Kimberly Thomas is no stranger to the State Theatre but things are going to be different when she takes stage at the New Brunswick venue this weekend. Thomas grew up in Edison and performed on the State's stage during her high school dance group's annual shows. But now she's performing as a professional, singing, dancing and acting in the musical "'S Wonderful" on Oct. 30. "'S Wonderful" uses the music of George and Ira Gershwin to tell five different "mini musicals." Thomas appears in each section but is one of the main performers in a musical set in New Orleans in the 1950s. She describes …

The George Street Playhouse has opened their newest feature, "It Shoulda Been You," an original musical comedy that is billed as a show for "Anyone with parents." The premise of the show is simple - it is a wedding day. The mother of the bride is Jewish. The mother of the groom is Catholic. The sister of the bride is outshined by her sister, in their mother's eyes. An ex-boyfriend decides to show up, and from there it's off. Despite being a premise that's been done before, director David Hyde Pierce (best known for his role on TV's "Frasier") has put together a show that contains a lot of …

Steve Martin laughs heartily throughout an interview about the Young@Heart Chorus. He starts off by playfully asking an interviewer, "What’s New Brunswick all about?" When he's told New Brunswick is a great city in New Jersey with terrific theater, restaurants and museums, he chuckles and says, "OK, if you say so."The mention of Rutgers starts to convince him. "Now you’re talking,” he says. “We got a good football player from Rutgers up here in New England, he’s a defensive back.” he says, presumably in reference to Patriots Pro Bowl cornerback Devin McCourty, who was drafted out of Rutgers …

On January 12, 1928, a woman named Ruth Snyder was executed by electric chair at Sing Sing prison in New York. Her death sentence came after she was convicted of murdering her husband, Albert, and her trial became a media sensation, capped by a legendary photo of Snyder in the electric chair on the cover of the New York “Daily News.”Snyder’s case became the basis for Sophie Treadwell’s play, “Machinal,” an expressionist classic that is being performed by Rutgers Theater Company for a run beginning Sept. 30 and continuing through Oct. 8.The production is the senior thesis for director Melissa …

Eliane Elias is proof that music is the international language. Elias is a pianist and singer who blends American jazz, pop and soul with Brazilian-style Bossa Nova music. Sharing these musical styles with audiences in the U.S. has helped her learn something about the power of song. “What’s so interesting is that even if I’m singing a song that is in Portuguese, because I sing in English too, but the ones that are in Portuguese, I tell the people a little bit of what the song is about, so they can understand the general idea of the lyric,” she says. The emotion she puts into those songs has …

Late nights, traveling from club to club, and hecklers are the typical challenges faced by standup comics, but that’s all a piece of cake for Kathleen Madigan, who has recently performed for American troops fighting the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “The shows are great because the troops are so appreciative, they’re a blast,” Madigan says.  “But Afghanistan, I don’t understand at all what’s going on there. Iraq, you can at least see, OK, there used to be a city here, there used to be civilization. Afghanistan looks like the moon with a goat on it.”Madigan’s environs will be much more…

You know that old rule about not talking about religion or politics in polite conversation? Well, Vic Losick says forget it. His new documentary, “In God We Teach,” delves into a story that’s all about religion and politics, along with perceptions of freedom of speech and the privacy of a classroom. The movie will be screened on Sept. 10 as part of the New Jersey Film Festival at Rutgers. The festival is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a slate of nearly 50 movies, features, full-length documentaries and short subjects, Sept. 9 through Oct. 27. Many screenings will feature appearances …

You can see sea shells any day at the beach but how often do you get to hear them? The shells Stafford Hunter will bring to his Aug. 17 concert in New Brunswick weren’t collected at the Shore, they’re musical instruments he will play during his performance, which is part of the New Brunswick Jazz Project concert series. The shells, which range in size from around 4 inches to 2 feet, are actual sea shells that Hunter purchases in stores and cuts and sands so that he can make music with them. It’s a long and painful process, he says, “but the end is result is beautiful, so I go through the …

Few shows are more popular among theater groups than “Godspell,” so it’s no surprise that Middlesex County's Plays in the Park is closing its summer season with Stephen Schwartz’s New Testament rock musical. What’s unexpected is that Plays in the Park has never performed the show before as part of its main stage series. There was a 1983 co-production with Middlesex County College and a staging at the State Theatre in 1994, but never before have Jesus and company sang and danced their way into the hearts of crowds at Roosevelt Park in Edison. “It’s an interesting piece that is deceptively …

Comedians don’t usually schedule interviews at 9 a.m. but a few seconds after Craig Shoemaker answers the phone, the reason for the morning interview becomes clear. Shoemaker is getting ready for a day at a water park with his sons and early in the interview he tells one of them to get ready. When the boy says he is ready, Shoemaker replies, “Get more ready.” Observations about family life provide plenty of material for Shoemaker, who will perform at the Stress Factory in New Brunswick on July 28 through 30, but fans will also be treated to his famous Lovemaster character. The Lovemaster …

Performing Beatles albums note-for-note in their entirety has given Glen Burtnik the idea that the Fab Four’s producer was working against him.“I have this theory about George Martin, that every time he contributed a solo on Beatle records, he specifically made it difficult for tribute acts of the future,” Burtnik says.It may not be the most scientific of theories but if anyone’s qualified to come up with such a notion, it’s Burtnik. He’s been playing Beatles music professionally since the late 1970s when he played Paul McCartney in the West Coast production of the Broadway show “Beatlemania…

With its location on the same block as three major theaters, Stage Left Restaurant is a popular spot for the dinner-and-show crowd. And now the show is coming to Stage Left.On July 7, the restaurant will present a dinner theater presentation, featuring a radio play adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes story, “The Final Problem.” Following the performance will be a menu that Holmes and Watson themselves might have enjoyed.The presentation came about when Francis P. Schott, a co-owner of Stage Left, and Alex Dawson, owner of Raconteur Books and a producer of live radio plays through Raconteur …

What would you do if you came across $100,000 that wasn’t rightfully yours? In this struggling economy, there are certainly lots of people who would be tempted to keep all that loot and try to improve their lives.That’s the very dilemma faced by the Carter family in Judi Ann Mason’s ‘Livin’ Fat,’ which is being staged at Crossroads Theatre this weekend. Mason was a writer for the ’70s hit sitcom “Good Times” about a black family living in a Chicago ghetto, and her play, which was first produced in 1974, is often compared to ’70s-era sitcoms.“The play is so well-written,” says Pamela Spaulding…