A weekly series highlighting artists and events throughout the state, hosted by State of the Arts' Amber Edwards and carried by NJN Public Radio. The Jersey Arts on the Radio Podcast is also available online to listen or subscribe.

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		Benjamin Franklin “Ben Again” is an exhibition at Morven Museum, featuring the private collection -- on loan -- from Franklin scholar Roy E. Goodman of Philadelphia. It is an eclectic and whimsical mix of pop culture items bearing Benjamin Franklin’s image, reminding us of the America of yesterday. December 2007 through March 2008. www.historicmorven.org
		Carmina Burana Carl Orff’s 1937 masterpiece “Carmina Burana” is heard as frequently in the concert hall as it is in commercials and film scores. Part of its popularity is due to the excitement created by Orff’s fiendishly complex rhythms, and the mysterious ancient text. The Choral Art Society of New Jersey will perform the piece at the Calvary Episcopal Church in Summit on January 19, 2008. www.thechoralartsocietyofnj.org
		Jonathan Shahn Jonathan Shahn has been drawing and sculpting the human form since the 1960s. His exhibition at the Noyes Museum, “Imaginary Portraits”, features a collection of oversized heads, often perched on elongated or thick neck-like pedestals or placed within boxes, which express the honesty and simple elegance of the human figure. On view through January 6th. www.noyesmuseum.org
		The Magyar Imagination The Zimmerli Museum at Rutgers has acquired an important collection of Hungarian art that’s being presented to the public for the first time. There are more than 150 works from the 16th through the 20th century, in styles ranging from 19th-century academic painting, plein-air painting, Art Nouveau, 20th-century avant-garde, and contemporary painting and sculpture. “The Magyar Imagination: Selections from the Salgo Trust Donation of Hungarian Art” opens to the public on December 8. zamweb.rutgers.edu
		Christmas Carol No writer is more associated with Christmas than Charles Dickens – his “Christmas Carol" has spawned endless stage and screen versions, including the McCarter Theater’s highly praised adaptation. But when Dickens wrote his novella in 1843, he had much more serious intentions than simply creating a holiday confection. Through December 21st at the McCarter Theater in Princeton. www.mccarter.org
		Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” is perhaps that composer’s most profound expression of faith and spirituality. Employing an enormous orchestra and choir, every movement explores the very meaning of life and attempts to come to terms with death. Performed by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, under Music director Neeme Jarvi, with the Westminster Symphonic Choir on Friday, November 30 and Sunday, December 2 in Newark; and Saturday, December 1 in Trenton. www.njsymphony.org
		Doubt John Patrick Shanley’s 2006 sensation “Doubt”, that won Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize, opens at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick on November 27. A true morality play, “Doubt” is set in a Catholic school in 1964; Sister Aloyisius, a strict old-school nun, has suspicions about the behavior of a male colleague, Father Flynn. Fully aware of the repercussions if she is wrong, she is torn as to whether to speak up if she isn’t really sure. Through December 23. www.georgestplayhouse.org
		Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks Vince Giordano and his big band, the Nighthawks, are renowned for their commitment to preserving and authentically presenting 1920s & 30's jazz and popular music. They’ll be in concert at the South Orange Performing Arts Center on November 20th, presented by Seton Hall University’s “Jazz ‘n the Hall” series. www.sopacnow.org • artsci.shu.edu/artscouncil/jazz.htm
		India: Public Places, Private Spaces The first exhibition of its kind in North America, “India: Public Places, Private Spaces” includes 100 works by leading photographers and video artists that vividly reflect the exterior realities of today's India, and the contemporary Indian psyche that’s been shaped by extreme economic and political shifts, the pervasive influence of the media, and cultural traditions competing with globalization. Through January 6, 2008. www.newarkmuseum.org
		The Devil’s Music Bessie Smith, the hard-loving, hard-drinking singer who was the first million selling blues recording artist, is the subject of “The Devil’s Music”, a musical drama at the Passage Theatre in Trenton. Portrayed by Miche Braden, the The New York Post describes it as “a convincing picture of rip-roaring artist with an eye for the wild side, a heart of gold and a voice of sin.” Runs November 1 - 25. www.passagetheatre.org
		Anat Fort Anat Fort, a rising presence on the alternative jazz scene, grew up in Israel and studied classical piano as a child, but was always drawn towards jazz and improvisation. To that end, she came to the USA and enrolled in William Paterson University's acclaimed jazz studies program. On October 28th, she returns to her alma mater to in the Jazz Room series with her trio in the Shea Center for Performing Arts on campus in Wayne. www.wpunj.edu/coac/UPA/jazzroomseries.htm
		Minstrel Show; or The Lynching of William Brown The true story of the ghastly lynching of a crippled black man in 1919 Omaha is the subject of a controversial and highly theatrical play at New Jersey Rep in Long Branch. “Minstrel Show; or The Lynching of William Brown” re-tells the story through the device of a blackface minstrel show, using subversive humor and reverse stereotypes to tell this tragic tale. Runs through October 28. www.njrep.org