More New Jersey venues have announced plans to emerge from the COVID induced shutdown: New Jersey’s own Paper Mill Playhouse will welcome back live audiences for the first time in October for the 2021-22 season; shows had been suspended due to the pandemic. According to Playbill.com, the first show will be “Songs For a New World”, running from Oct. 13-Nov. 7. Starting Dec. 1 and running through Jan. 2, Paper Mill will welcome Broadway stars for “A Jolly Holiday with Disney on Broadway,” featuring songs from “The Lion King,” “Mary Poppins,” “Aladdin,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Newsies” and more.

Shows postponed from earlier dates will also be staged, starting with “Clue”, based on the 80s film; it will run from Jan. 26, 2022, to Feb. 20. After being postponed from the spring of 2020, “The Wanderer” will run from March 24-April 24; it is a musical that tells the story of rock pioneer Dion DiMucci.

According to the Paper Mill website: “his extraordinary journey comes to the stage in a moving and intimate new musical about a life lived in the glow of the spotlight and in the shadow of addiction.” “Sister Act”, another postponed show, will run from Jun. 1-26, “Featuring original music by Tony- and eight-time Oscar winner Alan Menken (Newsies, Beauty and the Beast, Little Shop of Horrors), Sister Act was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Musical.”

The Playhouse’s artistic director, Mark Hoebee, said in a statement, ““Right now all of us are re-emerging into a new world. At this moment, we need the power of theater to help us begin to heal and move forward.”

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Doyle. Any opinions expressed are Bill Doyle's own.

Famous NJ people from A to Z (almost)

More From New Jersey 101.5 FM