Each week, New Jersey Stage shines a spotlight on events happening throughout the Garden State, chosen from the NJ Stage online calendar. Event listings are free and visitors to the website are encouraged to vote for their favorite events. The event receiving the most votes receives the "People's Choice Award" for the week. This week's People's Choice takes place on Thursday, September 15 when Matthew Sweet comes to the South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC) in South Orange. One of the most underrated artists of the 80s and 90s, Sweet and his blend of powerpop and country-rock had his greatest success with his third album, Girlfriend which was ranked number 61 on Paste's list of "The 90 Best Albums of the 1990s."
THEATRE
The theatre season kicks into full swing this week with several interesting shows. We'll start with Disgraced which opens at Cape May Stage on Wednesday, September 14. In a captivating, modern evaluation of identity and religion, this 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Ayad Akhtar follows a married couple, Amir Kapoor, a Pakistan born Muslim, who left his faith and history behind to be a corporate lawyer and his wife, Emily, a painter, inspired by Islamic culture. The couple hosts a small dinner party in their lavish Upper East Side apartment and soon, before anyone can stop it, polite etiquette is abandoned and the talk turns to politics, stereotypes, and betrayal.
Mile Square Theatre brings back its 7th Inning Stretch: Seven 10-minute Plays About Baseball -- offering the popular series in its new facility in Hoboken for the first time. Performances run September 16-18 and include the work of Suzanne Bradbeer, Bekah Brunstetter, Eric Conger, Oded Gross, John Kolvenbach, Robert Lyons, and Lia Romeo.
Two River Theater in Red Bank presents August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. The production, which runs September 10 through October 9 is the fourth from Wilson's American Century Cycle for the company. This one is set in the 1920s, takes audiences into the world of legendary singer Ma Rainey (the real-life “Mother of the Blues”) as she lays down tracks with her band in a Chicago recording studio.
The Company Theatre Group, Inc. presents the Rella Lossy Award-Winning Play What We’re Up Against by Theresa Rebeck. This is The Company’s 20th professional production in Hackensack, and this show features five highly talented company members who all call New Jersey home. Six performances will be held from September 17 to October 2. Set in a dysfunctional but competitive architectural firm, this is a ferocious and juicy comedy that takes an explosive yet insightful look at what it means to be a talented woman in a male-domininated career and what happens when she tires of banging her head against the glass ceiling.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike opened September 8 at The Ritz Theatre Company in Haddon Township and runs until October 2. Written by Jersey native Christopher Durang, this Tony-Award winning comedy is set in a cherry orchard in Bucks County, PA and tells the story of a dysfunctional family trying to hold on to their family home.
The Broadway Theatre of Pitman's production of Sweeney Todd opens on Friday, September 16 and runs to October 9. The musical has become a worldwide success since its Broadway premiere, receiving eight Tony awards, including Best Musical.
And the Burlington County Footlighters open their season with Violet: The Musical on Friday, September 16. This award-winning musical follows a scarred woman who embarks on a cross-country bus trip to be healed by a minister, and discovers the true meaning of beauty along the way.
Other shows of note currently on stage include Bathing In Moonlight at McCarter Theatre in Princeton; Iago at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch; Proof by the Pegasus Theatre Project at the West Windsor Arts Center; Floyd Collins at Hamilton Stage in Rahway; The King of East Jabip at The Eagle Theatre in Hammonton; and the final weekend for Las Cruces at Premiere Stages at Kean University in Union.
Also of note is Lisa Dwan at the James M. Stewart '32 Theater in Princeton on Friday, September 16 at 4:30pm. Dwan, the internationally-acclaimed Irish actress, will discuss her recent performances of the plays of Samuel Beckett, which had sold-out engagements from London’s Royal Court Theatre to New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music.
MUSIC
We've got plenty of great concerts coming our way from legendary performers to the strange and unusual. Starting with the legends, we've got Gordon Lightfoot at Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown; John Mayall at MexiCali in Teaneck; and Martin Sexton at Parker Press Park in Woodbridge -- all on Wednesday, September 14.
On Friday, September 16, Tommy James & the Shondells share a bill with Felix Cavaliere's Rascals at BergenPAC in Englewood; Kenny Rogers brings his final world tour to Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown; Romeo Delight offers up a Van Halen tribute at The Strand in Lakewood; and Blue Oyster Cult comes to the Newton Theatre.
The Strand in Lakewood has a wonderful show on Saturday, September 17 called "Shadows Of The Sixties" which is a tribute to the tremendous legacy of The Four Tops, Temptations, Gladys Knight & The Pips & The Supremes.
Two of our favorite shows of the week include Ben Folds at Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown on Sunday, September 18 and John Waite and the Axeman at MexiCali in Teaneck on Thursday, September 15. Waite is on his Wooden Heart Acoustic Tour where he sings songs, shares stories, and answers questions from the audience.
Among the strange and unusual is a trio of shows in Asbury Park. We'll start with The Saint on Wednesday, September 14 where the Alex Skolnick Trio combines the elegance and sophistication of jazz with the conviction of metal. Sticking with metal, The Wonder Bar has Metalachi on Thursday -- billed as the world's first and only Heavy-Metal Mariachi Band. Closing out the trio of shows is Experiment 34 at The Saint on Saturday, September 17. This is a band that's been making noise throughout the state with their genre-bending rock tunes that remind us as something fans of The Red Hot Chili Peppers or Faith No More would love.
Other shows of not include Victor Wainwright & the Wildroots at the Lizzie Rose Music Room in Tuckerton on Thursday, September 15; Eric Martin of Mr. Big at MexiCali in Teaneck on Saturday; Alex English at Waypoint 622 in Brielle on Sunday; and Edwin McCain at The Newton Theatre on Sunday.
Sunday features two great events for classical music fans -- the Princeton Symphony Orchestra is in Monroe to perform the Four Seasons with World-Renowned Violinist, Daniel Rowland; and Westminster Choir College Faculty Recital Series presents “A Poet’s Journey” in Princeton. The concert features Benjamin Britten’s Winter Words, Op. 52 and Robert Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Op. 48.
This week also features the return of Fearless Icon at Hamilton Stage in Rahway; a pair of performances by Broadway legend Betty Buckley in The Chase Room at NJPAC in Newark on Saturday; the 13th Annual OSPAC Jazz and Brew Festival in West Orange; and the debut of the New Alternative Music Festival on September 16th – 17th at the Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ.
COMEDY
This week is led by a pair of comedy legends - Don Rickles and Regis Philbin - who will share stories, film clips, and have a blast on stage together. They are at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown on Thursday and at BergenPAC in Englewood on Tuesday, September 20.
Alonzo Bodden (winner of Season 3 on NBC's Last Comic Standing) brings his "Historically Incorrect and Last Comic Standing" tour to the Stress Factory Comedy Club in New Brunswick on Friday and Saturday.
And Jim Breuer (former Saturday Night Live alum and one of Comedy Central's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time) comes to the State Theatre in New Brunswick on Saturday.
FILM
A trio of film festivals take place this weekend. On Friday, PopUp Trenton makes its debut at the Mill Hill Playhouse in Trenton with screenings of works by 6 New Jersey and Philadelphia-are filmmakers. The event is co-sponsored by the Trenton Film Society and Princeton-based community organization PopUp Anthology.
The New Jersey Film Festival in New Brunswick returns for its 35th year with screenings on Saturday and Sunday. The festival runs weekends until October 28. Meanwhile down in Asbury Park, the Boardwalk Film Festival makes its debut.
And on Sunday, September 18, Detours (a comedy shot in South Jersey) has its premiere at The Strand in Lakewood. The film is about a newly-single New Yorker re-locates to Florida for her dream job. She drives south with her widowed dad, her mom’s ashes in a coffee can, & a GPS with a mind of its own.
GET ON OUR RADAR!
Just go to www.newjerseystage.com/events to add your events to the calendar at New Jersey Stage and get on our radar and have your shows considered for this column. Listings are promoted on our twitter account, added to major search engines, and can easily be shared across social media. Remember to encourage people to vote for your events for your chance to be the People's Choice Event of the Week!
