Remember Jones will present R. Kelly’s “Trapped in the Closet,” live on Halloween night, in Lakewood.
Remember Jones doesn’t just present concerts. He presents unique musical events. The singer formerly known as Anthony D’Amato performed Amy Winehouse’s Back to Black album in its entirety in April, and will do the same for Joe Cocker & Friends‘ Mad Dogs and Englishmen at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal on Aug. 27. And on Halloween night, he will present a live version of R. Kelly’s Trapped in the Closet, or at least the first 12 chapters of it, with a 20-piece orchestra, at the Strand Theatre in Lakewood.
Trapped in the Closet, which actually has 33 parts in all, is a bizarre musical soap opera — or, as Kelly has labeled it, a hip-hopera — about a one-night stand that leads to a wild series of incidents involving a constantly expanding casts of priests, policemen, pimps, prostitutes and more. Kelly seems to have just made it all up as he went along, but the strangeness and randomness of it is what makes it so entertaining.
Tickets are $20; visit strand.org. A costume dance party will follow the concert.
D’Amato was recently named producing artistic director at the Strand, so look for other adventurous projects there, in the near future.
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