Arts | Town Topics

June 19, 2024

Tony-Winning Actor Performs at Festival

Santino Fontana (Photo by Nathan Johnson)

Actor and television star Santino Fontana takes over the Princeton Festival stage in the performance pavilion at Morven Museum & Garden on Saturday, June 22 at 7 p m.

Pianist Cody Owen Stine joins Fontana in this cabaret performance, “An Evening with Santino Fontana,” which is the final show of this year’s Princeton Festival.

Fontana has received the Tony Award, two Drama Desks, an Outer Critics Circle, a Lortel, an Obie, and the Clarence Derwent Award for his work in both plays and musicals. Most recently seen on Broadway in Tootsie, he is also known for lending his voice to the villainous “Prince Hans” in the Disney film, Frozen. On TV, Santino was seen on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. more

Summer Chamber Concerts Return to Richardson

SERIES OPENER: The Ulysses Quartet is first on the list of ensembles at the Princeton University Summer Chamber Concert 57th season at Richardson Auditorium on June 23.

The Ulysses Quartet will open Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts’ 57th Season in Richardson Auditorium on Sunday, June 23 at 4 p.m. Works by Fanny Mendelssohn, Beethoven, and Tower are on the program. Ruth Ochs, who conducts the Princeton University Sinfonia, will provide commentary.

Founded in the summer of 2015, the Ulysses Quartet won the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. more

Creative Collective Art Group Exhibit at Gourgaud Gallery

“FLOWERS ON THE FRENCH RIVIERA”: This work by Francis Gunther is featured in an exhibit by the Creative Collective Art Group, on view July 1 through August 29 at the Gourgaud Gallery in Cranbury.

The Cranbury Arts Council will host an exhibit by the Creative Collective Art Group July 1 through August 29 at the Gourgaud Gallery in Cranbury. An opening reception is on Sunday, July 14 from 1-3 p.m.

The exhibit includes the members of the Creative Collective Art Group displaying a variety of art mediums — acrylic paintings, oil painting, watercolor, mixed media, and photography.

The Creative Collective is dedicated to fostering a creative and nurturing community for artists, artisans, and art lovers in central New Jersey and beyond. more

Talk on Art Depicting Early Battles of American Revolution

The Trent House Association will host an illustrated talk on how the early battles of the American Revolution have been portrayed visually over the past two and a half centuries. Given by Roger Williams, a well-regarded local historian of the Revolution, this free talk will be held on Sunday, June 30 at 2 p.m. at the Trent House Museum Visitor Center and virtually at tinyurl.com/THATalkJune30. The museum is located at 15 Market Street in Trenton, across from the Hughes Justice Complex. Free parking and the museum entrance are at the rear of the property off William Trent Place.

One of the iconic images of the early days of the American Revolution is that of Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Eve 1776, portrayed in an 1851 painting by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutz. This painting solidified this crucial event in the public’s mind, and it remains one of the best-known portrayals of the Revolution. Painted in Germany 75 years after the Battle of Trenton, it is not surprising that some of the details are not accurate. This is also true of many of the numerous other artistic interpretations of this and other events of the Battles of Trenton and Princeton. Williams will share many of these interpretations during his talk, pointing out how these images have reinforced certain beliefs about the Revolution and created opportunities for exaggeration and even distortion of the actual events. more

“Cloud Swing” at GFS Receives Innovator Award

“CLOUD SWING”: This wheelchair-accessible public art installation at Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) has received an Innovator Award from the Cultural Access Network Project. Designed by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Isometric Studio, it will be at GFS through October 5.

Grounds For Sculpture (GFS) in Hamilton recently received an Innovator Award from the Cultural Access Network Project for its public art installation, Cloud Swing, at the Project’s Annual Excellence in Cultural Access Awards.

Recognized for its innovative approach to public art, Cloud Swing, an art installation that features three plank swings and two wheelchair-accessible swings, allows GFS visitors of all abilities the opportunity to “play” on the interactive sculpture. GFS is hosting Cloud Swing, which was designed by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Isometric Studio, through October 5. more

Works by Jane Zamost Now at Capital Health

“DANCING WITH NATURE”: Works by artist and healing arts instructor Jane Zamost are featured in “Escapades of My Mind,” on view through August 26 in the Investors Bank Art & Healing Gallery at Capital Health Medical Center — Hopewell.

Artist Jane Zamost started her involvement in the healing arts at Capital Health more than 10 years ago, fascinated at how art transforms life’s most beautiful and challenging moments. She said that these experiences shaped her and impacted the way she makes art, prodding her to be uninhibited and free of judgement. The music playing is often her guide as are sunrise walks, life’s joy, and hardships both grand and small. more

June 12, 2024

Titusville Native Takes Starring Role in Princeton Festival’s “Cosi fan Tutte”

By Anne Levin

Alexis Peart
(photo by Stephen Laschever)

When Mozart’s comic opera Cosi fan tutte is staged by the Princeton Festival this coming weekend, there is likely to be a substantial cheering section for the mezzo soprano taking the role of Dorabella.

She is Alexis Peart, and her artistic roots in the local area run deep. In fact, the accomplished 26-year-old opera singer cites her first operatic experience as a member of the children’s chorus at the Princeton Festival — in Carmen one year, and La Boheme the next.

Peart grew up in Titusville, in the house where her mother still lives. She studied voice, cello, flute, and violin at Westminster Conservatory of Music. She took classes at Princeton Ballet School. Her family attended Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church.

“Coming back here to perform is a very ‘kismet’ journey, and I’m so excited about it,” Peart said during a telephone interview last week. “With all that I have been doing, I haven’t been able to perform in proximity to where I grew up. I understand that a huge group from the church are coming. And of course, my mom is coming to all three shows.” more

Celebrating John Wetton’s “Extraordinary Life”

By Stuart Mitchner

Go, seize the day
Wake up and say
This is an extraordinary life ….

Less than a week before Father’s Day, my son and I are talking about the time he fell off the sofa dancing around to Asia’s “Heat of the Moment.” It was mid-May 1983; he was 7. “But it wasn’t the sofa,” he tells me; he’s 48 now. “It was a bunch of cushions I’d piled onto a chair. I didn’t cry, I yelled, I kept jumping around. John Wetton was singing.”

Wetton’s Power

I italicized “John Wetton” to show the 7-year-old’s excitement still alive in the 48-year-old’s voice. In fact, when Wetton sings, the whole world is italicized, there’s no such thing as was; his is the power of is, is, forever is, and the first time I heard him singing Asia’s anthemic “An Extraordinary Life” on the 2008 “come back” album Phoenix, I had to know more about the musician my son had been mourning for the better part of five years. When Wetton sang “Go seize the day, wake up and say this is an extraordinary life,” he had less than a decade to live, after surviving 20 years of heavy drinking and smoking, plus triple-bypass surgery. He died of cancer on January 31, 2017, at 67, same age as my heavy drinking and smoking mother, who also died of cancer and was very much on my mind as Wetton sang of “the smiles and frowns, the ups and downs, of fortune turning … the twists and turns, the lessons learned.”

Asia’s first single, “Heat of the Moment” was a huge hit, spending 26 weeks on the charts while the group’s debut LP was the No. 1 album in the U.S. for 1982, according to Billboard and Cashbox. As Wetton puts it in a 2014 HuffPost interview, “We got let out of the elevator at the penthouse instead of the ground floor.” In a 2011 interview about “Heat of the Moment,” he says that he and keyboardist Geoff Downes wrote the song in an afternoon: “The lyrics are an abject apology for my dreadful behavior towards a particular woman (the woman I would eventually marry, but divorce 10 years later), the chorus began its life as a 6/8 country song, but when Geoff and I started writing together, we moved the time signatures around, and ‘Heat of the Moment’ emerged.” more

New Jersey Symphony Closes Season with Musical Old Friends

By Nancy Plum

New Jersey Symphony ended its 2023-24 Princeton series with a concert of American works featuring two longtime collaborators. Led by Music Director Xian Zhang, Friday night’s performance in Richardson Auditorium included George Gershwin’s immortal Porgy and Bess, as encapsulated into a symphonic suite by noted arranger Robert Russell Bennett, along with Gershwin’s towering Concerto in F Major for Piano and Orchestra with guest piano soloist Daniil Trifonov. Complementing these two American classics was a world premiere of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s orchestral concerto Autumn Days and Nights, which Roumain, the Symphony’s resident artistic catalyst, had dedicated to Zhang. more

Tickets on Sale for Next McCarter Season

CASHING IN: Rosanne Cash is among the musical artists appearing at McCarter Theatre in the coming cultural season.

McCarter Theatre is now selling tickets for new and returning programs in its 2024-25 season.

Among the events on the schedule are “An Evening with David Sedaris” on October 3; “Encanto: The Sing-Along Film Concert” on October 4; Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal on October 18; The Hot Sardines on November 8; The Moth on November 23; and A Christmas Carol December 3-28.

Empire Records, Ballet Hispanico, and “Duel Reality” are also being presented, among other works. Visit Mccarter.org for specific dates and ticket prices. McCarter Theatre Center is located at 91 University Place.

Black Choral Music for Juneteenth Celebration

Vinroy D. Brown Jr.

The Princeton Festival salutes Juneteenth with a “Celebration Honoring Black Choral Music” on Wednesday, June 19 at 7 p.m. on the grounds of Morven Museum & Garden with free community events offered beforehand in partnership with the Municipality of Princeton.

Choral conductor Vinroy D. Brown Jr. of Westminster Choir College leads a choir drawn from the community and anchored by the Capital Singers of Trenton. The program includes remarks by Union Baptist Church’s the Rev. Simeon Spencer and features Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass, with additional choral selections highlighting the spirit of Black music.

In addition to Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass, the program includes Mark Miller’s “I Believe,” Marques L. A. Garrett’s “Sing Out, My Soul,” traditional spirituals, and James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice & Sing.” For more information, visit princetonsymphony.org/festival or call (609) 497-0020.

Opening Weekend

Vocalists LaKisha Jones, Nova Y. Payton, and Matthew Johnson premiered “The Music of Tina Turner” in front of a full house at the Princeton Festival on Saturday, June 8, with Lucas Waldin conducting the Princeton Symphony Orchestra. The concert was part of the first weekend of the annual music festival, in a performance tent at Morven, which also included performances by opera star Angel Blue with the orchestra, and Sonia De Los Santos. The activities continue through June 22. (Photo by Princeton Symphony Orchestra staff)

New Take on Shakespeare on Kelsey Theatre Stage

MODERN TAKE ON “MIDSUMMER”: Lysander and Hermia (Jawan Julian of Trenton and Tara Eve Mershon of Lambertville), and Helena and Demetrius (Maggie Gronenthal of Lawrenceville and Zach Caruso of Bordentown) in a modern retelling of the Shakespeare classic “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” June 14-23 at the Kelsey Theatre on Mercer County Community College’s West Windsor Campus.

Shakespeare 70 presents William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream June 14-23 at the Kelsey Theatre on Mercer County Community College’s (MCCC) West Windsor Campus.

In this updated version of the classic comedy, it’s the 1960s in a college town called Athens, somewhere in America, where Hermia loves Lysander, but her father wants her to marry Demetrius. Helena loves Demetrius, but he seems to have forgotten all about her. The young lovers all run away to the woods outside of Athens, and get caught up in the disputes and trickery of supernatural fairies – who look an awful lot like hippies. more

“Capture the Rhythm” at Ficus Bon Vivant

“KENTUCKY DERBY HORSE RACING”: This oil painting by Christine Seo is featured in “Capture the Rhythm, her exhibition with Matt DeProspero and Daniel Michael Sierechio, on view through January 12 at Ficus Bon Vivant on Nassau Street.

“Capture the Rhythm,” on view through January 12 at Ficus Bon Vivant, showcases distinctive artworks by Matt DeProspero, Christine Seo, and Daniel Michael Sierechio.

By delving into their personal interpretations of rhythm, these artists open a gateway for viewers to connect with the art on an intimate level — almost as if they are immersed in a dance of colors and shapes themselves. Each stroke tells a story, each hue sings a tune, inviting viewers to experience the essence of rhythm in a visual symphony. more

Girl Scouts Create Murals at Community Park North

AWARD-WINNING PROJECT: Members of Princeton Girl Scout Junior Troop 71829 are shown with one of their “Sidewalk Murals for our Community” at Community Park North.

The efforts of Princeton Girl Scout Junior Troop 71829 have culminated in the recent unveiling of their Bronze Award project, “Sidewalk Murals for our Community,” at Community Park North, located between Pettoranello Gardens and Princeton First Aid & Rescue Squad. The troop, consisting of 12 fifth-grade girls, brought their vision to life through four sidewalk murals adorned with imagery of bees donning Girl Scout uniforms and uplifting messages inspired by the Girl Scout Law.

The Bronze Award represents the pinnacle of achievement for Girl Scout Juniors, and Troop 71829’s dedication and creativity shine through in their endeavor. Under the guidance of troop leaders Alexia Salinas and Bethany Sierra, the girls embarked, devised, and executed a project aimed at fostering positive change in their community. With the support of the Princeton Recreation Department, along with paint material donations from Home Depot stores in West Windsor, South Brunswick, and Ewing, the troop brought their vision to fruition.

ART TALK: Artist Renata Pugh, whose work is shown here, is the featured speaker for the “Inside the Artist’s Studio” series on Friday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m. at Princeton Makes in the Princeton Shopping Center.

On Friday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m., artist Renata Pugh will be the featured speaker for the “Inside the Artist’s Studio” series at Princeton Makes in the Princeton Shopping Center. Pugh, a Princeton Makes artist cooperative member, is a multi-disciplinary artist originally from South Brunswick.

Pugh, who earned her BFA at the School of Visual Arts, has worked as a storyboard artist, muralist, and illustrator, but mainly as an art restorer in sculpture restoration. Presently, she is focused on creating stained glass objects with a unique modern design approach utilizing solder as an additional sculptural element. more

“Metamorphosis”

Works by Marlon “7oveChild” Davila are featured in “Phases of the Heart,” on view through June 29 in Solley Lobby Gallery on the second floor at the Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street. For more information, visit artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Juried Fiber Exhibition Coming to New Hope Arts

FIBER ART: Works by Katie Truk will be featured in “Structures and Constructions in Fiber,” on view June 29 through August 18 at New Hope Arts in New Hope, Pa. An opening night celebration is on Saturday, June 29 from 6 to 8 p.m.

New Hope Arts in New Hope, Pa., will host a juried art exhibition, “Structures and Constructions in Fiber,” June 29 through August 18.

Curated by Rita Romanova Gekht, the exhibit will feature the work of over 32 international and regional artists who have come together to present over 80 original works involving fiber. Artists include Marilyn Cowhill, Rita Romanova Gekht, Bojana Leznicki, Nelly Kouzmina, Susan Martin-Maffei, Michael Ross, Mary-Ann Sievert, and Katie Truk. For the complete list of participating artists, visit newhopearts.org. more

June 5, 2024

Reading “The Trial” 100 Years After Kafka’s Death

By Stuart Mitchner

Franz Kafka died on June 3, 1924, a month short of his 40th birthday. The word “Kafkaesque” reportedly entered the English language in the 1940s, the earliest usage being from 1947 in the New Yorker.

The first time I actually thought “This is like Kafka” was on a cold rainy night in October 1965 when I was dropped off in Zagreb by an Iranian who was not driving so much as being driven by a brand-new VW Beetle. After registering at a tourist office where they treated bearded hitchikers like vermin, I was given an address that people on the rain-swept street said didn’t exist, which nevertheless took me to an empty bed in a large, high-ceiled room that I shared with a number of displaced-looking old men who seemed to know me. more

Literary Editor Makes a Discovery about a Painful Memory in “Bright Star”; Kelsey Theatre Presents an Uplifting Musical by Steve Martin, Edie Brickell

“BRIGHT STAR”: Performances are underway for “Bright Star.” Presented by Kelsey Theatre and Maurer Productions OnStage, and directed by Judi Parrish, the musical runs through June 9 at Kelsey Theatre. Above: Alice Murphy (Lauren Pelaia, standing in front of members of the ensemble) makes a hopeful discovery that a heartbreaking incident from her past may have ended differently than she has been led to believe. (Photo by John M. Maurer)

By Donald H. Sanborn III

There is a striking duality in Bright Star, a musical that is being given an exuberant, heartfelt production at Kelsey Theatre. A story that has a devastating incident at its center is juxtaposed against a rousing, mostly jovial score infused with country and bluegrass songs.

The show’s often humorous but sensitive book is by comedian, actor, and musician Steve Martin. The lyrics are by singer-songwriter Edie Brickell (of Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, and The Gaddabouts). Brickell and Martin share credit for the story and music. more

La Fiocco Closes Season with Program of Early Baroque Music

By Nancy Plum

Performing 17th- and 18th-century music from a 21st-century perspective is always a challenge. Instruments have evolved over the past centuries, as have acoustical tuning and performance techniques. While orchestras and choruses are often looking for the next new thing, there are ensembles dedicated to preserving performance practice the way Baroque composers intended. One such ensemble is La Fiocco, which presented a season-ending concert this past Saturday at Christ Congregation Princeton.

Specializing in music of the late Renaissance, Baroque and early Classical eras on period instruments, La Fiocco featured three singers and eight instrumentalists in a program devoted to the music from “Henry Purcell’s London.” Like Mozart, Purcell lived hard and died young as a composer, producing an expansive repertory of music in his 36-year life. He composed under the patronage of England’s last two Stuart kings and musically ushered in the age of William and Mary. For this performance, La Fiocco brought together three experienced and accomplished singers in soprano Laura Heimes, tenor Stephen Ng, and baritone Brian Ming Chu to perform songs and ayres of the esteemed late 17th-century composer, as well as works of Purcell’s contemporaries. Throughout the evening, the three soloists showed themselves to be animated and theatrical, adapting their voices well to the very acoustically-live space of the church. more

Martin and Brickell Musical Comes to Kelsey Theatre

SOUTHERN STORY: Pat Rounds as Daryl Ames and Jenna ‘Jay’ Moschella as Lucy Grant in the musical “Bright Star,” on stage through June 9 at the Kelsey Theatre on the campus of Mercer County Communty College in West Windsor.

Maurer Productions OnStage presents the Steve Martin and Edie Brickell musical Bright Star through June 9 at the Kelsey Theatre on Mercer County Community College’s (MCCC) West Windsor Campus.

Bright Star takes place in the post-World War II South. Against the backdrop of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the paths of a young soldier returning home and a spirited magazine editor intersect, weaving a tale of fate, forgiveness, and hope. Inspired by a true story, the show was nominated for Grammy and Tony awards. more

Playwright Joins Faculty of Lewis Center for the Arts

Lloyd Suh
(Photo by Karin Shook)

Award-winning playwright Lloyd Suh will join the Lewis Center for the Arts’ faculty at Princeton University in July. Suh, appointed as a professor of the practice, will teach introductory and advanced playwriting courses in a joint appointment in the Program in Theater and Music Theater and the Program in Creative Writing.

Suh is the author of The Heart Sellers, recently produced at Huntington Theatre and Milwaukee Rep, with upcoming productions at the Guthrie Theater, Aurora Theatre, Capital Stage, Theatreworks Palo Alto, Northlight Theater, and North Coast Repertory. His other plays include The Far Country, a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Drama; The Chinese Lady; Bina’s Six Apples; Charles Francis Chan Jr.’s Exotic Oriental Murder Mystery; American Hwangap; and Jesus in India, among others. more

Genre-Benders

Empire Wild is among the chamber music groups appearing at the Princeton Festival this month. The Juilliard-trained trio is in the performance pavilion at Morven Museum & Garden on June 21 at 7 p.m.; the Abeo Quartet is at Trinity Church on June 13, and The Sebastians perform at the church on June 20. Visit princetonsymphony.org/festival or call (609) 497-0020 for tickets. (Photo by Titilayo Ayangade)

Young Composers Project Presents Annual Concert

ENCOURAGING CREATIVITY: Ken Guilmartin led a group of budding musicians at a recent Young Composers Project workshop held at Music Together in Hopewell. (Photo by Carole Moore)

Voices Chorale NJ’s (VCNJ) Young Composers Project held its annual concert last week at Music Together in Hopewell. Twelve budding composers, aged 6 to 11, premiered their original pieces.

This program reflects VCNJ’s core mission of providing music education and community engagement, offering an opportunity for children in grades K-7 to create compositions, develop them in workshops, and receive mentoring from local composers. more