COLUMNS | FEATURES | EVENT PREVIEWS
featured events

originally published: 12/25/2022 

Here's a look at the top 15 most read articles published at New Jersey Stage from December 18-24, 2022. Each week we publish about 70 articles, including several original columns and features, along with news releases for events happening throughout the state and nearby areas like Philadelphia and New York City. This week's top 15 includes articles from 6 counties in New Jersey (Bergen, Cumberland, Essex, Gloucester, Monmouth, Ocean) plus a pair from Philly and New York. Articles were about art, community, film, music, and theatre. 

1) A Philly Special Christmas releases "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" - (PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- A Philly Special Christmas has released “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” featuring performances from NFL Eagles’ Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata and Lane Johnson produced by Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs) and executive producer Connor Barwin is out now.  This is the first in a series of holiday classic singles to be released every Friday between now and the album’s official release on December 23rd via Vera Y Records. Recorded at Rittenhouse Soundworks, Silent Partners, and Elm St studio, proceeds from the LP will be donated to the Children’s Treatment Crisis Center in Philadelphia.

2) The Billy Joel Concert Scheduled For December 19th at MSG is Postponed - (NEW YORK, NY) -- The Billy Joel concert scheduled for December 19th at Madison Square Garden has been postponed to June 2, 2023 due to illness.

3) 24th Annual Makin Waves Awards - For 24 of Makin Waves’ 32 years of existence, the Makin Waves Awards have honored the New Jersey independent acts who have released the best material and made the most waves with it. Here once again is my Christmas gift to the New Jersey music scene: the 24th annual Makin Waves Awards.

4) Fun City Adventure Park to Become Newest Anchor at Union Lake Crossing Shopping Center in Millville - (MILLVILLE, NJ) /PRNewswire/ -- Irgang Group announced on December 15th that it has signed Fun City Adventure Park to a lease for a 36,500-square-foot anchor position at Union Lake Crossing, a 393,000-square-foot power center serving the greater Millville-Vineland market in southern New Jersey.

 

Advertise with New Jersey Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info

---

5) Ocean County Library Toms River, Point Boro Branches to Present Dakota & Elle in January - (TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- The Ocean County Library Toms River Branch will present “Best of Broadway with Dakota & Elle” on Monday, January 9 at 6:30pm. The Point Pleasant Boro Branch will present The “Best of Dakota & Elle” on Wednesday, January 11 at 2:00pm 

6) A Philly Special Christmas Third Vinyl Pressing Available on December 16th - (PHILADELPHIA, PA) -- Due to an overwhelming demand, A Philly Special Christmas has announced that fans will be able to order a third pressing of the limited-edition vinyl on December 16th, for 24 hours only via the official website.   Following the two minute sellout of the second batch of vinyl on December 9th, a third exclusive round on green vinyl will be available for purchase on December 16th at 9:00am EST via the official website.  Proceeds from the third round of pressings will be donated to Philadelphia area charities in addition to the pledged $100k+ to Children’s Crisis Treatment Center of Philadelphia.

7) Broadway Theatre of Pitman presents Bill Haley, Jr. and the Comets - (PITMAN, NJ) -- On Friday, February 10, 2023, Bill Haley, Jr. and the Comets come to the Broadway Theatre of Pitman.  They are a high-energy five-piece combo performing a rousing, crowd pleasing set of songs first recorded at the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll by the legendary Bill Haley and the Comets, and other popular tunes from the 1950s and ’60s. Showtime is 8:00pm.

8) UCC, City of Newark Served Up Holiday Cheer To 250 Youth At 'Shop With a Hero' Event - (NEWARK, NJ) -- United Community Corporation (UCC) and the City of Newark made over 200 local children’s spirits merry and bright just in time for the holidays at this year’s annual “Shop With a Hero” event. The program, held on Saturday at the Robert Treat Hotel in downtown Newark, provided each child with a $100 gift card to then go on a shopping spree in downtown Newark with a local hero. 

9) REVIEW: "The Sound of Music" at Paper Mill Playhouse - An enduring, Tony Award-winning classic, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein III’s The Sound of Music is a ubiquitous, stalwart musical theatre crowd-pleaser given an enthralling new production at Paper Mill Playhouse. 

10) The Landis Presents Deaf Leopard: The Ultimate Def Leppard Experience - (VINELAND, NJ) -- The Landis presents Deaf Leopard: The Ultimate Def Leppard Experience on Friday, January 6, 2023 at 10:00pm. They are America’s premier Def Leppard tribute band. They are a family-friendly, multi-media spectacle of sight and sound that is a true tribute to the music and majesty of Def Leppard!

11) Seung Sook Lee’s 2022 Solo Exhibition of Quilts at the Riverside Gallery - (HACKENSACK, NJ) -- Riverside Gallery is presenting second solo exhibition by the artist Seung Sook Lee, from December 21st to 29th, 2022 in the gallery 1 space, curated by Sei Ryun Chun. 

12) James Dalton's "Asbury Park & Me" to Have US premiere at Stephen Crane's House - (ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- If you were to spend several decades of your life playing the popular clubs, portable stages, purposeful rooms, public parks and private porches of the greater Asbury Park circuit, there’s a slight but significant chance that you could get famous. As James Dalton can vouch, there’s a much greater chance that you’ll get stories — the kind of awesome anecdotes and flipped-out folklore that a veteran performer (who also booked, managed, and worked at places that range from the world-renowned Stone Pony to the long-gone Moonrock and El Lobo Negro) can boast as a badge of authenticity.  On the afternoon of Sunday, January 8, 2023, the self-proclaimed “story-teller guy, song man, front man, radio personality, poet, and actor” brings a special presentation, based on a near-lifetime of lived experience, to local lovers and makers of music for the first time.

13) Depeche Mode to Release "Memento Mori" and Tour - (NEW YORK, NY) -- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2020 inductees Depeche Mode will be releasing a new album and embarking on a world tour in 2023. The Memento Mori Tour will support the band’s forthcoming 15th studio album, Memento Mori, due out in Spring 2023. Locally, the tour comes to Madison Square Garden on April 14, 2023.

14) "The Best Man: The Final Chapters," Filmed In Jersey, Premiered on Peacock on December 22 - (NEWARK, NJ) -- The latest installment of the popular and successful The Best Man franchise returned to New Jersey for the filming of its conclusion. The Best Man: The Final Chapters will bring viewers up-to-date on the lives of its endearing characters Lance (Morris Chestnut), Shelby (Melissa De Sousa), Harper (Taye Diggs), Candy (Regina Hall), Quentin (Terrence Howard), Robyn (Sanaa Lathan), Jordan (Nia Long), and Julian (Harold Perrineau). Relationships evolve and past grievances resurface in the unpredictable stages of midlife crisis meets midlife renaissance.

15) PHOTOS from "Joy to the World" by Monmouth Civic Chorus - (RED BANK, NJ) -- The Monmouth Civic Chorus presented Joy to the World: Your Favorites from Handel’s Messiah and the RJB Holiday Suite on Sunday, December 18, 2022 at The Count Basie Center for the Arts. The highly acclaimed annual performance of Artistic Director Dr. Ryan James Brandau’s Suite is Monmouth County’s can’t-miss musical event of the holiday season. Photographer John Posada was on hand to take photos.

Event previews are always one of the most popular areas of the website. Event previews get noticed when we first publish them and then get noticed again when they are brought back to the main area of the site the week the event takes place - sometimes even several months later.  Make sure your events get previewed by sending press releases to us at info@newjerseystage.com - for even more promotion, check out our ad rates which run $50-$100 for an entire month of targeted advertising which includes events listed in our online calendar. Or you have your events listed in the calendar for $10 per event.

 

Advertise with New Jersey Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info

---