Tina Fey and Amy Poehler will perform at The Prudential Center in Newark, June 22, as part of the Prudential North to Shore Festival.
New Jersey’s third annual Prudential North to Shore Festival — featuring events in the fields of music, comedy, film, technology, visual arts and more, and taking place in Newark, Asbury Park, Atlantic City, Red Bank and Montclair — began on June 14, and will continue though June 29. Here are some of the major events coming up over the next week or so (through June 26):
ASBURY PARK
June 19, 7 p.m.: Steel Pulse, Over the Bridge at Stone Pony.
June 19, 7 p.m.: “She’s NorMale – A Transgender Odyssey” featuring Geenetica (Dr. Geena Buono) at House of Independents.
June 21, noon-5 p.m.: Juneteenth Family Arts & Cultural Festival at Springwood Avenue Park.
June 21, noon-8 p.m.: Asbury Underground at various locations.
June 21, 5 p.m.: Lawrence, Allen Stone at Stone Pony Summer Stage.
June 21, 8 p.m.: Brenda K. Starr at House of Independents.
June 21, 8 p.m.: Stars, Grasser at Asbury Lanes.
June 21, 8:30 p.m.: The Smithereens featuring Marshall Crenshaw at Wonder Bar.
June 22, 2 p.m.: Soul Project NOLA, The Ocean Avenue Stompers at R Bar.
June 22, 3 p.m.: “Heaven vs. Hell” (dance/theater production) at Good Hope Annex.
June 22, 4:30 p.m.: Slightly Stoopid, Iration, Little Stranger at Stone Pony Summer Stage.
June 22, 7 p.m.: Larkin Poe, Zach Person at Asbury Lanes.
June 26, 6 p.m.: Jack’s Mannequin, The Early November at Stone Pony Summer Stage.
ATLANTIC CITY
June 21, 1-7 p.m.: Joe Bataan, Meli’sa Morgan, Full Force, The System, Lillo Thomas, Jeff Redd, First Choice, Allure, Helen Bruner & Terry Jones & Kyle McCarty, others at Gardner’s Basin.
MONTCLAIR
June 26-29: Summer Film Showcase at The Clairidge.
NATALIA LAFOURCADE
NEWARK
June 18-20: Black Creative Economy Summit at Symphony Hall.
June 19, 8 p.m.: Natalia Lafourcade at Prudential Hall at NJPAC.
June 20, 7 p.m.: Hot 97’s Summer Jam with A Boogie, Gunna, GloRilla, Muni Long, Asake, Ayra Starr, Ja Rule & Friends (with a tribute to the late Irv Gotti), Kash Doll, Bobby Konders & Jabba (featuring Masicka), Jim Jones & Friends, others at Prudential Center.
June 20, 7 p.m.: Two Funny Mamas featuring Sherri Shepherd and Kym Whitley at Victoria Theater at NJPAC.
June 20, 8 p.m.: Third Eye Blind, Stars at Prudential Hall at NJPAC.
June 21, 7:30 p.m.: Kumail Nanjiani at Victoria Theater at NJPAC.
June 22, 6 p.m.: Tina Fey and Amy Poehler at Prudential Center.
June 22, 6 p.m.: Bassem Youssef at Prudential Hall at NJPAC, Newark.
June 26, 8 p.m.: Stone Temple Pilots, The Parlor Mob at Prudential Hall at NJPAC.
June 26-28: Newark International Film Festival.
RED BANK
June 18, 7 p.m.: New Jersey Symphony at Count Basie Center for the Arts.
June 21, 7 p.m.: moe. at Count Basie Center for the Arts.
_____________________________
Here is a roundup of other major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through June 26.
SHERYL CROW
MUSIC
• Sheryl Crow will headline this year’s Summer Gala at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, June 20. In addition to her concert at 8 p.m., there will be a dinner reception and program at 6 p.m., and a post-show dance party featuring Motor City Revue. Proceeds will support The Basie’s educational programs and initiatives.
The Gala will also kick off a year-long centennial celebration of the theater, which opened as Reade’s Carlton theater in 1926.
Crow will be back in New Jersey later this year, for The Outlaw Music Festival — also featuring Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and others — at The Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, Sept. 12; and The PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Sept. 13.
• New Jersey’s biggest country music event of the year — the fifth annual Barefoot County Music Fest — will take place on the beach in Wildwood, from June 19 to June 22. The co-headliners will be Rascal Flatts (June 19), Lainey Wilson (June 20), Jason Aldean (June 21) and Jelly Roll (June 22), with other performers including Chris Janson, Boyz II Men, Warren Zeiders, Megan Moroney, Colt Ford, Jordan Davis, Ella Langley, Chris Cagle, Lanco, Sam Barber and Chayce Beckham.
• As you have probably heard by now, Brian Wilson died on June 11, at the age of 82. He was, of course, no longer touring, but the current road version of The Beach Boys (led by his cousin, Beach Boys co-founder Mike Love) will sing and play the songs that made him immortal, June 23-24 at 6 and 8:30 p.m. at The Ocean City Music Pier.
JUNIOR MACK
• Grammy-nominated blues singer-songwriter Junior Mack, gospel singer Sandra Ward, tap dancer Jeffry Foote, poet Doriane Swain and others will perform at “The Soundtrack of Freedom,” a Juneteenth event being presented by American Theater Group in partnership with The Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, June 20 at 7 p.m. at UCPAC’s Hamilton Stage.
• Lea Michele has said, in a press release, that she would “showcase a blend of Broadway classics, fan favorites from ‘Glee,’ songs from her studio albums, and surprise songs each night” on her current tour, which will include shows at BergenPAC in Englewood, June 24 and 26 at 7 p.m.
Michele, who starred in television’s “Glee” from 2009 to 2015 and in Broadway’s “Funny Girl” in 2022 and 2023, said in the press release that “After spending the past few months at home with my family and celebrating the joy of becoming a mother of two, I’m so excited to get back on the stage and perform live. It will be an amazing night revisiting my time on ‘Glee,’ singing songs from ‘Funny Girl,’ and telling stories along the way.”
(Michele gave birth to a son in 2020 and a daughter in August 2024.)
• The veteran Mexican-American roots-rock band Los Lobos and the all-female mariachi-inspired band Flor de Toloache will perform at The Hispanic Culture & Heritage Celebration, a free event being presented by The Garden State Arts Foundation at The PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, June 19 at 7:30 p.m.
GREGORY D. McDANIEL
• Five free concerts at five different locations will be part of New Jersey Symphony’s summer season.
The dates and locations will be:
June 18, 7 p.m.: Count Basie Center for the Arts, Red Bank (show was moved indoors because of the threat of inclement weather).
June 24, 8 p.m.: Ocean County College, Toms River
June 25, 7:30 p.m.: Raritan Bay Waterfront Park, South Amboy
June 27, 7:30 p.m.: Branch Brook Park, Newark (part of North to Shore Festival)
June 29, 7:30 p.m.: Liberty State Park, Jersey City
In addition, the symphony will perform at Giralda Farms in Madison, June 21 at 6 p.m. This show will be part of the Giralda Music & Arts Festival, which is a ticketed event.
The program for these six performances will include Overture to The Magic Flute, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; “Silk Hat and a Walking Cane” from Dances in the Canebrakes, by Florence Price; Romanian Folk Dances, by Béla Bartók; Overture to William Tell, by Gioachino Rossini; Carousel Waltz, by Richard Rodgers; Duke Ellington! (arr. Custer), by Duke Ellington; Satchmo! (arr. Ricketts), by various composers; Highlights from Wicked (arr. Ricketts), by Stephen Schwartz; and Armed Forces Salute (arr. Lowden), by various composers.
Gregory D. McDaniel, NJPAC’s 2024–25 Colton Conducting Fellow, will conduct.
THEATER
• The Chester Theatre Group will present one of Shakespeare’s most rarely performed plays, “Pericles,” June 20-22 and 27-29 and July 5-6. The theater describes the play as “a sweeping, generation-spanning epic that follows the life of Prince Pericles as he endures a series of extraordinary trials and bad luck to rival Job’s, navigating a tumultuous journey marked by riddles, assassination attempts, famine, shipwrecks, abductions, and heartbreaking loss.” (Note: Some scholars have questioned Shakespeare’s authorship of this play, but it is now generally agreed that The Bard wrote at least some of it.)
Paul Dano in “Love & Mercy.”
FILM
• In another tribute to the late Brian Wilson (see Beach Boys item, above), The ShowRoom Cinema in Asbury Park will screen “Love & Mercy,” the 2015 film about him — co-starring Paul Dano and John Cusack as Wilson at two different points in his life — June 26 and 28 at 7:30 p.m. (see trailer below)
COMEDY
• Randy Rainbow specializes in cheerfully irreverent, politically oriented song parodies, so he should have plenty to sing about when he performs at Harrah’s Resort in Atlantic City, June 20 at 9 p.m.
POETRY
• In a ceremony taking place at noon June 26, a sign naming the corner of 47th Street and Palisade Avenue in Union City Janine Pommy Vega Way — honoring the poet who grew up in Union City and published 20 books of poetry before dying in 2010, at the age of 68 — will be unveiled. Local dignitaries will speak, and Hoboken Historical Museum poet-in-resident Danny Shot and Washington Park Association poet-in-residence Yetvart S. Majian will read Vega’s poems.
Following the ceremony, at 1 p.m., a reception and open-mic emceed by Marjian will be held at The Musto Cultural Center in Union City. This event will be livestreamed on the Hoboken Historical Museum’s YouTube and Facebook pages.
REVIEWS
“Tatyana Kazakova: In Spite of Our Fears” at Grover House Gallery, Caldwell. (Through June 27)
“Disney’s The Little Mermaid” at Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn. (Through June 29)
“Hair,” presented by Vanguard Theater Company at Vanguard Theater, Montclair. (Through June 29)
“Nanette Carter: A Question of Balance” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through July 6)
“Andrea Chung: The Ocean Doesn’t Recognize Tears” at Project for Empty Space, Newark. (Through Aug. 17)
“Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 21)
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 1)
_____________________________
CONTRIBUTE TO NJARTS.NET
Since launching in September 2014, NJArts.net, a 501(c)(3) organization, has become one of the most important media outlets for the Garden State arts scene. And it has always offered its content without a subscription fee, or a paywall. Its continued existence depends on support from members of that scene, and the state’s arts lovers. Please consider making a contribution of any amount to NJArts.net via PayPal, or by sending a check made out to NJArts.net to 11 Skytop Terrace, Montclair, NJ 07043.
