Here's a look at the top 15 most read articles published at New Jersey Stage from September 22-28, 2024. 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 8 counties in New Jersey (Bergen, Camden, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union).
Make sure your events are part of our weekly columns by sending press releases to us at [email protected]. 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. We also run weekly columns promoting events, music, and theatre shows taking place for the week. These columns include our featured event previews and event listings along with all of our event previews of the week. Your events can stand out for as low as $10! Many times, they are among the most read stories of the week. There is no cost for us to run your press releases!
1) Musical by PHISH Frontman Trey Anastasio to play The Jersey Shore Arts Center - (OCEAN GROVE, NJ) -- NENAproductions Theater Project is opening its 21st season at the Jersey Shore Arts Center as the theater company in residence with a show unlike any other, with the all-American musical Hands on a Hardbody. Based on the real-life documentary by the same name, this musical centers around a days-long endurance contest where one person will win a Nissan Hardbody pick-up truck by keeping a hand on it the longest.
2) Heartfelt Feature Comedy A Little Family Drama screens at the New Jersey Film Festival - Regardless of culture, generation, or ethnicity, when it comes to “family,” we all share some universal memories of tears and joy condensed into a dinner gathering. The nostalgia is mixed with chaotic arguments, moms gossiping about who recently got married, shouting, “Who took my spatula?!” Kids run in and out, sneaking a few cookies and taking the kitchen heat and aroma out as they pass the poker table. Stories about domestic scenarios are never-ending classics, printed with certain generational marks, but the essence remains. In his novel Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy states, "All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." Somehow, a hundred years later, this observation is proven true by a Mexican American family in A Little Family Drama. With an idealist, reckless son, a diligent, underappreciated daughter, a comedian uncle, an outcast, and ceaseless fights between a mother and a daughter, the Sepulvedas seem to resemble the folks in each of our families. Still, the collision of progressiveness and the lingering traditional values, ambition of self-realization, and responsibility compose captivating conflicts that bring laughter and tears to the screening room.
3) 2024 NJACT Perry Award Winners - (LAKEWOOD, NJ) -- On September 22nd, the 2024 NJACT Perry Awards were handed out by the New Jersey Association of Community Theaters at the Strand Center for the Arts. The NJACT Perry Awards are given for outstanding achievements in New Jersey Community Theater.
4) From Camden to the Boardroom: How 'The Heart of Camden' Documentary Inspires Leadership Development - In the early 1970s, Father Michael Doyle arrived in Camden, New Jersey, a city plagued by poverty and violence. Over the next five decades, this humble Catholic priest transformed the community through his deep commitment to social justice, compassion, and advocacy. His remarkable journey is captured in the award-winning documentary "The Heart of Camden – The Story of Father Michael Doyle," which I had the privilege of producing and directing. The film, narrated pro bono by the legendary Martin Sheen, has resonated deeply with audiences across the globe, with Sheen himself calling Father Doyle "The Mighty Saint of Camden."
5) Events This Week in New Jersey: September 24 to October 1, 2024 - Here is a look at upcoming events taking place from September 24 to October 1, 2024 along with our featured listings. New Jersey Stage offers previews of events throughout the Garden State as well as select shows in New York City and Philadelphia areas.
6) REVIEW: "Empire Records: The Musical" at McCarter Theatre - (PRINCETON, NJ) — It isn’t often that you hear songs by The Cure and Nirvana before the opening of a play, but that’s the vibe at McCarter Theatre for Empire Records: The Musical. Based on the cult classic ‘90s film about a group of employees fighting to keep their record store from going corporate, the play is having its World Premiere in Princeton now through October 6, 2024.
7) 2024 We Can Survive Concert features Justin Timberlake, New Kids on the Block, and More - (NEWARK, NJ) -- Audacy announced the 2024 lineup for We Can Survive, the annual event supporting the Company's mental health initiative, I'm Listening. Superstar Justin Timberlake will be joined by mega boy band New Kids On The Block, singer-songwriter Tate McRae, multi-instrumentalist Benson Boone, R&B crooner Khalid and emerging artist Isabel LaRosa at Prudential Center in Newark on Saturday, September 28. Hosted by NEW 102.7 FM (WNEW-FM), the event exemplifies music's power to connect communities and promotes having more mental health conversations.
8) Concert Review of PJ Harvey Live at Terminal 5 in New York City, September 15, 2024 - The multi-faceted and multi-talented British songwriter, singer, and musician PJ Harvey last toured the USA back in 2017 but I was unable to see her perform live that year due to work obligations. At last, on Sunday, September 15, 2024, I finally had the good fortune to snag tickets to one of her two sold-out shows at Terminal 5, which is located at West 56th Street in Manhattan. The standing-room-only venue was absolutely packed, but I was thrilled to be there. Having arrived a bit early, I was glad to find a spot only a few rows back from the front of the stage: it was great to be able to see Harvey’s facial expressions and pantomime-like moves very clearly. She has an amazingly theatrical presence on stage.
9) Makin Waves Album of the Month: "Hustling in Place" by Ryan Gregg - One of the hardest-working musicians in the New Jersey music scene, Asbury Park singer-songwriter-keyboardist-producer Ryan Gregg thankfully carved out some time from his busy schedule to bless eager ears with his stunning six-song solo debut EP, "Hustling in Place."
10) Cousin Brucie Presents Chubby Checker, The Cowsills, and The Happenings LIVE! at PNC Bank Arts Center - It's a gorgeous September 19, 2024 evening inside Holmdel, NJ's PNC Bank Arts Center amphitheater where an audience of thousands of music lovers anticipate the start of a free Garden State Arts Center Foundation performance of Cousin Brucie Presents Chubby Checker, The Cowsills, and The Happenings.
11) Visual Arts Center of New Jersey's Fall Exhibitions focus on People Impacted by US Mass Incarceration - (SUMMIT, NJ) -- On Friday, November 1, the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey (VACNJ) will open its newly renovated gallery spaces with a series of exhibitions featuring artwork made by individuals impacted by the criminal legal system in New Jersey and the United States broadly. These exhibitions, which will run through January 26, 2025, will explore the vital part art plays for system-impacted individuals, enabling self-expression, agency, and advocacy.
12) Billie Eilish, Jelly Roll, Iron Maiden, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, El Alfa, Jo Koy, Blake Shelton, and more Coming to Prudential Center - (NEWARK, NJ) -- After an exciting kick off to September with sold out shows from Kacey Musgraves, Ana Gabriel, Don Omar, and Twenty One Pilots, Prudential Center's robust calendar continues to offer something for everyone this fall. A spectacular lineup of music events, featuring globally acclaimed artists and electrifying performances, family shows, sporting events and more come to Newark to close out the year.
13) Music at the Barn presents The Bergen All-Star Jazz Blast - (HACKENSACK, NJ) -- Bergen County Executive Jim Tedesco, III and the Board of Commissioners invite the public to attend a free music concert featuring The Bergen All-Star Jazz Blast on Sunday, September 29, 2024 from 4:00pm–6:30pm at the Wortendyke Barn Museum, a County Historic Site (13 Pascack Road) in Park Ridge, NJ. This is the third concert in the 2024 music series.
14) Steve Forbert to Kick off Split Level Concerts Series in Ocean Grove - (OCEAN GROVE, NJ) -- Legendary singer-songwriter Steve Forbert will kick off an exciting new series of concerts at the Jersey Shore Arts Center in Ocean Grove on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at 8:00pm. Pamela Flores, a favorite of the local Asbury Park music scene, will open the show. The show marks the relaunch of Split Level Concerts, a popular series previously based in Union County that recently relocated to the Jersey Shore. The series showcases critically acclaimed singer-songwriters in a uniquely intimate setting.
15) Black Box Studios presents Soulfarm, ft. Zalman Krause & Aryeh Kunstler - (TEANECK, NJ) -- Black Box Studios presents Soulfarm, ft. Zalman Krause & Aryeh Kunstler, on Sunday, October 20, 2024 at Debonair Music Hall. Doors open at 6:30pm, showtime is 7:30pm.
Want your events to stand out? Check out our ad rates which start at just $50 for an entire month of targeted advertising and includes events listed in our online calendar. Or you can have your events listed in the calendar for $10 per event (shows with multiple performances get every show listed for just $10). Either way your events will be featured in the weekly columns. NJ Stage keeps our rates low so they are affordable to arts organizations of all sizes.
