Kean Stage's Holiday Season Runs on Two Tracks, and the Free One Is Kean's Own

On Saturday, November 21, Kean University has two performances scheduled at 7:30 p.m., one on each side of campus. At the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center on the main campus, the Kean Department of Theatre is closing its run of The Drowsy Chaperone, with tickets listed at $15 to $18. Over at Enlow Recital Hall on East Campus, the University Choir and Concert Choir are performing Mozart's Requiem, and admission is free. The next afternoon, the same recital hall hosts Monty Alexander, with seats listed at $48 to $68.

That weekend shows how the whole season works. Kean Stage's calendar from mid-November to mid-December splits into two tracks. Shows built by Kean's own students and faculty are free or cost less than a movie and dinner. Touring productions and headline artists carry the high prices. If you live in Union, the cheaper track is just down Morris Avenue, and you can fill most of a holiday season with it before buying a single premium ticket.

The Price Follows Who's on Stage

Here is the season from mid-November through December 13, sorted by who produces each show. All prices are as listed on Kean Stage's event pages.

Every free night in that table is a Kean ensemble. The lowest-priced ticketed show is Kean's own theater department. The two most expensive shows of the season, Monty Alexander and The Klezmatics, play Enlow Recital Hall, which has 312 seats. A Christmas Carol plays Wilkins Theatre, which seats 902, and its top listed price is lower than the bottom price for The Klezmatics. On this calendar, a 312-seat hall carries both the steepest headliner tickets and the free student concerts, while the 99-seat Bauer Boucher hosts the season's cheapest paid show.

What the Free Track Actually Offers

The free shows are full programs. The November 21 concert is the Mozart Requiem, sung by the University Choir and Concert Choir under faculty directors Christine Scott and Rachel Carlson, with pianist Justine Langman and student conductors. The choirs come back on Sunday, December 6, at 4 p.m. with a program of varied choral works, again with Langman at the piano.

That second date is new this year. Kean's student newspaper, The Tower, reported that the fall choral performances were split across November 21 and December 6 to give each choir more performance time. The free track grew from one choir night to two.

Two days later, on Tuesday, December 8, at 8 p.m., the Kean University Orchestra plays a program covering four centuries of dance music. It includes a collaboration with students from the Newark Arts High School Orchestra. That gives you three free concerts between the Saturday before Thanksgiving and the second week of December, all in the same 312-seat hall that charges $63 or more for The Klezmatics five days later.

The Drowsy Chaperone sits between the two tracks. It's the Department of Theatre's production of the Tony-winning musical, directed by Holly R. Logue. In the story, a fictional 1928 musical comes to life around a man listening to its cast recording. It also has the most performances of any show this season, so it fits the most schedules:

• Fri, Nov 13 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sat, Nov 14 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
• Sun, Nov 15 at 2 p.m.
• Wed, Nov 18 at 7:30 p.m.
• Thu, Nov 19 at 5:30 p.m.
• Fri, Nov 20 at 7:30 p.m.
• Sat, Nov 21 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

A 10 a.m. school-time performance on Friday, November 20, is reserved for school groups first, and its listing already shows it as sold out.

Where the Ticketed Track Earns Its Price

The ticketed shows are the ones Kean can't produce in-house. A Christmas Carol on December 4 is a national-tour production from CMI Entertainment in collaboration with Entertainment Central Productions Orlando, with a nationally selected cast. The listing describes it as a two-hour theatrical journey. Clifford the Big Red Dog: The Musical comes from TheaterWorksUSA. Its 11 a.m. Saturday slot and the listing's recommendation for pre-K through grade 2 make it the season's show for very young kids.

The two Enlow headliners have a local connection. Monty Alexander, billed as a Jamaican jazz legend, shares the stage with Marel Hidalgo, a 17-year-old guitar prodigy from New Jersey, and the listing describes their music in the context of Jamaican jazz and ska. The Grammy-winning Klezmatics close the calendar on December 13 with a holiday program that mixes Hanukkah songs and original music with Yiddish, gospel, jazz and other influences.

Building One Weekend Out of Both Tracks

November 21 and 22 is the weekend where the tracks overlap most tightly, with Kean's own theater, a free choir concert and a headliner inside about 25 hours. You can do the whole weekend for the cost of one Drowsy Chaperone ticket and one Monty Alexander ticket:

1. Saturday, 2 p.m. The Drowsy Chaperone matinee at Bauer Boucher Theatre Center, 1000 Morris Avenue.
2. Saturday, 7:30 p.m. The free Mozart Requiem at Enlow Recital Hall. Leave the main campus with time to spare. Kean Stage puts Enlow about a 15 to 20 minute walk from Wilkins Theatre, which shares the main campus address with Bauer Boucher.
3. Sunday, 3 p.m. Monty Alexander and Marel Hidalgo, back at Enlow.

December has a looser version of the same pattern. You could see the touring A Christmas Carol on Friday the 4th, the free choir program on Sunday the 6th and the free orchestra on Tuesday the 8th, and spend money on only one of the three nights.

The Details That Trip People Up

Kean Stage uses three venues, and they don't all share an address. Wilkins Theatre and Bauer Boucher Theatre Center are on the main campus at 1000 Morris Avenue, Union. Enlow Recital Hall is on East Campus at 215 North Avenue, and that's a Hillside address with a 07205 ZIP code. Five of the eight events in the table above are at Enlow, so check which address you're putting into your map app before you leave the house.

The rest of the practical details:

• Parking is free at every Kean Stage venue, ADA-accessible spaces included, and you don't need a parking pass.
• The train works. Union Train Station sits directly behind the main campus. On weekdays a shuttle runs from the Kean Hall lot. For weekend events, Kean Stage points visitors along the blue shuttle line to the Morris Avenue entrance.
• The main box office is in the Wilkins Theatre lobby, open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Other venue box offices open one hour before each performance. Phone is (908) 737-7469 and email is [email protected].
• Bring a card or cash. The box office takes Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, cash and checks, but not tap-to-pay.
• Listed prices are final prices. A $3 processing fee per ticket is already included in the total.
• Every guest needs a ticket, babies under 2 in a lap seat included. That matters most for the Clifford matinee.

On Thanksgiving morning, November 26, the Township's own Turkey Trot 5K Run/Walk runs from 7 to 10:30 a.m. That's a good way to fill the gap between the November choir concert and the December run of shows.

At The Ivanov Group, we keep track of what makes a Union address worth having, and a free Mozart Requiem a short drive from home is part of that. If you'd like to know what your own place near Morris Avenue is worth this season, start with our Get Your Instant Home Valuation tool and we'll walk you through the numbers.