Bruno Mars will perform at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, Aug. 21-22 and 25-26.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Aug. 27.
MUSIC
• Bruno Mars’ The Romantic Tour — named after his album The Romantic, released in February — will include shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, Aug. 21-22 and 25-26 at 7 p.m., with Anderson .Paak (appearing under the pseudonym DJ Pee .Wee) and Raye opening.
Reviewing the tour-opening show at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada, for USA Today, Melissa Ruggieri wrote that it was “a lavish spectacle that is buffed to perfection, with every light swirl and confetti drop precisely calibrated.
“Mars makes it all look effortless, but the work he puts in is apparent in the sweat that bleeds through his headbands and the obvious attention to detail. He’s an old-school entertainer with fresh sensibilities, a musical unicorn who, 15 years into a career, seems to be hitting a new stride.”
Mars’ only previous appearance at MetLife Stadium came at the halftime show of Super Bowl XLVIII, in 2014. (He did, though, perform in the Meadowlands parking lot at The Bamboozle Festival in 2011.)
Sutton Foster, left, and Kelli O’Hara.
• As part of its Centennial Celebration, this year, The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank will present a William “Count” Basie Birthday Weekend, Aug. 21-23. Basie was born in Red Bank on Aug. 21, 1904, and grew up there.
At 11 a.m. on Aug. 21, The Count Basie Orchestra — which has continued to perform Basie’s music since his death in 1984 — will perform at a free Block Party, outside the theater, with food trucks, a dedication ceremony recognizing the Basie Center as part of New Jersey’s Black Heritage Trail, the presentation of the Count Basie Center Jazz Vanguard Award, and more.
Aug. 22 at 7 p.m., The Count Basie Orchestra — led by trumpeter Scotty Barnhart, who joined it in 1993 and became its director in 2013 — will present a concert at the Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre.
Also at The Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m., The Count Basie Orchestra will back Tony-winning singer-actresses Sutton Foster and Kelli O’Hara in a concert that will include a tribute to the 1962 television special “Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall” — featuring Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett — and more.
IRENE YPENBURG
STEPHANE WREMBEL
• The Union Jazz Festival, Aug. 21-23, will combine free performances outside The Union Arts Center with ticketed, indoor concerts and master classes inside the center’s DMK Black Box Theater, Aug. 21-23.
Indoor performers will include Stephane Wrembel and Marel Hidalgo (both Aug. 21), and 3FOLD (featuring Eric Brown, Mike Griot and John Roggie) and The Dave Stryker Trio (both Aug. 22). Outdoor performers will include John Lee & Friends (Aug. 21), The Jonathan Scales Trio (Aug. 22), Big Fun(k) featuring Don Braden and Karl Latham (Aug. 22), Nat Adderley Jr. (Aug. 23) and others.
• Woodbridge Wednesdays, the free series at Parker Press Park, will present a benefit for the Light of Day organization (donations will be accepted), Aug. 26 at 7:30 p.m., with the theme of duos: Performers will include Williams Honor (Reagan Richards & Gordon Brown), Joe D’Urso & Seth Saltzman, Matt & Eryn O’Ree, Miss Emily & Van Romaine, and The Allie Kenny Duo.
Over the last 26 years, Light of Day has raised more than $7.5 million for the fight against Parkinson’s disease and related disorders — mostly through a festival that takes place in Asbury Park and other cities, every January.
• Raul Malo, frontman of The Mavericks, died in December, but surviving band members are continuing to play Mavericks music on a tour that will come to The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m., and will return to New Jersey for a show at The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m.
Drummer Paul Deakin, guitarist Eddie Perez and keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden, who were in the last version of The Mavericks with Malo, will participate in the tour, as will bassist Robert Reynolds, who was a co-founder of the group in 1989 and remained in the lineup until 2014. The singers will include Emily West and James Otto; both performed at the tribute “Dance the Night Away: A 35 Year Musical Legacy Celebration Honoring Raul Malo,” which took place at The Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Dec. 5 and 6.
Perez said in a press release: “Raul used to tell me that every time we released new music, it didn’t belong to us anymore; it belonged to the fans. To me, the band has always transcended the people in it. It’s more about the feeling, the vibe, and the high-energy entertainment we give people. We want to continue giving that spirit to our fans.”
NATHAN JOHNSON
PATRICK PAGE
THEATER
• The 2026-27 season of The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton will open Aug. 19-23 and 25-30 at The Berlind Theatre with “All The Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain,” created and performed by veteran Broadway actor Patrick Page, whose deep voice has made him a natural for villain roles.
According to a press release, “Page illuminates the Bard’s evolving conception of evil by delving into more than a dozen of his most wicked creations, offering a spellbinding masterclass on the most terrifying subject of them all: human nature.”
Each show will feature a post-show conversation with Page.
• SModcastle Cinemas in Atlantic Highlands will present Raconteur Radio’s stage version of “Jaws” — with SModcastle owner, the director and actor Kevin Smith, co-starring as Matt Hooper (the part played by Richard Dreyfuss in the 1975 film) — Aug. 21 at 8 p.m.
• Songs written by Jimmy Buffett — including “Margaritaville,” “Cheeseburger in Paradise,” “Son of a Son of a Sailor” and “Come Monday” — can be heard in the jukebox musical “Escape to Margaritaville,” which will be presented at Stageworks at Studio 237 in Pompton Lakes, Aug. 20-23 and 27-30.
The musical, which has been presented on Broadway and elsewhere since 2017, is about a fun-loving musician who falls in love. Buffett, who died in 2023, wrote a new song for it, “Three Chords,” in addition to allowing his older songs to be used.
LAURA BENANTI
• The 2026-27 season of The George Street Playhouse will begin, Aug. 26-20, with “Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares” (see trailer below), a one-woman comedy show with music in which the Tony-winning Benanti will “share her hilarious, heartfelt, and sometimes brutally honest takes on motherhood, people pleasing, and the joys of aging,” according to a press release.
The shows will take place at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26-29 and 2 p.m. Aug. 30 at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center.
FILM/MUSIC
• Joshua Henry, the Tony-winning actor who appeared in the 2021 film version of Jonathan Larson’s musical “Tick, Tick… Boom!,” will give a live performance before a free screening of it presented by Montclair Film, Aug. 21 at 6:30 p.m. on Church Street in Downtown Montclair. Lawn chairs are recommended.
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REVIEWS
“The Merry Wives of Windsor,” presented by Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University, Madison. (Through Aug. 23)
“A Change of Position” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through Aug. 23)
“In Conversation: Will Wilson” at Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Summit. (Through Aug. 23)
“Claybash” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Bascha Mon: Mindscapes” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Valerie Huhn: The Wound Is the Place Where the Light Enters You” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Steamroller Group: Uncharted Territories” at Hunterdon Art Museum, Clinton. (Through Sept. 6)
“Henri Matisse: Beyond Color” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Sept. 13)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1)
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