mile Square Theatre in Hoboken will present “A Diwali Celebration,” Oct. 27 at 12:30 and 3 p.m. This event will include a preview of “Songs of Light & Joy: A Diwali Celebration,” a song cycle that will premiere in New York next year; as well as a performance of a new stage adaptation of the children’s book “My Diwali Light,” written by Hoboken resident Raakhee Mirchandani. There will be no admission charge, though space is limited.
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, takes place this year on Oct. 31.
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REVIEWS
“Jersey Boys” at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn. (Through Nov. 3)
“Macbeth by Candlelight,” presented by The Curtain at Nimbus Arts Center, Jersey City. (Through Nov. 3)
“2024 New Jersey Arts Annual: Exploring Our Connections” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through Jan. 5)
“Under a Southern Star: Identity and Environment in Australian Photography,” presented by Princeton University Art Museum at Art on Hulfish. (Through Jan. 5)
“New Sculpture/New Jersey” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Feb. 2)
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 2)
“Bony Ramirez: Cattleya” at Newark Museum of Art. (Through March 9)
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