3-Time GRAMMY-winner Samara Joy Embarks on 3rd Annual A JOYFUL HOLIDAY Tour – Featuring Samara and the McLendon Family
She will be performing alongside many family members, including her father Antonio McLendon, with a backing group featuring Shedrick Mitchell on piano, Eric Wheeler on bass, and Charles Haynes on drums.
The show combines selections from her well-received holiday EP ‘A Joyful Holiday’ (on Verve Records) with several Gospel-flavored holiday favorites. The nearly sold-out December 2023 edition of this show was a sensation.
“Singing alongside my family has always been a special time kept between us but this December, I’m excited to share that special feeling with you all! This holiday season, it brings me great joy to present my first role models, the McLendon Family, on a month-long tour throughout the US. Join us for a show you’ll never forget!” – Samara Joy
The past two years have been a whirlwind for the ascendant Joy, with Grammy Awards in ’23 for Best New Artist and Best Jazz Vocal Album followed by another stature for Best Jazz Performance this year for her track, “Tight.” Her latest studio album Linger Awhile reached #1 on Amazon Best Sellers, Billboard Jazz, Pandora Trendsetters, iTunes and Amazon’s digital-music and CD sales, and more. Samara has garnered well over 1 million followers on social media, and her tour dates all over the world have rapidly sold out. Her voice, rich and velvety yet precociously refined, has already earned her legions of fans in addition to millions of likes on TikTok — cementing her status as perhaps the first Gen Z jazz singing star.
“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.
