Taylor Swift’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl” will be in movie theaters this weekend.
Here is a roundup of major arts events taking place around New Jersey, through Oct. 9.
FILM
• To promote her 12th studio album The Life of a Showgirl (which will be released on Oct. 3), Taylor Swift will release a limited-run, 89-minute film titled “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl.” On social media, she has said that it will include “the exclusive world premiere of the music video for my new single ‘The Fate of Ophelia’, along with never before seen behind-the-scenes footage of how we made it, cut by cut explanations of what inspired this music, and the brand new lyric videos from my new album The Life of a Showgirl.”
Many film theaters, in New Jersey and elsewhere, will show it from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5; to see a list of participating theaters, visit releasepartyofashowgirl.com.
• John Cleese — one of the stars of the classic 1975 Monty Python’s Flying Circus absurdist comedy “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” — will participate in a question-and-answer session following a screening of it at The State Theatre in New Brunswick, Oct. 5 at 7:30 p.m. The event is titled “Not Dead Yet! — John Cleese and the Holy Grail at 50.”
• Disney’s 2016 animated film “Moana” will be screened with musicians performing the score live, Oct. 9 at 6:30 p.m. at The McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, and Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. at Montclair State University’s outdoor amphitheater, as part of MSU’s Peak Performances series. Since the score blends elements of Polynesian and Western music, a combination of master Polynesian and Western musicians will be on hand to re-create it.
STEVE HOGARTH
FESTIVALS
• The Williams Center in Rutherford will host the ninth annual edition of ProgStock, which bills itself as “The American Northeast’s Only International Progressive Rock Festival,” Oct 9-12, with participating artists including h Natural (featuring Steve Hogarth of Marillion), Pattern-Seeking Animals, IO Earth & the Orchestra of Sound & Emotion, Mike Keneally & Beer for Dolphins, Discipline, The Cyberiam, Rachel Flowers, Funhouse Mirrors, Peter Jones, Points North, Dave Bainbridge & Sally Minnear, Melanie Mau & Martin Schella, others, at Williams Center, Rutherford.
There will also be question-and-answer sessions hosted by the legendary synthesizer player Larry Fast with writer-photographer Armando Gallo and Gentle Giant frontman Derek Shulman; jam sessions; a music industry workshop; meet-and-greets; pumpkin carving classes; and a silent auction. Shulman writes about his experiences in Gentle Giant and as a successful record company executive in a new book, “Giant Steps: My Improbable Journey from Stage Lights to Executive Heights.”
Live streaming will be available for all of the festival’s main-stage performances. Visit progstock.com/2025/tickets for information.
RYAN JOHNSTON
A band performs under the Museum of the Moon installation at The Burns & Beyond Festival in Edinburgh in 2019.
• Luke Jerram’s 23-foot Museum of the Moon installation will hover inside the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway from Oct. 4 to Oct. 20 as the centerpiece of Rahway’s Festival of the Moon.
According to a press release, Museum of the Moon “features detailed NASA imagery of the lunar surface. Every inch measured on the spherical sculpture represents an actual distance of almost 8 miles of the moon’s surface. The installation is a fusion of lunar imagery, moonlight and surround sound composition created by award winning composer Dan Jones.”
Museum of the Moon has been exhibited in many cities all over the world since 2016. This will be its first time in New Jersey.
Many events will be presented as part of The Festival of the Moon. Three of the early ones are a “Moonlight Market” in Downtown Rahway, Oct. 4 from 6 to 9 p.m., with arts and crafts vendors, DJ music and more; a “Celestial Celebration” concert by New Jersey Symphony, with moon- and stars-themed music, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. at UCPAC; and a screening of the 2016 animated film “Sing,” whose main character is named Buster Moon, Oct. 5 at 3 p.m. at UCPAC.
For a complete list of festival offerings, visit rahwaymoonfest.com.
Gene Cornish, left, and Felix Cavaliere.
MUSIC
• The band The Rascals formed in 1965 and released their first single that year. And the last of the four shows in The Garden State Arts Foundation‘s fall series of free concerts at The PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, Oct. 3 at 7:30 p.m., will be a 60th Anniversary Fan Appreciation Show featuring original members Felix Cavaliere and Gene Cornish.
Gary Lewis & the Playboys (best known for their No. 1 1965 single “This Diamond Ring”) will also perform, and Bruce “Cousin Brucie” Morrow will host.
• Tom Hamilton, Aerosmith’s bassist throughout their history, will perform with his own band Close Enemies at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, Oct. 3 at 8 p.m., with Swim the Current opening.
Hamilton is joined in the band by drummer Tony Brock (The Babys, Rod Stewart), guitarists Peter Stroud (Sheryl Crow, Don Henley) and Trace Foster, and singer Chasen Hampton (The Party). The band will play Aerosmith and Babys songs, as well as their own material. (Listen to their single “More Than I Could Ever Need” below).
• A new record store at The Garden State Plaza in Paramus — The Sharp Notes — will present a Grand Opening celebration, Oct. 4 from 4 to 7 p.m., with food and drinks, raffles, and live jazz music by guitarist Ron Jackson, pianist Greg Murphy and bassist Trifon Dimitrov.
The store is owned by Evan Toth, who is also a singer-songwriter, a former DJ on WFDU-FM, and a podcaster. He plans to make the store into a multifunctional venue that will host performances, podcast tapings, book signings and more.
• Percussionist Bobby Sanabria and his 20-piece Multiverse Big Band will play a Latin jazz instrumental version of “West Side Story” at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. Their West Side Story Reimagined album, recorded live in 2017 and released in 2018, was named Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, and received a Grammy nomination in the Latin Jazz Album category. Sanabria has also received four other Grammy nominations.
Click HERE to read a new NJArts.net interview with him.
MARY BRIDGET DAVIES
THEATER
• Mary Bridget Davies, who received a Lead Actress Tony nomination for starring in “A Night With Janis Joplin” on Broadway in 2013 and 2014, will star in the jukebox musical at The Bell Theater at Bell Works in Holmdel, Oct. 3-19.
The show features songs famously sung by Joplin — such as “Piece of My Heart,” “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Ball and Chain” — but also the music of her influences, including Bessie Smith, Nina Simone, Etta James and Aretha Franklin.
• Thinkery & Verse will present “The Tragedy of Macbeth: An American Retelling of the Scottish Play” at The Church of St. John the Evangelist in New Brunswick, Oct. 9-25.
Co-artistic directors Karen Alvarado and John Meyer said in a press release that “we’ll set the play in the 1690s, during the first wave of Scottish immigration to the New World. Most Americans are not familiar with that history, but it’s the time period in America that best reflects Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth’ — a world of physical violence, vain ambition, and brute power.”
• In a similar vein to the previous item … Art House Productions in Jersey City will present a “re-examined and reconstructed” version of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Oct. 9-26, with additional text interpolated from the works of Jean Genet and Federico García Lorca.
Members of The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble.
DANCE
• Peak Performances will present The Nrityagram Dance Ensemble — which “pushes the boundaries of classical dance while staying deeply anchored in tradition,” according to the Peak Performances website — in a show titled “Khaṅkhaṇā: The Sound of Dancing Feet,” Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. The Kasser Theater at Montclair State University.
Also, Nrityagram Dance Ensemble artistic director Surupa Sen will talk about the troupe’s approach to dance in a conversation with Uttara Asha Coorlawala (a dance professor at Barnard College and the curator of the Erasing Borders Festival of Indian Dance in New York) at The Kasser Theater, Oct. 7 at 7:30 p.m. The talk (which will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a meet-and-greet) is free, though advance registration is required.
VISUAL ARTS
• JCAST (The Jersey City Art and Studio Tour) will take place from Oct. 3 to Oct. 5, with 120 venues — including more than 60 artist studios — showing art and, in some cases, also featuring music, poetry and film. All presentations are free.
The Dogist will appear in Red Bank, Oct. 5.
OTHER
• Elias Weiss Friedman, who posts photos and stories about dogs online under the name The Dogist — and has 7.7 million followers on Instagram — will make an appearance at The Vogel at The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank, Oct. 5 at 4 p.m.
His latest book, “This Dog Will Change Your Life,” was published in June.
According to the venue’s website, in the show he “takes us on a journey through what he’s learned from the thousands of dogs he’s met, the people who love them, and what we can learn about ourselves through our relationship with dogs.”
• The New Jersey Storytelling Network will present The New Jersey Storytelling Festival, Oct. 4 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with storytelling, story songs, lightning rounds and story slams, and more. The theme will be “Celebrate America 250: A Tapestry of Tales, 1776-2026,” and there will be no admission charge.
REVIEWS
“Romeo & Juliet,” presented by Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey at F.M. Kirby Shakespeare Theatre at Drew University, Madison. (Through Oct. 5)
“Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Links” at Two River Theater, Red Bank. (Through Oct. 5)
“Can’t Run, Can’t Dance” at New Jersey Repertory Company, Long Branch. (Through Oct. 5)
“I & You: The Musical” at Berlind Theatre at McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton. (Through Oct. 12)
“The Mighty Four,” presented by Vivid Stage at Oakes Center, Summit. (Through Oct. 12)
“Léni Paquet-Morante: Extract/Abstract,” presented by Princeton University Art Museum at Art@Bainbridge. (Through Nov. 2)
“Indigenous Identities: Here, Now & Always” at Zimmerli Art Museum, New Brunswick. (Through Dec. 21)
“Tom Nussbaum: But Wait, There’s More!” at Montclair Art Museum. (Through Jan. 4)
“Morven Revealed: Untold Stories From New Jersey’s Most Historic Home” at Morven Museum & Garden, Princeton. (Through March 1)
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