Leigh Byron

MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS delighted a packed opening night house on Friday, March 17. Written by Agatha Christie, the show is adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig.  It is an exciting and gripping tale from beginning to end. 

ALL THE DAYS is now playing at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton through May 29. The show brings to the fore the intricacies of tangled and dysfunctional family relationships with both drama and comedy.

Agatha Christie's classic who-done-it, THE MOUSETRAP, which opened March 11 at the McCarter Theatre Centre in Princeton, is splendid. It would be hard for anyone to create a better 'mousetrap' than this performance directed by Adam Immerwahr.

William Shatner was sterling in his one-night solo performance, IT'S SHATNER'S WORLD, at the Bergen Performing Center on January 21.

Tennessee Williams's BABY DOLL was thoroughly enjoyable in its opening night performance at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton on Friday, September 18. The play, adapted for the stage by Pierre Laville and Emily Mann, and directed by Mann, wove together the themes of deception and innocence with a great deal of artistry. The cat-and-mouse and hide-and-seek games portrayed in the show

Simply put, FIVE MILE LAKE is five-mile deep. Rachel Bonds's well-written script reinforces the importance that people need the courage to look inward at themselves and their relationships and be humble enough to accept what they might see.

Music legend Roger McGuinn was superb in his performance before a packed Pollak Theatre audience at Monmouth University on April 24. He also led an informative and intimate workshop and guitar circle for about 50 dedicated fans at the school the day before. It was a uniquely extraordinary two-day appearance.

YOUR BLUES AIN'T SWEET LIKE MINE began its three-week run April 17 at the Two River Theater in Red Bank by focusing on the important issue of race in America. Tony Award winner Ruben Santiago-Hudson's script and direction produced a realistic and meaningful production that reinforced the concept that more than home is where the heart is - it's where you are as well - and asked many poignant questions whose answers appear at different points in the performance.

Ken Ludwig's BASKERVILLE, a Sherlock Holmes Mystery, opened Friday, March 13, at the McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, NJ, under the adroit direction of Amanda Dehnert, with a most uniquely entertaining adaptation of Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles.

Music icon Billy Joel is no stranger to Madison Square Garden. Joel has performed there monthly since January 2014 and, as MSG's fourth franchise (joining the Knicks, Rangers, and Liberty), his monthly residency will continue indefinitely providing the demand exists.

On Friday, February 27th, the American Repertory Ballet (ARB) and the Rutgers University Symphony Orchestra concluded its two-night only engagement at the State Theater NJ in New Brunswick with a superb rendition of William Shakespeare's, A Midsummer's Night Dream.

Music legends Hugh Masekela and Vusi Mahlesela thrilled the audience in a one-night only performance at the McCarter Theater Center in Princeton, NJ, on February 25 with two hours of music, oral history, and inspiration. The musicians are touring in celebration of twenty years of democracy in South Africa since the end of apartheid.

MUMMENSCHANZ, now in its 40th year, delighted yet another audience with its iconic brilliance in a one-night performance at the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, NJ on January 30. The mime troupe performs a series of stand-on-their-own momentary segments in which the players use simple props, such as tape, balloons, and paper to convey messages, situations, and feelings. Mummenschanz, German for mummery, has no narrative and, given its iconic genius, doesn't need one.

SIZWE BANZI IS DEAD at McCarter is extraordinary. Now on stage at McCarter Theatre through February 15.