From left, Bilal, Nona Hendryx, George Clinton, Christian McBride, Vernon Reid, Savion Glover and Ray Chew will perform at NJPAC in Newark, Nov. 14.
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Nov. 14.
MUSIC
• This year’s TD James Moody Jazz Festival will include a “Tribute to Funk!,” Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, with one of the genre’s primary architects, George Clinton, as well as tap-dancer Savion Glover, singers Nona Hendryx (of Labelle) and Bilal, guitarist Vernon Reid (of Living Colour) and bassist Christian McBride. Ray Chew will serve as music director.
According to NJPAC’s website, the show will feature “the hits of P-funk, Prince, James Brown and more.” (P-funk, of course, is shorthand for Clinton’s Jersey-based groups Parliament and Funkadelic.)
Click HERE for a complete rundown of festival events.
CHAKA KHAN
• Radio station WBLS’s 50th Anniversary Celebration concert, taking place Nov. 8 at 8 p.m. at The Prudential Center in Newark, will be hosted by DJ Cassidy, under the title of “DJ Cassidy’s Pass the Mic,” and feature an incredible lineup of performers, including Charlie Wilson, Chaka Khan, Bobby Brown, SWV, Keyshia Cole, October London, Jaheim, Anthony Hamilton, Hezekiah Walker, Furious 5, Roxanne Shanté, Nice & Smooth, Black Sheep, Full Force, Shannon, Meli’sa Morgan, Fonda Rae, Taana Gardner, Marley Marl, Kool DJ Red Alert and Chuck Chillout.
• Bernadette Peters will perform at concerts at Two River Theater in Red Bank, Nov. 8-9 at 8 p.m. Proceeds will be used to support the theater’s programs and services.
Peters — who has won Best Actress Tonys for her work in “Song and Dance” and “Annie Get Your Gun” and was also given The Isabelle Stevenson Award, an honorary Tony for philanthropic work — starred in “Old Friends,” a revue celebrating the late Stephen Sondheim, in London in 2022 and 2023, with a Broadway run planned for 2025. She is also a Grammy-nominated recording artist.
• J. Harrison Ghee — who first became well known in “Kinky Boots” on Broadway from 2017 to 2019 and then won the Best Actor in a Musical Tony, last year, for “Some Like It Hot” — 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, Nov. 9 at 8 p.m.
The Rev. Lawrence C. Roberts will be honored at a Nov. 9 event in Newark.
• The Rev. Lawrence C. Roberts — the Newark native who was the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church in Nutley, and who died in 2008 — was a giant of gospel music, touring widely with his Angelic Choir, writing more than 100 songs, mentoring other performers, and working with artists including Thomas Dorsey, Mahalia Jackson, the Rev. James Cleveland, Cissy Houston and Sister Rosetta Tharpe. He also was the official spiritual advisor for the New Jersey-based Jubilation Choir, and that choir will perform at a tribute to him, titled “Peace Be Still, Then and Now,” that will take place at The Abyssinian Baptist Church in Newark, Nov. 9 at 3 p.m. The event is being billed as “an Old-Fashioned Song Service and Live Recording.”
“I want everyone to know the name Lawrence Roberts,” said Jubilation Choir founder and leader the Rev. Stefanie Minatee, in a press release. “He is pivotal in the development of the genre of Gospel Music and his contributions are unmatched. The young and old should be able to read about him and he deserves to be celebrated. I am doing this live session in his memory. I know he would want me to do all I can to keep the tradition of Gospel music alive!”
• Glenn Alexander, who has played in Richie “LaBamba” Rosenberg’s groups LaBamba & the Hubcaps and La Bamba’s Big Band, will welcome LaBamba to the cast of this year’s edition of his annual Pig Gig benefit concert. It will take place at The Italian American Hall in Scotch Plains, Nov. 10 from 2 to 8 p.m.
Alexander, the longtime guitarist for Southside Johnny & the Asbury Jukes (trombonist and singer LaBamba was a Juke for many years as well), will also perform at Pig Gig with his own Shadowland band, and the band he co-leads with his daughter, singer Oria Aspen. Other performers will include the roots band The Lonesome Pines, singer-songwriter Joe D’Urso, and the duo of Anthony Tamburro & Louis Bevere.
This will be the ninth Pig Gig. The admission charge is $70, which entitles you to the all-you-can-eat pig roast — with lots of other food, and drinks, included in the price as well — in addition to the six hours of music. Proceeds will go to the Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation in honor of Alexander’s nephew Jay Alexander, who died of the disease in 2011.
SHERVIN LAINEZ
BEN FOLDS
• Ben Folds — who released his first Christmas album, Sleigher, last month — will perform at The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m., with Lindsey Kraft opening. The show is part of his Paper Airplane Request Tour, in which, yes, fans can make song requests on paper airplanes, launched onto the stage.
• The veteran singer-songwriter and masterful guitarist Bruce Cockburn will perform at The Outpost in the Burbs at The First Congregational Church in Montclair, Nov. 8 at 8 p.m., and The Scottish Rite Auditorium in Collingswood (with Patty Larkin opening), Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. A prolific recording artist since the 1970s (whose songs have been recorded by Jimmy Buffett, Barenaked Ladies, k.d. lang and others), Cockburn released his most recent album, O Sun O Moon — including the environmental anthem “To Keep the World We Know” and other songs — last year.
• LeAnn Rimes — whose Top 10 hits on the pop and/or country charts include “How Do I Live,” “I Need You,” “One Way Ticket (Because I Can),” “Something’s Gotta Give” and “Probably Wouldn’t Be This Way” — will perform at The Wilkins Theatre at Kean University in Union, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m., as part of the Kean Stage series.
Rimes’ last album, 2022’s God’s Work, includes collaborations with Aloe Blacc, Ben Harper, Ziggy Marley and others.
• Richard Kogan will give a lecture and performance titled “The Mind and Music of Leonard Bernstein,” Nov. 9 at 8 p.m. at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. Kogan is a pianist as well as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Artistic Director of the Music and Medicine program at Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan.
SANDY HACKETT
THEATER
• One of the plays being presented by the Centenary Stage Company’s Fringe Festival at the Lackland Performing Arts Center in Hackettstown will be “My Buddy” (see video below), which will be at Lackland’s Kutz Theatre Nov. 14 at 7 p.m., Nov. 15-16 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. Sandy Hackett stars in this piece, which is about his relationship with his late father, comedian Buddy Hackett.
According to publicity material: “Sharing personal anecdotes, Sandy brilliantly captures the nuance of his father’s comedic style as he reminisces about a lifetime together, including the 10 years they spent touring on the road, sharing stories and memories from the beginning days of Buddy’s career to his skyrocketing success as a movie star and night club entertainer, to being the most sought-after comedian of his day.”
FILM/MUSIC
• The State Theatre in New Brunswick will present the 2023 animated film “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” with musicians — including “a full orchestra, a skilled scratch DJ on turntables, as well as percussion and electronic instrumentalists” — performing the score live, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
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REVIEWS
“Macbeth” at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University, Madison. (Through Nov. 17)
“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)
“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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