Best-selling author and spiritual lecturer Marianne Williamson takes the Count Basie stage on Thursday night, and “happy medium” Kim Russo (below) channels spirits in a June 23 appearance.
They don’t sing, they don’t dance, they don’t “work blue” with the jokes, and they don’t even perform live cooking demos on the famous stage of the Count Basie Theatre.
But self-help authors, celeb motivators and superstar mediums of the current touring circuit remain a major attraction for audiences across the continent — and Red Bank’s most venerable of venues continues to be a welcoming home for many of them and their fans.
This Thursday night, the Basie boards play host to an author, activist and lecturer whose multiple New York Times list-toppers include “A Return to Love,” “The Age of Miracles,” “Healing the Soul of America” and, yes, “A Course in Weight Loss.” A frequent guest on high-profile panel and talk shows, and a founding presence with anti-poverty, anti-hunger nonprofits like Project Angel Food, Marianne Williamson speaks on topics of personal empowerment, relationship to God and community volunteering, in an 8 p.m. event keyed to her latest book “Tears to Triumph.” Tickets ($39 and $59, with an available VIP Meet and Greet option for $99) can be reserved right here.
Like John “Crossing Over” Edward, Theresa “The Long Island Medium” Caputo and other stars of successful bookings at the Basie, Kim Russo offers as her specialty an ability to connect audiences with the spirits of loved ones and other souls who’ve made that transition to the other side of the great velvet rope.
The “Happy Medium” and host of the Lifetime Movie Channel series “The Haunting Of…” connects just as well with sold-out halls full of regular folks as she does with one-on-one celebrity guest clients like Regis Philbin, Chazz Palminteri and Gina Gershon — serving as a canny cross between a ghost-whisperer for hire and a genealogical genie who puts people in touch with their ancestors in some surprising ways.
Russo visits Red Bank on Thursday, June 23, with tickets to the 8 p.m. event ($20 – $49, with an available VIP Meet and Greet option for an additional $75) available right here.
