Bruce Hornsby and Christian McBride will perform together at NJPAC in Newark, Nov. 15.
This year’s TD James Moody Jazz Festival, taking place at NJPAC and other Newark venues, began last week and will continue through Nov. 22. Coming up this week …
• In honor of Miles Davis’ 1926 birth, Jon Faddis & Friends will present a “Miles @100” concert, featuring music from Davis’ albums Birth of the Cool (1957) and Kind of Blue (1959), at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. Trumpeter Faddis will be joined by Erena Terakubo (alto saxophone), Gary Smulyan (baritone saxophone), Steve Turre (trombone), John Clark (French horn), Bob Stewart (tuba), Mike LeDonne (keyboards), Todd Coolman (bass) and John Riley (drums).
• The high school students who make up The New Jersey Music Educators Associations All-State Jazz Band and All-State Jazz Choir will perform at NJPAC’s Chase Room, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.
• Gregory Porter will perform with fellow singers Madeleine Peyroux and Catherine Russell at NJPAC’s Prudential Hall, Nov. 13 at 8 p.m. Click HERE for a new interview with Peyroux.
• As part of the WBGO Kids’ Concert Series, Catherine Russell will present a concert titled “Who Is Louis Armstrong?” at The Newark Museum of Art, Nov. 14 at 1 p.m. Russell is the daughter of Armstrong’s longtime musical director, Luis Russell (1902-1963.)
JESSE COOK
• Jesse Cook, the Canadian guitarist who is heavily influenced by Flamenco and Brazilian music, will perform at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, Nov. 14 at 8 p.m.
• “Newark Sing In!” — a free master class and workshop featuring instruction in a number of different vocal styles, for those 18 and older — will be presented at The Feldman Middleton Community Center, Nov. 15 at 1 p.m.
• Singer-songwriter-keyboardist Bruce Hornsby and bassist Christian McBride will present a “One on One” show, combining music and conversation, at NJPAC’s Victoria Theater, Nov. 15 at 3 p.m.
• The Christian McBride-written Fried Bacon will be performed by New Jersey Symphony, and McBride will perform with the orchestra on George Duke’s Dark Wood: Bass Concerto for McBride, at concerts at NJPAC’s Prudential Hall, Nov. 19 at 1:30 p.m. and Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. The program — which will be conducted by Eric Jacobsen, and also feature Claude Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances — will also be presented at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Nov. 21 at 7:30 p.m.
Fried Bacon, McBride’s first work for symphony orchestra, was premiered by New Jersey Symphony in 2022.
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TREY ANASTASIO
Here is a roundup of other major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Nov. 19.
MUSIC
• Following an extensive restoration, the ornately decorated Loew’s Jersey Theatre in Jersey City will have a Grand Reopening Weekend with concerts by The Trey Anastasio Band, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m.; and The War on Drugs (with Nation of Language opening), Nov. 14 at 8 p.m.
According to a press release that came out earlier this year, “The restoration includes rehabilitation of the theatre’s historic interiors and exteriors, modernization of mechanical and production infrastructure, upgrades to public and backstage areas, and the addition of other premium spaces. The renovated venue will accommodate a flexible capacity of 2,600 to 4,000 guests, enabling a wide range of live events.
“Upon its expected opening in Fall 2026, the theatre is expected to host approximately 150 events annually, in addition to at least 70 dates for public programming, contributing to the cultural and economic revitalization of the Journal Square District.”
The theater is nearly 100 years old, having originally opened in 1929.
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
• Rufus Wainwright will present a show titled “Wanted: Judy Garland” at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. In it, he will perform numbers from Garland’s 1961 comeback concert at Carnegie Hall, as well as songs from his own albums Want One (2003) and Want Two (2004), with backing by The Princeton Playhouse Sinfonia, led by Solon Snider Sway and Ruth Ochs.
Garland released recordings from her April 1961 comeback concert as a double live album, Judy at Carnegie Hall, in July of that year. It won four Grammys, including Album of the Year and Best Female Vocal Performance. Wainwright first performed songs from the concert in 2006 at Carnegie Hall, and released recordings from the shows as a double album, Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall, in 2007. The album was nominated for a Grammy in the Traditional Pop Vocal Album category in 2009.
Wainwright also released a 2007 DVD, “Rufus! Rufus! Rufus! Does Judy! Judy! Judy!: Live from the London Palladium,” featuring footage from a show he had presented earlier that year, and a 2022 album, Rufus Does Judy at Capitol Studios, in which he and a four-piece band performed the Carnegie Hall songs at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where Garland recorded many of her albums.
• Veteran singer-songwriter Amy Rigby will present an evening of songs and stories at Little City Books in Hoboken, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m. Rigby has published two memoirs: 2019’s “Girl to City,” focusing on her experiences in the New York music scene of the ’80s and ’90s; and last year’s “Girl to Country,” about her later experiences in Nashville.
DANCE
• The annual tour of “The Hip Hop Nutcracker” — a version of the holiday-season classic with hip-hop break-dancing, contemporary music and a modern, urban setting, plus rapping by hip-hop pioneer Kurtis Blow — will make its only New Jersey stop at The State Theatre in New Brunswick, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m.
MAX WEINBERG
FILM
• Thom Zimny — who has worked frequently with Bruce Springsteen on film and video projects, and has access to Springsteen’s film archive — will show never-before-screened clips at The Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University’s in West Long Branch, Nov. 15 at 5 p.m., with E Street Band Max Weinberg watching along with the audience, and talking about them. The event will be presented by The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music under the title, “Live on Stage: Weinberg. Zimny. Memories. Movies.”
• The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, which opened in 1926 (as The Reade Carlton) with the silent comedy film “The Quarterback,” will show it again, with live organ music by Ben Model. Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.
The same night, at 7:30 p.m., the Basie will present a gala at its Vogel theater, honoring State Sen. Vin Gopal, and Netflix.
• Continuing its tradition of screening the 1980 horror classic “Friday the 13th” — filmed in and around Blairstown — every time the 13th of the month falls on a Friday, Roy’s Hall in Blairstown will show the movie, Nov. 13, with screenings at 6:30 and 9 p.m.
• Peter Billingsley, who played 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in the 1983 film “A Christmas Story” (and is now 55), will make a live appearance at a screening of it at BergenPAC in Englewood, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m.
• “Love Actually,” the charming 2003 film that is set during the holiday season — and features 10 different, interlocking romantic-comedy storylines — will be screened, with an orchestra playing music from the soundtrack live, at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m., and Caesars in Atlantic City, Nov. 20 at 9 p.m. and Nov. 21 at 8 p.m.
KARA LINDSAY
THEATER
• The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present “Mary Poppins” — featuring classic songs such as “A Spoonful of Sugar,” “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious,” “Let’s Go Fly a Kite” and “Feed the Birds” — from Nov. 18 to Jan. 3. The musical, with a book from Julian Fellowes (based on P.L. Travers’ children’s books) and featuring Richard M. Sherman & Robert B. Sherman’s songs from the 1964 film (with additional songs, as well, by George Stiles & Anthony Drewe), premiered in London in 2004, and ran on Broadway from 2006 to 2013, with The Paper Mill Playhouse previously presenting it in 2017.
Kara Lindsay — whose previous credits include “Newsies” at The Paper Mill Playhouse, and Broadway productions of “Newsies,” “Wicked” and “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” — will star as the title character.
• Vicki Lawrence will revive a favorite character — first seen on “The Carol Burnett Show” and then the central character of the 1983-84 “Mama’s Family” sitcom — in “Vicki Lawrence & Mama: A Two-Woman Show,” which The George Street Playhouse will present at The New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Nov. 14 at 2 p.m.
Lawrence wrote the show herself and in it, according to promotional material, she “takes audiences on a journey through her extraordinary career. From her Emmy-winning years alongside Carol Burnett and more, she shares behind-the-scenes stories, comedy, and music — all with her trademark humor.”
• Black Box Studios will launch a new series titled “Writers & Actors,” Nov. 19 at 7:30 p.m. at The Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee. About a dozen actors will present staged readings of unpublished scenes and short plays by writers including Craig Lucas, Neil LaBute, Daniel Handler, Ken Levine, Samuel V. Franco and others.
DEAN NORRIS
WORDS
• Dean Norris, who played DEA agent Hank Schrader in the hit TV series “Breaking Bad,” will sign copies of his book, “Do What You’re Gonna Do: The Definitive Oral History of Breaking Bad,” Nov. 16 at 6 p.m. at Bookends in Ridgewood.
In the book, according to promotional material, Norris “gives fans a backstage tour featuring interviews and insight from cast and crew, never-before-heard secrets, and intimate and hilarious stories from on-set.”
• Allan Pepper, who co-owned the famed nightclub The Bottom Line, will talk about his 2025 book “Positively Fourth and Mercer: The Inside Story of New York’s Iconic Music Club, The Bottom Line,” Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch. Co-author Billy Altman will also participate in the event, veteran radio DJ Jerry Treacy will moderate, and photos taken at the nightclub will be shown.
The Bottom Line was a staple of the Downtown New York music scene from 1974 to 2004, and hosted legendary shows by Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Laura Nyro, David Johansen, Harry Chapin, Flo & Eddie and others.
REVIEWS
“Hank Willis Thomas: LOVERULES — From the Collections of Jordan D. Schnitzer and His Family Foundation” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 20)
“Hank Willis Thomas Selects: NJ Arts Annual” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 20)
“Joyce J. Scott: Declarations,” presented by Princeton University Art Museum at Bainbridge House. (Through Jan. 10)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1)
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