Jersey Arts Podcast

Involvement in New Jersey Youth Symphony, a program of Wharton Arts in Union County, is not just about honing musical technique, it’s also about developing life skills. On Sunday, May 5th, the organization will celebrate its success with students and alumni at the NJ Youth Symphony 45th Anniversary Concert. As a special treat, founding Music Director/Conductor (and current Founder/Artistic Directo...

Musical theater nerds can rejoice, George Street Playhouse is bringing back “Tick Tick… BOOM!,” the posthumously produced musical by Jonathan Larson, best known for having written the widely known rock opera, “Rent.” George Street Playhouse Artistic Director, David Saint, was a close friend of Jonathan Larson. And to honor his friend, almost 30 years since his passing, Saint is directing a new pro...

Composer David Newman is part of the most Oscar-nominated extended family of all time. He has scored more than 100 films including the 1997 animated classic "Anastasia," for which he received his Academy Award nomination (not to mention "The Brave Little Toaster," "The Sandlot," "Never Been Kissed," "Ice Age"...) The 1996 film adaptation of Roald D...

“I know that the most joy in my life has come to me from my violin” - Albert Einstein As their website reads, “The Harlem Chamber Players is an ethnically diverse collective of professional classical musicians dedicated to bringing high-caliber, affordable, accessible live music to people in the Harlem community and beyond. The Harlem Chamber Players help build diverse audiences for live classical...

Paul J. Stankard is an internationally acclaimed artist and pioneer in the studio glass movement. His lifelike, nature-based glassworks have changed the paperweight world over his forty-year artistic career. Having begun his career working in scientific glassblowing, it was through this industry that he found creativity and learned that he was indeed an artist. He is now the subject of a new docum...

Over a decade ago, a Korean musical genre known as KPop rose in popularity amongst US audiences. We can probably thank Psy and his song "Gangnam Style" for that. But there is so much more to Korean music than KPop! And U.S. audiences are in for a treat when they discover CelloGayageum. The group, founded by Austrian cellist, Sol Daniel Kim, and gayageum player, Dayoung Yoon will be intro...

A nonbinary hero himself, Jonathan van Ness rose to fame as the hairstylist to heroes, the name Netflix’s “Queer Eye” reboot gives to its episodic guests. But Jonathan’s been an artist long before “Queer Eye.” Beyond the artistry required in his work as a stylist, Jonathan has been on stage as a comedian for years. His web series “Gay of Thrones,” a weekly comedic recap of HBO’s “Game of Thrones,”...

As his bio reads, Brian Noonan “has starred on Broadway and National Touring Companies as The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera, Enjolras in Les Miserables, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Jekyll & Hyde, Cable in South Pacific with the legendary Robert Goulet, Gus/Growltiger in Cats, and Jesus Christ Superstar. As an international concert soloist, Mr. Noonan has performed for a myriad of Presidents a...

Ana Gasteyer is headed to Kean Stage on December 17th with a concert tour in support of her 2019 holiday album, Sugar and Booze . The S aturday Night Live alum and classically-trained singer has numerous Broadway shows, films, and TV credits under her belt–most recently starring in NBC’s American Auto . Gasteyer chats about her upcoming concert, Broadway, SNL , her high school musical, and what’s...

Duke Ellington was a jazz composer and bandleader in the early 1900s. He is quite possibly one of the greatest jazz composers of all time. Written alongside collaborator, Billy Strayhorn, "The Nutcracker Suite" is a jazz reimagining of Tchaikovsky’s" Nutcracker Suite." The Water Gap Jazz Orchestra will be performing Ellington’s rendition alongside the new "Grinch Suite , &...

Eileen Ivers has been called “the Jimi Hendrix of the violin,” as reported by the New York Times. A master of the violin, which is also known to be a fiddle, dependent on the way in which it is played, Ivers is known to be the pre-eminent exponent of the Irish fiddle in the world today. Grammy-awarded and Emmy-nominated, Ivers has guest starred with over 50 orchestras, toured with the likes of Sti...

Charlie Brown, created by Charles M. Schulz first appeared in 1950 in the St Paul Pioneer Press. Over 70 years later, Charlie Brown and his friends are still entertaining audiences. " A Charlie Brown Christmas" was the first television program based on Schulz’ comic strip and it aired in 1965. Since then, the beloved Christmas classic has been adapted for the stage with much acclaim. &qu...

Pioneer Productions Company is dedicated to sharing the collective human story through live theatrical performance by producing shows that are relevant to our time and inspiring audiences to attend live theatre. And it serves their mission well that their upcoming show is Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers.” Though set in 1942, the play echoes the troubles of our modern world and speaks to audiences th...

It’s officially Spooky Season and quite possibly, the best season for a night of debauchery with "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" 48th Anniversary Spectacular Tour. On October 25th at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ, Rocky Horror fans will be treated to a screening of the original unedited film alongside a live shadowcast. Audience participation is encouraged and expect...

Gloria Gaynor is best known as the queen of disco with her mega-hit dance anthem, “I Will Survive,” but this Jersey girl has never stopped taking risks and building on her success.   JerseyArts chats with the music legend about growing up in New Jersey, how she got her big break, the legacy of disco, her new “Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive” documentary, and her Sept. 16 concert at bergenPAC. Thanks...

"Satellites" will make its world premiere this July at the aptly named Premiere Stages at Kean University. Having previously won the 2022 Premiere Play Festival, the show penned by Erin Breznitsky will celebrate its first full stage production under the direction of Premiere Stages' Artistic Director, John J. Wooten. "Satellites" orbits around married couple Katherine &amp...

On The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey's Outdoor Stage arrives an epic play with an equally epic title: "Shipwrecked! An Entertainment—The Amazing Adventures of Louis de Rougemont (as Told by Himself)." Louis de Rougemont was the pen name for real-life raconteur Henri Louis Grin, who sold serialized stories of his imagined adventures to the British World Wide Magazine in the late...

You may know Billy Bob Thornton as an Oscar-winning writer, Oscar-nominated actor, and award-winning director, or maybe you simply know him as "Bad Santa,” but did you know he is also an accomplished singer and songwriter?  Along with his friend J.D Andrew, Billy founded the rock and roll group, The Boxmasters. The Boxmasters have recorded an impressive and diverse catalog of music that touch...

As the birthplace of baseball, Hoboken is the perfect New Jersey city to celebrate our national pastime; and Mile Square Theatre, the perfect venue. Annually, the Hoboken theater commissions seven playwrights to each write a 10-minute play involving the American game. This 19th year of “7th Inning Stretch” runs June 16th and 17th. The sentiment of the plays rounds the bases from heartwarming to hy...

The historic James Howe House was home to a formerly enslaved man, abolitionist and Montclair's first African American homeowner. Thanks to a large-scale collaboration between historians, preservationists, artists, and the teams at Luna Stage and Crossroads Theatre Company, the story of Howe House over the last nearly 200 years will be told through the upcoming play "The Ground on Which...

Laura Ekstrand is the Producing Artistic Director of Vivid Stage in Summit, New Jersey, as well as its next leading lady. Starring in 101 Humiliating Stories by Lisa Kron, she will headline the first performance of Vivid Stage's Solo Series from April 13 to 16. "In this one-woman show, the actor shares a series of humiliations past, present and future, including exquisitely detailed anec...

During her tenure as President of The Washington Post, Katharine Graham published the Pentagon Papers, ran the Watergate story and served as the first female CEO of a Fortune 500 company, but her journey to career success was a traumatic one. Robin Gerber’s play The Shot , coming to New Jersey Repertory Company April 6-23, reveals the harrowing events that led to Graham taking the helm, including...

This year’s Garden State Film Festival kicks off Thursday, March 23, and will be serving up a four-day weekend of more independent films and one-of-a-kind events than even the most die-hard moviegoer could take in. Since the first festival in 2003, GSFF has provided opportunities for aspiring filmmakers and actors to network with industry pros and have their work showcased in one of the country’s...

“When teenager Percy Jackson discovers he’s a demigod, he and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus’s missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods.”  That is the synopsis for “The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical,” produced by The Growing Stage, The Children’s Theatre of New Jersey, in Netcong March 10-26, 2023.  The Growing Stage’s mission is to nurture the devel...

Bradley Gibson (“A Bronx Tale,” “The Lion King,” “The Partner Track”) has big sandals to fill as the titular role in “Disney’s Hercules,” but if anyone’s ready to play the lovable demigod, it’s him. As a child, Bradley was a huge fan of the 1997 animated Disney movie, and taking on the character has helped him find new meaning in, and love for, the story. Gibson leads a star-studded cast at Paper...