BLAKE SHELTON
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through March 7.
MUSIC
• Country star and former “The Voice” judge Blake Shelton did his first Friends and Heroes Tour in 2019 and 2020, bringing Lauren Alaina, Trace Adkins, John Anderson and The Bellamy Brothers out on the road with him. And this year, he is reviving the concept with Friends and Heroes 2025, which features Adkins again — plus Craig Morgan, Deana Carter and Emily Ann Roberts — and comes to The Prudential Center in Newark, March 6 at 7 p.m.
“I get spoiled every night seeing these icons come out and do four or five of the biggest hits of their storied careers,” said Shelton in a press release. “And then get introduced to new talent like Emily Ann.”
• Drummer Carl Palmer — the last surviving member of the progressive-rock trio Emerson, Lake & Palmer — will present a show titled “An Evening With Emerson, Lake & Palmer,” March 6 at 8 p.m. at The URSB Carteret Performing Arts Center; March 8 at 8 p.m. at The Levoy Theatre in Millville; and March 16 at 7 p.m. at The Newton Theatre. Concert footage and audio from 1992 of keyboardist Keith Emerson and singer-bassist Greg Lake will be incorporated into the show, which will feature two live musicians in addition to Palmer.
Emerson and Lake both died in 2016.
• Dave & the Divas — featuring guitarist-keyboardist David Amlen and singers Julie Dobrow, Meg Beattie Patrick, Iris Schaffer Hall, Stacia Thiel and Cecilē Williams — will perform songs from their new album Freedom at The Outpost in the Burbs at The First Congregational Church in Montclair, March 1 at 8 p.m. The album includes new versions of songs written by Amlen’s late sister, singer-songwriter Jenny Amlen, as well as covers of songs from Elton John’s 1969 album Empty Sky.
Click HERE to read a feature on the album.
(Note: This show was postponed from Feb. 8 due to bad weather.)
PATTI LuPONE
• Three-time Tony-winning actress Patti LuPone (“Evita,” “Gypsy,” “Company”) will present a show titled “A Life in Notes,” March 2 at 3 p.m. at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark. (Note: This show was postponed from Feb. 2.) 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/DANCE
• The Nimbus Dance troupe will perform, with choreography by its artistic director Samuel Pott, during Stravinsky’s Suite from the ballet “The Firebird” at concerts by New Jersey Symphony, March 7 at 8 p.m. and March 9 at 3 p.m. at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, and March 8 at 8 p.m. at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank.
According to the program notes, “The ballet scenario is adapted from a Russian fairy tale in which a handsome prince is drawn into an enchanted garden and palace by the mythical bird of the title, who is a sort of good fairy. He falls in love with a beautiful captive princess but must break the spell of the evil ogre Kashchei (who presides over the palace) before he may claim his bride. However, in this week’s performances, Nimbus Dance imagines an entirely new story to accompany this recognizable music.”
New Jersey Symphony music director Xian Zhang will conduct, and the program will also include Johann Sebastian Bach’s Prelude from Cello Suite No. 2 (featuring Jonathan Spitz); Caroline Shaw’s Valencia; Qasim Naqvi’s God Docks at Death Harbor (Piano Quintet Version); and Igor Stravinsky’s Divertimento from The Fairy’s Kiss.
Danny Shot at Little City Books.
MUSIC/BOOKS
• A celebration of the release of Danny Shot‘s book of stories “Night Bird Flying,” March 6 at 7 p.m. at Little City Books in Hoboken, will feature performances and readings by the Hoboken-based rock band Karyn Kuhl & the Gang, Cyndi Dawson of the band The Cynz, and poet Vera Sirota. Shot, the poet in residence at The Hoboken Historical Museum, has published poetry before, but this is his first prose collection.
“Night Bird Flying” features both fiction and nonfiction and, according to promotional material, its stories “deal with coming of age in the New Jersey/New York Metropolitan area, as well as ruminations on the importance of family ties, friendship, and mortality. These stories also traverse the literary world of New York’s Lower East Side as well as the reality of being a career public high school teacher in the largest city in the United States.”
DANCE
• Ballet Rêve will present “One Sweet Dream,” a ballet set to music from The Beatles’ Abbey Road album, at The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel, March 1 at 7 p.m. and March 2 at 2 p.m. In addition to Ballet Rȇve dancers, the production will feature the guitar duo The Black Ties, pre-professional dancers from Axelrod Academy, and the Axelrod Academy Show Choir.
Proceeds will support Ballet Rȇve’s upcoming trip to perform at the Châteaux en Fête festival in Dordogne, France.
• Roxey Ballet‘s “Journey Back to the ’80s” (see video below) — which will be presented at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, March 1 at 8 p.m., and the Music Mountain Theatre in Lambertville, March 5 at 8 p.m. — features live music by The GruvTime Band, playing hits such as Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” Madonna’s “Like a Prayer,” The Bangles’ “Walk Like an Egyptian” and Kenny Loggins’ “Footloose.”
The American Theater Group will present “Purlie” in Rahway from March 6 to March 23.
THEATER
• The 1961 play “Purlie Victorious (A Non-Confederate Romp through the Cotton Patch),” written by Ossie Davis, is a comedy, with a Civil Rights message, about a preacher trying to make a positive difference in segregated 1950s Georgia. (Davis starred as the title character in the original Broadway production; Leslie Odom Jr. did so in the successful 2023-24 revival.) In 1970, the play was adapted it into a Tony Award-winning hit musical, titled “Purlie,” by book co-writer Philip Rose, book co-writer and lyricist Peter Udell, and composer Gary Geld
The American Theater Group will present the musical at The Hamilton Stage at The Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, March 6-9, 13-16 and 21-23.
FILM
• A reunion of the three main actors in the 1999 horror hit “The Blair Witch Project” (Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard) will be part of The New Jersey Horror Con and Film Festival, taking place at The New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, March 1-2.
• This year’s Academy Awards will take place on March 2 (click HERE to see NJArts.net film critic’s Stephen Whitty’s picks), and The Princeton Garden Theatre will host a watch party at 7 p.m., with endless popcorn and soda included in the admission price. There will also be a pre-show reception at 5:30 p.m. at The Palmer Room of the nearby The Nassau Inn.
Nathan Lane and Robin Williams in “The Birdcage.”
• In honor of Women’s History Month, The Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee will show films directed and/or written by Elaine May throughout the month, including “A New Leaf” (1971), March 1 at 4:30 p.m.; “The Heartbreak Kid” (1972), March 8 at 4:30 p.m.; “Mikey and Nicky” (1976), March 15 at 4:30 p.m.; “Ishtar” (1987), March 22 at 4:30 p.m.; and “The Birdcage” (1996), March 29 at 4:30 p.m.
REVIEWS
“Top Dog/Underdog,” presented by Passage Theatre Company at Mill Hill Playhouse, Trenton. (Through March 9)
“Make Believe” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through March 9)
“Bony Ramirez: Cattleya” at Newark Museum of Art. (Through March 9)
“Macro vs. Micro,” works by Katie Truk, presented by Studio Montclair at Academy Square Gallery, Montclair. (Through March 21)
“Christine Romanell: Navigating Infinity” at Hillside Square Gallery, Montclair. (Through April 3)
“Sarah Canfield: The Circuit Unseen” at BrassWorks Gallery, Montclair. (Through April 26)
“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)
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 1, 2026)
_______________________________
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
