Singer/songwriter Eric Hutchinson is feeling nostalgic as he prepares to spend 2023 celebrating the 15th anniversary of his debut album, Sounds Like This. “It’s a special record for me – one that changed my life, my career, and introduced my music to a new audience I could only have dreamt of,” the Takoma Park, MD native reflects. To commemorate the anniversary, Eric has announced that he will be playing shows all year long, performing the album in its entirety. He’s also revealed that Sounds Like This will finally be available on vinyl for the first time ever. Furthering the deep-dive into his past, Eric also released a new single, “Sad Songs”, a forgotten pop tune he wrote and performed regularly on tour in 2008 but never got the chance to record until now.
“I’m thrilled to spend 2023 reflecting on how my life and the world has changed in 15 years,” Eric says. “I hope people will join me on the trip down memory lane. Maybe bring a long-lost college friend to one of my concerts, or give Sounds Like This a re-listen for the first time in forever and remember what life was like back in 2008 – when Barack Obama was elected president, BlackBerrys were all the rage, and watching Netflix meant getting little red DVD packages in the mail.”
Sounds Like This ended up being a chart-topping album released by Warner Bros. Records, but it almost never happened. Just before Eric recorded those songs, he says he was a frustrated kid who was seriously considering quitting music. “I had spent several years toiling away on the road, playing tragically low-attended shows, and recording several failed albums that were not ready for prime time,” Eric remembers. But as discouraged as he was at the time, Eric says he hated the idea of telling his friends and family that he had quit music. “I decided to dig down deep and make one last-ditch attempt to record a professional debut that lived up to the legacies of my musical heroes like Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Paul Simon, and Michael Jackson,” Eric recalls. “I went for broke, literally, to capture the music that I was hearing in my head – the songs that represented me at that time. I could never have imagined where those songs would take me.”
“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.
