April - June / 06

		Willie Cole Artist and found-object assembler Willie Cole transforms discarded household objects – hairdryers, shoes, irons – into iconic sculptures that tell stories about the urban African-American experience. The Montclair Art Museum has put together a new survey exhibition of Willie Cole's work from the late 1980's to the present; “Anxious Objects: Willie Cole's Favorite Brands” is at the Montclair Art Museum through August 6th. Visit www.montclair-art.com
		Uche Okeke The Newark Museum explores the development of modernism in African art through the work of Uche Okeke, one of Nigeria’s foremost artists, who fused the cultural traditions of his Igbo homeland with traditional Western techniques of drawing and painting. Okeke helped to create a new artistic expression for a newly independent Nigeria. This exhibition brings together 30 works on paper, many never before seen outside of Africa. Through July 20th. Visit www.newarkmuseum.org
		Hello Dolly One of the most popular musicals ever, Jerry Herman’s “Hello Dolly” is getting a new staging at the Paper Mill Playhouse. The unforgettable score and iconic production numbers – including the title song, complete with staircase and red dress – remain, but with some surprising updates. And Dolly herself will sound different; Tovah Feldshuh is giving Dolly Gallagher Levi an Irish lilt, and a portrayal thoroughly grounded in the original text of Thornton Wilder’s “The Matchmaker”, on which the musical is based. At the Paper Mill Playhouse through July 23rd. Visit www.papermill.org
		Miriam Beerman “Compassionate Monsters / Wrathful Lambs: The Work of Miriam Beerman” at the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art in Newark is a major exhibition of Beerman’s collages, drawings and books. Beerman has been a leading artistic figure in the Montclair, New Jersey area for more than three decades, known both as a passionate and rigorous teacher of painting and printmaking, and for her startling, often grotesque imagery that conjures up demons and monsters. On view through July 8th. Visit www.aljira.org
		A Stone Carver In playwright William Mastrosimone’s “A Stone Carver”, an American son combats the old world values of his Sicilian-American father, a proud artisan descended from seven generations of stone carvers, who fights for all he holds dear as state officials - and his son - try to take away the home he built with his own hands for a new highway off-ramp. Although the play was written in the 1970s, it is eerily prescient about the increasingly controversial subject of eminent domain. At the Passage Theater in Trenton through June 18th. Visit www.passagetheatre.org
		City Without Walls One of New Jersey’s pioneering arts organizations, the City Without Walls Gallery in Newark, has moved to a new home, in the Lincoln Park district – an historic neighborhood in transition. In addition to showing work by emerging artists, City Without Walls continues its tradition of community involvement, student mentoring, and now is embarking on a new frontier on the internet. Open to the public as of May 18th. Visit www.cwow.org
		Susan Werner Singer/songwriter Susan Werner has such admiration for the great American songwriters of the past – Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers – that she wants to extend the tradition, not just preserve it. Her CD “I Can’t Be New” is a collection of her own new songs, all in style that harkens back to the Golden Age of Popular Song. She performs at Music at the Mission, in West Milford, on May 20th. Visit www.susanwerner.com
		Cab Calloway Cab Calloway was one of the giants of the jazz age: a bandleader, singer, dancer, fashion plate, and larger-than-life showman. His grandson, C. Calloway Brooks, is keeping the legacy alive through the Cab Calloway Orchestra. This big band plays Cab’s original arrangements, and hews faithfully to the language, style, attitude, and dress code of the Swing Era. One performance only at the Union County Arts Center in Rahway on May 19th. Visit www.ucac.org
		Jerry Herman You could call Jerry Herman the “Hit Man” of Broadway.... his songs from shows like “Hello Dolly”, “Mame”, and “La Cage Aux Folles” are some of the most popular show tunes ever. But the New Jersey-born composer / lyricist insists that he doesn’t write songs with the goal of manufacturing hits – he writes them for the character and the situation, and that’s what makes them successful. The Garden State Chorale presents "Showtune: Celebrating the Words & Music of Jerry Herman" on May 5th and 6th at Haddonfield High School. Visit www.gschorale.org
		New Women Images of women as professional, athletic and intellectual are commonplace in our time, yet until the second half of the 19th century, such depictions were rare in the fine arts and popular culture. But immediately after the Civil War, a radical new generation emerged: emancipated women who attended college, had careers, and played sports. These New Women caught the attention of artists like Winslow Homer, William Merritt Chase, and John Singer Sargent, as well as advertisers and illustrators. The Newark Museum’s “Off the Pedestal: New Women in the Art of Homer, Chase and Sargent” is the first exhibition to retrieve the historical, social and artistic context of the new, emancipated woman. Through June 18th. Visit www.newarkmuseum.org Painting: “Eagle Head, Manchester, Massachusetts (High Tide)”, 1870 by Winslow Homer
		Freedom Sings Freedom of Speech includes Freedom of song, among other kinds of artistic expression; and the First Amendment Center has created a multi-media entertainment tracing the history of American music that was banned or censored. The show, sponsored by the Arts & Business Partnership of Southern New Jersey, is performed by a group of professional Nashville musicians, and includes such seemingly innocuous songs as “The Star-Spangled Banner (an old drinking song) and “Puff the Magic Dragon” (interpreted by some as an ode to marijuana). “Freedom Sings” will be presented a the Enterprise Center at Burlington County College in Mount Laurel, on Thursday, April 27th, at 11 AM. Visit www.artsandbiz.com
		African American Artists A survey of art by African-Americans from the permanent collection of the Montclair Art Museum illustrates just how diverse and wide-ranging the African-American experience is: with works by Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Lois Mailou-Jones, Charles White and others, the show demonstrates that it’s impossible to categorize an artist by race or ethnicity. Through August 6th. Visit www.montclair-art.com Painting: Lois Mailou Jones (1905-1998), “Blackout in Haiti”, 1964