TIMOTHY GREENIELD-SANDERS
CYNDI LAUPER
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Dec. 12.
MUSIC
• The only currently scheduled New Jersey stop of Cyndi Lauper‘s Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Farewell Tour will take place at The Etess Arena at Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m., with Gayle opening.
Lauper has said of the tour — which will end in April, unless more shows are added — that she is not retiring, but that this will be her last major tour of large venues. “I’m strong now, but I don’t know what I’m going to be like in four years,” she said in an interview this summer. “I wanted to have a chance to do this when I’m feeling strong. I want to celebrate with people. Really celebrate with people, and make it fun.”
• The Smithereens will present their annual homecoming concert at The URSB Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. Guitarist Jim Babjak and drummer Dennis Diken, who both grew up in Carteret, formed the band in 1980 with bassist Mike Mesaros, also of Carteret, and singer-songwriter-guitartist Pat DiNizio, of Scotch Plains. (DiNizio died in 2017.)
For this show, Babjak and Diken will be joined by singer-guitarists Robin Wilson (of Gin Blossoms) and Marshall Crenshaw, as well as bassist Graham Maby, who has worked with Joe Jackson, Crenshaw, They Might Be Giants and Freedy Johnston, among many others.
• Darlene Love — who recorded, last year, a new version of her holiday classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home”) with Cher — will present Christmas shows, titled “Love for the Holidays,” at The Shea Center for Performing Arts at William Paterson University in Wayne, Dec. 11 at 8 p.m.; and The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m. You can listen to the new “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” below.
OSCAR HERNÁNDEZ
• Pianist Oscar Hernández, co-founder of the Grammy-winning Spanish Harlem Orchestra, will perform with his Alma Libre quintet at The Shea Center Auditorium at William Paterson University in Wayne, Dec. 8 at 3 p.m. Hernández and Alma Libre (which means “free soul” in English) released their fourth album, No Words Needed, in May, with Hernández joined by drummer Robby Ameen, saxophonist and flutist Bobby Franceschini, bassist John Benitez and percussionist Samuel Torres.
Hernández will also participate in a “Sittin’ In Meet-the-Artist” session, one hour prior to the Shea Center performance.
• Actress and singer Krysta Rodriguez — whose credits include “Spring Awakening,” “The Addams Family” and “Into the Woods” on Broadway, and “Smashed” on television — will appear in the music-and-conversation series “Big Fat Broadway LIVE!,” hosted by pianist and SiriusXM satellite radio DJ Seth Rudetsky, at The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.
• The veteran Irish band Lúnasa, which was named after an ancient Gaelic harvest festival, will present an Irish Solstice Celebration concert at The Outpost in the Burbs at The First Congregational Church in Montclair, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. The group’s five members will be joined by singer Dave Curley.
In a new interview, group member Kevin Crawford said that Lúnasa — which adds elements of rock and jazz to its traditional music — strives for “a kind of a wildness.” Its sound, he says, “is an arranged sound, but it really only makes sense when you take a few chances.”
• The Little City Books bookstore in Hoboken, transformed so it looked like a ’60s record store, was used in the upcoming Bob Dylan biopic “A Complete Unknown.” And the store will celebrate with an intimate show featuring Dylan covers, Dec. 12 at 7 p.m. Performers will include Freedy Johnston, Karyn Kuhl, James Mastro, Elena Skye and Boo Reiners of The Demolition String Band, Dave Schramm, Tammy Faye Starlite, Keith Hartel, Deena Shoshkes and Jon Fried of The Cucumbers, Paul Moschella, Glenn Morrow, Mary Lee Kortes and others.
Aimee Mann and Ted Leo.
MUSIC/COMEDY
• Aimee Mann and Ted Leo will present one of their annual Christmas shows, combining music and comedy, Dec. 6 at 8 p.m. at The Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood, with guests including the offbeat singer-songwriter Nellie McKay; comedian, actor and podcaster Paul F. Tompkins; and writer-comedian Josh Gondelman.
THEATER
• The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton will present its lavish annual production of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol,” with the first preview on Dec. 6, the official opening night on Dec. 13, and the last show on Dec. 24. Joel McKinnon Miller, best known for his work in television shows such as “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and “Big Love,” will star as Ebenezer Scrooge for the second straight year.
POETRY
• Poet Janine Pommy Vega, who died in 2010 at the age of 68, will be honored at a free event, “Roots Revisited: Celebrating Janine Pommy Vega,” taking place at The Hoboken Historical Museum, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m. The poets Eliot Katz, Millicent Ansah, Yetvart (Ed) S. Majian and Vera Sirota will pay tribute to her, and Danny Shot, the museum’s poet-in-residence, will host.
Vega, who grew up in Union City, moved to New York in 1960, becoming associated with the Beat poetry movement and living with poets Allen Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky. She eventually published 18 poetry books, and taught at schools, migrant centers and prisons.
The event’s title comes from Vega’s poem “Roots Revisited,” which reads, in part:
Rubble graces the remains
Of a sultry day
November and no winter
In sight. A train of boxcars
Rumbles by in the hazy
Sun over Hoboken.
For those who are unable to be there in person, the event will be livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
NJPAC will present “The Hip Hop Nutcracker,” Dec. 8.
DANCE
• NJPAC in Newark will present its annual production of “The Hip Hop Nutcracker” — a version of the holiday-season classic with hip-hop break-dancing and contemporary music, plus rapping by hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow — Dec. 8 at 2 and 7 p.m., at its Prudential Hall. Check out a trailer for the production, below.
• Other New Jersey performances of “The Nutcracker” that will take place or start their runs this weekend include:
Dec. 6-8, 13-15 and 20-22: “Jersey City Nutcracker” at Nimbus Arts Center, Jersey City.
Dec. 7: “The Nutcracker” at Republic Bank Performing Arts Center, Sewell.
Dec. 7-8: “The Nutcracker,” presented by New Jersey Ballet at BergenPAC, Englewood.
Dec. 7-8: “The Nutcracker,” presented by American Repertory Ballet at Two River Theater, Red Bank.
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REVIEWS
“Lonely Planet” at Luna Stage, West Orange. (Through Dec. 8)
“The Christmas Show Must Go On” at Mile Square Theatre, Hoboken. (Through Dec. 15)
“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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