Members of New Jersey Ballet perform George Balanchine’s “Serenade.”
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through March 26.
DANCE
• New Jersey Ballet and New Jersey Symphony will team up for four shows at The Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown this weekend.
March 20 at 7:30 p.m. and March 21 at 2 p.m., they will present a show titled “Icons of American Ballet and featuring George Balanchine’s “Serenade” (set to Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings), Jerome Robbins’ “In the Night” (set to nocturnes by Chopin) and Twyla Tharp’s “Nine Sinatra Songs” (set to music popularized by Frank Sinatra).
Also, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. and March 22 at 2 p.m., they will perform “Sleeping Beauty,” set by music by Tchaikovsky.
SETH RUDETSKY AND JESSIE MUELLER
MUSIC
• Pianist and SiriusXM satellite radio host Seth Rudetsky will team up with Tony-winning Broadway star Jessie Mueller (“Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” “Waitress,” “Carousel,” “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever”) for a show at The Victoria Theater at NJPAC in Newark, March 21 at 7:30 p.m. In addition to songs from musicals Mueller has appeared in, the show will offer “intimate, funny, behind-the-scenes stories” and “plenty of unexpected musical surprises,” according to the NJPAC website.
• Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band will kick off a tour on March 31. But you can see the band’s drummer, Max Weinberg, in one of his Max Weinberg’s Jukebox shows, March 20 at 8 p.m. at The URSB Carteret Performing Arts & Events Center.
In these shows, which Weinberg has been presenting since 2017, he and his band play classic rock covers — songs originally recorded by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and others — that are requested by audience members. You may even hear one or more Springsteen songs.
• Keyboardist Rick Wakeman was an on-again, off-again member of the progressive-rock group Yes from 1971 to 2004, and contributed to some of the band’s greatest albums, including Fragile and Going for the One. His son Oliver also played keyboards in the band from 2009 to 2011. Both have also been members of the band Strawbs, as well.
Now, for the first time, they are touring together, in a show titled “Rick Wakeman and Son.” They will be at BergenPAC in Englewood, March 25 at 7 p.m.; and The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, March 29 at 7 p.m.
The cover of the book, “The Lifespan of a Fact.”
THEATER
• LoMotion Live will present “The Lifespan of a Fact” at The Parsippany Arts Center in Boonton, March 20 at 8 p.m., March 21 at 3 and 8 p.m., and March 22 at 3 p.m. Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell and Gordon Farrell adapted this play from John D’Agata and Jim Fingal’s 2012 book of the same name, which includes an essay that D’Agata wrote about suicide, and the factchecking comments made by Fingal when preparing the essay for publication in the magazine The Believer in 2010. The play’s three characters are D’Agata, Fingal and the magazine’s editor.
According to Jesse Green’s New York Times review of the 2018-19 Broadway production, the D’Agata character considers himself “a lyric essayist, for whom atmosphere takes precedence over facts and rhythm over reliability,” and declares “I’m not interested in accuracy. I’m interested in truth.” And this makes the play urgently topical.
“Never more than now, with accusations of fake news flying, have these questions bedeviled writers — whether journalists or essayists or critics,” Green wrote. “Mistakes and lies and opinions are interchangeable with facts in the Twitterverse, creating a nimbus of doubt (and opportunities for ‘artistic’ embellishment) around everything.”
COMEDY/MAGIC
• Jokers of Magic — which will be presented at The Victoria Theater at NJPAC in Newark, March 20 at 8 p.m. — will, as its title implies, feature magicians who rely heavily on comedy in their acts, including Derek Hughes (a Top 10 finalist on the TV competition “America’s Got Talent”), Nick Diffatte, Matt Donnelly and Michael Mills
A scene from a past production of “Erba: A Forest in the City.”
FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
• Two River Theater in Red Bank will present “Erba: A Forest in the City,” recommended for ages 4 and up, March 21-22, 26 and 28-29. Developed by the Italy-based Compagnia TPO, this show is described as “an enchanting interactive performance where two dancers and children co-create a vibrant, ever-changing world. One dancer draws colorful homes and winding streets while the other fills the landscape with trees, insects, and green spaces. Their ideas bloom through stunning digital projections, forming a magical city that shifts with the seasons and invites kids to add their own colors and characters.”
BOOKS
• Jon Bon Jovi will discuss Sen. Cory Booker’s new book “Stand” with him at The Victoria Theater at NJPAC in Newark, March 22 at 2 p.m.
The event is part of NJPAC’s Conversations Series and will kick off Booker national book tour. NJPAC’s website describes the events as a “timely and hopeful conversation about our shared American ideals. (Booker’s) new book offers inspiring and actionable insights for Americans from all walks of life — with powerful stories of leadership from President George Washington, Congressman John Lewis, suffragist Alice Paul, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, environmental justice advocate Ron Finley and disability rights activist Jennifer Keelan-Chaffins.
“It’s an optimistically defiant challenge to reclaim our national story and work together to redeem the American dream.”
The book will be published on March 24. For more about it, visit macmillan.com.
• Donna Walker-Kuhne will discuss her 2025 book “Champion for the Arts: Successful Strategies for Engaging Dynamic Communities” and give tips to help arts organizations and arts supporters engage communities and build their audience, March 26 at 6 p.m. at Presentation Hall at Montclair State University. This is a free event, though tickets are required via Peak Performances; the organization will also give free books to the first 100 attendees.
FILM
Corey Feldman, far left, and Kerri Green, far right, co-starred in “The Goonies.”
• Corey Feldman and Kerri Green — co-stars of the 1985 comedy/adventure movie “The Goonies” — will share their memories of making it, as teenagers, following a 7:30 p.m. March 20 screening at Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark.
REVIEWS
“Richard III,” presented by The Curtain at Nimbus Arts Center, Jersey City. (Through March 29)
“Art (Official) Intelligence” at Gallery 14C at Project 14C, Jersey City. (Through April 2)
“Allan Rohan Crite: Neighborhood” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through July 31)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1, 2027)
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