Feature: New Jersey Editor Marina Kennedy's Top 10 Picks for 2023

The Garden State has proven that great theatre shines bright from north to south. We are looking forward to bringing you all the news of the productions that promise to please in 2023. Check out ten of our picks and be sure to look for some of your own!

New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark will have a favorite comedian performing. The Jim Gaffigan: Dark Pale Tour will be on stage on January 5th. https://www.njpac.org/

Notoriously pale-skinned, mysteriously dark-souled-comic Jim Gaffigan hits the stage with brand new material in his Dark Pale Tour. He's an Emmy winner, comedy husband, father to many, and one of our most beloved comedic voices. You know him from his endlessly quotable standup specials, including Comedy Monster, The Pale Tourist, King Baby, Beyond the Pale, Mr. Universe, Obsessed, Cinco, Noble Ape and Quality Time. With six GRAMMY-nominated comedy albums, two New York Times best-selling books, and roughly a bazillion film and TV roles, it's amazing Jim has any energy left. But he's as dark, pale and hilarious as ever.

Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn will have Disney's "Hercules" on stage beginning on 2/16. https://papermill.org/

It's a terrific twist of fates! The inspired Disney animated film is now a mythical new musical adventure. Hercules is the divinely funny story of an honest-to-Zeus hero on a quest to discover who he is and where he belongs. Is love a possibility too? Oh, Hades, yes! The roof-raising score by Alan Menken and David Zippel features all the hits you love from the film, including the Oscar®-nominated song "Go The Distance," as well as "Zero to Hero" and "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)," along with new songs written for the stage. The show features a new book by Tony Award® winner Robert Horn (Tootsie) and Kwame Kwei-Armah (artistic director of London's Young Vic), and direction by Obie Award-winning Lear deBessonet.

Hudson Theatre Works in Weehawken will have Lillian Hellman's "The Little Foxes" on their stage in February. https://www.hudsontheatreworks.org/

Iconic playwright Lillian Hellman's searing tale of family betrayal and corruption ignites the stage in this explosive revival. Ben and Oscar Hubbard stand to earn millions funding an industrialized cotton mill, if they can get their sister Regina's husband to help finance their scheme. His refusal sets off a violent series of betrayals, which shatters the Hubbard clan's genteel façade and lays bare their ruthless pursuit of wealth.

Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown will have "Dancing with the Stars" on 1/19 at 4:00 pm and 7:30 pm. https://www.mayoarts.org/

Dancing With the Stars is back on tour this winter to celebrate its 31st season with a brand-new live production! Launching January 6th at MGM National Harbor in Washington DC, this year's all-new stage show will feature your favorite professional dancers from the hit Disney+ Original series performing brand new numbers as well as some of the showstoppers featured in season 31. Audiences at Dancing with the Stars: Live! will have the opportunity to experience the excitement, glitz and glamour they see in the ballroom live, up-close, and personal.

Centenary Stage Company in Hackettstown will have "The Ladykillers" by Graham Linehan beginning on February 17th. http://www.centenarystageco.org/

Based on the 1955 comedy of the same name starring Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers. Posing as amateur musicians, Professor Marcus and his gang rent rooms in the lopsided house of sweet but strict Mrs. Wilberforce. The villains plot to involve her, unwittingly, in Marcus' brilliantly conceived heist job but Mrs. Wilberforce becomes wise to their ruse... and there is only one way to keep the old lady quiet.

The Growing Stage, The Children's Theatre of New Jersey in Netcong will have "Maddie & Eleanor" on stage starting February 3rd. https://growingstage.com/

When Maddie Leonard returns home after her first day in fourth grade, she is fed up with school-yard bullies and flaky ex-best friends. As she turns to her beloved iPhone for solace, she gets an unexpected surprise with a magical visit by Eleanor Roosevelt. As Maddie and Eleanor navigate their budding relationship through old and modern technologies, they inspire each other, laugh with one another, and discover a universal truth: friendship transcends everything.

The State Theatre of New Jersey in New Brunswick has a Broadway Series that will include "My Fair Lady" from January 27th to January 29th. https://www.stnj.org/

From Lincoln Center Theater and director Bartlett Sher comes "a sumptuous new production of the most perfect musical of all time" (Entertainment Weekly), Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady. Boasting such classic songs as "I Could Have Danced All Night," "The Rain in Spain," and "Wouldn't It Be Loverly," My Fair Lady tells the story of Eliza Doolittle, a young Cockney flower seller, and Henry Higgins, a linguistics professor who is determined to transform her into his idea of a "proper lady." But who is really being transformed?

George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick will be presenting Playwright Linda Nottage's "Clyde" starting on 1/31. https://georgestreetplayhouse.org/

George Street Playhouse is thrilled to bring two-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lynn Nottage to its stage for the first time ever with her lightning-charged comedy CLYDE'S, which she says is about "the healing power of food!" Centering around the formerly incarcerated kitchen staff at a truck stop sandwich shop, Clyde's is a story about living with and through your mistakes - and the importance of a shared dream in bringing people together; like the quest for creating the perfect sandwich. Don't miss your chance to revel in this tale of reinvention and redemption, nominated for 5 TONY Awards - including Best Play!

Two River Theatre in Red Bank will have the world premiere of "Living and Breathing" by Mando Alvarado starting January 28th. https://tworivertheater.org/

The impulsive purchase of some provocative art - a living Latino man who is paid to behave as a statue - shatters a multi-ethnic friend group by sparking questions of commodification, stereotypes, and complacency. While the validity of the artist's vision might be up for debate, one thing is undeniable: the friendship between these three men is much more fragile than they had realized. Complex, darkly funny, and thought-provoking, this play by Mando Alvarado was read as a part of the 2019 Two River Theater Crossing Borders Festival.

New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch will premiere James Hindman's "Popcorn Falls" starting on January 12th. http://www.njrep.org/

Welcome to Popcorn Falls, a small American town whose only claim to fame - their namesake waterfall - has dried up. Now bankrupt, their last chance to save themselves is a large grant that can only be used if the town produces a play in a week. One big problem: no theatre. Another problem: no play. Led by the Mayor and the local handyman, the enterprising townsfolk try to rise to the challenge and prove that art can save the world.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Freeimages

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