The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel will present “Come From Away” from Sept. 11 to Oct. 4.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Sept. 17.
THEATER
• Immediately after the attacks of 9/11, American airspace closed, and so U.S.-bound planes were diverted elsewhere. Nearly 40 planes, with some 7,000 people, were instructed to land at an airport in the small, isolated town of Gander on the island of Newfoundland, Canada. And they weren’t cleared to leave until five days later.
Irene Sankoff and David Hein interviewed some of the people who were there, in order to get their stories, and turned them into the compelling 2013 musical “Come From Away,” which will start a 25th-anniversary-of-9/11 production on Sept. 1l at The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel, and run through Oct. 4.
Sept. 10 at 5 p.m., Bell Works and The Axelrod Performing Arts Center will co-host a free community observance at Bell Works’ main atrium. The event will honor area residents who died on 9/11, as well as first responders, rescue and recovery workers, and will feature music by tenor David Smolokoff and the Monmouth Civic Chorus (led by Kevin Vondrak).
• Apricot Sky Productions will present “Tributes,” an evening of one-act plays and monologues written by Eric Alter of Livingston, Sept. 11-12 at 8 p.m. at The Grove Street Theater in Montclair. Some but not all of the works are 9/11-themed, and while the shows will be free, donations will be accepted for the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum in New York.
• August Wilson’s 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning play “The Piano Lesson” — which was made into a film starring Samuel L. Jackson and others in 2024 — is part of his “Pittsburgh Cycle” of 10 plays, each one set in a different decade of the 20th century. This one takes place in the 1930s, and is a family drama with a supernatural twist. It will be presented at The Two River Theater in Red Bank, with previews starting on Sept. 12, the official opening night on Sept. 18, and the last show on Oct. 4.
This will be the eighth “Pittsburgh Cycle” play Two River Theater has presented since 2012; it intends to do all of them.
Sandra “Pepa” Denton and Cheryl “Salt” James of Salt-N-Pepa.
MUSIC
• Three of the most popular all-female groups of the ’90s — TLC, Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue — have joined forces for a tour that is titled It’s Iconic and will come to The PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Sept. 12 at 7:30 p.m.; and The Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, Sept. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Note: TLC’s Tionne “T-Boz” Watkins has missed several recent shows due to her struggle with sickle cell anemia; it has not been announced if she will be able to perform at the two New Jersey concerts.
• Singer and multi-instrumentalist Gunhild Carling, who has been called Sweden’s Queen of Swing, is well known internationally, in part because of her YouTube videos, which have earned more than 70 million views. These include collaborations with Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox such as a version of Pharrell Williams’ hit “Happy” in which she plays 10 different instruments and shows how she can play three trumpets at once (watch video below) and a 1920s jazz/swing take on Madonna’s “Material Girl” that features a tap-dancing segment.
Carling will kick off Centenary Stage Company‘s 2026-27 Performing Arts Center with a concert at The Sitnik Theatre at The Lackland Performing Arts Center in Hackettstown, Sept. 12, and will also perform at The Loft at City Winery in Manhattan, Sept. 18.
• The Wonder Bar in Asbury Park will host a “Celebration of Life” for the late actor Vincent Pastore (best known for his work on “The Sopranos”), Sept. 13 at 6 p.m., with Tony Amato (of Boccigalupe & the Bad Boys) leading Pastore’s band The Gangster Squad, and many other friends of Pastore performing.
Pastore died on Aug. 1, at the age of 80.
The cover of Rikki Rockett’s book “Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison.”
MUSIC/BOOKS
• Rikki Rockett, drummer for the pop-metal band Poison, will perform with his own band The Rockett Mafia at Debonair Music Hall in Teaneck, Sept. 12 at 7 p.m. (with Starz, Keith Roth & the New Variants opening), and will also sign copy of his memoir “Ghost Notes: My Life in Poison,” Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. at Bookends in Ridgewood, and give a master class in drumming at Octopus Music School in Middletown, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m.
MUSIC/FILM/THEATER
• In honor of the 60th anniversary of the first episode of television’s “Star Trek” (on Sept. 8, 1966), The Brook Arts Center in Bound Brook has three “Star Trek”-themed events scheduled for this month: a screening of 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” Sept. 12 at 3 p.m. (with a live appearance by cast member Steven Lance); a “Music From Star Trek” concert by The Brook Orchestra (conducted by Thomas Vacca), Sept. 13 at 3 p.m.; and the New Jersey premiere of “Khan!!! The Musical!,” billed as “A Parody Trek-tacular,” Sept. 18-27.
DANCE
• A.I.M by Kyle Abraham will present Abraham’s “White Space,” featuring music by Jason Moran and Nico Muhly, at The Kasser Theater at Montclair State University, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m., as part of the Peak Performances series.
According to Peak Performances’ website, “this dance work grounds its cast of 11 captivating dancers in a restless and thought-provoking world fueled by a vast movement vocabulary consisting of Abraham’s signature blend of classical and contemporary dance with a hip-hop underbelly. The score is performed live by two pianists on one piano, with echoes of pre-recorded hip-hop driving the collision of reality and idealism.”
COURTESY OF BIG BROTHER RECORDINGS
Noel Gallagher of Oasis is shown performing at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford in August 2025.
FILM
• Oasis’ reunion tour last year, Oasis Live ’25 Tour, was a big critical and commercial success, and included two sold-out shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford. A documentary about the tour, “Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger,” will open in theaters, this weekend. You can watch the trailer below and see where it is playing in New Jersey HERE.
TALKS
• The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music will launch an “Oral History Series,” Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m., with “An Evening of Stories” featuring original E Street Band drummer Vini Lopez, at the center’s 240-seat Powell Soundstage. There will be no admission charge, though registration will be required.
The center has also added “An Evening With” Ron Aniello, who has worked with Springsteen as a producer and musician on albums such as Letter to You and Western Stars, Sept. 17 at 7:30 p.m. at the Powell Soundstage.
The Center, which opened in June of this year, is at Monmouth University in West Long Branch.
• Pink will appear “in conversation” with Shefali Tsabary — who writes under the name Dr. Shefali, and is the author of “Raising Conscious Daughters: Building Confidence, Courage, and Inner Power in an Anxious World” and “Raising Conscious Sons: Cultivating Purpose, Connection and Inner Power in a Chaotic World” — Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. at BergenPAC in Englewood. Both books are being published this month.
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REVIEWS
“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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