Top NJ Arts Events of Week: First Nights; NJ New Year’s Eve concerts and comedy shows, more

First Night Morris will include more than 70 offerings.

Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Jan. 1, starting with three New Year’s Eve “First Night” celebrations.

FIRST NIGHTS

• As usual, this year’s biggest New Jersey First Night event will be in Morristown, with more than 70 offerings scheduled for various venues, beginning at 4 p.m. New Year’s Eve and continuing until the midnight fireworks. (There will also be fireworks earlier, at 9:15 p.m.)

Venues will include The Mayo Performing Arts Center, which will present sets by the Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band cover band The BStreet Band at 9:45 p.m. and 10:45 p.m., after the blues-, folk- and R&B-influenced Jersey rock band The Outcrops performs at 7 and 8:15 p.m. Other performers at the 33st annual First Night Morris will include jazz groups Rio Clemente (the Bishop of Jazz) & his Abbots and The Frank Vignola Trio (both at United Methodist Church); The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey and The Harmonium Choral Society (both at Church of the Redeemer); comedian Dan Naturman and Alborada Spanish Dance Theatre (both at the Morristown High School auditorium); and The Dolce Trio, featuring violinist Lynn Siebert, flutist/recorder player Kris Lamb and cellist Loni Bach (at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum).

Four jazz combos — Ty Stephens & (the) SoulJaazz, The Ben Rosenblum Trio, Grover Kemble & Bob Marks, and Megan Chappius and Gabriie Gonzales — will perform at The Hyatt Regency.

Also, there will be films; children’s activities and entertainment; Bollywood and contemporary Indian dance by Mani Yaganamurthy; the Music From China chamber ensemble; square dancing; art exhibits; and guided tours of historical sites (in anticipation of the 250th anniversary of birth of The United States, in 2026). Some of the performances will be streamed online, as will all the films. Shuttle buses will begin transporting patrons between venues, at no extra charge, beginning at 4:30 p.m.

Yacht Rock Gold Experience will perform at First Night Ocean City.

• The many attractions at First Night Ocean City will include cover bands Yacht Rock Gold Experience and Best of The Eagles at the Music Pier; Atlantic City Ballet and an Ocean City Theatre Company production of the children’s musical “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus” at the Ocean City High School auditorium; the Harlem Wizards basketball show at the Ocean City High School gym; Dueling Pianos and Cape May Chorale at St. Peter’s Sanctuary; Elton John tribute band Yellow Brick Road at the Ocean City Intermediate School; the illusionist Salazar at Ocean City primary School; drone shows at Carey Stadium; ice skating, line dancing, karaoke and more.

• First Night Ocean County, taking place on the Seaside Heights boardwalk, is a more limited, daytime-only (1-5 p.m.) affair, with music, magic shows and other forms of family entertainment. The event will end with fireworks at 5 p.m.

MUSIC

• The Capital Philharmonic will perform at The Patriots Theatre at The War Memorial in Trenton, New Year’s Eve at 8 p.m., with Sebastian Grand conducting, and the program including Leonard Bernstein’s Overture from “Candide”; Malcom Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances; Bedřich Smetana’s The Moldau; Johann Strauss Jr.’s Tales from the Vienna Woods; George Gershwin’s Strike Up the Band; and Johann Strauss Sr.’s Radetzky March.

Also, the orchestra will perform Four Love Themes from the Movies, which will include John Barry’s Theme from “Somewhere in Time,” Nino Rota’s A Time for Us from “Romeo & Juliet,” Ennio Morricone’s Gabriel’s Oboe from “The Mission,” and Debbie Wiseman’s An Age of Silver from “Wilde.”

PITBULL

• Other noteworthy concerts taking place throughout New Jersey on New Year’s Eve will include …

Pitbull at Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Atlantic City. (He will also be there Dec. 27-28.)
Gogol Bordello, Crazy & the Brains at White Eagle Hall, Jersey City.
Remember Jones at Wonder Bar, Asbury Park.
The Early November, Houston Calls, Hit the Lights at Williams Center, Rutherford.
Tusk, Fleetwood Mac tribute at Algonquin Arts Theatre, Manasquan.
Blues People at Shanghai Jazz, Madison.
Curtis Lundy Ensemble at The Frog and the Peach, New Brunswick.
The Rave-Ons at Surflight Theatre, Beach Haven.

MUSIC/DANCE

• New Jersey Festival Orchestra will present a show titled “Broadway Through the Ages,” New Year’s Eve at 5 p.m. at the Westfield High School auditorium, and Jan. 1 at 2:30 p.m. at The Sieminski Theater in Basking Ridge. (The Sieminski show is sold out.)

David Wroe will conduct, and guests will include singers Paige Faure (whose Broadway credits include “Miss Saigon,” “Bullets Over Broadway” and “Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella”), Matthew Scott (Broadway’s “Jersey Boys” and “An American in Paris”) and Christina Maxwell (Paper Mill Playhouse’s “Chasing Rainbows”), as well as dancers from the Dance Theater of Harlem, choreographed by Derek Brockington.

In a press release, Wroe called the show “an exploration of the art of the popular song and how Broadway has imprinted in our minds melodies that we might not immediately know where they come from, but instantly recognize and, irresistibly, want to hum. Be ready for favorites from ‘Jersey Boys,’ Sondheim, Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, Sinatra and even more.”

“It’s nice to dance to songs that have this great storytelling aspect to them, which often comes along with musicals,” says Brockington.

András Deák will conduct The Strauss Symphony of America in its “Salute to Vienna at The State Theatre in New Brunswick, New Year’s Eve.

• The State Theatre in New Brunswick will offer its annual “Salute to Vienna” — designed to evoke ” the enchantment and grandeur of Vienna’s Golden Age” — at 5 p.m. New Year’s Eve. The Strauss Symphony of America, conducted by András Deák, will perform the music of Johann Strauss II and others (including the “Blue Danube Waltz”), with contributions from soprano Katarzyna Dondalska and tenor Franz Gürtelschmied, dancers from the Budapest Ballet, and champion ballroom dancers.

COMEDY

• Comedians performing at various New Jersey venues on New Year’s Eve will include …

Jeff Dunham at Prudential Center, Newark.
Bob Nelson at Dunellen Theatre.
Eric D’Alessandro at Newton Theatre.
Tara Cannistraci at Uncle Vinnie’s Comedy Club, Point Pleasant Beach.
Isiah Kelly, Carrie Caravas at Stress Factory, New Brunswick.
Joey Vega at American Hotel, Freehold.
Vishnu Vaka, Rishi Mathur, Jay Joshi, Jill Myra at Catch a Rising Star, Princeton.
“Legion of Skanks” podcast at The Dojo of Comedy, Morris Plains.
Gary G. Garcia, Zach Pickett, Buda the Comedian, Brian Steadman, Tony Esco, Ray Vazquez (host) at Resorts Casino, Atlantic City.
Tom Thakkar at Bananas, Rutherford.
Tommy Gooch, Kendra Cunningham, Joey Callahan at Borgata Comedy Club, Atlantic City.

Brady Rymer & the Little Band That Could will perform in Netcong, Dec. 28.

FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT

• Brady Rymer, a member of the rock band From Good Homes who performs music for children with his Little Band that Could — and has received three Grammy nominations for his albums with them — will bring them to The Growing Stage in Netcong, for an early New Year’s celebration concert, Dec. 28 at 11 a.m.

Rymer’s latest single is “When You’re Kind,” a duet with Laurie Berkner; you can listen to it below.

REVIEWS

“Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn. (Through Dec. 29)

“A Christmas Carol” at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University, Madison. (Through Dec. 29)

“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)

“Kimberly Camp – Cross River: A Parallel Universe” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Jan. 12)

“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)