Music lovers enter Morristown, NJ’s Mayo Performing Arts Center this Friday, September 18, 2026 evening ready to celebrate the venue’s 32nd season with a gravity-defying opening night gala performance by Broadway’s Jessica Vosk.
Known for her work both in musical theater and on concert stages, Vosk starred in such Broadway shows as Hell’s Kitchen, Beaches, and Wicked, and performed at such celebrated venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, and the Kennedy Center. In addition to releasing two musical recordings, Vosk is also the star of her own digital interview/comedy series, Vosk in the City.
Inside the the 89-year-old MPAC theater — which was originally designed as a Walter Reade movie theater — Jean Leonard, MPAC’s VP of Marketing and Communications, talks about the historic venue and its upcoming 32nd season of spectacular live events.
“This season, we’re thrilled to present a diverse array of shows at MPAC including concerts, comedy, theater, family shows, and more,” explains Leonard. In addition to tonight’s gala starring Jessica Vosk, other theater-related performances this season will include national tours of Waitress, The Music Man, The Who’s Tommy, and Mystic Pizza, in addition to Broadway icons Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Bernadette Peters, and Jeremy Jordan who currently stars on Broadway as Bobby Darin in Just in Time.
Notes Leonard, “The origins of MPAC are as a Hollywood movie house, so we are also pleased to present films with a live entertainment twist.” As such, this season MPAC will present the films Ghostbusters, Coco, and Rocky with a live orchestra. In addition, Chevy Chase will be on hand to field questions following a screening of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and there will be a Halloween screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with a live shadow cast.
“Another thing we’re excited about as we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary are artists who are part of the American fabric,” adds Leonard, and will include concerts by The Commodores, Art Garfunkel, Judy Collins, Wynton Marsalis, Darlene Love, Toad the Wet Sprocket, 10,000 Maniacs, and Don McLean and Lee Greenwood, in addition to children’s programs including Sesame Street Live and The Nutcracker as well as unique family entertainment events like Step Africa!, Kodo, Reza: The Edge of Illusion, and Cirque Alice.”
Concludes Leonard, “We hope people will take advantage of our Season 32 offerings as we look forward to the future with this next chapter of MPAC’s history!”
The auditorium lights dim and MPAC President and CEO Allison Larena welcomes tonight’s audience of concertgoers of all ages. She also introduces Jessica Vosk who takes the stage with musical director/pianist Mary Mitchell Campbell, bassist Matt Aronoff, drummer Sean McDaniel, and guitarist Hiddy Hidiyat.
Opening with Gypsy’s “Let Me Entertain You,” Voss, 42, sings in her powerful voice, “Let me entertain you/And we’ll have a real good time!” prior to shifting gears and segueing into a heartfelt rendition of “Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
The crowd cheers and Vosk talks about being a Jersey native who “grew up in Clinton — Exit 12 off 78!” — before revealing, “I’m a sucker for a story of a dreamer,” and slipping into “Times are Hard for Dreamers” where she captures the crowd with her spellbinding vocal on this ballad from Amélie.
Vosk talks about getting married this year and about her dating life before marriage, joking, “I thought I would sing a song about all the losers I dated, but I thought I would sing about them in a really pretty way!” Here, her voice cries out with emotion on a passionate rendition of Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” and on a soaring interpretation of “Still Hurting” from The Last Five Years.
Acknowledging that during the pandemic she would meet her dates at Bear Mountain State Park, Vosk steps into a country-tinged version of “I Miss the Mountains” from Next To Normal and follows up with a story about meeting her husband, Dave, in St. Louis, declaring, “I love a bald guy with a beard!”
Vosk invites singer/actress Marissa Rosen to join her on a duet of the rocking “Nobody’s Side” from Chess which elicits animated cheers and applause from the crowd.
Vosk follows up by welcoming Broadway actress Amanda Jane Cooper — who played Glinda to Vosk’s Elphaba in Wicked — to perform “For Good” where the pair cries, “Because I knew you/I have been changed for good,” to a standing ovation.
After telling the audience about her Carnegie Hall tribute to Judy Garland, Vosk performs a swinging arrangement of “Almost Like Being in Love” prior to slowing down the tempo on “This Can’t Be Love” and sidestepping as she sings with power to hoots, hollers, and cheers from the crowd.
Vosk continues with an upbeat swing medley of “I’ve Still Got My Health” from Beaches and “Young and Healthy” from 42nd Street and tells a story about auditioning to be a backup singer for Bette Midler prior to giving a tour de force solo performance of Midler’s “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
The audience cheers and Vosk asks, “Are you ready to sing?” before music lovers happily join her vocalizing and clapping with their arms in the air on an upbeat rendition of Chappell Roan’s “Pink Pony Club.”
Vosk invites the students of the MPAC Performing Arts Company to join her on stage for an upbeat rendition of “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” where the youngsters sing and dance with energy on this pop anthem by Adele.
Concertgoers hoot and holler and Vosk exclaims, “Give it up for these incredible students!” as she high-fives each young performer.
After Marissa Rosen joins Vosk in a countrified version of Sabrina Carpenter’s “Please Please Please,” Vosk asks musical director Mary Mitchell Campbell, “Are we at the end?” and she and Campbell choose an impromptu extra song to perform. Here, Vosk and the band present an electrifying rendition of “Don’t Rain On My Parade” where Vosk commands the stage before crying, “Hey, hey, Morristown, here I am!” to a second standing ovation.
Moved and surprised by the extended outpouring of love from the crowd, Vosk follows up with a dramatic rendition of her signature song from Wicked, “The Wizard and I,” which elicits yet another standing ovation.
“Thank you so much!” responds Vosk who touches concertgoers’ hearts with an encore of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You.” As the crowd cheers and applauds, Vosk responds, “Thank you, Morristown! I love you so much!” prior to blowing a kiss and exiting the stage.
As patrons make their way out of the MPAC auditorium, several share their thoughts on tonight’s 32nd season gala starring Jessica Vosk. Exclaims Gianna, a teenager from Pompton Lakes, “Jessica Vosk was amazing! She really connected with the audience. As a performer, she’s so outgoing and relatable!” Gianna’s friend, Fran from Pequannock, agrees, adding, “She’s insane! Her voice is perfect — it’s like butter. She’s inspirational, funny, and so engaging. It was a joy to watch her — I can’t wait to see her again!”
Remarks Amy from Morristown, “I thought Jessica Vosk was great! My daughter — who was on stage with the choir tonight — and I saw Jessica on Broadway in Wicked and she was amazing both then and now. She has such a beautiful voice and she’s a such a fun person, too!”
Ella, 12, from Randolph calls tonight’s show “really fun” and Jessica Vosk “very funny!” Explaining, “Her songs were so good and her vocal range was amazing,” Ella reveals, “My favorite song was the one she did from Wicked with her friend.” Emi, 13, from Randolph, concurs, adding, “I thought she was really good and she has an amazing singing voice. She’s both funny and cool and seeing her tonight just makes me want to see her in another show!”
Insists Kevin from Hoboken, “Jessica Vosk is one of the best talents on Broadway and it’s incredible that she performed here in Morristown at this beautiful venue. I especially think her rendition of ‘The Wizard and I’ is the best of any Elphaba in all of Wicked. Plus, mid-show, she did ‘Don’t Rain on My Parade’ — a song she hadn’t even planned to do — and got a standing ovation for it!”
Lastly, Danny from Hoboken exclaims, “Jessica Vosk is incredible — just beyond! She was electric and so engaging! Her voice is amazing and I loved her stories as much as I loved her singing,” before declaring, “She’s such a fun time, she makes me want to come back to MPAC and see even more shows!”
To learn more about Jessica Vosk, please go to jessicavosk.com. For information on upcoming Season 32 performances at MPAC — including The Commodores on October 1, Sesame Street Live on October 3, The Music Man on October 16–17, Ghostbusters in Concert on October 18, Toad the Wet Sprocket on October 21, Coco Live-to-Film Concert on October 24, The Rocky Horror Picture Show on October 31, Art Garfunkel on November 6, Rocky in Concert on November 10, Don McLean and Lee Greenwood on November 15, 10,000 Maniacs on November 19, Judy Collins on November 22, Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase on November 29, Darlene Love on December 4, The Nutcracker on December 11–27, Bernadette Peters on January 8, Waitress on January 15–16, Cirque Alice on January 27, Reza: The Edge of Illusion on January 30, Mystic Pizza on February 6–7, Step Afrika! on February 12, Brian Stokes Mitchell on February 19, Kodo on March 14, Audra McDonald on April 9, The Who’s Tommy on April 10–11, and Wynton Marsalis on April 17 — please go to mayoarts.com.
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