On November 22, 1926, a movie house called the Englewood Plaza opened its doors on North Van Brunt Street in Englewood. One hundred years later to the day, on Sunday, November 22, 2026, the same building, now the Bergen Performing Arts Center, better known as bergenPAC, is holding a Centennial Birthday Celebration in its restored main hall, with the John Pizzarelli Trio on stage playing a tribute to Tony Bennett.

The choice of program is not random. Bennett performed at the gala that reopened the theater as bergenPAC in the fall of 2004, and he later recorded a Christmas album with the Count Basie Big Band on the same main stage, according to the theater's own history.

The show on November 22

The concert starts at 7 p.m. Pizzarelli, the New Jersey guitarist and singer, leads a trio with bassist Mike Karn and pianist Isaiah J. Thompson. Students from bergenPAC's Performing Arts School open the evening.

Ticket holders are invited to a pre-show reception with hors d'oeuvres and a signature cocktail, and everyone leaves with a sweet treat after the show. Seats run from $54 to $114, in six price levels ($54, $64, $74, $84, $94 and $114). The theater notes that there is no elevator access to the mezzanine or the balcony, so anyone who needs to avoid stairs should choose orchestra seating.

A century in four names

The building has had a long run and several lives, which bergenPAC lays out in a timeline on its site:

  • 1926: The Englewood Plaza opens on November 22 as a vaudeville and movie house.
  • 1967: United Artists buys the building. It closes as a cinema in 1973.
  • 1976: The John Harms Center opens on October 10, with a performance by the pianist Lazar Berman.
  • 2003: The John Harms Center closes on April 14. On April 30, a group led by founder Frank Huttle III forms bergenPAC to keep the stage running.
  • 2004: The theater reopens in the fall as the Bergen Performing Arts Center, with Tony Bennett at the inaugural gala. The hall had 1,371 seats at that reopening.
  • 2020 and 2021: The doors close for the pandemic in March 2020 and programming moves online, including a March 2021 virtual gala with Paul Anka, Ali Stroker, Jack Antonoff, John Fogerty, Darlene Love, Itzhak Perlman and Dionne Warwick.
  • 2022: A historic restoration returns the main hall to its 1926 architecture and design.

That last step is why the centennial audience will sit in a room that looks much as it did when the Englewood Plaza first opened, rather than in a modernized auditorium.

The school inside the theater

The opening act is a reminder that bergenPAC is also a school. Its Performing Arts School teaches students from age 2 to 18, and the organization says no student has ever been turned away because the family could not pay.

More on the calendar this season

The birthday falls in a busy stretch for the Van Brunt Street stage. New Jersey Ballet brings its Nutcracker to bergenPAC on December 5 and 6, with performances at 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. both days and tickets from $35 to $65. Darlene Love plays a holiday show on Friday, December 11, at 8 p.m., and Holiday Doo Wop, with Jay Siegel's Tokens, The Tymes, LaLa Brooks, The Vogues and Joey Dee, follows on Saturday, December 12, at 7 p.m.

If you go

What: Centennial Birthday Celebration, the John Pizzarelli Trio with a tribute to Tony Bennett, opened by students of the bergenPAC Performing Arts School.
When: Sunday, November 22, 2026, 7 p.m., with the pre-show reception before the concert.
Where: bergenPAC, 30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood, Bergen County.
Tickets: $54 to $114, through bergenPAC's website and box office.

Sources