This year marks the 51st anniversary of New Jersey Ballet’s Nutcracker, making it the longest running original professional production in the state. The production debuted in Millburn in 1971 with international star of New York City Ballet Edward Villella as the Cavalier. Since then, the company has given approximately 800 performances in theatres throughout New Jersey, with more than 5,000 dancers and children, and over a million viewers. Many in the audience who saw the production as children now bring their own children and grandchildren to see this cherished holiday tradition.
This season, New Jersey Ballet marks its 56th year as New Jersey’s premier classical ballet company. It performs in 9 venues from Bergen to Cape May, and has performed internationally with tours to Russia, Taiwan, Bermuda, Italy, and India. Its programs have introduced countless children and adults to the magic of dance theatre and inspired in many a lifelong love of the arts. The company’s extensive performance schedule is made possible in part by support from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and by other generous corporate, foundation, and individual contributors. New Jersey Ballet has been designated a Major Arts Institution by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts for “artistic excellence, substantial programming, and broad public service,” and is a 3-time winner of the title New Jersey’s Favorite Dance Company. For more information and a complete performance schedule, please visit New Jersey Ballet’s Web site at www.njballet.org.
“Why see a show when you can BE the show!”
Always Jovi is a Tribute Like No Other, featuring Million-Selling New Jersey Rock Legend, Steve Brown – known for his work with Trixter, Def Leppard, and Ace Frehley. With his powerhouse vocal delivery, electrifying stage presence, and deep-rooted connection to the Jersey rock scene, Brown leads this all-star lineup in delivering the timeless hits that defined a generation.
Shanghai Ballet presents The Butterfly Lovers, a beloved classic often described as China’s Romeo and Juliet. This sweeping tale of love and sacrifice combines classical ballet with elements of Chinese aesthetics and storytelling. With sumptuous design, expressive choreography, and an impeccably unified ensemble, the production showcases the company’s technical strength and emotional depth.
Join pianist Margarita Rovenskaya for a program of solo piano works spanning a range of characters and countries. The music will include Schubert’s winding melodies, Schumann’s imaginative character contrasts, Beethoven and Prokofiev’s fiery energy. The program will end with Ukrainian composer Ilya Aizberg’s Hebrew Rhapsody, a piece that pays tribute to his Jewish heritage.
Suzanne Vega will perform a career-spanning show including favorites like “Tom’s Diner”, “Luka”, “Marlene On The Wall”, and many more, plus songs from her latest album, Flying with Angels, which was released in May 2025 to critical acclaim. She will be joined on stage by her longtime guitarist, Gerry Leonard (of David Bowie fame), and cellist Stephanie Winters.
Widely regarded as one of the foremost songwriters of her generation, Suzanne Vega emerged as a leading figure of the folk revival of the early 1980s. Accompanying herself on acoustic guitar, Vega sang what has been called contemporary folk or neo-folk songs of her own creation in Greenwich Village clubs. Since the release of her self-titled, critically acclaimed 1985 debut album, she has given sold-out concerts in many of the world’s best-known venues. Known for performances that convey deep emotion, Vega’s distinctive, “clear, unwavering voice” (Rolling Stone) has been described as “a cool, dry sandpaper-brushed near-whisper” by The Washington Post, with NPR Music noting that she “has been making vital, inventive music” throughout the course of her decades-long career. Bearing the stamp of a masterful storyteller who “observes the world with a clinically poetic eye” (The New York Times), Vega’s songs have tended to focus on city life, ordinary people and real-world subjects. Notably succinct and understated, her work is immediately recognizable—as utterly distinct and thoughtful as it was when her voice was first heard on the radio over 40 years ago.
RENTAL EVENT - Join acclaimed vocalist Chris Pinnella and the 14- Piece Big Band Project for an extraordinary evening of music benefiting The Society of St. Vincent de Paul Trenton Diocesan Council—an unforgettable concert that helps support the important work of serving individuals and families throughout our community.
A battle is being waged for your soul from an office in hell! Witness a fast-paced, tour-de-force performance in this acclaimed adaptation of C.S. Lewis’ satiric masterpiece. This international hit offers a faithful stage adaptation of Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, following Screwtape, a senior tempter in Hell, as he schemes to capture the soul of an unsuspecting human on earth and reveals spiritual warfare in vivid, humorous and powerful ways.
Shemekia Copeland possesses one of the most instantly recognizable and deeply soulful roots music voices of our time. The multi-GRAMMY nominee is beloved and honored worldwide for the fearlessness, honesty and humor of her revelatory songs, as well as for her winning, engaging personality. The Chicago Tribune says, “Copeland is the greatest female blues vocalist working today. There’s no mistaking the majesty of her instrument, nor the ferocity of her delivery.”
Join us this November on Friday, Nov 6, for an outstanding lineup of singer-songwriters: Barbara Paskin, Dan Ravaglia, Ralph Rassa and The Amboys (Joel D. Brodsky + Michael Balog).
When They’re Gone - After an abrupt encounter at a graveyard, two elderly men form an unexpected bond over the grief and love of their late wives.
(HADDON HEIGHTS, NJ) -- The Village Playbox presents The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry across three weekends from November 6-21, 2026 at the First Presbyterian Church of Haddon Heights. This smash Broadway comedy, about an eventful wedding weekend at the estate of a wealthy American family, inspired an Oscar-winning film and the hit musical High Society.
(VINELAND, NJ) -- Cumberland Players presents The Pillowman across two weekends from November 6-15, 2026. With echoes of Stoppard, Kafka and the Brothers Grimm, The Pillowman centers on a writer in an unnamed totalitarian state who is being interrogated about his gruesome short stories and their similarities to a series of child murders.
(EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Playhouse 22 presents Working weekends from November 6-22, 2026. Based on Studs Terkel's best-selling book of interviews with American workers, Working paints a vivid portrait of the workers that the world so often takes for granted: the schoolteacher, the phone operator, the waitress, the millworker, the mason, and the housewife, just to name a few.
(RED BANK, NJ) -- Phoenix Productions presents Parade at Count Basie Center for the Arts from November 6-8, 2026. The tragic, true story of the trial and lynching of a man wrongly accused of murder is brought to theatrical life.
(SPRING LAKE, NJ) -- South Street Players presents the 16th Annual Tri-State Theatre Festival from November 6-8, 2026. Produced by Rob Sullivan, the festival showcases the best new short plays written by local writers from New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
