Here's a look at the top 15 most read articles published on New Jersey Stage from August 30 to September 5, 2026. Each week we publish at least 70 articles, including original columns and features, promoting events and covering arts news taking place throughout the state and nearby areas like Philadelphia and New York City. This week's top 15 includes articles from 7 counties in New Jersey (Bergen, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, and Union).
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1) JAMTOBERFEST '26 to Take Place in Flanders on October 3rd - (ROXBURY TOWNSHIP, NJ) -- As summer winds down and the warm, crisp air of autumn arrives, New Jersey music fans will have one more chance to gather outdoors for a full day of live jam-band music, food, dancing and community. JAMTOBERFEST '26 takes place Saturday, October 3, 2026, at the Swim & Sport Club in Flanders, NJ. Gates open at 12:00pm, with music beginning at 1:00pm.
2) Basie Center Celebrates William "Count" Basie's Birthday with New Jersey Black Heritage Trail Marker, Street Renaming and more - (RED BANK, NJ) -- The Count Basie Center for the Arts hosted a celebration on Friday, August 21, 2026, honoring Red Bank native and musical legend, William "Count" Basie on what would have been his 122nd birthday. The event included the unveiling of a marker designating the historic building as a spot on the New Jersey Black Heritage Trail, the ceremonial naming of the street to Basie Center Way, the presentation of the Count Basie Jazz Vanguard award to concert promoter Jerry Bakal, and a performance from the Legendary Count Basie Orchestra.
3) 51st NJ Clearwater Festival to Take Place Labor Day Weekend in Asbury Park - (ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- New Jersey Friends of Clearwater invites everyone to start their Labor Day Weekend at its free 51st Annual Clearwater Festival Saturday September 5, 2026, a late summer, family-friendly celebration of great live music, Mother Earth and more in Sunset Park near the ocean in Asbury Park.
4) Bisa Butler and Grammy-winner Durand Bernarr to Headline 2026 Newark Arts Festival - (NEWARK, NJ) -- World-renowned artist Bisa Butler and Grammy Award-winning artist Durand Bernarr will headline the 2026 Newark Arts Festival, returning October 7–11 for five days of exhibitions, music, performance, artist conversations, family programming, open studios and late-night arts experiences across Newark.
5) State Theatre New Jersey presents Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band on October 2nd - (NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- State Theatre New Jersey presents Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band as part of the Ledbetter Heights 30th Anniversary Tour on Friday, October 2, 2026 at 7:30pm. Tickets start at $52.
6) Adelphi Orchestra to Open 73rd Season with "American Voices at 250" in Fair Lawn - (FAIR LAWN, NJ) -- The Adelphi Orchestra, Northern New Jersey's longest continuously performing chamber orchestra, will open its landmark 73rd consecutive concert season with "American Voices at 250." Led by Principal Conductor Kyunghun Kim, the program commemorates America's Semiquincentennial alongside the 200th anniversary legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven.
7) Film Review - "The Whisper Man" - Director James Ashcroft gave John Lithgow and Geoffrey Rush two of their more interesting recent roles in 2025's The Rule of Jenny Pen. Any hopes that the Kiwi filmmaker might similarly rejuvenate the career of Robert De Niro with The Whisper Man should be immediately dispelled. Here De Niro plays as bland a stock character as any uninspired screenwriter could conjure, the haunted ex-cop whose obsession with the one case he couldn't fully solve has destroyed his family life and left him alone to stare at the crime scene map he keeps pinned to his living room wall.
8) Westfield Author Publishes "Temperates: The New Culture of Drinking Less" - (WESTFIELD, NJ) -- Enchantra, Inc. has released Temperates: The New Culture of Drinking Less by founder and CEO Tara Oporto. The book is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle.
9) Paper Mill Playhouse Receives Grant to bring the Disney Musicals in Schools (DMIS) program to New Jersey - (MILLBURN, NJ) -- Disney has awarded Paper Mill Playhouse a $150,000 grant to bring the Disney Musicals in Schools (DMIS) program to New Jersey. Disney Musicals in Schools is an initiative developed by Disney Theatrical Group to create enduring theater programs in public elementary schools. The grant funds two years of programming. Paper Mill Playhouse will select up to four area public elementary schools to participate in the 2026-2027 school year, and another five will be selected for next year.
10) Princeton Folk Music Society presents Rakish on September 18th - (PRINCETON, NJ) -- The Princeton Folk Music Society presents Rakish on Friday, September 18, 2026 at Christ Congregation Church in Princeton. Rakish is a duo comprising violinist Maura Shawn Scanlin and guitarist Conor Hearn. Showtime is 8:00pm.
11) Rock On! This Week's Sound Bites... 09/03/2026 - "We're a blues infused southern rock band out of Nashville, Tennessee," began Parker Barrow drummer Dylan "Trigg"Turner as he discussed the band, their new album, a local Jersey Connection and their show this evening, September 3 at The Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck. "My wife and I started the band about eight years ago and over the last several years we've put together a solidified lineup of extremely talented awesome musicians who are some of our best friends and are family. We are blessed to be out here traveling the country and even internationally to do what we love with the people we love; man, it's a real blessing and we're super excited to be returning back to Teaneck and back to New Jersey. Our keyboard player, Eric Safka is actually from Asbury Park so it's sort of a home market for us. Eric has been with us for about two years now and he is a madman on the organ (Laughs)."
12) Nostalgia Takes The Stage at MPAC this September with shows by Dion, Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone, and The Rascals - (MORRISTOWN, NJ) -- Three of the 1960s' most popular artists take the Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC) stage in September. From the classic doo wop sounds of Dion, to the bouncy pop of British Invasion faves Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone to classic American hitmakers The Rascals, MPAC will reverberate with the sounds, hits and memories of the 1960s.
13) Your Lips Never Left Mine screens as the New Jersey Film Festival opener today - Here is the New Jersey Film Festival Your Lips Never Left Mine Filmmaker Intro by Writer/Director Matthew Kozlark.
14) State Theatre New Jersey presents The Rocky Horror Picture Show with Barry Bostwick on October 3rd - (NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- State Theatre New Jersey presents The Rocky Horror Picture Show with Barry Bostwick (The Original Brad Majors) on Saturday, October 3, 2026 at 7:30pm. A VIP meet & greet with Barry Bostwick as well as tickets to The Rocky Horror After-Party are available. Regular event tickets start at $34.
15) Touching Documentary Clan of the Painted Lady screens at the New Jersey Film Festival on September 5! - Migration is often discussed in terms of the places people leave and the places they eventually call home, but Clan of the Painted Lady, directed by Jennifer Chiu, is more interested in everything that happens in between. The documentary follows Chiu as she reconnects with her Hakka identity and traces her family history stretching across China, India, and Canada. Born in India and raised in Canada, Chiu grew up mostly separated from her father, who spent much of his life in Kolkata, India. What begins as a personal search into her own family eventually becomes a larger exploration of migration, cultural loss, and what it takes to keep a culture alive across generations.
A writer and an AI software designer battle to create the next great play in this cautionary tale about the impending intersection of technology and creativity.
The 45th Bi-Annual New Jersey Film Festival will be taking place between September 4-October 4, 2026. The Festival will be a hybrid as we will be presenting it online as well as doing select in-person screenings at Rutgers University. Almost all the films will be available virtually via Video on Demand for 24 hours on their show date. VOD start times are at 12 Midnight Eastern USA. Each General Admission Ticket or Festival Pass purchased is good for both the virtual and the in-person shows when both are offered. This program is available Online for 24 Hours and In-Person at 5PM. This in-person screenings will be held in Voorhees Hall #105/Rutgers University, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ.
Known for her confessional lyrics and raspy, smoky vocals, Melissa Etheridge (“I’m the Only One” “Come to My Window,” “I Want to Come Over.”) has remained one of America’s favorite female singers since bursting onto the scene in 1988. Etheridge performs songs from her new album, Rise, and her hits.
Dion and his music have long represented a special time and place, reflective of a moment when a song could mean so much. When a singer could sum up what it means to be young, in love and on top of the world. Dion is more than a cherished memory as critic Dave Marsh noted, “Dion is the only artist from the 1950’s who has remained creative and relevant into the 2000s.” In 1958 he had three top-forty hits. In 2008 he was nominated for a Grammy. In 2020, is releasing new studio album Blues with Friends, joined by Joe Bonamassa, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Jeff Beck, Billy Gibbons and many other rock luminaries. In the ’50s he was one of a handful of innovators who defined rock ‘n’ roll and that’s still very much the case.
Julio Torres is an Emmy-nominated, Peabody-winning and WGA-winning writer, director, and comedian from El Salvador.
