“In the summer of 2018, when I moved from the huge president’s home in Pennington, New Jersey, into a two-bedroom apartment in midtown Manhattan, I dedicated a large close in the study to boxes and boxes of memorabilia, pictures, letters, and diaries. After my nineteen years as university president and four months of retirement, I […]
Natalie Christa Rakes finds herself at the convergence of memory and music in her performance on “Memoir” — Grammy-winning composer Steven Mackey’s deeply personal and dramatic new piece. “Memoir,” a recently released 75-minute CD, is narrated by Rakes and backed by musical performances by the Dover String Quartet and percussion group Arx Duo. Mackey is […]
Editor’s note: Composer Steven Mackey wrote the following about his composition “Memoir,” the subject of the story on page 13. It was originally published on the website of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, www.curtis.edu. ‘Memoir” is a 75-minute music-theater work for narrator, string quartet, and percussion duo. It is also a 40-minute purely […]
From the vantage point of his childhood home at the cross-section of Alexander Road and Scott Avenue, Joe Ryan thought he knew every inch of West Windsor. For years, when he wasn’t walking to the local shopping center, train station, or high school — all conveniently close by — he would regularly bike or drive […]
Since July 22, 1972, I have seen “Grease” nearly 70 times. Broadway productions, star-laden tours, stars-of-tomorrow tours, regional mountings, community theater productions, and even a middle school staging that featured my nephew, then 11, now 37, as Vince Fontaine have contributed to multiple memories of “Old Rydell” and its raunchier denizens. Watching the show so […]
For anyone walking the north side of East Broad Street in Hopewell, the picturesque edifice at Number 28 — home to The Hopewell Museum — has been a welcoming landmark since its opening in 1922. The storied 1877 Victorian brownstone has been bustling and brightening over the past few years, despite the necessary closing of […]
“Emergency,” Daniel Beaty’s 2006 play at Princeton Summer Theater through August 3, examines reality by positing a fantasy that allows several characters to express individual points of view, the range of which shows the breadth of Black attitudes and experience and demonstrates how that range defies categorization or stereotype. Take, for instance, the controversial subject […]
An outstanding rendition of the vintage tune, “There’ll Be Some Changes Made,” shows the potential of the world premiere “Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” at New Hope’s Bucks County Playhouse through Sunday, July 28. Rheaume Crenshaw, playing Mollie Elkins, once a big star but retired and working as a maid for vaudeville’s ranking queen, […]
It started in a Bayard Lane basement. That’s where harp-wielding frontman John Popper and drummer Brendan Hill molded the core of Blues Traveler, sons of Princeton that went six-times platinum [a million sales for each platinum level] with the 1994 release of their fourth album, four. In the mid-80s, Popper and Hill were jamming around […]
We all need serenity these days. Thankfully, a lovely dose of calm and hope can be heard through the recently released “A Serenity of Soul” (GIA Choral/Masterworks) by the Westminster Choir of Rider University. Conducted by Dr. James Jordan, the choir observed its 100th anniversary in 2020, and the release is a celebration of its […]