Arts & Entertainment

Over the River for Seuss and Cinderella

Check out what's happening at the Count Basie and Two River theaters this week.

The theaters over the Navesink River from Middletown will showcase a variety of entertainment options this weekend.

Head over to Red Bank's Count Basie and Two River theaters to see the works of Dr. Seuss set to music, Cinderella ballet, an orchestra performances from young musicians and an extended run of In This House.

Students from kindergarten through the fifth grade have the opportunity to see Dr. Seuss's best-loved stories featured on stage at the Basie this Thursday. The musical performance, hosted by TheatreworksUSA, is adapted from Broadway's Seussical, but has been reworked and reimagined specifically for younger audiences.

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In all, 13 actors, led by host and emcee the Cat in the Hat, take the audience on a trip through Seuss classics.

Children will be excited to see the good-natured elephant Horton, from Horton Hears a Who, discovers the young Who JoJo crying out from his home, which is little more than a speck of dust. Horton, determined to rescue and guard the world, does so, appropriately enough, because "a person's a person, no matter how small."

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Along the way, Horton runs into Miss Gertrude McFuzz, a one-feathered bird, and the lazy Maysie La Bird, who wants Horton to sit on her egg while she goes off on her own errands.

In this quilt adventure, the power of imagination rules the day.

For three performances over two days this weekend, the Company of Dance Arts presents its Cinderella Ballet.

The show, which features original choreography from Nicholas and Shayne Mishoe, is set to the musical score of Serge Prokoviev

The Red Bank-based Company of Dance Arts calls itself New Jersey's premier pre-professional ballet company.

The Monmouth Symphony Orchestra wraps up the weekend with a Sunday matinee performance at the Count Basie Theatre featuring the work of talented young musicians.

Symphony Conductor Roy D. Gussman will lead his orchestra in performances of Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 4, which was written when Mendelssohn was just 24. The performance will also feature soloist Soyeong Park, 14, performing the Violin Concerto of Alexander Glazuno.

The opening selection is a lyrical tone poem for trumpet and orchestra called In Memoriam written by 16-year-old composer Matthew Liu.

At Two River Theater, In This House continues its run with seven shows from Wednesday through Sunday.

The musical centers on two couples, one young, one older, both facing unique struggles meeting by chance and spending the night together in a deserted house on New Year's Eve. In This House, an intimate new musical developed over the past year through a workshop and writers' retreat at Two River Theater, is currently playing in the Marion Huber Theater.

The musical focuses on the universal experience of being loved and being in love, as well as the challenges people must go through in order to navigate their relationships, is explored in the musical.

Check out countbasietheatre.org and trtc.org for relevant pricing, seating and how to purchase tickets.A

At Count Basie:

Seussical — Grades K through 5 - Thursday, March 29 at 10 a.m.

Cinderella Ballet — Friday, March 30 at 10 a.m.

Cinderella Ballet — Saturday, March 31 at 1 and 6 p.m.

Monmouth Symphony Orchestra - Sunday, April 1 at 3 p.m.

At Two River Theater:

In This House — Wednesday through Sunday, show times vary.


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