June 7, 2023

Printmaking Workshop with Dean Thomas at Phillips’ Mill

“KINGFISHER/IRIS”: Bucks County artist Dean Thomas, creator of this color woodcut, will host a hands-on printmaking workshop on Saturday, June 24 from 1 to 4 p.m. at Phillips’ Mill in New Hope, Pa.

The Phillips’ Mill Community Association will host an afternoon of hands-on printmaking instruction with award-winning Bucks County artist Dean Thomas of Sellersville, Pa., on Saturday, June 24 from 1 to 4 p.m. Following an overview of various printmaking techniques and a demonstration of the color reduction process, participants will design and cut a print block and produce their own prints with Thomas overseeing and assisting. more

Princeton Makes Artist Coop Hosts Art Groove

“WATCHING CATS”: Work by local artist Cathy Dailey and others is featured at Princeton Makes in the Princeton Shopping Center. The artist cooperative will host Art Groove, an evening art making party, on Friday, June 9 from 6 to 11 p.m.

Princeton Makes, a Princeton-based artist cooperative, will host Art Groove, an evening art making party, on Friday, June 9 from 6 to to 11 p.m. at its artist studios and art market in the Princeton Shopping Center.

Art Groove will feature creative activities for children and adults, artists working in their studio, video art screenings, a DJ, and live music provided by Jonah Tolchin and others, as well as a raffle in which people can win artwork from Princeton Makes artists. more

Arts Council to Present Sue Collier’s “Family Recollections”

“FATHER’S DAY”: This oil on canvas painting by Sue Collier is featured in “Family Recollections,” on view June 17 through July 22 in the Taplin Gallery at the Arts Council of Princeton. An opening reception is on Saturday, June 17 from 3 to 5 p.m.

The Arts Council of Princeton (ACP) will present “Family Recollections,” an exhibition of figurative paintings from memory, imagination, and plein air by artist Sue Collier, in the Taplin Gallery June 17 through July 22. An opening reception is on Saturday, June 17 from 3 to 5 p.m.

Collier’s body of work showcases her intuitive understanding of the figure’s storytelling prowess. Vibrant colors dapple her pieces, charged with both an intimate emotion and a particularly American ethos.  more

May 31, 2023

It’s “River Deep — Mountain High” on Walt Whitman’s Birthday

By Stuart Mitchner

Walt Whitman is America.

—Ezra Pound

I am as bad as the worst, but thank God I am as good as the best.

  —Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Walt Whitman was as good as the best when nursing and “being there” for wounded and dying soldiers from both sides of the Civil War. On May 31, 1865, his 46th birthday (today is his 204th), he sat beside a 21-year-old rebel soldier, “who lies a good deal of the time in a partial sleep, but with low muttering and groans — a sleep in which there is no rest. Powerful as he is, and so young, he will not be able to stand many more days of the strain and sapping heat of yesterday and to-day. His throat is in a bad way, tongue and lips parch’d. When I ask him how he feels, he is able just to articulate, ‘I feel pretty bad yet, old man,’ and looks at me with his great bright eyes.”

Whitman expands on what he means by “the worst” in Democratic Vistas (1871), where he finds “the problem of the future of America is in certain respects as dark as it is vast. Pride, competition, segregation, vicious wilfulness, and license beyond example, brood already upon us….Flaunt it as we choose, athwart and over the roads of our progress, loom huge uncertainty, and dreadful, threatening gloom. It is useless to deny it. Democracy grows rankly up the thickest, noxious, deadliest plants and fruits of all — brings worse and worse invaders …. We sail a dangerous sea of seething currents, cross and under-currents, vortices — all so dark, untried — and whither shall we turn?” more

Theatre Intime Invites Reunions Weekend Visitors to “Come to the Cabaret”; An Eerily Relevant Classic Musical Probes Insidious Ease of Fascism’s Rise

“CABARET”: Theatre Intime, CJL Play, and Princeton University Players have staged “Cabaret.” Directed by Andrew Duke ’25, the musical was presented May 25-28 at the Hamilton Murray Theater. Above: performers at the Kit Kat Klub, headlined by Sally Bowles (Juliette Carbonnier, third from left in the front row) exemplify the hedonistic decadence of pre-Nazi Berlin. (Photo by Jazmin Morales)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

Set in Berlin at the time of the Nazis’ rise to power, Cabaret largely takes place at the decadent Kit Kat Klub. The musical follows an American author’s odyssey in Berlin as he watches political events unfold, as well as his complicated relationship with the British headlining performer of the nightclub.

Cabaret (1966) has a book by Joe Masteroff. It is adapted from John Van Druten’s play I Am a Camera (1951), which in turn is based on Goodbye to Berlin (1939), a semi-autobiographical novel for which author Christopher Isherwood drew on his experiences in the Weimar Republic, as well as his relationship with cabaret singer Jean Ross.  more

“Jesus Christ Superstar” Celebrates 50th Anniversary

THE LIFE OF JESUS: The famous musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” comes to the State Theatre June 9-11. (Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)

State Theatre New Jersey in New Brunswick presents the reimagined 50th Anniversary tour of Jesus Christ Superstar for four performances on Friday, June 9 at 8 p.m.; Saturday, June 10 at 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday, June 11 at 2 p.m. This production is a fast paced 90-minutes without intermission. Tickets range from $29-$79.  more

Boheme Opera NJ Guild Presents Program at Vineyard

On Sunday, June 11 at 5:30 p.m., the Boheme Opera NJ Guild presents “Some Enchanted Evening — Special Gems from Opera & Broadway” at Hopewell Valley Vineyards, 46 Yard Road, Pennington.

Baritone Charles Schneider and soprano Samantha Blossey, with Sandra Milstein Pucciatti at the piano, will offer works from opera and Broadway. Joseph Pucciatti, artistic director of Boheme Opera NJ, will give a special introduction. Appetizers and pizza will be provided. Hopewell Valley Vineyards wines will be available for purchase by the glass or bottle, along with non-alcoholic beverages. 

Schneider has performed over 30 roles throughout the country, including The Bonze in Boheme Opera NJ’s 2023 production of Madama Butterfly. He is on the voice faculties of Westminster College of the Arts at Rider University and The Lawrenceville School, and he conducts the Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church Choir. more

Red Tulip Coop Gallery Marks 10th Anniversary

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY: Red Tulip Gallery, a cooperative of artists from Bucks County, Pa., and nearby counties in New Jersey, is marking its 10th anniversary with special promotions through June 10. The gallery will host a wine and cheese reception on Friday, June 9, from 4–7 p.m.

Red Tulip Gallery, in New Hope, Pa., will celebrate its 10th anniversary on June 10 with special promotions. The gallery invites anyone who stops in at the gallery through June 10 to enter their name in a drawing for gift cards. No purchase is necessary. The drawing will take place at 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 10; the prizes will be gift cards for $25, $50, and $100, redeemable at the Red Tulip Gallery, 19C West Bridge Street, New Hope, Pa. Winners will be notified by email and need not be present to win.  more

“A Creative Journey” Dual Exhibit at Artists’ Gallery

“WISHES IN THE WIND”: This watercolor by Gail Bracegirdle is featured in “A Creative Journey,” on view June 8 through July 2 at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville. The exhibit will also highlight watercolors by Carol Sanzalone.

To honor the late artist Gail Bracegirdle, “A Creative Journey,” a special featured gallery exhibit with Carol Sanzalone, will be showcased June 8 through July 2 at the Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville. Inspired by images in nature, and the patterns of life, the exhibit highlights a variety of creative techniques by two watercolor artists. more

Breaking Bud

A Sweetbay magnolia bloom is shown in the riparian restoration site at Princeton’s Billy Johnson Mountain Lake Preserve. “Thanks to those who donated trees,” said Friends of Princeton Open Space (FOPOS) Director of Stewardship Anna Corichi. “Take a walk at the preserve and enjoy.” To donate a tree, visit fopos.org/donate-a-tree.

Pedersen Gallery Presents Works by Thomas Eakins

“ARTIST OF THE COMMON MAN”: Works by Thomas Eakins will be on view June 10 through June 24 at the Pedersen Gallery in Lambertville. An opening reception is on June 10 from 6 to 8 p.m.

The Pedersen Gallery in Lambertville presents “Thomas Eakins: Artist of the Common Man,” June 10 through June 24. An opening reception is on June 10 from 6 to 8 p.m.  more

“Sarah Kaizar: RARE AIR” at Michener Art Museum

“CHESTNUT-COLLARED LONGSPUR”: This gouache, pen, and ink work by Sarah Kaizar is featured in “Sarah Kaizar: RARE AIR,” on view through November 5 at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa.

The James A. Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pa., now presents “Sarah Kaizar: RARE AIR,” an exhibition featuring original gouache and ink artwork from the book RARE AIR: Endangered Birds, Bats, Butterflies, & Bees. An illustrated work about diminishing flighted species and citizen science, it is authored by Sarah Kaizar with writing by A. Scott Meiser, to be published by Mountaineer Books in September. more

May 24, 2023

Celebrating Bob Dylan’s 82nd with Dexter Gordon and Gordon Lightfoot

By Stuart Mitchner

I was born in the spring of 1941. The Second World War was already raging in Europe, and America would soon be in it.

—Bob Dylan, from Chronicles

Bob Dylan will turn 82 today (Wednesday, May 24, 2023). This week I’ve been listening to tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon, who was born 100 years ago February 27, and singer songwriter Gordon Lightfoot, who died at 84 on May 1. Incidental music is provided by John Donne (1571/2-1631).

A Tortured Torch Song

Released a year after his death in 1990, Dexter Gordon’s Blue Note album Ballads features standards like “Willow Weep for Me” and “Darn That Dream.” The track that I’ve been fixated on, however, is the relatively little known “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out to Dry,” a tortured torch song with lyrics by Sammy Cahn and music by Jule Styne. Composed for Glad To See You, a musical that folded before reaching Broadway, the tune dates from 1944, when America was three years into the war.

Although I’ve been listening to “Tears” on my copy of Gordon’s 1962 Blue Note album Go, the cover of Ballads is shown here because of Herman Leonard’s justly famous photograph, taken in 1948 when Dexter was 25. Much to my surprise, I found that this seemingly obscure song has been recorded by at least 25 artists, including Frank Sinatra, who sings the line “When I want rain, I get sunny weather” with almost operatic bravura. A big man with a big sound, Gordon produces a work of searing, cry-in-the-night intensity, blowing through the passages that singers have to deal with (“Dry little tear drops, my little tear drops hanging on a stream of dreams”). Still, it’s obvious that Gordon knows and feels the words. The power of his playing makes something strange and wonderful out of this piece of musical comedy make-believe. According to the Dexter Gordon chapter of Gary Giddins and Scott DeVaux’s invaluable book Jazz (W.W. Norton 2009), “Before performing a ballad, he would often quote the tune’s lyrics, as if inviting his listeners to take part in the deeper world of the song.”  more

Opening Weekend Program Set for Princeton Festival

TIME FOR THREE: The trio returns to open the Princeton Festival at the performance pavilion at Morven Museum & Garden on June 9 at 7 p.m. (Photo by Shervin Lainez)

The trio Time for Three leads off the opening weekend of the Princeton Symphony Orchestra’s (PSO) 2023 Princeton Festival on Friday, June 9 at 7 p.m. Also scheduled are Aretha, A Tribute on Saturday, June 10 at 7 p.m., and a recital by pianist Christopher Taylor on Sunday, June 11 at 4 p.m.

All three performances take place in the outdoor performance pavilion on the grounds of Morven Museum & Garden. The festival, which runs through June 25, includes opera, musical theater, orchestral music, Baroque and chamber music, dance, and more. more

Public Library Announces Summer Music Programs

From concerts to dancing to open-mic performances, Princeton Public Library has a variety of music events planned this summer. Most events will be moved to the Community Room in the event of rain. Details are available on the calendar at princetonlibrary.org.

Concerts and tribute shows continue June 9 with “From Janis to Alanis – Women Who Rock” on Hinds Plaza at 7 p.m. Featuring five female vocalists, backed by Princeton-area musicians, the show celebrates and traces female rock pioneers across time. Helen O’Shea & Friends and guests Small Town Strings perform An Evening of Americana Music on Thursday, June 29 at 7 p.m. in the Community Room.

Midsummer Music in the Woods, an afternoon concert at Herrontown Woods, features acoustic music interspersed with poetry on Saturday, July 15 at 4 p.m. Crown Acoustic and The Ragtime Relics will perform folk, country, jazz, and vintage American music in the clearing near Veblen House. Vivia Font will provide poetic interludes between sets. The Sō Percussion Summer Institute Showcase is planned for Saturday, July 29 at 3 p.m. on Hinds Plaza. more

Princeton Triangle Show Will Play at Reunions

The Princeton Triangle Club will present its newest musical comedy, Campelot at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, during Princeton University reunions. Shows are Friday, May 26 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, May 27 at 7 p.m.

For 132 years, Princeton’s Triangle Show has entertained audiences as the nation’s oldest touring collegiate musical comedy troupe. Based at McCarter Theatre, “the House that Triangle Built,” Triangle creates an original mainstage musical every year written, conceived of, and performed by students, directed and choreographed by professionals.

The club boasts a rich history and long list of distinguished alumni including F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jimmy Stewart, Brooke Shields, Peter Mills, Ellie Kemper, and Catherine Cohen. This year’s members include over 100 students — writers, composers, marketers, technicians, and performers — who come from diverse backgrounds and academic interests but have a shared passion for original musical comedy.  more

“Plein Air Perspectives” At Cranbury Public Library

“LIGHT MY WAY”: This pastel painting by Gwen Toma is featured in “Plein Air Perspectives,” on view in the Swanagan Gallery at the Cranbury Public Library through July. An artist’s reception is on Thursday, May 25 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Cranbury artist Gwen Toma’s multi-media art exhibition, “Plein Air Perspectives,” is on view through July at the Swanagan Gallery at the Cranbury Public Library.

“Plein Air Perspectives” is Toma’s art travelogue of transatlantic crossings, coastal connections, and island greetings.  more

D&R Greenway Hosts GSWS Juried Exhibition on Migration

“IT’S TIME FOR SCHOOL”: This work by Kristen Birdsey has been named Best in Show at the Garden State Watercolor Society’s annual juried exhibition, “Migration: Movement for Survival,” on view through September 24 at D&R Greenway Land Trust’s Johnson Education Center.

D&R Greenway Land Trust is hosting the Garden State Watercolor Society (GSWS) for its 53rd Annual Open Juried Exhibition, “Migration: Movement for Survival.” GSWS artists created their art to contemplate migration and change — a growing phenomenon in today’s world. Whether figurative or abstract, realistic or fanciful, this art will inspire and cause the viewer to think and reflect on the state of the world’s people, wildlife, and climate.

The exhibition is on display through September 24, as well as online at gswcs.org.  more

“Spring on Ferry Street”

This watercolor by local artist Carol Sanzalone is featured in “Nature’s Beauty,” her joint exhibition with Debbie Pisacreta, on view through the end of June in the Bell’s Tavern Dining Room, 183 North Union Street, Lambertville. Sanzalone and Pisacreta are member artists at Artists’ Gallery in Lambertville.

New Jersey State Museum Joins Blue Star Program

The New Jersey State Museum has joined museums nationwide in the Blue Star Museums initiative, a program that provides free admission to currently serving U.S. military personnel and their families this summer. The 2023 program began on Armed Forces Day, May 20, and ends on Labor Day, September 4. While admission to the New Jersey State Museum is always free, there is a fee for Planetarium programs. That fee is waived under the Blue Star program. more

Seward Johnson Sculptures Installed in Downtown Trenton

PUBLIC ART IN TRENTON: Life-sized bronze cast sculptures “Special Delivery,” “Body Music,” and “Getting Down,” shown here, and six other works by the late J. Seward Johnson are on display through October in locations throughout downtown Trenton. (Photos by Ken Ek)

Nine works by internationally renowned sculptor J. Seward Johnson were installed in various locations in the heart of downtown Trenton on May 4. The life-sized bronze cast sculptures, on loan from the Seward Johnson Atelier through October, celebrate “the familiar,” a recurring theme in Johnson’s work. When walking through downtown Trenton, viewers will find sculptures of people doing ordinary, everyday things, like reading a local newspaper or taking pictures.

Yet, there is nothing ordinary about Johnson’s work and legacy. Born in New Brunswick, Johnson, who founded the Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, is best known for such gigantic and iconic works as Embracing Peace, Awakening, and Forever Marilyn, as well as hundreds of figures engaged in relatable, day-to-day activities. more

May 17, 2023

Author Maloof Talks at Library; Sessions Holds Virtual Discussion

Princeton Public Library is hosting two upcoming events, one virtual and one in-person.

Author Joan Maloof will be in the Princeton Public Library Community Room on Monday, May 22, from 7 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

The author of Nature’s Temples: A Natural History of Old-Growth Forests explores the science and alchemy of old-growth forests and makes a compelling case for their protection.

Maloof is professor emerita of biological sciences at Salisbury University in Maryland. She is also the author of Treepedia and Teaching the Trees.

The program is presented in-person and via livestream, in partnership with the Friends of Herrontown Woods, Friends of the Drew Forest and Princeton University Press.

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150 Variations On a Theme of Rachmaninoff

By Stuart Mitchner

If I had any plan in composing this theme, I was thinking only of sound. I wanted to ‘sing’ the melody on the piano, as a singer would sing it.

—Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943) on Piano Concerto No. 3

Because Rachmaninoff was born on April 1, NPR.org ran a 2016 April Fool’s jeu d’esprit on the composer’s “secret career” as a “performer of amazing feats of strength” in various English music halls. The most amusingly convincing of three doctored photographs of “Rock Mannenough” shows him riding a bicycle carrying three leggy, scantily clad females, one with her thighs locked around his neck, the other two hanging on either side waving to the crowd. The composer’s deadpan face has been photoshopped onto the bike rider’s body.

The painting on the cover of Max Harrison’s book Rachmaninoff: Life, Works, Recordings (Continuum 2006) reminds me of poker-faced Hoagy Carmichael, composer of “Stardust” and “Georgia On my Mind.” Although he’s in shirt and tie, Rachmaninoff looks a long way from the concert hall. He could be playing in a bar or a nightclub or at home. Put a trench coat and a fedora on him, give him a gun, and he’s a Russian Bogart with the existential charisma of Albert Camus.

Smiling with Rach 3

My guess is that one of the rare times Rachmaninoff smiled a full all-out smile was upon finishing the Piano Concerto No. 3, or Rach 3, a fiendishly difficult piece. According to Steinway-Piano.com, Rachmaninoff had been told by violinist Fritz Kreisler that “some young Russian” plays No. 3 “like nothing I ever heard, and you have to meet him.” Soon Vladimir Horowitz and Rachmaninoff got together at Steinway Hall, where the composer played the orchestra part on one piano while Horowitz played the solo part on the other. Rachmaninoff was amazed: “He swallowed it whole. He had the courage, the intensity, and daring that make for greatness.”

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Princeton Symphony Orchestra Closes Season with Journey through Paris and Italy

By Nancy Plum

One does not often hear concertos for viola — an instrument often hidden within the orchestra. However, Hector Berlioz’s Harold in Italy is much more than a concerto; its form is that of a programmatic symphony, with each of the four movements describing scenes of the southern region of Italy. Princeton Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Rossen Milanov, brought Berlioz’s symphonic work to Richardson Auditorium this past weekend to close the 2022-23 orchestral season. Joining the Orchestra for this season finale was guest violist Roberto Díaz, a veteran performer and noted educator.

Princeton Symphony Orchestra preceded the Berlioz work with two pieces just as descriptive. Julia Perry was one of a cadre of internationally-known 20th-century American composers whose works have been underperformed but are now receiving new attention. Perry’s Study for Orchestra was premiered in 1952 under the name Short Piece for Orchestra and has become popular for its appeal and innovative approach to orchestration. In Sunday afternoon’s performance, Princeton Symphony Orchestra presented this short and concise work emphasizing its jazz style, which was consistent with American music of the time. A number of instrumental soloists were showcased, including flutist Anthony Trionfo and concertmaster Claire Bourg. Milanov kept the orchestral sound lean, aided by very clean trumpets.

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A New York Singer Faces Painful Choices in “Blues for an Alabama Sky”; McCarter Offers a Dazzling Production of Pearl Cleage’s Compelling Script

“BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY”: Performances are underway for “Blues for an Alabama Sky.” Written by Pearl Cleage, and directed by Associate Artistic Director Nicole A. Watson, the play runs through May 28 at McCarter’s Berlind Theatre. Above, from left, close friends Sam (Stephen Conrad Moore), Guy (Kevin R. Free), Delia (Maya Jackson), and Angel (Crystal A. Dickinson) face a major disruption when a conservative Southerner falls for Angel. (Photo by Matt Pilsner)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

McCarter is presenting Blues for an Alabama Sky. Deftly written by Pearl Cleage, the 1995 drama depicts a tight-knit circle of friends living in a Harlem apartment building in 1930.

The title reflects an unlikely relationship between two of the protagonists. The bohemian neighbors’ lives are upended when a free-spirited blues singer and nightclub performer, Angel (portrayed by Crystal A. Dickinson) is pursued by Leland (Brandon St. Clair), a conservative, religious widower from Tuskegee — who only has been in Harlem for a few weeks.

In a program note, Dramaturg Faye M. Price notes that the time setting captures a period of “great transition for African Americans, from the creative exhilaration of the Harlem Renaissance to the despair of the Great Depression to the migration from the Jim Crow South to cities in the North.”

Cleage probes a confluence of social issues: homophobia, racism, sexism, and reproductive rights. The compelling script — by turns funny and poignant — accomplishes this by letting events unfold as the characters, with vastly divergent worldviews and priorities, interact and collide.

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