The renowned Carousel House in Asbury Park is just steps to the sandy beach, pounding waves, and bustling boardwalk. In its heyday, beach goers came to enjoy an ice skating rink, roller derby, and other summertime rides and games. Now the Casino and Carousel House are being awakened from their slumber by great music.

Revision Theater — the new summer resident of the Carousel House is the stage for The Bikinis Musical , the story of four fifty-something women who look back at how they sang their way into the hearts of residents at the Jersey Shore twenty years ago.

Annie, Jodie, Barbara, and Karla recapture their 1964 win of the Belmar Beach Talent Contest, performing classic sixties songs in their bikinis, hence their group name “The Bikinis.”

Beloved songs such as ‘Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’, ‘It’s in His Kiss’, ‘Under the Boardwalk’, and ‘It’s Raining Men’ are part of the soundtrack and have the audience singing and dancing along.

The play is co-written and directed by Ray Roderick and James Hindeman, both residents of Bradley Beach. Joe Baker provided the musical arrangements. The talented cast includes Cheryl Freeman as passionate Barbara, Annie Golden as hipster Annie, Kathy Morath as the leader Jodi, and Karyn Quackenbush as the wild and fun loving Karla.

This musical is a great way to savor the last weeks of Summer 2010, by celebrating the Jersey Shore of the sixties. The show has been extended through August 28th.

For more information and locations to buy tickets to ‘The Bikinis Musical’ and for information on their upcoming ‘Rocky Horror Show’ in October, visit Revision Theatre’s website .

Melissa Beveridge is a writer for NJMyWay.com, JerseyBites.com, Nycny.com and New Avenues Magazine. Contact her at mebeveridge@gmail.com .

Sandwiched between two culturally rich hubs like Bucks County and New York City, it should come as no surprise that En Jay is home to many extraordinarily talented artists, artisans and craftspeople.

This coming weekend, the Sugarloaf Crafts Festival (www.SugarloafCrafts.com), which showcases 275 artisans from around the country, will feature twenty talented New Jerseyans.

Former Landscape architect turned master illustrator, John DeAmicis of Milltown (www.deamicis.com) has penned a series of satirical drawings and notecards that have garnered the attention of Pepsi and the Dr. Seuss Estate.

For Sherry Lane of Scotch Plains (www.sherrylanejewelry.com), making jewelry started as a hobby. After a diagnosis with breast cancer and rounds of treatment, Sherry continued to create her elegant and sophisticated pearl and gemstone pieces and pursued it as a new career.

Capture a piece of New Jersey nostalgia with a Joseph Orsag (www.vintageviewsusa.com) piece. The Morristown resident masterfully reproduces iconic and historical photos into intricate and precise drawings. The collection includes vintage town and city scapes and popular beach scenes in black & white and color.

The nature inspired and abstract metal jewelry by Jennifer Jordan Park of Budd Lake (www.weareverjewelry.com) is achieved through the ancient art of cloisonné, a technique used for decorating metalwork objects. The bold colors and blend of materials like gold, silver and enamel are transformed into unique conversation pieces.

The colorful and intricate borosilicate glass bead jewelry from James Bielenberg of Union (www.jbzgallery.com/jabide.html) are the result of long hours and meticulous design. The flamework and metalsmith artist fuses individual color pigments into vibrant beads and pairs them with handcrafted silver beads and accessories.

See them all… and so much more at the The Sugarloaf Crafts Festival this weekend at the Garden State Exhibit Center, located at 50 Atrium Drive in Somerset . Adults tickets are $7 if purchased online and $8 at the door. Children 12 and under are free.

The column was written by NJ My Way Managing Editor Hilary Morris of www.mrsmonj.com.

The arts… and the crafts are keeping us warm in  En Jay even in the deep snowy days of February.

Curl up next to the fire with this fine slice of Scottish history and romance.  Morristown’s Morgan MacKinnon new novel,  The Mirror,  blends the former AT&T executive’s amazing knowledge of Scotland with romance and time travel.

MacKinnon toured Scotland in ’97 and was inspired:  “There is something about the country itself that grabs hold of your heart and never lets go.  I think part of it is the passion of her people; the rest, the ancient history that has touched every square foot of her land.”

The author lives in with her three cats, Tabitha, Merlin, and Vinegar John.  Here’s the link to buy the book: (www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=the+mirror+morgan+mackinnon).

Dig out the car and go to the theatre because from what we’ve seen and read, the folks at George Street Playhouse (www.georgestplayhouse.org) could be incubating another hit. And we’ve got tickets for you.

The show is called Calvin Berger, a musical about a modern day Cyrano; a high school kid agonizing over his nose and romance, it’s reminiscent of the Steve Martin film Roxanne.

Authored by the upcoming Barry Wyner, and directed and choreographed by Broadway’s Kathleen Marshall (The Pajama Game, Grease) the show opens this week. We’ve got four free tickets to Friday’s performance for the tenth person to e-mail. Just click on the Write The Editor link below and send us your contact information.

Enjoy the book and the show… and cross off the days ‘til Spring.

The curtain is going up on many local stages as the new season gets underway. We’ll be your guide to the best performances En Jay has to offer. Plus, we’ve got exclusive access and great deals to hard-to-find tickets.

We’re kicking off the season at the George Street Playhouse (www.georgestplayhouse.org) starting tonight!

Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are is a great new play written and directed by the legendary Arthur Laurents. The chick-friendly drama is the story of a woman coping with a devastating loss, managing her over-bearing mother-in-law, and the advances of a new suitor.

The amazing 92 year old Laurents, who recently wrote/directed the revivals of West Side Story and Gypsy on Broadway, has pulled together a star-driven cast including Alison Fraser and Shirley Knight. You can get a real taste of the play and stars at: www.georgestplayhouse.org/ftp_only/video/comebackvideo.htm.

Here’s the best news: NJ My Way readers can get a great deal on tickets by going to the George Street website (www.georgestplayhouse.org). You can buy one ticket and get one free for all shows between October 13 - 18, for the new Floor Seating Section (first four rows from the stage). Make sure you put in the code NJMY50.

Enjoy the show, and make sure you tell everyone you know to sign up for this NJMyWay e-newsletter by entering their e-mail address (that’s it, nothing else) on www.njmyway.com.

NON FICTION

Kelly Rouba, (http://kellyrouba.blogspot.com/) who has battled the ravages of juvenile arthritis since age 2, has written a must-read for any teenager confronting the disease called Juvenile Arthritis: The Ultimate Teen Guide. Ms Rouba, a former Ms. Wheelchair NJ 2007, wants this book to help and inspire those with the disease, and guide their friends and family to greater understanding.

Jazz lovers will love Jazz Notes: Interviews Across the Generations by Sanford Josephson. Sandy—whose day job is promoting attention for the Matheny School—clearly moonlights as a jazz expert. The book is a compilation of interviews and stories about jazz greats, and an examination of the harsh role that racism played in some of their lives. (www.amazon.com/Jazz-Notes-Interviews-across-Generations/dp/0313357005)

Want a real guide to leadership in these troubled times? Jersey resident and corporate titan Joseph Grano (www.joe-grano.com) is author of You Can’t Predict A Hero. He draws upon his past experience as Chairman of UBS Financial Services (formerly UBS PaineWebber) and Chairman of the Homeland Security Advisory Council to provide a roadmap for crisis leadership and decision making.

The real life experience of Holocaust survivor Jack Joseph is still raw and frightening years later as told to Daniel Evan Weiss in An Unbelievable Thing: Jack Joseph’s Dark Journey. Joseph, a New York City resident, is the patriarch of an Englewood family (www.pointedprosepress.com/unbelievable.shtml).

FICTION

We loved Bird In Hand by Montclair’s Christina Baker Kline (www.christinabakerkline.com). It’s the story of how one traumatic event pulls apart two couples, and sets in motion a chain of events that changes the dynamics of their friendship and eventually, their lives.

Manless in Montclair is Amy Holman Edelman’s (www.amyedelman.com) fictionalized account of her own story; what happens when the Montclair publicist’s husband and father of her two young children dies unexpectedly. It’s full of tragedy and humor, as she experiences the contemporary dating scene.

Rounding out the Montclair-area trio is Baristanet’s Debra Galant, (www.debragalant.com) with the funny Fear and Yoga in New Jersey. The story of a yoga teacher overwhelmed by suburban life crises is a satiric window on lifestyles of the upscale and not really famous in these bedroom communities.

This may be one of the busiest times of the year. So many great goings on this week, we thought we’d pass along some of our most notable invitations.

New Brunswick’s State Theatre (www.statetheatrenj.org) is a very busy place.

On Wednesday, the Theatre hosts The Bacon Brothers in the annual benefit for Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s 125th Anniversary.  The link to buy tickets is www.rwjuh.edu/BaconBrothers .  $125 gets you a ticket to the rock concert with Kevin and his brother Michael, and entry to the cocktail party as well.

 If you are a jazz fan, this same theatre transforms into an up-close-and-personal-setting beginning Thursday.  The New Jersey Blues and Jazz Festival, a three day event,  takes the stage with world class jazz performers in an intimately arranged venue. Performances kick off with Rod Piazza & The Mighty Flyers.  

At the Summit Medical Group (www.summitmedicalgroup.com) on Thursday, they’re hosting a reception for the exhibition of groundbreaking art of autistic artist Alex Masket. You can also watch a documentary on the artist by Montclair filmmaker Dennis Connors.

Thursday night the Iron Matt Foundation, so named for a brave Bergen County youngster who succumbed to brain and spinal cancer, holds its annual fundraiser aboard the Intrepid. Read the inspirational story and purchase tickets at www.ironmatt.org.

Finally, our friends at the North Essex Chamber of Commerce (www.northessexchamber.com) have been diligently promoting their Biz Expo on Thursday at Birchwood Manor in Whippany.

Billed as North Jersey’s largest networking event,  representatives of at least seven local Chambers are sponsoring this ultimate opportunity to meet, greet, and make lucrative, valuable connections. These days, is there any business owner who doesn’t need some great leads?

NJ My Way is always on Twitter and Facebook!

New Brunswick’s George Street Playhouse (www.georgestplayhouse.org) wins our nod for most creative packaging of a play for the public.

George Street is staging A Moon To Dance By in mid-November, the story of novelist D.H. Lawrence’s widow Frieda –and her attempt to resolve her muddled relationship with her adult son. Renowned actress Jane Alexander is in the lead role.

To spur ticket sales and generate buzz for the month-long performances, the playhouse is offering attendees a package deal with Lawrence’s novel Women In Love, plus a script for the play written by Thom Thomas.

Finally, a member of the Playhouse staff will even travel to your book club meeting to discuss the play and novel. Or, you can hold your book club at the theatre, before or after the show.

There is a lot for your club to talk about. Frieda abandoned her husband and children for her literary lover, so her now grown son has plenty of angst, guilt, and even jealousy of his mother’s famous friends.

Moon is produced by Emmy winner Edwin Sherin, producer of Law & Order on television.

The package—a bundle of romance and neurosis that you can read, watch, and speak out loud, costs $56.50 per person. Theatre immersion, Jersey-style.

Here are more good reasons not to go across the river for theatre.

Over at the South Orange Performing Arts Center, (www.sopacnow.org) they are celebrating “change” with Menopause The Musical.

It’s the story of four very different women who meet at a Bloomingdales lingerie sale and re-live their experiences and the Big Change through “re-lyricized” songs from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. The show runs through the end of September at SOPAC.

There’s a comedy about a comedy in Noises Off playing at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey (www.njshakespeare.org).

At the shore you can surf our annual wave of great beach theatre.

Experience the Little Shop of Horrors at the Surflight Theater (www.surflight.org) in Beach Haven, on Long Beach Island. The dark comedy about the plant with an insatiable appetite is on stage thru August 16th.

Plus, everyone is talking about Social Security at the newly renovated Cape May Stage (www.capemaystage.com) which runs through the end of August.

Next month, watch for Little House on The Prairie at the Papermill Playhouse in Millburn (www.papermill.org), a new musical based on the now classic Laura Ingalls Wilder stories.

Put Maryann McFadden’s (www.maryannmcfadden.com) new novel So Happy Together on your current reading list—the escapist summer reads that are easy to speed through, with feet up and glass of chosen beverage at hand.

We first told you about the Hackettstown author’s maiden novel The Richest Season in 2007 (http://www.njmyway.com/index.php?option=com_wordpress&p=20&Itemid=53).

We called her a budding Nicholas Sparks, who determinedly self-published the story of middle aged romance and promoted it to book clubs and web groups until a major publisher took notice.

So Happy Together is Maryann’s second book, and a more complicated tale. It brings together three generations of women, their lives, dreams, and romances. Against the backdrop of rural New Jersey and Cape Cod, with an environmental sub-plot, these characters find happiness and fulfillment.  

This novel has more characters, and more character development and gives Ms. McFadden a chance to stretch her writing abilities. And for women who are caught between caring for their elderly parents, and holding their own households together, the words will resonate.

If you missed the first book, The Richest Season is now in paperwork.

With either, you’ll have a pleasant companion for your summer vacation. Not deep enough to require intense concentration, but rich enough to distract while you put your feet up, and enjoy whatever is in your glass.

We get dozens of notices about benefits this time of year, but this one stood out for many reasons.

The Butterfly Project  is an original musical being presented this upcoming weekend at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (www.njpac.org).  It benefits the Children’s Cancer Research Fund and the Matheny Medical and Educational Center’s Arts Access Program.

It’s the story of a young boy, Christopher,  who loves bugs and goes in search of the perfect caterpillar for his best friend Sara, who is battling cancer. Dancers from six area companies portray the insects that Christopher encounters. The original score comes from local composer Conrad Korsch (www.conradkorsch.com).  

The homegrown show is the brainchild of Andrea Kramer, founder of the New Jersey Arts Collaborative. Her inspiration was the life and death of her young cousin, Christopher Burke, who died from cancer at age 6.

You can read the real story at www.njartscollaborative.org/butterfly-project . The show is based on a children’s book Butterbird, also created by Andrea.

You can order tickets to the weekend shows on the NJPAC website (www.njpac.org).  

From the press release: “Audiences will leave with full-hearts and the inspiration to continue moving forward during life’s rough times.”  

Seems like reason enough to attend!