Journey (from left, Todd Jensen, Arnel Pineda, Jonathan Cain, Neal Schon, Deen Castronovo and Jason Derlatka) will perform at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, May 23.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through May 28.
MUSIC
• Journey will bring its Final Frontier Tour to Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, May 23 at 7:30 p.m., with another New Jersey show scheduled for Oct. 25 at The Prudential Center in Newark.
Does this tour represent the band’s farewell (as its title implies)? Possibly. Jonathan Cain, Journey’s keyboardist since 1980 and the writer or co-writer of many of its biggest hits — including “Don’t Stop Believin’,” “Who’s Crying Now,” “Open Arms,” “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” and “Faithfully” — has said that this tour will be his last with the group. But guitarist Neal Schon, the group’s only remaining co-founder, hasn’t ruled out continuing in some form, without him. And, or course, classic-rock bands often continue touring after their farewell tours end.
Other current group members include singer Arnel Pineda, keyboardist Jason Derlatka, bassist Todd Jensen and drummer Deen Castronovo.
DIANA BEJARANO
EDMAR CASTAÑEDA
• The Jersey City Jazz Festival will stretch from May 26 to 31, with shows in various venues from May 26 to 28, and then the main festival taking place on the weekend of May 29-31, on multiple stages on the Hudson River Waterfront at Exchange Place Plaza. Venues participating in the first three days of the festival include:
87 Sussex: Nobuki Takamen Trio, May 26 at 6:30 p.m.
Brennan Courthouse: “Dance Party” with Swingadelic, May 28 at 7 p.m.
The Junto: Emily Braden, May 26 at 7 and 9 p.m.; Champian Fulton, May 27 at 7 and 9 p.m.; Lezlie Harrison, May 28 at 7 and 9 p.m.
Pet Shop: The Tim Berne 4, May 26 at 8 p.m.; Jam Session (hosted by Ian Kenselaar), May 27 at 8 p.m.; Brooklyn Circle featuring Stacy Dillard, May 28 at 8 p.m.
Sip Studios: “Live in the Garden” featuring Sed March, May 27 at 8 p.m.
The Statuary: Edmar Castañeda Quartet, May 28 at 6 p.m.
White Eagle Hall: LaMP (Russ Lawton, Scott Metzger and Ray Paczkowski), Beninghove’s Hangmen, May 27 at 8 p.m.
• Bob Dylan will turn 85 on May 24. And May 28 at 7:30, Pat Guadagno will present his annual “BobFest” tribute concert at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank. In a break from BobFest tradition, this year’s show will be “in the round”-style, with Guadagno sharing songs and stories with Rob Paparozzi, Anne Hills, John Cruz, Steve Delopoulos (of the band Burlap to Cashmere) and Renee Maskin.
The cover of The Feelies’ 1980 debut album, “Crazy Rhythms.”
• The Feelies will perform their albums The Good Earth (1986) and Crazy Rhythms (1980) in their entirety, plus other songs, at White Eagle Hall in Jersey City, May 22 and 23, respectively. Both shows will begin at 8 p.m. The band is billing these shows as their only ones of 2026, the year that marks their 50th anniversary).
• Jack Antonoff will present his eighth annual Shadow of the City Festival, May 23 at 3 p.m. at The Stone Pony Summer Stage in Asbury Park, with his band Bleachers plus Real Estate, Toadies, Grace Ives, Annie DiRusso and Bike Routes.
NOTE: Toadies were originally scheduled to perform on their own, inside the Stone Pony, on this day. Now they will perform outside, as part of the festival. Tickets bought for the original show will be good for the festival, or can be refunded.
• Singer-songwriter and poet John Dull has assembled a “John Dull & Friends” concert that will take place at The Williams Center in Rutherford, May 21 at 7:45 p.m. Dull describes it as “A rousing evening of acoustic music and poetry with fiddle, banjo, mandolin, guitar, bass and vocal harmonies.”
The show will feature Dull’s longtime friends and collaborators Ted Clancy and David Rimelis, as well as his son, singer-songwriter and visual artist Martin Dull.
• Triumph — the Canadian hard-rock band who had hits such as “Somebody’s Out There,” “Hold On” and “Magic Power” in the ’70s and ’80s — is touring for the first time in 30 years, and will perform at The Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, May 28 at 8 p.m., with April Wine opening.
MUSIC/FILM
• “A Heavenly Evening” — taking place at The Barrymore Center in Fort Lee, May 23 at 7 p.m. — will begin with a screening of the acclaimed 1934 silent Chinese movie “The Goddess,” with live music by guitarist Gary Lucas (see trailer below). And then Lucas and Feifei Yang, who sings and plays the erhu (a Chinese string instrument), will present a set of “re-imaginings of classic Chinese Pop from the 1930s through the ’70s,” according to a press release. The music they will play will include selections from The Edge of Heaven, Volume 2, a recent album featuring Lucas, Yang and multi-instrumentalist Jason Candler.
Sarah-Anne Martinez will co-star as Maria in “West Side Story” at The Paper Mill Playhouse.
THEATER
• “Something’s Coming,” “Somewhere,” “Maria,” “Tonight,” “I Feel Pretty,” “America” … does any musical feature more memorable songs than “West Side Story”? The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present the classic (featuring music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by Arthur Laurents) from May 28 to June 28. The production will utilize Jerome Robbins’ original choreography, as well as new orchestrations for a 19-piece orchestra.
• Smugbug Productions will present “A Healthy Marriage,” May 27 to June 3-7 at coLab Arts in New Brunswick. This new musical, written by Dave Seamon, explores the highly publicized 1922 murders of Edward Wheeler Hall and Eleanor Mills; Hall was working as a priest at the St. John the Evangelist church in New Brunswick at the time of the murder and was having an affair with Mills, a married woman who was a member of his choir. Hall’s wife and her two brothers were indicted for the murders, but the jury decided there was not enough evidence to convict.
Smugbug describes the murders, and their aftermath, as “America’s first major tabloid story.”
• The State Theatre in New Brunswick will present a play, “Liberty Madness: Scenes From a Revolution,” with no admission charge, May 27 at 7:30 p.m. Thinkery & Verse is producing the play, and describes it this way: “On the eve of the American revolution, Benjamin Franklin travels to Perth Amboy to confront New Jersey’s royal governor — his own beloved son, William Franklin. In a war that destroys much of the mid-Atlantic, families are torn apart as New Jersey becomes the crossroads of the American revolution.
“This live stage play tells an epic story through shadows and illuminations, master storytelling and live music, to understand the people who lived through the American Revolution 250 years ago.”
Thinkery & Verse will also present “Liberty Madness: Scenes From a Revolution,” June 10 at 224 High Street in Perth Amboy; and July 4-5 and 11-12 at The Indian Queen Tavern at East Jersey Old Town Village in Piscataway.
FILM
• Marisa Fox’s documentary “My Underground Mother” (watch trailer below) — about her quest to find out what happened to her mother in Poland, during the Holocaust — will be shown at The Barrymore Film Center in Fort Lee, May 26 at 7:30 p.m., with Fox herself making an appearance at the theater.
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REVIEWS
“Ann Vollum: Sharp Teeth, Long Tongues!” at BrassWorks Gallery, Montclair. (Through May 22)
“Mrs. Christie” at Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton. (Through May 31)
“Alexandra Schoenberg: Shifting Perspectives” at Hillside Square Gallery, Montclair. (Through June 26)
“Willem de Kooning: The Breakthrough Years, 1945–50” at Princeton University Art Museum. (Through July 26)
“Allan Rohan Crite: Neighborhood” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through July 31)
“Henri Matisse: Beyond Color” at Morris Museum, Morris Township. (Through Aug. 9)
“Salvador Jiménez-Flores: Raíces & Resistencias” at Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton. (Through Aug. 1, 2027)
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