BRIAN FALLON
Here is a roundup of arts events taking place around New Jersey, through June 6.
MUSIC
• House of Independents, the Asbury Park nightclub that closed in September because of flood damage, and was later sold and renovated, will reopen this weekend with shows by The Gaslight Anthem frontman, solo artist and Horrible Crowes member Brian Fallon, June 1-2 at 8 p.m.
June 1 is sold out but tickets are still available for June 2. Doc Emmett opens on June 1, and Jonathan Francis on June 2.
Among the many other shows booked for House of Independents this summer are Rivals, June 16; The Wailers, July 6; Oddisee, July 11; The Dangerous Summer, July 20; and The Starting Line, July 25-27.
• Guitarist, photographer and writer Andy Summers will bring his multimedia show — titled “The Cracked Lens + A Missing String: A Fantastic Evening With a Brilliant Practitioner of the Guitar, Camera and Written Word” — to The Newton Theatre, June 1 at 8 p.m.
Summers, of course, is best known as the guitarist for The Police. According to his website, andysummers.com, “This is a continuation of Andy’s solo project, where he projects sequences of photography with music.” The show also includes autobiographical storytelling.
• Gary U.S. Bonds — who had major rock hits such as “New Orleans,” “Quarter to Three” and “Seven Day Weekend” in the ’60s as well as a Bruce Springsteen-assisted comeback in the ’80s — will turn 85 on June 6, and perform at an “85th Birthday Party Concert” at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, at 7:30 p.m. that night.
DANIIL TRIFONOV
• New Jersey Symphony will present its Season Finale concerts at The State Theatre in New Brunswick, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.; Richardson Auditorium at Princeton University, June 7 at 8 p.m.; The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, June 8 at 8 p.m.; and Prudential Hall at NJPAC in Newark, June 9 at 3 p.m. New Jersey Symphony music director Xian Zhang will conduct, and Daniil Trifonov will be featured on piano, with the program including Daniel Bernard Roumain’s Autumn Days and Nights (an New Jersey Symphony commision and world premiere); and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture (arranged by Robert Russell Bennett); and Gershwin’s Concerto in F.
• The Beach Boys will perform at The PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, June 1 at 7 p.m., with Dave Mason opening. Co-founder Mike Love leads the band’s current lineup, with Bruce Johnston, who joined the group in 1965, featured as well. Actor John Stamos, who has sung and played various instruments with the band at occasional shows since 1985, will be featured as a special guest.
Mason, a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as a co-founder of Traffic as well as a hit-making solo artist (“We Just Disagree,” “Let It Go, Let It Flow”), will also present a show titled “Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam,” June 6 at 8 p.m. at The Newton Theatre. According to promotional material, the show will include “fan favorites and deep cuts” from Traffic as well as some of Mason’s solo material, and “surprise songs.”
• The great jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan will team up with drummer Kenwood Dennard, bassist Greg Koerner and keyboardist Jesse Hiatt to present a tribute to The Grateful Dead, June 1 at 7 p.m. at The Hamilton Stage at The Union County Performing Arts Center, Rahway.
ESPERANZA SPALDING
• The year’s edition of the annual Sunset Jazz Series, featuring free shows at the Roland Traynor River Stage at the Camden waterfront, will begin June 3 at 8 p.m., with a performance by Esperanza Spalding.
• Debonair Music Hall will host “Shine a Light,” a Rolling Stones tribute concert that will raise money for the American Cancer Society, June 5 at 7 p.m., with performers including Martha Redbone, Jill Sobule, Catherine Russell and Tony Trischka.
Banjo master Trischka will perform with bassist Jared Engel, fiddler Alex Hargreaves and mandolinist Jacob Jolliff. Other performers will include The Teaneck Wrecking Crew (featuring Valerie Johnson, Reggie Pittman, David Wofford, Spencer Jones and Matt King), Maeve Gilchrist, Eric Cohen, and Trischka’s son Sean.
Relay for Life of Fair Lawn and Glen Rock will host the event, which will raise money through sponsorships and raffles as well as ticket sales.
THEATER
• Rock singer-songwriter and actor Remember Jones, who played the revolutionary Che Guevara in the musical “Evita” at The Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal in 2014, will return to the role in the theater’s upcoming production of it, scheduled for May 31 to June 16. And Gaby Albo, whose credits include playing Gloria Estefan in a national tour of the jukebox musical “On Your Feet!,” will play the title character.
Written by Andrew Lloyd Webber (music) and Tim Rice (lyrics and book), “Evita,” which premiered in 1978 and also was made into a movie starring Madonna in 1996, is about the life of Argentine First Lady, activist and celebrity Eva “Evita” Perón and her relationship with president Juan Perón. The Guevara character serves as a kind of narrator.
• The Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will present “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” — a jukebox musical featuring songs written or co-written by King (including “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” “Up on the Roof,” “So Far Away” and “It’s Too Late”) and other songwriters from the late ’50s to the early ’70s — from June 5 to July 3. The musical debuted in San Francisco in 2013 and ran on Broadway from 2014 to 2016.
• Tony winner Michele Pawk (“Hollywood Arms,” “Crazy for You,” “Cabaret”) will be honored and Broadway veterans Christine Ebersole, Gavin Creel and Janine LaManna will perform at a gala benefiting the American Theater Group, June 2 at 3 p.m. at The Hamilton Stage at The Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway. Founded in 2012, American Theater Group has presented countless shows at The Hamilton Stage and other New Jersey venues.
• An all-star cast featuring Norbert Leo Butz, Kate Baldwin, Miguel Cervantes, Mandy Gonzalez and others will participate in a reading of “Things With Friends,” a new play by Kristoffer Diaz (“The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity,” “Welcome to Arroyo’s”), May 31 at 7 p.m. and June 2 at 3 p.m. at The South Orange Performing Arts Center. The play’s creative team will participate in a talkback following the June 2 reading.
• Cape May Stage will present “Becoming Dr. Ruth” — Mark St. Germain’s 2014 play about Karola Ruth Westheimer, who became famous in the ’80s as a sex expert, when she was in her 50s — from June 5 to June 30, to kick off its 2024 season.
LUIS A. MIRANDA JR.
OTHER
• Luis A. Miranda Jr., a veteran community organizer, activist and political adviser (and also the father of “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda) has written a book titled “Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America,” and will talk about it at The Montclair Art Museum, June 2 at 2 p.m.
Alicia Menendez, co-host of MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” will moderate.
• The Noyes Museum of Art at Stockton University will present, at its Noyes Galleries at Kramer Hall in Hammonton, an exhibition titled “Drag Is Not a Crime” from June 4 to July 26. According to the museum’s web site: “Through a collection of visual artworks, fashion designs, photography, and performance pieces, the exhibit seeks to dismantle stereotypes and prejudice surrounding drag culture. It explores the history and resilience of drag artists who use their craft to break free from societal constraints”
There will be an opening reception, June 6 at 6 p.m.
REVIEWS
“Choice” at Berlind Theater at McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton. (Through June 2)
“It Feels Like Home: Genius Loci Jersey City” at ArtWall, Jersey City. Works by Eileen Ferrara, Donna Kessinger, Jennifer Krause Chapeau, John Xavier Nouel, Lucy Rovetto, Deb Sinha. (Through June 3)
“A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” at Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at Drew University, Madison. (Through June 9)
“George Segal: Themes and Variations“ at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through July 31)
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