CECE WINANS
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Dec. 26.
MUSIC
• Gospel singer CeCe Winans’ most recent release, this year’s Joyful, Joyful: A Christmas Album, is a “reimagined” version of her 2018 release, Something’s Happening! A Christmas Album, with new tracks including her take on the holiday classic “Joy to the World” (listen below). She will present shows titled “Christmas With CeCe Winans” at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Dec. 20-21 at 8 p.m.
Roman Collins — who made the Top 12 of this year’s “American Idol” competition, and sang “Goodness of God” with Winans on the show’s grand finale episode — will open. Winans made the gospel charts in 2022 with her version of this song, from her Believe for It live album.
• Jeannette Sorrell will conduct New Jersey Symphony in its annual presentation of George Frideric Handel’s soaring oratorio Messiah, Dec. 20-21 at 8 p.m. at The Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, and Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. at Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark.
Joining the symphony will be Sonya Headlam, soprano; John Holiday, countertenor; Ed Lyon, tenor; Kevin Deas, bass-baritone; and The Montclair State University Singers (Heather J. Buchanan, director).
GRIFFIN HOUSE
• The next show in Split Level Concerts’ monthly Singer-Songwriter Series at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove, Dec. 21 at 8 p.m., will feature Griffin House and Cranston Dean. And at it, the Musicians on a Mission nonprofit organization will be on hand to collect non-perishable food donations to benefit the Fulfill food bank, and cash donations for the Asbury Park Music Foundation. Musicians on a Mission does this, for different beneficiaries, at each show in the series.
Future shows will include Jill Sobule with Renee Maskin, Jan. 11; Maia Sharp and Antje Duvekot, Feb. 22; Michael McDermott with Colton Kayser, March 22; and Rod Picott and Anya Hinkle, April 26.
• The 17-piece, Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania-based Water Gap Jazz Orchestra — joined by singer Nancy Reed and Duke Ellington’s grandson, Edward Ellington II, as narrator — will perform Ellington’s “Nutcracker Suite” and its own “Grinch Suite,” Dec. 22 at 3 p.m. at The Bickford Theatre at The Morris Museum in Morris Township. Ellington and his orchestra released their Nutcracker Suite album, featuring Tchaikovsky’s iconic music arranged by Ellington and Billy Strayhorn, in 1960.
• When British pop singer Arnold George Dorsey changed his name to Engelbert Humperdinck some 60 years ago, he didn’t pluck it out of thin air. The original Engelbert Humperdinck was a German composer best known for his 1893 opera “Hansel and Gretel,” which featured a libretto, by his sister Adelheid Wette, that was based on the Grimm Brothers fairy tale. The Baroque Orchestra of New Jersey will perform “Hansel and Gretel” at The Madison Community Arts Center, Dec. 21-22 at 2 p.m.
It will be sung in English, with mezzo-soprano Teresa Giardina as Hansel and soprano Timothy Maureen Cole as Gretel. The show is being billed as “Opera for the Whole Family.”
Redd Kross, in a 1984 publicity photo.
FILM
• “Born Innocent: The Redd Kross City”— a documentary about the beloved California-based alt-rock band, which was most popular in the late ’80s and early ’90s — will be shown at WFMU’s Monty Hall in Jersey City, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m., with a question-and-answer session with Redd Kross band members Jeff and Steve McDonald — plus Dan Epstein, who wrote the book “Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross” — following.
You can watch a trailer for the documentary below.
FAMILY
• NJPAC will present its annual Kwanzaa Family Festival and Marketplace, Dec. 21 from noon to p.m., with dance classes, arts and crafts activities, interactive storytelling, face painting, panel discussions, and performances by groups including Premiere Dance Theatre, Umoja Dance Company and Zawadi African Dance & Drum. There will be no admission charge.
DANCE
• This will be the last big weekend for holiday-season presentations of the perennially popular ballet “The Nutcracker,” around the state, with performances including:
Dec. 20: “The Nutcracker,” presented by Atlantic City Ballet at Levoy Theatre, Millville.
Dec. 20-22: “The Nutcracker,” presented by American Repertory Ballet at State Theatre, New Brunswick.
Dec. 20-22: “The Nutcracker,” presented by Tricia Sloan Dance Studio at Scottish Rite Auditorium, Collingswood.
Dec. 20-22: “The Nutcracker,” presented by New Jersey Civic Youth Ballet at Sitnik Theatre at Lackland Performing Arts Center, Hackettstown.
Dec. 20-22: “Jersey City Nutcracker,” presented by Nimbus Dance at Nimbus Arts Center, Jersey City.
Dec. 20-24 and 26: New Jersey Ballet’s “Nutcracker” with New Jersey Symphony at Mayo Performing Arts Center, Morristown.
Dec. 21: “The Nutcracker,” presented by Atlantic City Ballet at Strand Center for the Arts, Lakewood.
The cover of “Zilot & Other Important Rhymes.”
BOOKS
• Actor Bob Odenkirk (“Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul,” “Mr. Show”) and his daughter Erin Odenkirk will sign copies of their children’s book “Zilot & Other Important Rhymes,” Dec. 21 at 10 a.m. at the Books & Greetings store in Northvale. Bob Odenkirk wrote the poems with the help of Erin and his son Nate; Erin did the illustrations.
According to promotional material, “Bob Odenkirk began writing these poems with his children when they were little, compiling the poetry into a homemade book entitled ‘Olde Time Rhymes.’ He wanted Nate and Erin to understand that actual people had written the books the family loved to read and to instill in them the feeling that they could be writers and illustrators themselves. Almost twenty years later, when the Odenkirks found themselves quarantined under the same roof, they revisited these mostly silly, sometimes poignant works. It wasn’t until Erin began to create illustrations to accompany the words, though, that the book grew to be something much bigger than an Odenkirk family treasure.”
THEATER
• Centenary Stage Company‘s “Young Performers Workshop: Winter Festival of Shows” will include productions of “Cohan and Company,” Dec. 21 at 2 p.m. and Dec. 22 at 5 p.m. at The Little Theatre at Centenary University in Hackettstown. Featuring a book by Michael Rulin, this show is about Vaudeville Era performer George M. Cohan, who was known for songs such as “Over There”, “Give My Regards to Broadway”, “The Yankee Doodle Boy” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag,” and was immortalized by James Cagney in the 1942 film “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”
REVIEWS
“Gene & Gilda,” presented by George Street Playhouse at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. (Through Dec. 22)
“Tuck Everlasting” at Vanguard Theater, Montclair. (Through Dec. 22)
“Irving Berlin’s White Christmas” at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn. (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)
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