JANETTE BECKMAN
José James will perform Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” album in its entirety in Princeton, Feb. 7.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Feb. 12.
MUSIC
• Jazz singer José James, who has called Marvin Gaye’s 1976 album I Want You “my all-time favorite album, across all genres,” will team up with Lizz Wright to perform a 50th anniversary tribute to it, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton. The album is best known for its Top 20 title track, though “After the Dance” was also a minor hit.
In addition to performing the album in its entirety, James and Wright will present individual sets.
Check out a video, below, of James performing the I Want You title track.
• Remember Jones and his 20-piece band will cover another classic album from the ’70s, Joe Cocker’s 1970 double live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. at The South Orange Performing Arts Center, as part of a Mad Dogs & Englishmen tour that will also include a show at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Feb. 14 at 8 p.m.
The album — which features a band of a similar size, with Leon Russell and Rita Coolidge sharing lead vocals with Cocker — is highlighted by songs such as “Feelin’ Alright,” “The Letter” and “Delta Lady.”
• The Stone Pony in Asbury Park will celebrate its 52nd anniversary with “The Ocean Avenue Ramble,” a 7 p.m. Feb. 6 concert featuring sets by the rootsy Shore-based bands Ocean Avenue Stompers and Jackson Pines, followed by a “Pine Barrens Stomp” jam session featuring members of both bands and guests.
YO-YO MA
• Renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma will present a solo concert at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m., with the program including three Bach Cello Suites as well as compositions by Zhao Jiping, A.A. Saygun and George Crumb.
• Eight-time Grammy-winning pianist Emanuel Ax will perform at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m., with the program including music by Beethoven, Schumann and Corigliano.
In addition, a free “Scholar’s Insights” talk will be offered in the McCarter lobby at 6:30 p.m., curated in partnership with The Department of Music at Princeton University and featuring pianist and Princeton University Concerts outreach manager Dasha Koltunyuk, and university faculty member Margaret Kampmeier.
• Meshell Ndegeocello will present a show titled “No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin,” Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. at The South Orange Performing Arts Center. No More Water: The Gospel of James Baldwin is also the title of Ndegeocello’s 2024 album, featuring songs inspired by Baldwin’s writings, and spoken word segments by poet Staceyann Chin and writer Hilton Als.
“When I was commissioned by the arts organization Harlem Stage to create a musical tribute to Harlem’s favorite son, James Baldwin’s prophetic literature ‘The Fire Next Time’ was at the forefront of my mind,” Ndegeocello has said. “I’d been reading it a lot, carrying it around in my pocket. It became like my religious text. Baldwin speaks about things that are very familiar within the human condition, and the most revolutionary music to me — the music that changed my life — is the songs about the inner struggle, the commonality of being human.”
JASON QUIGLEY
GABRIEL KAHANE
• Singer-songwriter and pianist Gabriel Kahane will perform two different song cycles at his 4 and 7 p.m. concerts at The Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, Feb. 7.
“Magnificant Bird,” released as an album in 2022, will be performed at 4 p.m. It includes songs written during a self-imposed year-long period of isolation from the internet in 2019 and 2020.
“Book of Travelers,” released as an album in 2018, will be performed at 7 p.m. It includes songs written about a cross-country train trip Kahane took — and the people he met while on it — after the 2016 presidential election.
The shows are part of Montclair State’s Peak Performances series.
• Among the offerings at the Bradley Beach Winter Jazz Festival will be concerts at The Theatre at The Bradley Beach Elementary School, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. (featuring saxophonist Jerry Weldon, bassist John Lee and singer Roberta Gambarini); and Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. (featuring trombonist Delfeayo Marsalis, singer Lezlie Harrison and saxophonist John Petrucelli).
• Actor Alan Cumming will present his cabaret show “Uncut” at The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, Feb. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Cumming has said of this show that it “is slightly different to my other cabaret shows in that it’s only myself and my musical director Henry Koperski onstage. I wanted to pare everything down for this show and try something new. I really wanted the audience … to not clap until the very end, in order to make the whole piece seem like one big thought or journey. The themes for the show are what it means to be an outsider and to live your authentic life.”
KING SOLOMON HICKS
• The South Orange Performing Arts Center will present the third annual South Orange International Blues Festival (Winter Edition), Feb. 6 at 7:30 p.m., with King Solomon Hicks, Blues People (featuring festival curator Mike Griot on bass), Eliza Neals, and New Moon Acoustic Blues.
DANCE
• A show featuring performers from the “Dancing With the Stars” TV competition series will come to The Event Center at Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa in Atlantic City, Feb. 7 at 3 and 8 p.m.; and Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Performers will include Val Chmerkovskiy, Britt Stewart, Alan Bersten, Brandon Armstrong, Jenna Johnson, Daniella Karagach, Pasha Pashkov, Ezra Sosa and Hailey Bills. Danielle Fishel will host, with Andy Richter co-hosting in Newark only. Alix Earle will also appear as a “guest star” in Newark.
• Dance New Jersey‘s DNJFest ’26, presented at The Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, will feature workshops and auditions, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Feb. 7.
• Peak Performances will present Camille A. Brown & Dancers, in a show titled “I Am,” Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m. at The Kasser Theater at Montclair State University. According to Peak Performances website, “I Am” was inspired by the HBO series “Lovecraft Country” and the rhythms of the movie “Drumline,” and “launches new queries into the possibilities of imagination — and boldly investigates the future.”
Catherine O’Hara with Eugene Levy in “Best in Show.”
FILM
• Princeton Garden Theatre will offer a tribute to the late Catherine O’Hara — who died on Jan. 30 at the age of 71 — by showing the great 2000 dog-show comedy “Best in Show,” in which O’Hara co-starred as an eccentric terrier owner, Feb. 12 at 7:30 p.m.
THEATER
• Two River Theater in Red Bank will offer an intimate production of “The Good Thief” — Conor McPherson’s 1994 portrait of a small-time Dublin criminal — from Feb. 4 to Feb. 15, with three-time Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald starring. The shows will take place in the theater’s Victoria J. Mastrobuono Library, with audiences of only 35 people, per show.
• Luna Stage in West Orange will present Rajesh Bose’s new abridged version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” from Feb. 12 to March 8. Five actors will play 16 roles in this 90-minute production.
FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
• The Growing Stage in Netcong will present a contemporary Latin-American musical, “Cinderella: A Salsa Fairy Tale” — written by Karen Zacarias, with music by Deborah Wicks La Puma — from Feb. 6 to Feb. 15. It is a 70-minute production, recommended for children in grades 2-6.
• New Jersey Symphony will usher in the Year of the Horse with a “Lunar New Year Celebration Concert” at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. Sunny Xia will conduct, and the symphony will be joined by pianist Haochen Zhang as well as The Peking University Alumni Chorus, The Starry Arts Children’s Chorus, and The Edison Chinese School Lion Dance Team. The program will include music by Liszt, Bizet, Li Huanzhi, Choi Sunghwan, Johann Strauss Jr. and others.
DARRYL “DMC” McDANIELS
OTHER
• Montclair Story Salon will present an evening of storytelling and music at The Montclair Art Museum, as a benefit for the museum, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. The theme will be “Bring It Back” — meaning the stories and songs will be about bringing things from the past back to life — and visual artists will create original works during the course of the evening.
Participants will include Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of hip-hop group Run-DMC, actress Dagmara Dominczyk, writer and singer-songwriter Warren Zanes, the musical group Nefesh Mountain, Janice Belove, Casey Carpenter and Ted Papoulas.
• The New Jersey Hall of Fame will pay tribute to inductee Whitney Houston, Feb. 7 from noon to 5 p.m. at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford. The free “Celebrating 40 Years of Whitney” will include an exhibit, opening remarks by Patricia Houston (who was Houston’s sister-in-law and manager), karaoke featuring Houston concert footage, a screening of the documentary “Whitney Houston in Focus,” themed giveaways and more.
REVIEWS
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 1)
“Contemporary Volumes” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. Works by Brian Dettmer, Colette Fu, Samuelle Greene, Cheryl Gross, Amanda Love, Sarah Matthews, Cheryl R. Riley, Susan Rostow, Diana Schmertz. (Through March 8)
“Kim’s Convenience” at Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton. (Through March 15)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1, 2027)
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