1. Page E4 Sunday, February 8, 2015 Asbury Park Press APP.COM
The Rutgers Symphony Orchestra is
teaming up with the American Reper-
tory Ballet in a performance of new
choreography to Felix Mendelssohn’s
music for the Shakespeare play “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Taking place over the last weekend
in February at the State Theatre in New
Brunswick, the performance will feature members of
the Rutgers Kirkpatrick Choir and Mason Gross
School of the Arts students. Kynan Johns of North
Brunswick, the director of orchestras at Rutgers, will
conduct.
Shakespeare’s comedy uses love to cast a spell that
breaks down barriers of reality and sexuality — sto-
ries within stories, dreams that may be realities and
realities that may be dreams. Actors in a bad play
become players in a real drama that may, after all, not
have been real. It hints at our own lack of control, at
the animal powers that still guide our deepest urges.
Mendelssohn’s energetic, upbeat musical style
lends itself to Shakespeare’s playful, comic fantasy on
romantic love. The composer was a child prodigy and
labeled “the Mozart of the 19th century” by the great
composer and music critic Robert Schumann.
Mendelssohn made his public debut at 9 and wrote
many of his best-loved works while still a teenager. “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream,” in fact, was written in
1826 when the composer was 17. He then later com-
posed incidental music for the play, excerpts of which
are frequently performed as concert music.
The “Midsummer Night’s Dream” performance
marks the second collaboration between the Rutgers
Symphony Orchestra and the American Repertory
Ballet, having performed Prokofiev’s “Romeo and
Juliet” in 2013. The combination of dancers with a live
orchestra increases the power of both groups, accord-
ing to American Ballet Theater Artistic Director
Douglas Martin.
“All of the performance energy happening in the
orchestra doubles or triples the energy onstage,”
Martin said, quoted in a news release. “There’s noth-
ing like it.”
George B. Stauffer, dean of the Mason Gross
School, believes the collaboration is positive for the
Mason Gross musicians as well.
“We are deeply committed to dance at the Mason
Gross School, and this partnership underscores our
commitment to the future of dance in New Bruns-
wick,” Stauffer said in a news release.
The performance also marks the continuation of a
collaboration between the State Theatre and Rutgers
University, according to Warren R. Zimmerman, the
interim president and CEO at the State Theatre.
“We are proud to continue our collaboration with
the Mason Gross School,” Zimmerman said in a news
release. “Part of our mission is to connect and engage
with the community, and Rutgers is the perfect part-
ner.”
Performances of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”
will take place at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26, and Friday,
Feb. 27, at the State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New
Brunswick.
Tickets range from $27 to $57 and are available at
www.statetheatrenj.org or by calling 732-246-7469.
For more information about Mason Gross events,
visit www.masongross.rutgers.edu or call the Mason
Gross Performing Arts Center ticket office at 848-
932-7511.
Carlton Wilkinson, a composer, music professor, writer and
editor, has a doctorate in music. Follow him on Twitter
@CarltonTSC, email him at carlton.j.wilkinson@verizon.net or
write him c/o Entertainment, Asbury Park Press, 3600 Highway
66, Neptune, NJ 07754-1551.
Rutgers orchestra, ARB team up for ‘Dream’
CARLTON WILKINSON
MUSIC NOTES
COURTESY OF LEIGHTON CHEN
The “Midsummer Night’s Dream” performance marks the
second collaboration between the Rutgers Symphony
Orchestra and the American Repertory Ballet.
the arts
U2 has been hard at at work.
Bruce Springsteen, Carrie Underwood and Chris
Martin of Coldplay joined the group in Times Square
for a World AIDS Day concert back in December.
Now the band prepares to embark on an interna-
tional tour, which is quickly selling out.
Due to the overwhelming demand for tickets,
LiveNation just announced a seventh New York City
date for the group’s iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE
Tour. A July 30 concert was just added to the six sold-
out shows at Madison Square Garden. Tickets go on
sale at 10 a.m. Feb. 10 at livenation.com.
There also has been a fifth show added to U2’s stop
in Chicago — July 2 at United Center. Tickets will be
available Feb. 10 as well.
U2.com subscribers will have early access to these
newly announced shows and can purchase tickets by
utilizing their code from from10 a.m. Feb. 4 through 5
p.m. Feb. 6.
“The sales for The iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE
Tour have been brilliant and we are working to satisfy
the incredible demand,” said Arthur Fogel, president,
global touring and chairman for Global Music.
The tour will feature the in-concert debut of ma-
terial from U2’s 13th studio album “Songs Of Inno-
cence,” according to a news release. It recently was
named the No. 1 album of 2014 by Rolling Stone.
Thesold-outNewYorkCitydatesareJuly18,19,22,
23, 26 and 27.
Bette Midler adds
third NYC show
Grammy winner
Bette Midler has just an-
nounced a third New
York City date for her
first national tour in over
a decade. Her “It’s the
Girls” tour is stopping at
Madison Square Garden
June 25 and 26 and just
added a date at the Bar-
clay’s Center in Brooklyn
on June 29.
This will be the final
stop on Midler’s tour.
Tickets will go on sale
at 10 a.m. Feb. 9 on at
ticketmaster.com or by
calling 800-475-3000.
American Express
card Members can buy
tickets for the newly added shows through 5 p.m.
today.
Accordingtoarelease,thetourwillfeaturemateri-
al from Midler’s iconic career and material from her
new album, “It’s The Girls!,” a tribute to girl groups
through the ages.
Relevant
‘Experience’
U2, Bette Midler add NYC
dates to sold-out tours
JASON TOWLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Bruce Springsteen performs with U2 in Times Square,
Monday, Dec. 1, 2014, during a World AIDS Day concert.
SHARI PUTERMAN @SHARIPUTERMAN
FILE PHOTO
Bette Midler has added a
third and final NYC date to
her first tour in more than a
decade.
When Terry Ganley of Buffalo walked out of the
gate at Newark Liberty International Airport Jan. 11,
her sister — who she had not seen in 53 years —
grabbed her immediately.
“She knew I was wearing a green sweater and blue
jeans, and when I was coming out of the gate she
grabbed me,” Ganley, 64, says. “And we cried and we
laughed … we held each other for five minutes. We
couldn’t stop, we just couldn’t stop.”
Ganley’s sister is Lisa Regan of Barnegat.
Regan, 56, was separated from her sister when Re-
gan was barely 3 years old and their mother died. The
two had different fathers, and each sister went back to
live with her own — and away from one another.
Contact diminished; their whereabouts unknown —
until Jan. 4, when Regan made an account on
Ancestry.com in hopes of locating her family.
“Bang,Igotahit,”Regansays.“Thelittlegreenleaf
came up and I hit it. It just had one name — Michael
John Deane (her deceased brother), born in 1951 and
died 1987. The name of the owner of the family tree,
Cindy Bell-Deane, I thought that was his wife. I started
Googling her name. I found her LinkedIn. I went to
Facebook and found her immediately.”
Regan sent a message to Bell-Deane on Facebook,
lettingherknowshehadabrotherandifsheknewhim.
Within a minute, she had a response — and her life-
long wish answered. Bell-Deane, who turned out to be
her other brother David Deane’s wife, got on a three-
way call with Regan and Ganley.
“I’m so happy — we have found out so many things
inourlives,wearesoalike,”saysGanley,whoaddsshe
was shaking when she heard the news. “We’re just
totallyinaweinthewaywe’vegrownwithouteachoth-
er and we can’t believe we found each other.”
Soon after discovering each other, Ganley booked a
trip to New Jersey to finally reunite with Regan. The
two spent Jan. 11 to 14 together.
“We spent every waking minute talking, looking
through pictures and hugging each other,” Ganley
says. “Crying, and loving each other, and hugging. Be-
fore we met each other, we were both like, ‘what if she
doesn’t like me?’ When we hugged at the airport, we
knew we didn’t have to worry about a thing.”
Most of their time together was spent at Regan’s
home — one day was just spent in their pajamas, they
giggle — though they also made trips to the Barnegat
Lighthouse and had dinner at Asian Castle, a Chinese
and Japanese restaurant in Barnegat.
Thetwodiscoveredsimilaritiesbetweeneachother
— favorite colors and similar high school experiences,
they recall.
“(Wewereboth)rough,toughtomboysgrowingup,”
Ganleysays.“Shehadneverseenpicturesofhermoth-
er, and it was just like amazing. She could even finish
my sentences. It’s amazing how close we are and well
we got along and how everything just clicked.”
Futuretripshavealreadybeenplannedbetweenthe
sisters. Ganley and her husband will return to Barne-
gat in March, and Regan and her husband will head to
Niagara Falls in June. Regan’s brother is also coming
to Barnegat later this month.
“We’ve been able to share all of our secrets and ev-
erything. There’s no feeling of rejection, no feeling of
‘oh, I must have gone over the line.’ (It’s) ‘I accept you
point blank.’ The unconditional love is right there and
it’s the best. God has truly blessed us and it’s a
miracle.”
COURTESY OF LISA REGAN
Terry Ganley (left) of Buffalo, with her sister Lisa Regan of Barnegat. The two reunited in January after being separated for 53
years. “We spent every waking minute talking, looking through pictures and hugging each other,” Ganley says.
FAMILY
Unconditional love
After 53 years, sisters share blissful reunion
GINA COLUMBUS @GINACOLUMBUSAPP