Music/Theater

(Photo by T. Charles Erickson) IRISH INTRIGUE: Richard (David Schramm, left) and Nicky (Matthew Boston) enjoy a drunken Christmas Eve poker game with a sinister otherworldly visitor, in George Street Playhouse’s production of Conor McPherson’s “The Seafarer,” playing through December 14 in New Brunswick.

A Poker-Playing Devil Delivers Christmas Eve Surprises in “The Seafarer,” Irish Comic Drama in New Brunswick

Donald Gilpin

An anonymous eighth century Anglo Saxon poem provides Dublin-born playwright Conor McPherson with the title of The Seafarer, currently playing in a captivating revival at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick. In the poem the title character describes, in translation, his plight:

He knows not
Who lives most easily on land, how I
Have spent my winter on the ice-cold sea
Wretched and anxious, in the paths of exile
Lacking dear friends, hung round by icicles
While hail flew past in showers.

New Jersey Symphony Warms Up Weekend With Classical Variations

Nancy Plum

The day after Thanksgiving is always a time for winding down. For a number of years, the members of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra have “wound down” by presenting appealing concerts at Richardson Auditorium on the night after the holiday. This year, guest conductor Thierry Fischer and the orchestra explored “Classical Variations” — three symphonic works rooted in the 18th century Classical tradition. The three works of Prokofiev, Beethoven, and Schubert were presented by the ensemble as variations on the Classical attributes of simplicity and balance, and Mr. Fischer particularly focused on the balance of dynamics and texture.