KYRA KENNEDY
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through March 14.
THEATER
• Kyra Kennedy, who played Carole King in “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” at The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn in the summer of 2024, will do so again at The Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal from March 14 to April 6. This jukebox musical debuted in San Francisco in 2013 and ran on Broadway from 2014 to 2016. It features songs written or co-written by King (including “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “Up on the Roof,” “So Far Away” and “It’s Too Late”) and other songwriters from the late ’50s to the early ’70s — and chronicles her life and career during that time period, when she gained success, first, as a behind-the-scenes songwriter, and then as a recording artist in her own right.
• Luna Stage in West Orange has two performance spaces. In its larger one, it is currently presenting the excellent “A Case for the Existence of God,” which will run through March 16. And a production, in the smaller space, of “Trich,” will overlap with it, starting on March 8 and ending on March 25.
Luna Stage previously presented “Trich” — an autobiographical solo show written by and starring Becca Schneider, with co-direction by Jenn Haltman and Casey Pfeifer — in late 2023. The one-word title is short for trichotillomania, a mental disorder that causes someone to pull their hair out, compulsively. Schneider suffers from this disorder. And though she said, during the course of the prior Luna Stage run, that she currently has it under control, it wreaked havoc on her life in her high school and college years. In “Trich,” she revisits her worst times with it, and discusses her recovery, all with painful honesty and a lot of wry humor.
From left, Georgia Hubley, James McNew and Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo.
MUSIC
• In an annual tradition, alternative-rock band Yo La Tengo, joined by Bruce Bennett of The A-Bones, will help the Jersey City-based radio station WFMU raise funds, March 8 from 3 to 6 p.m., as part of Todd Abramson’s weekly “Todd-o-phonic Todd” program. This is the 30th straight year they have done this, going back to the time when WFMU was still located at Upsala College in East Orange.
A pledge of $100 or more entitles you to make a request.
Many other special events are planned for the listener-supported, non-commercial, free-form station’s fundraising marathon, which began on March 3 and runs through March 16.
• Burton Cummings, best known as frontman for The Guess Who during their ’60s and ’70s heyday (when they had hits such as “American Woman,” “No Time” and “These Eyes”), will bring his 60th Anniversary Hits Tour to The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, March 12 at 7:30 p.m.; Ovation Hall at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, March 14 at 9 p.m.; and The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, March 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Cummings released his first album in 16 years, A Few Good Moments, last year. Click HERE for a new interview with him.
• New Jersey Symphony will perform at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, March 13 at 1:30 p.m. and March 15 at 8 p.m.; The Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, March 14 at 8 p.m.; and The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, March 16 at 3 p.m. The program will include Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2; Nico Muhly’s Sounding for Piano and Orchestra (a New Jersey Symphony co-commission, featuring Adam Tendler on piano); and Claude Debussy’s Clair de Lune.
New Jersey music director Xian Zhang will conduct the Rachmaninoff symphony; Gregory D. McDaniel will conduct the works by Debussy’s and Muhly.
ADAM PASCAL
• Adam Pascal — whose Broadway credits include “Rent,” “Aida,” “Cabaret,” “Memphis” and “Something Rotten” — will appear in the music-and-conversation series “Big Fat Broadway LIVE!,” hosted by pianist and SiriusXM satellite radio DJ Seth Rudetsky, at The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel, March 8 at 8 p.m.
• The music of lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and composer Frederick Loewe — the songwriting team responsible for hit musicals such as “My Fair Lady,” “Camelot” and “Brigadoon” — will be featured in an educational show titled “What Makes It Great?,” hosted by Rob Kapilow and featuring singers Emily Albrink and Ben Jones, March 12 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. at The Bickford Theatre at The Morris Museum in Morris Township.
• The London-based Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra will perform at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, March 8 at 3 p.m., with Jeremy Denk featured on Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No. 1. The program will also include Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s Symphony in G minor; Janáček’s String Quartet No. 1 (arranged for string orchestra) and Mozart’s Symphony No. 15.
Pianist Bruce Liu has originally been scheduled to perform at this concert but had to withdraw, due to illness.
• Originally from Toledo and now based in New York, April Varner — the 2023 winner of the International Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition — will present an “April Sings Ella” show, March 9 at 3 p.m. at The Gia Maione Foundation Studio Theatre at The Grunin Center for the Arts at Ocean County College in Toms River.
• The North Jersey Blues Society will celebrate Women’s History Month with a “Women in Blues Showcase” at The Stanhope House, March 8 at 3 p.m. The lineup will include Regina Bonelli, The Outcrops (featuring Cassidy Rain), Debra Devi and The BC Combo (featuring Bev Conklin).
Buster Keaton in “Sherlock Jr.”
FILM
• The Silents Synched company, which specializes in showing classic silent films with a soundtrack of contemporary music, will screen Buster Keaton’s 1924 detective comedy “Sherlock Jr.” at The Clairidge in Montclair, March 7-13, with music from R.E.M.’s albums Monster (1994) and New Adventures in Hi-Fi (1996) being played (watch trailer below). Showtimes will vary by day.
Keaton’s 1923 short “The Balloonatic” will also be shown.
• Coincidentally, The Brook Arts Center in Bound Brook will also show “Sherlock Jr.” — but, in this case, with live music by The Paragon Ragtime Orchestra — March 9 at 3 p.m.
• Scott Lucas of the band Local H will participate in a question-and-answer session after a 7 p.m. March 11 screening of the movie “Lifers” at The Clairidge in Montclair. Lucas produced, directed and edited the film, which was filmed at a Local H concert at The Metro in Chicago, and features performance and backstage footage but also has a “fractured narrative” that makes it more than just a concert film or documentary, according to promotional material.
DANCE
• American Repertory Ballet will premiere “Spirit of the Highlands,” choreographed by its artist-in-residence Ethan Stiefel, at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, March 7-8 at 7 p.m. and March 8-9 at 2 p.m.
According to promotional material, “Spirit of the Highlands” is an adaptation of August Bournonville’s 1836 work “La Sylphide” that “re-imagines the tale of James Munro, a young Scotsman. James is set to be married to a woman named Effie, when he catches sight of a mystical fairy, known as The Sylph. Entranced by her magical beauty, he abandons his betrothed to follow The Sylph into the forest to proclaim his devotion. However, through his pursuits, he is tricked by the evil witch Madge and eventually loses everything he holds dear.”
The cover of Peter Wolf’s book, “Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses.”
WORDS
• J. Geils Band frontman Peter Wolf will sign copies of his new book, “Waiting on the Moon: Artists, Poets, Drifters, Grifters, and Goddesses,” March 13 at 6 p.m. at Bookends in Ridgewood.
The book (to be published on March 11) is described, in promotional material, as “a treasure trove of vignettes from a legendary musical figure whose career spans more than six decades and is still going strong. …
“Stories of his loving and sometimes eccentric parents complement scenes depicting a very young Bob Dylan as he arrived on the Greenwich Village folk scene. Reflections on Wolf’s studies in Boston — where he shared an apartment with David Lynch — are braided with accounts of first love, an untraditional literary education, and early musical influences such as Muddy Waters.
“After Wolf joined the J. Geils Band as their front man and his musical fame grew, he rubbed shoulders with other notables who left significant impressions on him, including members of the Rolling Stones, Sly Stone, Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, and Van Morrison. Wolf’s marriage to Faye Dunaway is presented in a clear yet balanced and nuanced light.”
REVIEWS
“Top Dog/Underdog,” presented by Passage Theatre Company at Mill Hill Playhouse, Trenton. (Through March 9)
“Dial M for Murder” at Two River Theater, Red Bank. (Through March 9)
“Make Believe” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through March 9)
“Bony Ramirez: Cattleya” at Newark Museum of Art. (Through March 9)
“A Case for the Existence of God” at Luna Stage, West Orange. (Through March 16)
“Hollywood, Nebraska,” presented by South Camden Theatre Company at Waterfront South Theatre. (Through March 16)
“Macro vs. Micro,” works by Katie Truk, presented by Studio Montclair at Academy Square Gallery, Montclair. (Through March 21)
“tiny beautiful things” at Mile Square Theatre, Hoboken. (Through March 23)
“Christine Romanell: Navigating Infinity” at Hillside Square Gallery, Montclair. (Through April 3)
“Sarah Canfield: The Circuit Unseen” at BrassWorks Gallery, Montclair. (Through April 26)
“Safe Passage in Conversation with Her Flowers: Disruption of Old Narratives: Heather Williams” at Karl and Helen Burger Gallery at Kean University, Union. (Through May 9)
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 1)
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