MARY J. BLIGE
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through March 28.
MUSIC
• Mary J. Blige, the Queen of Hip Hop Soul, released a new album, Gratitude, in November. And gratitude is one of the themes of her For My Fans Tour, which will come to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, March 28 at 7 p.m. and The Prudential Center in Newark, April 6 at 7 p.m. Ne-Yo and Mario will open both shows.
In a press release announcing the tour, Blige — who was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in October — said that “I have amazing fans and am so grateful for all of the love and support they have given me throughout the years. This tour is for them. … I am in such a place of immense gratitude and peace at this moment.”
• The new Mantoloking Road Playhouse in Brick will host its first concerts, March 21 at 7 p.m. and March 22 at 8 p.m., with Remember Jones and his 17-piece band presenting their “Jones Sings Jones!” show, featuring the 1969 album Tom Jones Live in Las Vegas in its entirety. The March 21 show will be a fundraiser for Brick Children’s Community Theater, which will be based in the 120-seat theater.
Remember Jones will also present the “Jones Sings Jones!” show at House of Independents in Asbury Park, March 29 at 6 p.m.
• On March 27 at 7 p.m. — the same night that The New York Yankees kick off their 2025 season with a game against The Milwaukee Brewers at Yankee Stadium — former Yankees center fielder Bernie Williams, who is also an accomplished guitarist, will perform with his Band of Friends at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park.
Williams, who retired from baseball in 2006, has released two albums (both of which made the Top 10 of Billboard magazine’s jazz chart) and also has published a book, “Rhythms of the Game: The Link Between Musical and Athletic Performance.”
CYRILLE AIMÉE
• Jazz singer Cyrille Aimée will perform with pianist Mathis Picard at The Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit, March 23 at 7 p.m. Aimée won The Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition at The TD James Moody Jazz Festival at NJPAC in Newark in 2012, and her two Grammy nominations include one this year, in the Traditional Pop Vocal Album category, for À Fleur de Peau.
You can listen to “Inside and Out,” from À Fleur de Peau, below.
• The Jonas Brothers will celebrate their 20th anniversary with a JonasCon at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, March 23, beginning at 8 a.m. According to the group’s website, “this milestone event will feature live performances, DJ sets, Q&A panels, fan activations, pop-up surprises, immersive experiences, and special guest appearances.”
The Jonas Brothers will perform, as will All-American Rejects; Nick Jonas (solo); Joe Jonas’ group DNCE; and the trio’s fourth brother, Franklin Jonas.
Other activities listed on the website include retail takeovers, a “Jonas trading post,” Q&A panels, trivia, games, a keynote event, an interactive art installation, karaoke and a Z100 broadcast.
Registration is closed, but there is a waitlist at jonasbrothers.com.
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo — the virtuosic South African a cappella vocal group that gained international fame by singing on Paul Simon’s 1986 Graceland album, and has continued to record and tour widely since then — will perform at the Outpost in the Burbs series at The First Congregational Church in Montclair, March 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Joseph Shabalala, who founded the group and led it at the time of Graceland, stopped being a full-time member in 2014, and died in 2020 at the age of 79. The group is now led by his son, Thamsanqa Shabalala, and features three of his other four sons, as well as two of their cousins.
Click HERE for an interview with one of Shabalala’s sons currently in the group, Sibongiseni Shabalala.
• “SOMA Sings Taylor Swift,” which follows last year’s “SOMA Sings Disney” concert, is a family-friendly event featuring Broadway stars who live the South Orange/Maplewood area — including Dara Naomi Gallagher (“Cruel Intentions”), Ken Clark (“Water for Elephants”), Becky Gulsvig (“A Beautiful Noise”), Laurel Harris (“Wicked”), Autumn Jones (“Revival”), Ross Lekites (“Parade”), Ayla Schwartz (“Frozen”) and Jared Zirilli (“Summer”) — singing Swift hits. It will take place at The South Orange Performing Arts Center, March 22 at 7 p.m.
THEATER
• The Jersey City Theater Center will present Beth Henley’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1979 play “Crimes of the Heart,” March 21-23 and 28-30.
This black comedy “is the story of three sisters in the late ’70s conservative South that reveals many challenges we still struggle with today,” said director Albert Rudnitsky, in a press release. “I want to invite the audience to join us in the characters’ joy and confusion, perhaps reflecting on their own difficult relationships — whether that’s with people within their own family or the world at large, our dysfunctional human family.”
Q LAZZARUS
FILM
• Director Eva Aridjis Fuentes will participate in a question-and-answer session following a screening of her documentary “Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus” (watch trailer below), March 22 at 7:30 p.m. at The ShowRoom Cinema in Asbury Park. Q Lazzarus — who grew up near Asbury Park, in Neptune — gained a small amount of fame, briefly, in the early ’90s, when her “Goodbye Horses” was prominently used in Jonathan Demme’s film “The Silence of the Lambs.” Demme used her music in several other films as well, but she never got very far in the music industry, and soon dropped out of it altogether.
Q Lazzarus was interviewed for the film, but she died in 2022, and the film wasn’t finished and released until this month.
• Public television stations will show “We Want the Funk!,” a new documentary about the history of funk music, in April, but The Teaneck International Film Festival will present an advance screening of it, March 23 at 4 p.m. at Puffin Cultural Forum. Co-director and co-producer Stanley Nelson will participate in a discussion after the screening, moderated by Vivian Scott Chew of the New Jersey-based production and management company Chew Entertainment.
The screening is free, though registration is required HERE.
• The New York restaurant Veselka has served Ukrainian food since the 1950s but has taken on an additional role since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, becoming a hub for charitable activities supporting those affected by the war. A new documentary about it, “Veselka: The Rainbow on the Corner at the Center of the World” (watch trailer below), will be shown at The Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, March 27 at 7:30 p.m., with a question-and-answer session with director and writer Michael Fiore following.
A poster for the film “Janis Ian: Breaking Silence.”
• Janis Ian will introduce the new documentary about her, “Janis Ian: Breaking Silence,” March 26 at 7 p.m at The Village at SOPAC in South Orange, and participate in a question-and-answer session after it is over.
“I was worried (‘Breaking Silence’) would be a puff piece, but it’s far from that!,” Ian said in a recent interview with NJArts.net’s Cindy Stagoff. “When (director) Varda (Bar-Kar) and I began talking, I was adamant that the film be about the times, rather than only about me. She’s done a great job of capturing those times, from the civil rights and gay rights movements to my visiting South Africa during the ban — using archival film and interviews.”
FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
• The Vazquez Family’s Fl!p Circus will open in a tent at The Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, March 21, and run through April 1, offering acrobatic and aerial routines, comedy, dance, music and more. There is a notably international flavor to this circus, with acts hailing from Spain (Johnny Rico), Finland (Bravuuri Troupe), Hungary (Duo Fossett), Brazil (Duo Marrufo), Guinea (The Bone Breakers) and Ukraine (Bingo Troupe). Showtimes are 7 p.m. daily plus 1 and 4 p.m. on weekends only.
The Bone Breakers, incidentally, made the quarterfinals of television’s “America’s Got Talent” in 2020; you can watch a video of one of their appearances, below.
VISUAL ART
• In the Color & Light Festival, taking place from 7:30 to 11 p.m. on March 21 and 22, images will be projected onto the Convention Hall/Paramount Theatre building in Asbury Park, as music plays. There will be no admission charge.
Contributors will include Julia Shamsheieva (Ukraine), Maxin10sity (Hungary), Glitch (Belgium), Jeff Dobrow (United States), Romera Infografía (Spain), Filip Roca (Portugal/Spain), Melida Rodas (United States), Emma Miller (Scotland) and Oksana Borodina (United States).
The cover of “Zilot & Other Important Rhymes.”
WORDS
• Actor Bob Odenkirk (“Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul,” “Mr. Show”) and his daughter Erin Odenkirk will sign copies of their children’s book “Zilot & Other Important Rhymes,” March 23 at noon at the Books & Greetings store in Northvale. Bob Odenkirk wrote the poems with the help of Erin and his son Nate; Erin did the illustrations.
According to promotional material, “Bob Odenkirk began writing these poems with his children when they were little, compiling the poetry into a homemade book entitled ‘Olde Time Rhymes.’ He wanted Nate and Erin to understand that actual people had written the books the family loved to read and to instill in them the feeling that they could be writers and illustrators themselves. Almost twenty years later, when the Odenkirks found themselves quarantined under the same roof, they revisited these mostly silly, sometimes poignant works. It wasn’t until Erin began to create illustrations to accompany the words, though, that the book grew to be something much bigger than an Odenkirk family treasure.”
REVIEWS
“Macro vs. Micro,” works by Katie Truk, presented by Studio Montclair at Academy Square Gallery, Montclair. (Through March 21)
“Purlie,” presented by American Theater Group at Hamilton Stage at Union County Performing Arts Center, Rahway. (Through March 23)
“tiny beautiful things” at Mile Square Theatre, Hoboken. (Through March 23)
“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)
“Nanette Carter: A Question of Balance” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through July 6)
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 1)
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