Top 15 Most Read Stories At New Jersey Stage from August 30 to September 5, 2026

Top 15 Most Read Stories
At New Jersey Stage
from August 30 to September 5, 2026

Published by New Jersey Stage
originally published: 09/06/2026

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).

The vast majority of articles at New Jersey Stage are written in-house, but we also accept press releases sent to [email protected]. These event preview articles get noticed when we first publish them and get brought back into focus on the website the week the event takes place. Our articles and event web pages are picked up by search engines and resources like Google News and NewsBreak and help feed information to A.I. We offer event boosters for just $10 and banner ads starting at $50, but will put your shows in front of the people you want to learn about them. In short, we get your shows noticed! For information on advertising at NewJerseyStage.com, click here.

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.

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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.

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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.