RENÉE ELISE GOLDSBERRY
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around the state, through Oct. 6.
MUSIC
• The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown will present “An Evening With Renée Elise Goldsberry,” Sept. 30 at 8 p.m., as the opening show of its 2022-23 season. Goldsberry is best known for originating the role of Angelica Schuyler (Alexander Hamilton’s sister-in-law) in the Broadway musical “Hamilton” — she won a Tony for that — and her other Broadway credits include “The Color Purple,” “Rent” and “The Lion King.” According to the theater’s web site, she will perform “a high-energy spiritual journey of pop, soul, and Broadway classics.”
• Alejandro Escovedo — initially known as a member of the ’80s bands Rank and File, and True Believers, and a critically acclaimed solo artist since the early ’90s — will headline this year’s fall edition of the biannual Hoboken Arts & Music Festival, taking from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 2 on Washington Street in downtown Hoboken. He’ll perform with members of Ian Hunter’s Rant Band, including Hoboken music scene mainstay James Mastro on guitar.
There is no admission charge.
Other artists performing on two stages will include Freedy Johnston, Cliff Westfall, Rio the Messenger, Frankie Morales & the Mambo of the Times Orchestra, The Gentlemen of Soul, Hudson City Rats, Matt Madly (Matt Azzarto), 3 Dollars and Sir Synthesis. As always at this festival, Washington Street will be lined with artists and craftspeople showcasing their works, as well as food vendors and other local businesses, plus children’s activities.
KAKI KING
• The innovative guitarist Kaki King released an album titled Modern Yesterdays in 2020 and is currently touring with a multi-media show built around its music. She’ll perform it as part of the Live Arts series at the Bickford Theatre at the Morris Museum in Morris Township, Sept. 30 at 8 p.m.
• The John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University is inviting the general public to participate in its second annual Immersive Residency program. This is a series of seven week-long residencies featuring world-class musician and represents, according to the school’s website, “an ongoing exploration of the ever-changing landscape of music today, introducing students and the community at large to amazing events of today and to a future that will be, at times, less traditional.” The first residency is Oct. 2-7 and will feature singer-songwriter Jon B. and rapper Rahzel; it will include a “Kickoff Concert” with those two, performing on their own and with Cali students, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m. at Montclair State’s Kasser Theater.
• The Adelphia Orchestra presents a concert titled “Love Letter to Humanity, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fair Lawn Community Center, and Oct. 1 at 2 p.m. at the Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York. Kyunghun Kim will conduct and the program will include Richard Strauss’ Serenade for Winds in E flat major, Op. 7; Gustav Mahler’s Adagietto from Symphony No. 5; and Johannes Brahms’ Symphony No 1.
Kinetic Light dancers in “Descent.”
DANCE
• Mason Gross Dance at Rutgers University presents the disability arts ensemble, Kinetic Light, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. and Oct. 1 at 3 p.m. at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. They will perform “Descent,” described on the Mason Gross website as exploring “the pleasures of wheeled movement and reckless abandon, inspired by the sensual writings and art of French sculptor Auguste Rodin to give the mythological characters of Venus and Andromeda new life as interracial lovers.” (see video below)
THEATER
• In a one-man show titled “Shakespeare Revue,” Jake Jackson will perform 24 Shakespeare monologues and soliloquies — from “Hamlet,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Othello” and other plays — at the Kutz Theatre at the Lackland Performing Arts Center at Centenary University in Hackettstown, Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 at 7 p.m., and Oct. 2 at 2 p.m.
• The Black Box Performing Arts Center in Englewood will present two works in repertory, Oct. 6-23: Neil LaBute’s adaptation of German playwright Georg Büchner’s “Woyzeck” (about an inhumanely treated solider and unfinished when Büchner died in 1837), Oct. 7, 9, 14-16, 20 and 22-23; and “Cherry Hill” (written by Black Box PAC artistic director Matt Okin and influenced by “Woyzeck”), Oct. 6, 8-9, 13, 16, 21 and 23.
VISUAL ARTS
• Billed as “New Jersey’s largest art and studio tour,” the 32nd annual Jersey City Arts & Studio Tour (also known as JCAST), presented in partnership with Mana Contemporary, takes place from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2, with exhibitions, demonstrations, interactive experiences and music. More than 1,000 artists will show their works at 140 locations throughout the city, and curated bus and walking tours will guide those who want to experience JCAST that way.
JENNIFER EGAN
WORDS
• Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jennifer Egan will give the keynote address of the Maplewood South Orange Book Festival, Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. at The Woodland in Maplewood, with no admission charge. There will also be a free Children’s Day, Oct. 2 at The Woodland, with about 50 picture book, middle grade and Young Adult authors. Egan won the Pulitzer for her 2010 novel “A Visit From the Goon Squad,” and released a sequel to it, “The Candy House,” earlier this year.
REVIEWS
“The Caretaker” at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University, Madison, (Through Oct. 9)
“Soft Animals” at Vivid Stage, Summit. (Through Oct. 9)
“Thou Shalt Not,” presented by Thinkery & Verse at Church of St. John the Evangelist, New Brunswick. (Through Oct. 14)
“The Wolves” at Berlind Theater at McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton. (Through Oct. 16)
“Berta, Berta” at Mile Square Theatre, Hoboken. (Through Oct. 16)
“American Stories: Gifts From the Jersey City Museum Collection” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 30)
“New Jersey Arts Annual: Reemergence” at State Museum, Trenton. (Through April 30)
“George Inness: Visionary Landscapes” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through June 30, 2024)
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