Madeline Orton-Ballen

A trailblazing theatrical event premieres this week in Red Bank: an original musical that integrates spoken word, sung music, projected text, and American Sign Language all neatly within the world of the show. In Elephant Shoes (mouth those words and one looks like they are saying “I love you”), Two River Theater partners with Los Angeles’s Deaf West Theatre on a modern-day romantic comedy adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, where assisted communication holds new meaning.

 By Maddie Orton, JerseyArts.com originally published: 03/12/2026 Laurie Berkner has been dubbed "The Queen of Kids' Music" by People Magazine, and it's not hard to see why. Berkner's songs have been streamed 1.7 billion times. She's sold 1.5 million albums and appeared at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Carnegie Hall, and the White House. She was even seen her in the recent HBO documentary, Happy and You Know It, which features some of the biggest names of the genre.

 By Maddie Orton, JerseyArts.com originally published: 03/12/2026 From the mind of Captain Underpants creator Dav Pilkey, Dog Man is half man, half police officer, and the beloved subject of 14 graphic novels, a major motion picture, and a theatrical production—Dog Man: The Musical. Director/choreographer Jen Wineman, book writer/lyricist Kevin Del Aguila, and composer Brad Alexander discuss bringing this beloved character and his strange, silly world to the stage.