(RED BANK, NJ) -- The Count Basie Center for the Arts has announced the opening of spring and summer enrollment at its Turner Academy of the Arts, while over at Phoenix Productions, the Basie Center's community theatre company, news is out on its 2025-26 season.

The Count Basie Center Turner Academy of the Arts - Registration opens today for classes, week- and season-long camps and additional spring and summer experiences at the Basie Center’s Turner Academy of the Arts.

Information and registration for all spring and summer programs is open now online. Offerings include Broadway and musical theatre classes, techniques for acting in television and film, mainstage student productions of Disney’s Finding Nemo Jr., Alice In Wonderland Jr. and High School Musical, plus week-long camps inspired by Wicked, Dog Man, Moana, Descendants, Minecraft and Roblox and more. Classes for adults are also available, including Musical Theatre Dance and an Open Tap session in the spring.

Also available are summer session classes from the Count Basie Center Conservatory of Music, including beginner violin and piano, intermediate brass technique, and brass and woodwind ensemble.

Early Bird registration, which offers a 25% discount on many offerings, ends on March 14 for spring and March 15 for summer. Count Basie Center members also receive discounts on Academy offerings; visit www.thebasie.org/membership for more information.

Phoenix Productions - Fresh off a slate that attracted nearly 20,000 Broadway fans, Phoenix Productions, the Count Basie Center’s community theatre company, has unveiled its upcoming 2025/26 season:

* Legally Blonde – The Musical (Friday, August 1 through Sunday, August 3 at the Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre)

* Fiddler on the Roof (Friday, September 26 – Sunday, September 28 at the Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre

* Evil Dead: The Musical (Friday, October 17 + Saturday, October 18 at The Vogel)

* Meredith Willson’s Miracle On 34^th Street – The Musical (Friday, November 21 – Sunday, November 23 at the Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre)

* Disney’s The Little Mermaid, The Musical (Friday, February 20, 2026 – Sunday, February 22, 2026 at the Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre)

* Ain’t Misbehavin’ – The Fats Waller Musical Show (Friday, March 27, 2026 + Saturday, March 28, 2026 at The Vogel)

* Beautiful – The Carole King Musical (Friday, May 1, 2026 – Sunday, May 3, 2026 at the Basie Center’s Hackensack Meridian Health Theatre)

Season subscriptions, which offer 15% savings, first choice of seats and no additional ticketing fees, are on sale now through www.thebasie.org/phoenix. Single shows will go on sale in early May.

Auditions for community actors are announced throughout the season and posted on Phoenix’s Facebook and Instagram channels.

FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

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Purlie

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Hamilton Stage at Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC)
360 Hamilton Avenue, Rahway, NJ 07065
category: theatre

 

Amadeus

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 7:30pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre

 

Amadeus

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Grunin Center - Black Box Theater
1 College Drive, Toms River, NJ 08754
category: theatre

 

Beautiful, The Carole King Musical

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Axelrod Performing Arts Center
100 Grant Avenue, Deal Park, NJ 07723
category: theatre

 

Beautiful, The Carole King Musical

Saturday, March 15, 2025 @ 2:00pm
Axelrod Performing Arts Center
100 Grant Avenue, Deal Park, NJ 07723
category: theatre

 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Ritz Theatre Company presents "Julius Caesar"

(HADDON TOWNSHIP, NJ) -- The Ritz Theatre Company is presenting Julius Caesar weekends from March 14-30, 2025. This is one of William Shakespeare's most enduringly popular and influential works. "Beware the Ides of March!"

Jersey City Theater Center presents "Three for the King: Three Short Plays by Renee Flemings" on Saturday

(JERSEY CITY, NJ) -- On Saturday, March 15, 2025, Jersey City Theater Center (JCTC) presents Three for the King, a compelling afternoon of theatre featuring a staged reading of three short plays by Renee Flemings. Showtime is 3:00pm.

How Jersey Are You? Find Out when "The Devil and Daisy Dirt" comes to Ocean County Library

(TOMS RIVER, NJ) -- Bruce and Bon Jovi. Lucy the Elephant and Hurricane Harbor. The Parkway and the Turnpike. You are Jersey all the way. However, have you seen the tallest Jersey Devil tale ever? The Ocean County Library Toms River Branch presents The Devil and Daisy Dirt: A Garden State Gothic, Alt-Folk Event on Monday, April 14, 2025. The event begins at 7:00pm.

SoHo Playhouse presents the World Premiere of "Gloaming, Nowhere"

(NEW YORK, NY) -- SoHo Playhouse presents the world premiere of Gloaming, Nowhere, created and performed by J.S. Streible, with original songs by Streible, running March 12 – April 5, 2025 in a limited engagement for 23 performances in the theater's intimate Huron Room. Gloaming, Nowhere is the world's first Neo-Appalachian, Afrolachian, Southern Pop Revusical.

The Barn Theatre presents "Of Mice and Men"

(MONTVILLE, NJ) -- The Barn Theatre presents Of Mice and Men from weekends from March 14-30, 2025. This is a stage adaptation of the 1937 novel by American author John Steinbeck. The production is directed by Mark Phelan.