March 26, 2025

“Drama & Irony” Program By Capital Philharmonic

Clipper Erickson

The Capital Philharmonic of New Jersey presents a concert titled “Drama & Irony” at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton on Saturday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. Sandro Naglia conducts.
The program includes works by Rossini, Mozart, and Beethoven. Pianist Clipper Erickson is the soloist in the Mozart Piano Concerto in D minor K 466.

A pre-concert lecture by Joel Phillips takes place at 6:15 p.m. in the lower lobby. At 6:45 p.m., Trenton Music Makers presents a “curtain raiser.”

Tickets are available at capitalphilharmonic.org.

Voices Chorale NJ Performs at Trinity

MOZART AND MORE: David A. McConnell conducts Voices Chorale NJ and the Berks Sinfonietta in the Mozart “Requiem” and the “Requiem” by Brazilian composer Jose Mauricio Nunes Garcia on May 3.

On Saturday, May 3 at 4 p.m., two settings of the Requiem Mass will be presented by Voices Chorale NJ. David A. McConnell, artistic director of Voices, conducts.

Mozart’s Requiem was incomplete when he died in 1791. Garcia completed his Requiem in 1816 after being inspired by Mozart’s masterpiece. Both works will be accompanied at the May program by the 21-piece Berks Sinfonietta Orchestra. more

Garden Theatre Presents First Takes Shorts Series

The Princeton Garden Theatre has announced the inaugural First Takes Shorts Series — a program of short films produced by high school, college, and young independent artists from the community. After the screenings on April 3, the audience will have the opportunity to engage these talented local filmmakers in a live Q&A discussion.

The Garden’s programmers sifted through 215 submissions to select nine titles across three categories: Student Filmmaker, for high school students; Emerging Filmmaker, for college students; and Indie Filmmaker, for those older than high school or college age.

The program exhibits an eclectic range of style, tone, and genre. Consider Sons of Adam, a sci-fi picture about a religious cult shot in stark black and white. Or Albion Rose, a darkly comedic fantasy that digs into the tense relationship between two sisters. Then there’s A Squonk’s Day, a stop-motion tale that brings to life a whimsical creature who tends to weep spontaneously. Each short will demonstrate the creative vitality of the local community that the Garden seeks to celebrate and promote.

The First Takes Shorts Series is supported by a grant courtesy of the Vesta Fund.

Tickets for the program are available at the box office or online at princetongardentheatre.org/films/first-take-garden.

“Cultural Connections” Exhibit Coming to Trenton City Museum

“GALAXY GATEWAY” This work by by Marina Ahun of Princeton is part of “Cultural Connections: Eastern European Artists from the Greater Trenton Area,” on view April 5 through June 8 at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie in Cadwalader Park.

“Cultural Connections: Eastern European Artists from the Greater Trenton Area,” on view at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie April 5 through June 8, highlights the work of regional artists with Eastern European backgrounds. An opening reception is on April 5 from 2 to 4 p.m., and an artists’ talk is scheduled for Saturday, April 26 from 2 to 4 p.m. Also related to the show is a Pysanky Ukrainian Easter Egg Workshop on Thursday, April 19, 6 to 9 p.m., by artist Basia Andrusko of Yardley, Pa.

The artists of Cultural Connections:

Marina Ahun is a Princeton-based artist known in part for her watercolors that explore the architecture of Princeton, Trenton, and New York City. She was born in Soviet Russia, studied at the Imperial Academy of fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and is the licensed and commissioned artist for Princeton University. more

“Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition” Opens March 30

“SISTERS”: This photograph by Myhanh Bosse has been accepted for the 32nd annual “Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibition,” on view March 30 through April 18 at the Phillips’ Mill Community Association in New Hope, Pa.

With its enduring theme of “Photography as Art,” the 32nd annual celebration of photography and photographers at Phillips’ Mill will open to the public on March 30. The Phillips’ Mill Community Association will hold not only a three-week juried exhibition, but also a week-long Mill Photo Committee members’ show.

This year, a panel of three jurors undertook the task of selecting 150 photos from the 1,037 submitted by photographers from across the country. The jurors were Jennifer King, an internationally acclaimed landscape and fine-art photographer; Kristen King, a Bucks County high school teacher of photography for over 35 years; and Nora Odendahl, a frequent exhibitor in past “Phillips’ Mill Photographic Exhibitions” and co-chair of the Mill Photo Committee. more

Princeton Makes Talks Series Features Lundquist

“BOYS”: Children’s Book Illustrator Mary Lundquist, whose work is shown here, will be the featured presenter for the “Inside the Artist’s Studio” series at Princeton Makes in the Princeton Shopping Center on Saturday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m.

On Saturday, March 29, at 6:30 p.m., painter and illustrator Mary Lundquist will be the featured presenter for the “Inside the Artist’s Studio” series at Princeton Makes in the Princeton Shopping Center. Lundquist, the illustrator of nine picture books, including as author of Cat & Bunny and The Little Forest Keepers, will discuss her life as an artist and her journey to becoming a published children’s book creator.

Lundquist has worked with publishers such as HarperCollins, Random House, and Bloomsbury. During her talk, Lundquist will show her illustrations, fine art, comics, and ongoing projects while weaving in personal stories. more

March 19, 2025

After the Book Sale: Mapping Franz Kafka, Finding Weldon Kees

By Stuart Mitchner

Nobody has seen or heard from Weldon Kees since Monday, July 18, 1955.

—Anthony Lane, in “The Disappearing Poet”

I was on my way out of the Bryn Mawr-Wellesley Preview Sale with $10 worth of books when I noticed a devastated Cedok guide to Prague on a table of discards. Although the back cover was detached, the book was full of information and photos from a time when Franz Kafka and his family were living in the Czech capital. Attached to the ravaged back cover was a large colorful fold-out map of Prague in first-rate condition, which I’ve been using to locate entries from Kafka’s Diaries 1910-1923 (Schocken 1975).

On March 14, 1915/2025 I found Kafka “in Chotek Park. Most beautiful spot in Prague. Birds sang, the Castle with its arcade, the old trees hung with last year’s foliage, the dim light.” Even if you can’t “be there” in 2025 by tracing his movement on a map, you can at least feel closer to the living, breathing, feeling, thinking man who began the same entry: “A morning: In bed until half past eleven. Jumble of thoughts which slowly takes shape and hardens in incredible fashion.” In the evening he goes for a walk with “the defensible but untrustworthy ideas of the morning” in his head. Struck by the phrase “in incredible fashion,” I looked up his most notoriously “incredible” work and found that Verwandlung (Metamorphoses) was published six months later in a journal and in December 1915 as a book.  more

NJ Symphony Combines Impressionist, Contemporary, And Romantic Music in Princeton Performance

By Nancy Plum

In a concert linking the crispness of winter to a hint of spring, New Jersey Symphony performed works of Claude Debussy, Nico Muhly, and Sergei Rachmaninoff, showing the depth of both player and conducting talent. The Symphony divided the conducting responsibilities in Friday night’s performance at Richardson Auditorium between Music Director Xian Zhang and the Symphony’s Colton Conducting Fellow Gregory D. McDaniel. A Houston native, McDaniel has conducted opera companies and orchestras nationwide, as well as in Canada.

McDaniel directed the first half of the program, leading off with André Caplet’s orchestral arrangement of Claude Debussy’s popular Clair de Lune for piano. Originally a movement in a piano suite, Clair de Lune became one of the composer’s most recognized pieces, leading to numerous arrangements, including at least six for orchestra. McDaniel began Debussy’s familiar music languidly, with a dreamy flow from the strings topped off by delicate flute passages from Bart Feller and Kathleen Nester. McDaniel built the sound well, always knowing exactly where he was going. The overall effect was lush, sustained by a subtle pair of horns.  more

“Kinky Boots” Opens at Kelsey Theatre

NOT-SENSIBLE SHOES: Cast members of the musical “Kinky Boots,” which tells the true story of a British factory owner who transformed his output of boring loafers to stilettos for drag queens, on stage at Kelsey Theatre March 21-30.

A struggling maker of men’s shoes reverses his fortunes when he transforms his footwear from functional to fabulous with the help of an entertainer in need of some sturdy stilettos in the musical Kinky Boots, at the Kelsey Theatre, March 21-30, on Mercer County Community College’s West Windsor Campus.

Presented by Thank You 5 Productions, Kinky Boots is based on the true story of Charlie, who realizes the demand is dying down for his sensible men’s loafers. A chance meeting with Lola, a London entertainer in need of a sturdier pair of heels, results in a partnership leading to the factory pivoting to make shoes for a new clientele: drag queens.  more

Prize-Winner

Emily Boksner, Westminster Conservatory student, will perform with the Westminster Community Orchestra under the direction of Ruth Ochs on Sunday, March 30 at 3 p.m. in Hillman Hall on the Westminster campus.

Princeton Pro Musica Presents “Carmina Burana”

On Sunday, March 30 at 4 p.m., Princeton Pro Musica and Roxey Ballet will join creative forces to perform Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in the Kendall Main Stage Theater at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, under the direction of Princeton Pro Musica Artistic Director Ryan J. Brandau.

Carmina Burana is a set of poems and songs written by Bavarian monks in the 13th century, uncovered in the early 19th century, and set for large mixed chorus, treble chorus, and orchestra by Carl Orff in 1936. While written nearly 800 years ago, the poems are relevant.

Themes of time, fortune, springtime, passion, debauchery, and satirical critiques of those in power are in the text, eschewing religious piety, and embracing instead basic and primal human experiences. more

Marie Irene Fornés is Subject of Symposium

Maria Irene Fornés
(Photo by James M. Kent)

Events highlighting theater-maker María Irene Fornés including a reconstruction of Fornés’ last play, Dr. Kheal, and a live podcast recording, both open to the public, part of a major symposium on Fornés at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts.

The 2025 Latinx Theatre Commons María Irene Fornés Institute Symposium is a co-production of Latinx Theatre Commons and the Lewis Center for the Arts.

Born in Cuba in 1930, Fornes is a playwright, director, designer, and teacher who became a guiding presence for emerging theater artists of the 1980s and ’90s, especially those invested in staging feminist, queer, and Latinx aesthetics and experiences. She died in 2018.

DrKheal2: One Big Thing offers a tandem encounter with Fornés’ 1968 play on March 21 at 5 p.m. in which a learned professor delivers a lecture about the meaning of all things. Professor Brian Herrera and alum Kyle Berlin each perform the role of Dr. Kheal simultaneously in different time periods in different venues for half the audience. The audiences then switch venues and experience the other Dr. Kheal, followed by an interactive conversation about the futures of higher education. The event is in CoLab and the Wallace Theater in the Lewis Arts complex. more

Rock Group Night Ranger Comes to New Brunswick

ROCK LEGENDS: Night Ranger performs at State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick on April 3 at 7:30 p.m.

State Theatre New Jersey presents the rock group Night Ranger on Thursday, April 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $39-$214.

Having sold over 17 million albums worldwide, performed on over 4000 stages, and claimed a radio audience exceeding one billion, Night Ranger has transcended the arena rock sound and style well beyond that era. The group’s hits include “Sister Christian,” “Don’t Tell Me You Love Me,” “When You Close Your Eyes,” and “(You Can Still) Rock in America.”  more

“Imagine-Observe” Exhibit Coming to Artists’ Gallery

“FOUNDATION”: This painting by Larry Mitnick is featured in “Imagine-Observe,” his joint exhibition with Mark Oliver, on view April 10 through May 4 at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville.

Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville will present “Imagine-Observe,” an exhibition showcasing the abstract work of architect/painter Larry Mitnick and observational work of architect/painter Mark Oliver, April 10 through May 4 By using inventive techniques and form, these artists continue to push the definition of contemporary art. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, April 19 from 2 to 4 p.m.

Mitnick’s works are hand-painted acrylic paintings on canvas. In each abstract piece the viewer discovers a unique set of spatial, formal, and color progressions, often inspired by nature. There are a variety of compositions exploring animated boundaries and voided centers. Contrasting hard-edged opaque and transparent forms with textured brushwork, Mitnick excites one’s eyes, mind and imagination. more

Closing Reception for “When the Land Calls”

“WHEEL II”: This work by Mike Benevenia is part of “When the Land Calls,” now on view in the Johnson Education Center at D&R Greenway Land Trust. A closing reception is on Saturday, March 22 from 2 to 4 p.m.

D&R Greenway Land Trust will host a closing reception for its “When the Land Calls” exhibit on Saturday March 22 from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Johnson Education Center, 1 Preservation Place.

“When the Land Calls” is a celebration of an inspiring story about preserving art, land, and community. The exhibit, co-curated by David Scott Lawson and Yvonne DeCarolis, opened in December to a packed house of over 200 guests. Artists Ellen Rebarber and Mike Benevenia engaged the crowd and described their emotional journey of being brought together by area resident Yvonne DeCarolis and her vision to bring art and music to her land. more

Tickets Now on Sale for ACP’s Art People Party

ART PEOPLE PARTY: The Arts Council of Princeton’s signature spring fundraiser will be held on Friday, April 4 from 7 to 10 p.m. Shown are attendees at a previous event. Tickets are available now at artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Tickets are available for the Arts Council of Princeton’s (ACP) signature spring fundraiser, Art People Party, to be held on Friday, April 4 from 7-10 p.m. Known for transforming spaces with whimsy décor and artistic installations, the event will embody the theme of PROM, a kaleidoscope of youthful nostalgia and present day wisdom as imagined through a joyful, inclusive, and artistic lens.

Art People Party promises creative fashions, an open beer and wine bar, dinner, and DJ dance party, while the signature “Tombola” art experience sees that every ticket holder leaves with original artwork. Each Tombola ticket holder previews the available choices, all contributed by talented regional artists, and makes a quick decision when their number is drawn. Partygoers will enjoy creative photo opportunities, watch live art-making unfold, and dance the night away with friends old and new. more

Call for Signature Image: Phillips’ Mill Juried Art Show

“MARCH AFTERNOON”: This painting by Donna Ruane Rogers was selected as the 2024 signature image for Phillips’ Mill’s Annual Juried Art Show. Submissions for this year’s signature image must be received by April 15.

Phillips’ Mill’s 96th Annual Juried Art Show committee invites artists to participate in its search for the signature image for this year’s show. The signature image, an artistic representation of the historic Mill, is used on marketing and advertising materials including posters, ads, invitations, postcards, social media, banners, and on the Phillips’ Mill website.

Submissions are being accepted through April 15.

The artist will receive a $500 honorarium and the signature image will automatically be included in the juried art show. The artist may also submit additional entries to the show as outlined in the show’s prospectus. more

March 12, 2025

Contemporary Comedy at McCarter Theatre Explores Women in Science, Three Centuries Apart

CREATIVE TEAM: Preparing “Legacy of Light” at McCarter Theatre has been a happy collaboration for, from left: Karen Zacarias, Gina Fonseca, Allen Gilmore, Lenne Klingaman, Trey DeLuna, Kimberly Chatterjee, Zach Fine, and Sarah Rasmussen.

By Anne Levin

How does being a woman scientist in 18th century France compare to following a similar path in 21st century Princeton? That, along with other questions about career, family, love, and astrophysics form the basis of Legacy of Light, a comedy by Karen Zacarias opening at McCarter Theatre March 19 and running through April 6.

First produced in 2009 at Washington’s Arena Stage, where Zacarias is a playwright-in-residence, the play intertwines the stories of French scientist Emilie du Chatelet, who lived from 1706 to 1749, with that of a modern-day astrophysicist. The six characters in the ensemble include Chatelet and another historical figure, Voltaire.  more

The Human Story: Prokofiev, Chekhov, War, and a World of Books

By Stuart Mitchner

A few days ago I listened to Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra’s performance of Sergei Prokofiev’s Classical Symphony and have been buoyed by the joyous ambiance of this 13 minutes of music ever since. In the colorful image accompanying the piece on YouTube, Prokofiev is lounging on a cane chair surrounded by greenery, one leg casually balanced on the other, one arm slung over the back of the chair, holding a score he’s been working on, a pencil in his other hand. He’s dressed casually in a dark brown zippered jacket, and he’s looking good, touches of color in his cheeks, no glasses, in his thirties or forties, prime of life, and as in other photos from this period (see his wikipedia page), he looks more like a Russian David Bowie than the generic image of the severe, bespectacled composer.

Finding Out More

Hoping to find out more about this music, I drove over to Labyrinth Books and bought Claude Samuel’s Prokofiev (Calder and Boyars 1971). Next I plunged into my email archive and came up with a ten-year-old message from an old college friend telling me he’s been “on a Prokofiev kick” and thinks of him, fondly, as “Rachmaninoff Gone Mad.” After praising “his terrific and terrifically showy, piano music,” my friend says, point blank: “I hate the Classical Symphony.” more

Princeton Symphony Orchestra Presents Evening of Music, Dance Traditions, and Percussion

By Nancy Plum

Princeton Symphony Orchestra brought three diverse compositional styles together this past weekend with a program linking music of the early 19th and 21st centuries and featuring one of this country’s most innovative and adventurous instrumental ensembles. Conducted by Music Director Rossen Milanov, the Orchestra presented Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major, paired with works of American composers Carlos Simon and Viet Cuong. Joining the Orchestra in Saturday night’s concert (which was repeated Sunday afternoon) was So Percussion, a quartet of percussionists fresh off a Grammy award win and current Performers-in-Residence at Princeton University.

The four movements of Carlos Simon’s 2022 Four Black American Dances weaved dance and cultural identity into symphonic music, delving into significant and differing dance forms. The opening celebratory “Ring Shout” captured a religious ritual dating back centuries. Opening with spirited brass and wailing woodwinds, Princeton Symphony executed clean syncopation from strings and sliding effects from a trio of trumpets. Percussion played a key role in all four movements, with timpanist Jeremy Levine keeping rhythms precise.

Concertmaster Basia Danilow provided several quick-moving solo violin lines, especially contrasting a big band palette in the second movement “Waltz.” A quartet of trombones and tuba set a mysterious mood for the closing “Holy Dance,” as Milanov led the sound to a fervent clamor. Nimble cellos and double basses brought the work to a cinematic close, which the musicians drew out with effective drama.  more

“Oh, What a Beautiful” Evening Kelsey Theatre Offers with “Oklahoma!”; Colorful, Energetic Production Captures the Classic Musical’s Exuberance

“OKLAHOMA!”: Performances are underway for “Oklahoma!” Presented by Kelsey Theatre and Bear Tavern Project; and directed by Susan Galli, the musical runs through March 16 at Kelsey Theatre. Above: Ado Annie Carnes (Jessa Casner, center) must choose between itinerant peddler Ali Hakim (Pat Rounds, left) and cowboy Will Parker (Kevin Palardy, right). (Photo by Joe Cutalo Photography)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

Kelsey Theatre is continuing its “Season of Transformations” with Bear Tavern Project’s production of a classic show that transformed musical theater itself: Oklahoma!

Countless essays have been written about the 1943 show’s impacts on musicals as an art form, but perhaps the most immediately obvious and tangible one is that it launched one of the most successful and enduring collaborations in Broadway history: that of composer Richard Rodgers (1902-1979) and lyricist-librettist Oscar Hammerstein II (1895-1960). more

Black Oak Ensemble Performs Five Trios

CHAMBER CONCERT: As part of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s new chamber music series, the Black Oak Ensemble performs at Trinity Church on March 20. (Photo by Ayaka Sano)

The Black Oak Ensemble performs on Thursday, March 20 at 7 p.m. on the Princeton Symphony Orchestra (PSO)’s new chamber music series at Trinity Church, 33 Mercer Street. On the program are an arrangement of the aria from Johann Sebastian Bach’s Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, Vittorio Monti’s Csárdás, based on a Hungarian folk dance, and trios by Gideon Klein, Jean Cras, and Henri Tomasi.

The trio includes violinist Desirée Ruhstrat and cellist David Cunliffe, members of the Grammy-nominated Lincoln Trio, and violist Aurélien Fort Pederzoli, a founding member of the Grammy-nominated Spektral Quartet.  more

Groundhog Day At PHS

The Princeton High School (PHS) Spectacle Theatre will be presenting “Groundhog Day the Musical” March 13 through March 15, with shows at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday in the PHS Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available at princetondrama.ludus.com. (Photo by Julianna Krawiecki)

Piano Students Accompany Silent Film Classics

On March 29, 150 piano students from throughout central New Jersey will recreate the silent film experience at the Bridgewater AMC in Bridgewater. The event is sponsored by the New School for Music Study in Kingston.

One of the important features of the silent-film era was the organ and piano music that brought movies to life. At the upcoming event, students of all ages and levels will provide the soundtrack to classic films starring Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.  more

Garden Theatre to Welcome Oscar-Nominated Director

The Garden Theatre is welcoming filmmaker Emily Kassie to Princeton on March 19 at 7 p.m. for an in-person discussion following a screening of her Oscar-nominated documentary, Sugarcane. The event is in partnership with Princeton Humanities Initiative, Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at Princeton, and the Department of Religion at Princeton University.

Sugarcane, which was co-directed by Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat, follows an investigation into abuse and missing children at the Indian residential school NoiseCat’s family was sent to near Williams Lake, British Columbia. The film is a display of communal processing and perseverance in breaking down cycles of intergenerational trauma. It is Kassie’s and NoiseCat’s first feature documentary. more