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Events

Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

Virtual

Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack. This month’s novel is Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. The unforgettable novel of a childhood in a sleepy Southern town and the crisis of conscience that rocked it, To Kill A Mockingbird became both an instant bestseller and a critical success when it was first published in 1960. It went on to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and was later made into an Academy Award-winning film, also a classic.

Free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Picasso: Rebel in Paris

Pollak Theatre

Fifty years after his passing, we embark on a journey through Pablo Picasso’s Paris, amidst sunshine and shadow, convictions and contradictions, from a young, impoverished foreigner to one of the most important icons of the 20th-century. The film moves continuously in and out of the Musée Picasso in Paris which has the largest existing collection dedicated to the painter with 6,000 masterpieces and 200,000 pieces of archive material, and follows Picasso through the Parisian neighborhoods where he lived, from the early days in ateliers with no heating to the large middle-class apartments where his success began: a physical and intellectual journey to gain a deeper understanding of his work and spirit.

$23 (adult); $21 (senior); $10 (child); $5 (MU student)

Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman

The Great Hall Auditorium/Virtual 400 Cedar Ave, West Long Branch, NJ, United States

It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature Cat Stevens, Tea for the Tillerman.

Free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Pollak Theatre

On October 5, an ensemble of leading lights take the stage for Offenbach’s fantastical final work, headlined by tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet. Hoffmann’s trio of lovers are sung by soprano Erin Morley as the mechanical doll Olympia, soprano Pretty Yende as the plagued diva Antonia, and mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as the Venetian seductress Giulietta. Marco Armiliato conducts Bartlett Sher’s evocative production, which also features bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Four Villains and mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in an important company debut as Hoffmann’s friend Nicklausse. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

$23 (general public); $21 (seniors), $10 (child) and $5 (Monmouth U. Students)

Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude

Virtual

Join us for Tuesday Night Book Club! Hosted by Monmouth University’s Ken Womack. This month’s novel is Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude. One of the most influential literary works of our time, One Hundred Years of Solitude remains a dazzling and original achievement by the masterful Gabriel Garcia Marquez, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. One Hundred Years of Solitude tells the story of the rise and fall, birth and death of the mythical town of Macondo through the history of the Buendiá family. Inventive, amusing, magnetic, sad and alive with unforgettable men and women—brimming with truth, compassion, and a lyrical magic that strikes the soul—this novel is a masterpiece in the art of fiction.

Free and open to the public, registration required.

Billy Bob Thornton & The Boxmasters

Pollak Theatre

The Boxmasters make a triumphant return to Pollak Theatre, bringing their latest album, “Love & Hate In Desperate Places,” and their electrifying North American tour to the stage. With J.D. Andrew and Bud Thornton leading the charge, the album introduces Kirk McKim and Raymond Hardy to the lineup, adding new dimensions to their sound. Kirk, a seasoned guitarist, and Raymond, a powerhouse on bass, bring fresh energy to the band’s recordings.

Tickets start at $48

An Evening with Rickie Lee Jones

Pollak Theatre

Rickie Lee Jones is an American musician, storyteller and two-time Grammy winner who has been inspiring pop culture for decades, beginning with her star-making self-titled debut, followed by the seminal Pirates.  Named the “premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation” by The New Yorker, and “The Duchess of Coolsville” by Time magazine, Jones released her Grammy-nominated album Pieces of Treasure in 2023, a reunion with Russ Titelman, who produced her first two records.  Jones’ celebrated memoir Last Chance Texaco was named Book of the Year by MOJO and a Best Book of the Year at Pitchfork and NPR.  The Independent writes, “There has always been something defiant about Rickie Lee Jones . . . a voice from a dream, elusive yet familiar, transcendent, a messenger from another place.” 

Tickets starting at $40

Grounded

Pollak Theatre

Two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded, commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare. Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, one of opera’s most compelling young stars, portrays Jess, a hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. As she struggles to adjust to this new way of doing battle, she fights to maintain her sanity, and her soul, as she is called to rain down death by remote control. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin oversees the Met premiere of Tesori’s kaleidoscopic score and a cast that also features tenor Ben Bliss as the Wyoming rancher who becomes Jess’s husband. Michael Mayer’s high-tech staging, using a vast array of LED screens, presents a variety of perspectives on the action, including the drone’s predatory view from high above. This live cinema transmission is part of the Met’s award-winning Live in HD series, bringing opera to movie theaters across the globe.

$23 (general public); $21 (seniors), $10 (child) and $5 (Monmouth U. Students)

Munch: Love, Ghosts and Lady Vampires

Pollak Theatre

Munch: Love, Ghosts and Lady Vampires strives to shed new light on Edvard Munch, a profoundly mysterious, fascinating man, a trailblazer and a master for everyone who came after him. Now marks a turning point in our knowledge of the artist: the new MUNCH museum which opened in October 2021 in Oslo houses the immense legacy the artist left to his city: 28,000 works of art including paintings, prints, drawings, notebooks, sketches, photographs and his experiments with film. This extraordinary legacy gives us an exceptional insight into the mind, the passions and the art of this genius.

$23 (adult); $21 (senior); $10 (child); $5 (MU student)

Bruce Springsteen, The Ghost of Tom Joad

The Great Hall Auditorium/Virtual 400 Cedar Ave, West Long Branch, NJ, United States

It’s just like book club but with albums! With new advances in technology, the way we consume music through our devices, apps and on demand streaming services like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes is making the idea of the “album” as an art form extinct. Get together with other music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights to discuss some of the greatest records of all-time! Listen to the album beforehand and then come prepared to discuss. This event will feature The Ghost of Tom Joad.

Free and open to the public, but registration is required.