Top 15 Most Read Stories At New Jersey Stage From May 7-13, 2023



Here’s a look at the top 15 most read articles published at New Jersey Stage from May 7-13, 2023. Each week we publish about 70 articles, including several original columns and features, along with news releases for events happening throughout the state and nearby areas like Philadelphia and New York City. This week’s top 15 includes articles from 6 counties in New Jersey (Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, and Somerset).

1) McDonald’s Gospelfest returns to Prudential Center on May 13th – (NEWARK, NJ) — The Annual McDonald’s Gospelfest returns to Prudential Center on Mother’s Day Weekend Saturday, May 13, 2023, for the biggest and best gospel event of the year. This year’s event will celebrate the 40th Year Anniversary of McDonald’s Gospelfest. Live performances to help celebrate the anniversary are Hezekiah Walker and Love Fellowship Choir, the Legendary Clark Sisters and so many more!

2) McCarter Theatre Center Announces Adventurous 2023–2024 Season – (PRINCETON, NJ) — McCarter Theatre Center has announced its 2023–24 season, featuring five theatrical productions and an exciting lineup of classical music, pop, jazz, dance, spoken-word and family events.This year also marks the return of McCarter’s Subscription Packages for Theatre, Classical Music and Dance. Subscriptions are available for purchase now, with single-event tickets on sale in June.

3) Trenton Downtown Association Announces Installation of Nine Seward Johnson Sculptures in Downtown Area – (TRENTON, NJ) — Nine works by internationally renowned sculptor Seward Johnson were installed in various locations in the heart of downtown Trenton on Thursday, May 4, 2023. These life-sized bronze cast sculptures, on loan from Seward Johnson Atelier through October 2023, celebrate “the familiar,” a recurring theme in Johnson’s work. Walk through downtown Trenton, and you will find sculptures of people doing ordinary, everyday things, like reading a local newspaper or taking pictures.

4) The Mississippi Delta Meets the Jersey Shore – (WEST LONG BRANCH, NJ) — The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University and the Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Foundation (JSJBF) will premiere The Mississippi Delta Meets the Jersey Shore on Friday, June 2, 2023 at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre on the Monmouth University campus. The event begins at 8:00pm.

5) Asbury Park Music Foundation Announces Two Free Shows on The Boardwalk (June 16-17) – (ASBURY PARK, NJ) – The nonprofit Asbury Park Music Foundation (APMF) has announced two free shows on Friday, June 16 and Saturday, June 17 in partnership with The Break and Low Dive, the boardwalk’s newest tenants. The Break (formerly Langosta Lounge) and Low Dive (formerly APYC) have been magnets for live music, and the new era continues that tradition. These shows will celebrate the diversity of Asbury Park music past and present, while paving the way for young artists to continue personifying Asbury Park in the future.

6) BlowUpRadio.com’s New & Notable NJ Music 5/8/23 – Lazlo, founder of BlowUpRadio.com (an online radio station based around New Jersey artists), shines a light on some of the many new releases from NJ based musicians each week with this column. This week Lazlo takes a look at releases by J Thoubbs, Out of Service, LIVIA, Vincent Brue, Bad News for Birds, and Bruce Tunkel.

7) Poetic Film Exposed to Each Other screens at the 2023 New Jersey Film Festival on Saturday, January 28! – Exposed to Each Other is a film by Mersolis Schone and comes to us from Vienna, Austria. This short film is based on a poetic text collage by Marion Steinfellner that brings together a multicultural and multilingual collection of Indian, Japanese, German and Austrian texts by Yuko Kaseki, Savita Rani, Mersolis Schone and Marion Steinfellner. Presented as a kind of film poem, the common thread of these texts is touch and touching which are presented as journeys and how interpersonal, intercultural encounters connect us to each other across the world. This is the fundamental question at the heart of Exposed to Each Other – How are we connected to each other? – and each scene propels us further on a multi-faceted journey exploring this idea

8) “sixtyandthensome” – Bruce Tunkel Faces His Demons and Creates a Masterpiece – Sometimes an album is released at just the right time for you… The lyrics sound as if the singer is singing to you or about you and the music reminds you that you are not alone; others are in the exact same place.  Sometimes it’s an area we don’t like talking about like depression, but thankfully Bruce Tunkel goes there on his latest release, sixtyandthensome – a brilliant masterpiece from one of Jersey’s best songwriters.

9) Makin Waves with Mike Montrey: The Connections We Make … – For a quarter of a century, singer-songwriter-guitarist-producer Mike Montrey has released a steady of stream of albums with Mike Montrey Band, as well as a few prior to that with the band … water … Both have featured bassist-vocalist Anthony “Duke” Duca, Mike’s childhood friend. Joining them within the core of Mike Montrey Band are vocalist Jen Augustine and pedal steel guitarist Jack Stanton.

10) PHOTOS from “Hello Dolly!” at Algonquin Arts Theatre – (MANASQUAN, NJ) — Algonquin Arts Theatre is presenting their spring musical, Hello Dolly! weekends until May 21.  Jerry Herman’s energetic Hello, Dolly! is a musical filled with charisma and with heart. Photographer John Posada was on hand to take photos.

11) DJ Cassidy to Kick Off “Pass The Mic” tour at Prudential Center – (NEWARK, NJ) — DJ Cassidy will take his highly lauded primetime television series “Pass The Mic” on tour in 2023 in partnership with Black Promoters Collective. “DJ Cassidy’s Pass the Mic Live!” Tour kicks off on Friday, May 12th at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, with an epic lineup including Ashanti, Fabolous, Ja Rule, Lil Kim, Ma$e, Ne-Yo, Robin Thicke, 112, and a slew of exciting surprise guests. The debut show, brought to you by SJ Presents’ “Mother’s Day Good Music Festival,” will be the first in a series of one-night-only events taking place throughout the year, each with its own unique roster of superstar performers.

12) Vasa Park to Host Steampunk Festival on June 3rd – (MOUNT OLIVE TWP., NJ) — Vasa Park in Mount Olive is well known for its ties to the Scandanavian community and its many cultural events, but on Saturday, June 3 it will take a different direction when it hosts its 2nd Annual Steampunk Festival.

13) REVIEW: “Tales From the Guttenberg Bible” – Ever wonder what it takes to make it in Hollywood? Steve Guttenberg took a very unique approach and his story is told in Tales from the Guttenberg Bible, currently having its World Premiere at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ. The production runs through May 21st.

14) Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey Announces Brian B. Crowe As Next Artistic Director – (MADISON, NJ) — The Board of Trustees of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (STNJ) has announced that Brian B. Crowe will succeed Bonnie J. Monte as the company’s new Artistic Director starting on January 1st of 2024. Now in his 28th season with the institution, Mr. Crowe, who began his tenure back in 1996 as a directing intern from Ohio, was immediately identified by Ms. Monte as a young artist with tremendous promise, and she moved him up through the ranks steadily in his first years with the company.

15) An Interview with Christopher Beatty on “Bibi” – (NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) — On Saturday, June 3, 2023, the New Jersey International Film Festival presents a screening of the full-length feature Bibi by Christopher Beatty.  The film will be available virtually for 24 hours starting at midnight with an in-person screening at 7:00pm in the beautiful movie theater on the Rutgers University campus. In this wonderful psychological thriller, a mother and daughter live in a secluded mansion that is hiding a terrible secret.

Event previews are always one of the most popular areas of the website. Event previews get noticed when we first publish them and then get noticed again when they are brought back to the main area of the site the week the event takes place – sometimes even several months later.  Make sure your events get previewed by sending press releases to us at info@newjerseystage.com – for even more promotion, check out our ad rates which run $50-$100 for an entire month of targeted advertising which includes events listed in our online calendar. Or you can have your events listed in the calendar for $10 per event.