CHARLIE GROSS
MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Feb. 20.
MUSIC
• Meshell Ndegeocello will present a show titled “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin,” Feb. 15 at 7:30 p.m. at The McCarter Theater Center in Princeton. No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin is also the title of Ndegeocello’s most recent album, featuring songs inspired by Baldwin’s writings, and spoken word segments by poet Staceyann Chin and writer Hilton Als.
“When I was commissioned by the arts organization Harlem Stage to create a musical tribute to Harlem’s favorite son, James Baldwin’s prophetic literature ‘The Fire Next Time’ was at the forefront of my mind,” Ndegeocello has said. “I’d been reading it a lot, carrying it around in my pocket. It became like my religious text. Baldwin speaks about things that are very familiar within the human condition, and the most revolutionary music to me — the music that changed my life — is the songs about the inner struggle, the commonality of being human.”
Ndegeocello will participate in a conversation with poet and Princeton University professor Patricia Smith, after the event.
And, May 8 at 7 p.m., Ndegeocello will present “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin” at the Peak Performances series at The Alexander Kasser Theater at Montclair State University.
• New Jersey Symphony will perform, with Christoph König conducting, at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Feb. 20 at 1:30 p.m.; at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Feb. 22 at 8 p.m.; and The State Theatre in New Brunswick, Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. The program will include Allison Loggins-Hull’s Can You See?, Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 (featuring Tony Siqi Yun) and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No. 1.
Can You See? was commissioned in 2021, by the Symphony, for a small ensemble, and has now been re-written for a full orchestra. According to the concert’s online program, “The idea was for Loggins-Hull to arrange our national anthem both to honor the lives of those we have lost, while also setting forth the role of the living. … Melodic material from The Star-Spangled Banner is used throughout the work, often stretched out and surrounded by tension and revolving colors. The strings create a sound world that is cloudy, uncertain, and bleary, questioning if the core meaning of the anthem is in focus.”
JERRY WELDON
• The spring edition of the Jazz Room series at William Paterson University in Wayne, which is the longest-running campus-based jazz concert series in the country, will begin with a tribute to the late Benny Golson (who died in September) and his longtime collaborator Art Farmer (who died in 1999) by saxophonist Jerry Weldon — joined by trumpeter Joe Magnarelli, drummer Jerome Jennings and pianist George Cables — Feb. 16 at 3 p.m. at William Paterson’s Shea Center for Performing Arts.
As in each Jazz Room concert, there will be a meet-the-artist session, one hour prior to the performance.
Other performers in the series will include Chris Potter, March 9; Camille Thurman, April 6; Chico Álvarez with the William Paterson Latin Jazz Ensemble, April 13; Christian McBride & Bill Charlap, April 27; and Will Downing, May 9.
FILM/MUSIC
• Classic Warner Bros. cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, The Road Runner and others will be screened — with live music by New Jersey Symphony, conducted by George Daugherty — at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m.; Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, Feb. 15 at 8 p.m.; and The State Theatre in New Brunswick, Feb. 16 at 3 p.m.
THEATER
• In 1954, Ray Milland and Grace Kelly co-starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s hit thriller “Dial M for Murder,” based on Frederick Knott’s 1952 play. The Two River Theater in Red Bank will present Jeffrey Hatcher’s 2022 adaptation of the play, with previews starting Feb. 15, the official opening night on Feb. 21, and the last show on March 9.
Hatcher’s version “injects suspenseful layers of deception into one of Noir’s greatest murder mysteries,” said Two River Theater artistic director Justin Waldman, in a press release.
Mary Testa will star in “Queen of the Mist” at Montclair State University.
• The Peak Performances series at Montclair State University will present a musical-in-concert version of “Queen of the Mist” at the university’s Kasser Theater, Feb. 20-21 at 7:30 p.m., Feb. 22 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 23 at 3 p.m. Featuring words and music by five-time Tony nominee Michael John LaChiusa (“The Wild Party,” “Marie Christine,” “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”), “Queen of the Mist” tells the story of Annie Edson Taylor, who — in 1901, at the age of 63 — became the first person to ride over Niagara Falls in a barrel, and survive.
“Queen of the Mist” premiered Off-Broadway, at The Gym at Judson, in 2011, with three-time Tony nominee Mary Testa (“On the Town,” “42nd Street” “Oklahoma”) as Edson Taylor. Testa will reprise the role in Montclair.
Kirsten Sanderson will direct. “Annie’s 15 minutes of fame fails to lift her out of poverty,” Sanderson said, in a press release. “Instead she has a profound spiritual experience while going over the falls, one which sustains her through the final years of her life. Annie Edson Taylor — brazen, stubborn, brave and determined, with her one-of-a-kind, larger-than-life story and uncommon world view, is such a great musical theatre character. I’m inspired by the way she defied the conventional restrictions placed on women in her time.”
• New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch will present the first show of its 2025 season, “Make Believe,” with previews having begun, the official opening night on Feb. 15, and the last show on March 9. It is written by John Biguenet and described as “a nostalgic, haunting look back at the world of 1930s Hollywood, where larger-than-life movie stars went to great lengths to keep their secrets from coming to light.”
In 2013, NJ Rep presented the world premiere of Biguenet’s “Broomstick,” a play about a witch, written in rhymed iambic pentameter.
FILM
• The Village at SOPAC in South Orange is bringing the first four films in the Harry Potter series back to the big screen this month, showing the following movies on the following days: “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001), Feb. 13 and 20; “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (2002), Feb. 14 and 21; “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004), Feb. 15 and 22; and “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” (2005), Feb. 16 and 23.
The cover of the book, “Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream.”
FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
• The Growing Stage in Netcong will present “Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream,” Feb. 14-16 and 21-23. This is a musical (book and lyrics by Nichole Jackson, music and lyrics by Tyrone L. Robinson) based on Crystal Hubbard’s 2005 book of the same name about Toni Stone, who grew up in West Virginia and Minnesota and, in the 1950s, became America’s first female professional baseball player, as a member of several teams in the Negro leagues.
WORDS
• Jersey City poet laureate Rashad Wright and Paterson poet laureate Talena Lachelle Queen will join fellow New Jersey poets reg. e gaines and Shakira Joi at Jersey Grown, billed as “a special celebration of Garden State born-and-raised poets,” at the Hoboken Historical Museum, Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. The museum’s poet-in-residence, Danny Shot, will host.
There will be no admission charge, and the event will also be streamed on YouTube and Facebook.
REVIEWS
“Mystic Pizza” at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn. (Through Feb. 23)
“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)
“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)
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