The Weeklings recently posted to social media this photo of themselves performing with Marshall Crenshaw, far right, at the New Hope Winery.
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around the state, through July 15.
MUSIC
• With Bob Burger recovering from a recent heart attack, The Weeklings will be joined by a substitute member, Marshall Crenshaw, at their shows at the Arthur Pryor Bandshell in Asbury Park, July 14 at 5:30 and 8 p.m.; and the Bell Works Rooftop in Holmdel, July 15 at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Crenshaw and The Weeklings’ Glen Burtnik are longtime friends and performed together, decades ago, in the “Beatlemania” musical, with Crenshaw as John Lennon and Burtnik as Paul McCartney.
• Burtnik also will bring his “Summer of Love” show — featuring an all-star cast of Shore-based musicians playing ’60s covers — to Suneagles Golf Club to Eatontown, July 8 at 7:30 p.m., and then will kick off a series of 16 “Summer of Love” shows at Ovation Hall at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City (Fridays at 9 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. through Aug. 29) on July 11.
• The Anglesea Blues Festival takes place in conjunction with the New Jersey State Barbecue Championship in the Anglesea Entertainment District along Olde New Jersey Avenue in North Wildwood, July 9-11, with sets by Billy the Kid & the Regulators and The Outcrops, July 9; Rollin’ & Tumblin’, The James Supra/Sarah Ayers Band, Bluestime and Looseleaf, July 10, and The BC Combo, July 11.
Stanley Jordan will present a tribute to Jimi Hendrix at the Stanhope House, July 11.
• The dazzling guitarist Stanley Jordan will present a tribute to Jimi Hendrix, July 11 at 3 p.m. in the Stanhope House Beer Garden. Jordan has described the concert, titled “Stanley Plays Jimi,” as “my fantasy Jimi Hendrix concert if he were still alive and playing today.”
• Jazz House Kids’ Montclair Jazz Festival will take on a new form in its 12th year, with no big concert at Nishuane Park, but a variety of events stretching from this month to September. The festival begins July 8 at 6 p.m., with a free performance by the Cocomama Latin jazz orchestra and Story Tellers (featuring saxophonist Alex Laurenzi) at Montclair’s Lackawanna Plaza. (UPDATE: Because of a forecast for bad weather, the July 8 event has been moved to July 15). For the complete schedule, visit montclairjazzfestival.org.
• SummerFest, a series of free shows at Liberty State Park in Jersey City, begins July 11 with a an appearance by drummer and bandleader Winard Harper, July 11 at 6 p.m. The shows will take place at North Cove Field, behind the ferry parking lot on Audrey Zapp Drive.
• “He Leadeth Me: Songs of Hope and Healing” will be the theme of the 67th annual Choir Festival taking place at the Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove, July 11 at 7 p.m. Jason Tramm directs the festival, which features hundreds of singers, Gordon Turk on the Great Auditorium’s pipe organ, and conductors such as Tim Sharp, Kevin Boesiger, Cindy Bell, Fiona Sutherland, Michael John Trotta, J. Donald Dumpson and Everett McCorvey. There is no admission charge, though freewill offerings during what is described as a “worship event” can be made.
AVERY BRUNKUS
Billie Wyatt plays the title character in “Snug.”
THEATER
• The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey will return to its usual outdoor summer stage — the amphitheater at St. Elizabeth University in Florham Park — this year, presenting two shows in repertory, starting July 13: Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” in rotation with “Snug” (see video below), a new play written by the theater’s artistic director, Bonne J. Monte.
“Snug” was “inspired by the company of actors with whom I have had the great privilege of working beside throughout the pandemic,” wrote Monte in a group email to the theater’s patrons, volunteers and artists. “It is an homage to them and to Shakespeare’s ever-popular band of Mechanicals from his masterpiece ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream.’ ”
The opening was originally scheduled for July 8 but has been delayed because the set was damaged in the July 6 storm.
Audience sizes will be limited to about 200 a night, with assigned seats for social distancing purposes.
As usual, free tickets will be available for those 17 and younger.
• The Centenary Stage Company will present “Forever Plaid” at the Sitnik Theatre at the Lackland Performing Arts Center in Hackettstown, July 8 and 15 at 7:30 p.m.; July 9-10 and 16-17 at 8 p.m., and July 11 and 18 at 2 p.m. This jukebox musical, which premiered off-Broadway in 1989, features pop songs popularized by male vocal groups of the ’50s such as The Four Aces and The Four Freshmen.
• The South Orange Shakespeare in Our Parks series will feature “Juliet & Her Romeo” at Floods Hill Park, July 9-11 and 16-18 at 8 p.m. There is no admission charge but reservations are recommended, here. Conceived and directed by Nathan Darrow, the play is described on the Shakespeare in Our Parks website as “an experimental adaptation of ‘Romeo and Juliet.’ ” There will be talkbacks with Darrow after the show, July 10 and 17, and “More Love,” described as “a companion piece of scenes, speeches and sonnets,” July 16-18.
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