Union County Performing Arts Center

As I’m consumed with melancholy, I’m taken back to my very first concert. It was here at the Union County Performing Arts Center. My boyfriend and I had acquired tickets to see Pat Benatar perform. Unfortunately Hurricane Sandy hit and the show was rescheduled for two plus months later in late January. I was impressed by how great our seats were (they upgraded us due to the unfortunate series of events that led to the extensive postponement). Not only were we really close to the stage, but given the size of the venue I was appreciative at how comfy the chairs were. As we listened and I tried to sing along to the tunes, wonderful memories were created. Unfortubarwly none of the other performances have caught my eye since then I haven’t visited a second time. However I would definitely recommend this establishment to anyone interested in catching a show here.

Classic interior dating back to 1928. They host a wide variety of high quality performances at very reasonable prices – and ticketholders get 20% off at many Rahway restaurants!

I’m a big fan of community theatre and this is no exception. I went to see «RENT» this weekend and was extremely satisfied. Price: $ 15 general admission, gave me middle seat in third row. It was opening night so several local elected officials were present about their sponsorship of performances at this location. PLUS, according to the UCPAC calendar, there will be a new theatre performance every 1 – 2 weeks for the duration of the season! HOORAY!

Went to see Dennis DeYoung perform there on 7÷18÷14.
Its a good place to see a show…
The only downpart was the ticketaker being a little pushy since there was a ticket snafu which was on their part…

NOTE: This review is for The Hamilton Stage, on Hamilton St., not the main UCPAC theatre on Irving St.
I saw a blues/​rock duo here on New Years Eve, Peter Karp & Sue Foley, with their band. The theater is similar to the South Orange Performing Arts Center. It seats about 200 people, which provides an intimate artist/​audience atmosphere. The sightlines to the stage and the acoustics are excellent. The padded seats are a little cheezy, however, I sat for over four hours (with a couple of intermission breaks), and it was OK.
The lobby is spacious, and the concession sells beer, wine, soft drinks, bottled water, candy, and chips. You are allowed to take your beverages into the theater during the performance. Half-​liter bottles of water are $ 2, a 6 oz. pour of wine was $ 6. They served complimentary champagne on New Years Eve, as much as you wanted, which was cool.
It has its own free parking lot in the back which accomidates about 100 vehicles. The venue is actually on a residential side street, a few blocks from the commercial district (Irving St.), so there is limited street parking, as well.
Ticket prices for this event were $ 25, with no extra handling charge. BTW, the band was great. A entertaining live act, with lots of energy and spontaneity. Their two CD’s, one of which I bought after the show and got autographed, are not as memorable.

We saw David Johansen there last night. What a great intimate little theatre to see a show at. Great acoustics too. Can’t wait to see more shows there in the future.

This is a comfortable theater with affordable ticket prices that is bringing some really interesting programming to the area.

they have a new artistic director* here who is bringing in some really intriguing stuff. having seen the draw on these events in other venues, i know dawson could easily fill this venue on a regular basis. if the arts council allows him some latitude, this venue could definitely be a focal point of rahway’s rumored «emerging arts scene.» here are some disappointments i found after following dawson to his new venue:
— ticket pricing. $ 20 isn’t appropriate for every event. it’s better to charge less and sell out than overprice and have no one turn out.
— promotion. the only way i ever hear of any of these events is through dawson’s own mailing list. they have to get creative and let the arty farty types know they’re here. i’m on UCPAC’s mailing list and i never seem to get anything about these fun events.
— alcohol. some of these events just gotta have drinks. that could be a licensing issue, but still.
— décor. this place looks and feels like every other publicly-​funded arts council venue, and that’s not a good thing. for events involving horror flicks and/​or fire eating, there really should be some ambiance. having attended his events elsewhere, alex is really good at creating a whole experience for patrons. he uses décor, lighting, sound, etc, and the difference in this theater was stark. these shows can’t just be plunked down into a new generic theater.
still, i’m excited to see if the bugs can be worked out for the 2013 – 2014 season.
*not sure i’m factually accurate about dawson’s job title here. i had assumed it was artistic director, but i might be wrong.

Hamilton Stage is a non profit extension of UCPAC (Union County Performing Arts Center). It’s a fairly new building, and quite cute. The seating area is quite intimate, it seats 199 people. The sound travels very well, and the stage is quite cozy. The seats could be comfier, but no big deal. Random thought, but I would have liked the doorway to exit t be a bit bigger, but considering the space they’re working with and control rooms that need to be attached, it’s fine.
I didn’t really dig the selection of concessions, and not the price either. I believe I paid 2 dollars for a bottled water, which is silly to me, because the bottle was so small. Cans of soda were 3 bucks. I understand the whole non profit thing, and needing to make money to run the place, but I would have appreciated a little more bang for my buck. At least make the water a regular size. *shrug*
There’s also another stage for rehearsals, which is even smaller, but I didn’t take a look at it during my visit. Bathrooms were spacious and very clean, no complaints there. Staff was eclectic, mostly older people sprinkled with some younger theatre aficionados.
Quite pleased with the new addiction to the thriving Rahway arts scene.

It’s a nice theatre — seems the majority of the acts they’ve been booking lately are people who were big in the 90’s — but that makes sense since the prudential center and NJPAC is 10 min north, and the state theatre in New Brunswick is 10 min south — the ‘mezzanine’ seats are just higher up stadium seating (front row mezzanine is NOT closer then rear orchestra) — wish I would’ve known that before I went to the show I prob wouldve spent a few dollars more for closer seats. They didn’t let us go to our seats until about 15 min before show time which I thought was odd but wasn’t a huge deal. As for parking, if you get there earlyish you can find close by street parking but keep in mind the meters are enforced till 7pm — there’s a parking deck a few blocks away (by the train station) very well lit streets and safe feeling walking to and from even late at night.

Went to see The Doors. The band was awesome but I will never go to this theater again. The staff is entirely comprised of senior citizens who are cranky and up way past their bedtimes. The group in front of me stood up to dance and cheer and were immediately told that there was no standing up… Really? Since when? When they stood again later during Light My Fire the usher got the Rahway Police to tell them to sit down. This, of course, made the 8 of us get on our feet. Eventually the «powers that be» just moved on to harass another section.

Had tickets to a free DL Hugley comedy show over the weekend. Due to the websites horrible directions, which were completely backwards and indicated no street signs only landmarks which had since expired, we missed the show. I am really disappointed int he fact they couldn’t provide clear directions. Moreover, they don’t even show up on google or any navigation. Im not sure if this is their fault or these application, regardless it was a let down.

I caught a Boyz II Men concert here, and couldn’t have had a better time. The theatre is small, so any seat in the house will give you a great view of the performers. Sound was amazing, but Boyz II Men always sound great, even after 20 years! All seats are clothed and comfy, and they allowed fans to run up to the front to sing along with the band during a few songs. It is clean and has some ornate features and gold structures so it felt classy. You can purchase strong drinks and some snacks here as well.