Report To The Community 2021

evel
in the season
The annual tradition of holiday
performances returned to NJPAC
On the Saturday after
Thanksgiving, Sarah Brightman
arrived in Prudential Hall with her
first Christmas Symphony Tour —
a festive performance featuring
songs ranging from “Carol of the
Bells” and “Silent Night” to more
modern takes on the holiday
such as Greg Lake’s “I Believe
in Father Christmas,” and John
Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is
Over).” Brightman, the original
Christine in Broadway’s recordbreaking
Phantom of the Opera,
also duetted with Jay Dref on
that classic musical’s title song.
It was the beginning of a
welcome return to celebrating the
season at NJPAC. As it has done
throughout its 24-year history, the
Arts Center offered many holiday
moments to remember in 2021.
On the Lizzie and Jonathan
Tisch Stage of NJPAC’s more
intimate Victoria Theater,
actress Jane Lynch appeared
in A Swingin’ Little Christmas, a
performance modeled after TV
Christmas specials of the 1950s
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and 1960s. The show featured
Lynch singing new and old
Christmas songs along with
Kate Flannery, Tim Davis and
The Tony Guerrero Quintet.
Singer Amy Grant, known as “The
Queen of Christian Pop,” offered
uplifting contemporary tunes
from the Betty Wold Johnson
Stage of NJPAC’s Prudential
Hall, which was adorned with
glittering Christmas trees.
In a more traditional vein,
the 55 dancers of the State
Ballet Theatre of Ukraine
performed the holiday perennial
The Nutcracker, featuring
Tchaikovsky’s timeless score
and Andrei Litvinov’s sumptuous
choreography as well as a
spectacular set. Rounding out the
holiday offerings: A Christmas
concert by Mannheim
Steamroller, the best selling
ensemble that blends classical,
rock and new age music.
NJPAC’s signature holiday
event, The Hip Hop Nutcracker,
featuring hip hop dancing
– Jay Lustig
NJPAC welcomed The State Ballet
Theatre of Ukraine’s sumptuous
staging of The Nutcracker.
and beats set to the familiar
Tchaikovsky score, and starring
legendary rapper Kurtis Blow,
returned to stages across the
country this year. Originally
presented in 2014, The Hip Hop
Nutcracker has since become a
national event, with an annual
tour that was scheduled to visit
more than 40 venues in 2021.
Sadly, the tour’s two performances
at NJPAC had to be canceled
due to positive COVID-19
tests among the company.
The Arts Center’s annual
Kwanzaa Festival, sponsored
by longtime NJPAC supporters
Toby and Leon Cooperman,
had been scheduled for the
same weekend as those The Hip
Hop Nutcracker shows. It was
planned as a hybrid event, with
some in-person features, from the
traditional artisan marketplace
to dance performances in
the Prudential Hall lobby.
When those in-person aspects
were canceled on the morning
of the Festival, Eyesha Marable,
NJPAC’s Assistant Vice President
of Community Engagement, stood
at the doors of the Arts Center
with President and CEO John
Schreiber and Senior Director of
House Management Robin Jones to
break the news to those arriving.
“We were thanking the community
for coming, showing hospitality,
trying to help people not walk away
upset,” Marable explains. Bags of
fruit, vegetables and cornbread
(a gift from Newark’s Whole
Foods) — all symbolic of Kwanzaa’s
roots in African harvest festival
traditions — were handed out to
visitors who had to be turned away.
“Our Kwanzaa festival is the one
event at NJPAC that is infused
by the efforts of every part of the
organization, from arts education
to programming, ticketing, security,
front of house — it’s all hands on
deck. That’s part of what Kwanzaa
is about: It’s about umoja, unity,
and ujima, collective work and
responsibility. And even though
we had to cancel, that spirit
was still there,” says Marable.
And, although its in-person
elements were canceled, NJPAC
was still able to offer the festival as
a virtual event. Online programs
included workshops exploring
various forms of movement (West
African, Afrobeat, liturgical and
Caribbean dance as well as
the Afro-Brazilian martial art
of capoeira), a presentation on
Health and Wellness in the Black
Community by local representatives
of the “Divine Nine” (the nine
original Black fraternities and
sororities), and a panel discussion
on The New Renaissance of Black
Theatre moderated by Ricardo
Khan, Co-Founder of Crossroads
Theatre, and featuring Nicolette
Lynch, Managing Director of
Yendor Theatre and Ashley
Nicole Baptiste, Associate Artistic
Director of Jersey City Theater
Center, among others. •
Amy Grant brought
her 2021 Christmas
Tour to NJPAC’s
Prudential Hall.
Vintage sounds of the season with
Tim Davis, Jane Lynch and Kate
Flannery in A Swingin’ Little Christmas.
Despite the challenges of 2021, NJPAC
continued to offer holiday
moments to remember with a variety
of both virtual and in-person events.
NJPAC’s signature
holiday event, The Hip
Hop Nutcracker, was
back on a national tour.
NJPAC’s 2021
Kwanzaa Festival
offered virtual
movement classes
covering West
African, Afrobeat,
liturgical dance
and more.