NJPAC’s new season of family attractions

Here’s a chance to kowtow to your inner princess and sit among the royals of musical theater. Laura Osnes, who played the title role in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, hosts Disney’s Beauty and the Beast’s original Belle (Susan Egan) and original Jasmine from Disney’s Aladdin (Courtney Reed) in an evening of princess-power songs and stories on September 15 Lucky Adam J. Levy is the special guest prince. Cosplay, contests and more!

This magical coupling of wide-screen films with musicians from the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra is back—and bigger— in audience popularity. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire™ ( October 27 ) and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™ (June 1, 2019) are screened in their entirety with live symphonic accompaniment of the scores. And just in time for the holidays, Danny Elfman’s whimsical score to Disney’s Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is performed by the NJSO at a December 15 screening in Prudential Hall.

Some prefer their “Nutcracker” salty or sweet— NJPAC offers both. Always in demand at the box office, the Arts Center’s original The Hip-Hop Nutcracker returns home on December 14 following another successful U.S. tour. The buoyant Tchaikovsky mash-up, hosted by rapper Kurtis Blow, is a delightful contrast to the National Ballet Theatre of Odessa, which arrives on December 16 with a resplendent Nutcracker in the grand Russian tradition.