Judy Collins plays the Grunin Center for the Arts at Ocean County College on Wednesday, December 9, at 7 p.m., a stop on her Sweet Judy Blue Eyes Farewell Tour. The tour began July 4 and runs through 2027, and the Grunin Center describes it as her last run of shows on the road. Tickets are $70 and $65.

Her show sits in the middle of a December calendar at the Toms River arts center that runs from December 5 to December 20.

The Judy Collins show

Collins recorded Both Sides Now on her 1967 album Wildflowers, a version that has been entered into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and her recording of Send in the Clowns won Song of the Year at the 1975 Grammy Awards. She has released 55 albums, six of them since 2015, and her album of all original songs, Spellbound, was nominated for Best Folk Album at the 2023 Grammy Awards. She published a poetry collection, Sometimes It's Heaven, in 2025.

The rest of December at the Grunin Center

  • A Christmas Carol, Saturday, December 5, 1 p.m. Yates Musical Theatre for Children's musical version of the Scrooge story. $20 adults, $17 children 12 and under. The Grunin Center lists it as selling fast.
  • OCC Concert Band: Magic of the Season, Saturday, December 5, 7 p.m. $28 adults, $24 seniors, $14 children 12 and under.
  • Westminster Concert Bell Choir, Friday, December 11, 7 p.m., $25. Students of Rider University play the largest range of handbells in the world, eight octaves, with bronze bells weighing from four ounces to eleven pounds. This is the 49th year of the handbell program at Westminster Choir College, the first school in the world to create one.
  • Broadway for the Holidays, December 11 through 20, in the Black Box Theater. The OCC Repertory Theatre Company's musical revue plays Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. $26 adults, $24 seniors, $22 students.
  • The Nutcracker, Saturday, December 12, at 1 and 4 p.m. Ballet for Young Audiences performs a shortened, narrated version of the ballet for young children. $20 adults, $17 children 12 and under.
  • Tartan Terrors Celtic Christmas Spectacular, Saturday, December 19, 7 p.m. Celtic rock, Christmas music, Hogmanay tunes and step dancing. $48 and $42.
  • Jukebox Saturday Night: Swingin' Holiday Spectacular, Sunday, December 20, 3 p.m., $40, with selections from Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite.

Downtown, a Victorian house opens for the holidays

Before the Grunin Center's season starts, the Ocean County Historical Society holds its annual Holiday Open House on Saturday, November 28, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at its museum at 26 Hadley Avenue in downtown Toms River. Admission is free, with donations welcome. Santa and Mrs. Claus are there for photos from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and hand out gifts to children, the Victorian house is decorated for the season, visitors can play Skittles, a bowling game from the colonial era, and the society is showing a new exhibit on the 250th anniversary of American independence. The house is the Elizabeth Sculthorp Force House, built in the mid-1800s and once the home of a sea captain.

Tickets, parking and directions

Grunin Center tickets are sold at grunincenter.org and at the box office, which is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and one hour before each show; the phone number is 732-255-0500. The center says its own site and box office are the only authorized sellers. Groups of 10 or more save 10 percent.

Parking is free in Lot 2, off the intersection of North College Drive and Buckwald Drive, with the Grunin Center at the back left of the lot. The center advises entering its own name into a map app rather than Ocean County College, which can route drivers to a different lot. The center is about 10 minutes from the Garden State Parkway. Southbound drivers use Exit 89A toward Route 70 and Brick Boulevard; northbound drivers use Exit 82 to Route 37 east, then Hooper Avenue north to College Drive.

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