Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around the state, through June 1.
MUSIC
• Taylor Swift‘s The Eras tour — given that name because it represents “a journey through the musical eras of (Swift’s) career,” she has said — comes to MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, May 26-28 at 6:30 p.m. Phoebe Bridgers will perform second each night, with the following artists opening up: Gayle (May 26), Gracie Abrams (May 27) and Owenn (May 28).
Waiss Aramesh wrote in his Rolling Stone review of the tour’s opening night, March 17 in Glendale, Arizona: “It’s easy to compare one of Swift’s stadium shows to something you’d see on Broadway — never has that been more true than for The Eras Tour. The setlist is cut up into acts, grouped together by eras for each of Swift’s ten studio albums. For each era/act, Swift went full-send into that album’s look, feel, costume, color blocking, and more.”
• This weekend will see the debut of an ambitious new rock festival in Atlantic City. The Adjacent Festival— featuring Blink-182, Paramore, Bleachers, Turnstile, Japanese Breakfast, Coheed and Cambria, Jimmy Eat World, The Front Bottoms, Idles, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and many others — will take place on three stages on the beach, adjacent to the ocean, May 27-28, with gates opening at noon and the music going to 11 p.m. each day.
• Flo Rida and Jelly Roll will perform at the “Jumpstart to Summer” live broadcast bring presented by radio station Z100 at Jenks Pavilion in Point Pleasant Beach, May 26 at 10 a.m.
JOHN FORD COLEY
• John Ford Coley, best known as half of the ’70s duo England Dan and John Ford Coley (“I’d Really Love to See You Tonight,” “Nights Are Forever Without You,” “We’ll Never Have to Say Goodbye Again”), will perform at Joe Nolan’s annual “First Day of Summer” live broadcast on radio station 107.1 The Boss, taking place at The Crab’s Claw in Lavalette, May 26, starting at 6 a.m. Nolan is the station’s traffic reporter and will host the show as part of the station’s “Robby and Rochelle in the Morning” show. Other performers will include 2022 “American Idol” contestant Cole Hallman, Jake Thistle, Mike Rocket and Captain & O’Neil, and Collective Soul, Scott Shannon and Constantine Maroulis will call in.
• Pat Guadagno and his Tired Horses band will present their annual BobFest tribute to Bob Dylan, with guest performer Steve Forbert — one of many young, male singer-songwriters hyped as a “new Dylan” in the ’70s — May 31 at 7 p.m. at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank. BobFest is now in its 25th year, and the show traditionally takes place around Dylan’s birthday; he turned 82 on May 24.
• As part of its Music in the Garden Concert Series, Greenwood Gardens in Short Hills will present a show titled “Broadway Classics,” May 26 at 6:30 p.m., with Broadway and cabaret veterans Aisha de Haas, Karen Mason, Carolyn Montgomery, Lee Roy Reams, T. Oliver Reid and Tracy Stark.
RANDALL GOOSBY
• Randall Goosby will play Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with the New Jersey Symphony, conducted by music director Xian Zhang, June 1 at 1:30 p.m. and June 3 at 8 p.m. at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark; June 2 at 8 p.m. at the Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University; and June 4 at 3 p.m. at the State Theatre in New Brunswick.
The program also will include Chen Yi’s Landscape Impression (an NJS commission, making its world premiere) and Stravinsky’s Suite from Pulcinella.
COMEDY
• Mulligan’s in Hoboken will host “Passport Stand Up Comedy,” May 31 at 8 p.m., with participants from 6 different countries: Farooq Hussain (Pakistan), Erik Angel (Israel), Srilatha Rajamani (India), Paula Leon (Peru), Ryo Hayashi (Japan) and host YouJean Chang (Taiwan).
THEATER
• The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will kick off its 2023 with the Tennessee Williams drama “The Rose Tattoo.” Shows will be at the F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University in Madison, with the first preview on May 31, the official opening night on June 3 and the last performance on June 18.
The play, whose main character is an Italian-American widow living near New Orleans, was first produced in 1951 and was made into a movie in 1955, with Anna Magnani winning the Best Actress Academy Award for her performance.
DIVINITY ROXX
• Crossroads Theatre Company will present Divinity Roxx — a singer-songwriter and bassist who has toured and recorded with Beyoncé and worked as her music director, as well as recording with other musicians and as a solo artist — in an autobiographical play, “Starchild: The Ballad of Debbie Walker,” May 26-28 and 31 and June 1-4 at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.
• Crossroads Theatre Company also will present “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill” at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, May 31 and June 1-4 and 7-8. The play is set in Philadelphia in 1959, where Billie Holiday is making one of her last nightclub performances before her death, and features some of the great jazz singer’s trademark songs.
FILM
• Made in conjunction with Meat Loaf’s 1981 album of the same name but never officially released, the 1982 movie “Dead Ringer” will receive a rare screening at Basie Center Cinemas in Red Bank, May 27 at 7 p.m. Remember Jones — who will perform Meat Loaf’s Bat Out of Hell album in its entirety at the Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, June 2, and at Resorts in Atlantic City, June 10 — will host the screening, and the film’s director, Allan Nicholls, will join him for a question-and-answer session. The 101-minute film is a fictional work, not a documentary, and stars Meat Loaf both as a version of himself, dealing with the craziness of the rock-star lifestyle, and as his biggest fan.
• This year’s edition of the Outdoor Movie Theater series in Highland Park will begin May 27 at 9 p.m., with a double bill of “Max Headroom: 20 Minutes Into the Future” and “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.” Future movies in the series will include “The Last Unicorn” (June 3), “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension” (June 17), “Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior” (July 8), “Aliens” (July 22), “Moonstruck” (Aug. 5), “Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten: Cambodia’s Lost Rock and Roll” (Aug. 19) and “Withnail and I” (Sept. 2). The movies will be shown at the municipal parking lot on Raritan Avenue, between Second and Third avenues.
REVIEWS
“Our Shrinking, Shrinking World” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through May 27)
“Blues for an Alabama Sky” at Berlind Theater at McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton. (Through May 28)
“Guilty Pleasures: An Unapologetic Comedy” at Black Box Performing Arts Center, Englewood. (Through May 28)
“Jairo Alfonso: Objectscapes” at Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit. (Through June 4)
“vanessa german: … please imagine all the things i cannot say …” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through June 25)
“Ladies and Gentlemen … The Beatles!” at Grammy Museum Experience Prudential Center, Newark. (Through June 25)
“Komar and Melamid: A Lesson in History” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through July 16)
“NJ & Me: Imperfect Together” at Drawing Rooms, Jersey City. Works by Alan Ostroski, Anne Percoco, Anne Trauben, Dorie Dahlberg, Doug Madill, Eileen Ferara, Edward Fausty, James Pustorino, Jean-Paul Picard, Jessica Rohrer, John T. Meehan III, Kevin McCaffrey, Lauren H. Adams, Sue Ellen Leys, Tim Daly, Tim Heins. (Through July 29)
“Each One Teach One: Preserving Legacy in Perpetuity” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Aug. 27)
“Spiral Q: The Parade” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Jan. 7)
“Local Voices: Memories, Stories and Portraits” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Jan. 7)
“George Inness: Visionary Landscapes” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through June 30, 2024)
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