Here is a roundup of other arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Feb. 7.
MUSIC
• In the 67th annual Grammy Awards, taking place on Feb. 2, Sue Foley will be one of the nominees in the Traditional Blues Album category, for her One Guitar Woman. The album pays tribute to female guitar pioneers, including Elizabeth Cotten, Memphis Minnie, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Mother Maybelle Carter. Five days later, Foley will headline The South Orange International Blues Fest — taking place at The South Orange Performing Arts Center, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m., with two other women — Alexis P. Suter and Rae Simone, also on the bill.
The concert will be preceded at 5:30 p.m., in the SOPAC Loft, by a free event, “Celebrate Ma Rainey, the Mother of the Blues,” featuring singer Beareather Reddy and a three-piece band paying tribute to singer and bandleader Ma Rainey (1886-1939) — a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer in the Early Influences category — with a question-and-answer session following.
• Dorit Chrysler, co-founder of the New York Theremin Society, will give a workshop on “The Art of Playing the Theremin,” Jan. 31 at 8 p.m. at WFMU’s Monty Hall in Jersey City. Proceeds will benefit WFMU and the New York Theremin Society.
If you are not familiar with this eerie-sounding musical instrument, check out the video of Chrysler playing one, below.
• Three-time Tony-winning actress Patti LuPone (“Evita,” “Gypsy,” “Company”) will present a show that is titled “A Life in Notes,” Feb. 2 at 3 p.m. at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark. According to the venue’s website, the show will include “indelible interpretations of unexpected pop hits and American songbook classics — touchstones and reflections on her life growing up in America, as well as electrifying performances of her best-known Broadway songs.”
LuPone’s other Broadway credits include “The Robber Bridegroom,” “Anything Goes,” “Sweeney Todd” and “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” and, in addition to her stage acting, she has been in many films and TV shows, and has released a number of albums.
MUSIC/FILM
• Chris Collier, executive director of The Princeton Garden Theatre, and Michael Pratt, conductor of The Princeton Symphony Orchestra, will give a free talk on “Amadeus and the Myth of Mozart,” Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. at The Princeton Public Library. This will precede a 7 p.m. Feb. 6 screening of the Oscar-winning film “Amadeus” at the Princeton Garden Theatre, before which a small ensemble of PSO musicians will perform.
Both events, meanwhile, will precede orchestra concerts at The Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, Feb. 8 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 9 at 4 p.m., that will feature Mozart’s Ballet Music from Idomeneo (excerpts); Piano Concerto No. 20 in D Minor, K. 466; and Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major, K. 453. Gérard Korsten will conduct, and Orli Shaham will be the pianist for the concerto.
Attendees of the Feb. 5 talk will have an opportunity to enter a drawing to win tickets to one of the Feb. 8-9 concerts.
COMEDY
• Catch a Rising Star in Princeton will present an event titled “Celebrating the Life, Love & Laughter of Anita Wise,” Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. The comedian died on Jan. 14, at the age of 74.
According to the club, “Many of her colleagues will take the stage to share thoughts and stories,” and proceeds will benefit Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Mercer County.
THEATER
• The Mayo Performing Arts Center will present “The Cher Show” Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 8 at 2 and 8 p.m. The jukebox musical, which ran on Broadway in 2018 and 2019, features three actresses portraying the singer, actress, variety show host and worldwide celebrity at three different phases of her life (’50s/’60s, ’70s, and ’80s/’90s).
• The Middletown Arts Center and Dunbar Repertory Company will team up to present a Black History Month production of August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running,” Feb. 6-8 and 14-16 at the MAC.
The play is part of Wilson’s acclaimed “Pittsburgh Cycle” (also known as the “Century Cycle”), a series of 10 plays about African-American life in the 20th century, with one set in each of the century’s decades. “Two Trains Running,” which was a Pulitzer Prize for Drama finalist, is set in 1969, and premiered in 1990. Its characters are the staff and patrons of a small, struggling Pittsburgh restaurant that is slated to be bought by the city and torn down.
WORDS
• Marty Friedman, who played guitar in the thrash band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000, has written a memoir titled “Dreaming Japanese” and will sign copies of it at Bookends in Ridgewood, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. The book covers his decade in Megadeth but also his years in Japan, where he currently lives, and where he has established himself as a well known member of that country’s music scene.
• Drummer Bernard “Pretty” Purdie — whose long career includes work with Aretha Franklin, James Brown, B.B. King, Steely Dan and countless other artists — will participate in “Let the Drums Speak: A Conversation with Bernard ‘Pretty’ Purdie,” Feb. 1 at 2 p.m. at The Newark Public Library. Joining him will be drummer and composer Jerome Jennings, and DJ and curator Skeme Richards.
VISUAL ARTS
• The Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University in New Brunswick will open an exhibition titled “Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always” on Feb. 1, and it will run through Dec. 21. According to the museum’s website, it “provides a provocative survey of contemporary Native American art across media” and “features 90 living artists that represent over 50 distinct Indigenous nations and communities from across North America and includes painting, works on paper, photography, ceramics, beadwork, weaving, sculpture, installation, and video.”
REVIEWS
“Small,” presented by George Street Playhouse at New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. (Through Feb. 2)
“New Sculpture/New Jersey” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Feb. 2)
“First Impressions: Pro Arts New Members Exhibition” at Art150 Gallery, Jersey City. (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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