"A marvel of beauty, convenience and comfort." That's how the New Jersey Register described the new theater at 99 Monmouth Street after it opened on November 11, 1926. As Two River Times recounted, opening night had vaudeville acts and a silent film called The Quarterback. Nearly 4,000 people came to the two shows, and crowds started gathering two hours before the first one.

A century later, the Count Basie Center for the Arts is marking its birthday by restaging that evening. On Saturday, November 14, the historic theater will show The Quarterback, restored in 4K, with live accompaniment from silent-film organist Ben Model. The Basie's event page says it's the first time in a century that audiences there can see the film. Tickets are $19.26.

The theater is reaching back to its first night, and the street it sits on has changed a good deal just since September. If you're planning the evening, the hours before and after the show are the part worth thinking through.

The birthday and the party fall on different nights

The building turns 100 on Wednesday, November 11. The throwback celebration happens three days later. If you only remember the anniversary date, you'll end up at the quieter of the two events.

On the birthday itself, the gospel concert is led by music director Gwen Moten and assistant music director Dr. B. Dexter Allgood. It's in The Vogel, the newer hall that opened with the Grunin Arts Education Building in the 2020 expansion.

The finale is on Saturday, in the original 1926 auditorium. If you want to sit in the same room the opening-night audience did, go on the 14th.

What the 1926 ticket price gets you

The $19.26 price is a nod to the year, and the evening is built the same way. The Basie lists these elements for the finale:

• 1920s hot jazz
• Gatsby-era automobiles and period fashion
• A prohibition-era speakeasy setup
• A chance to meet and be photographed with "stars" of the last century
• Prizes for the best retro costume, plus special guests
• The Quarterback in 4K, accompanied live by Ben Model

The page doesn't name the special guests or the jazz performers yet. It does offer an optional upgrade to a post-show gala next door at The Vogel, honoring Senator Vin Gopal and Netflix.

Reade's Carlton was built as a film and vaudeville house. For more than 40 years it hosted movies, touring shows, local theater and concerts. That included a 1961 homecoming show by Count Basie, weeks after he played President John F. Kennedy's inauguration, which drew more than 1,700 fans.

By the mid-1960s, the theater had fallen into disrepair. It was preserved and renamed the Monmouth Arts Center in 1973. In 1984 it took the name of Red Bank's own William "Count" Basie, who was born in town in 1904.

Monmouth Street, from the Anderson Building to Broad

With doors at 5 p.m. and the show at 6, the night leaves room for a drink beforehand or a late dinner after the show. This fall, the stretch of Monmouth Street on either side of the Basie has several places that weren't there in the summer. Walking east from the Anderson Building toward Broad Street:

1. Anderson Market, 200 Monmouth Street. Culture Collective Hospitality Group, headed by Chris Viola, turned the ground floor of this century-old former warehouse into a food hall after the grocer Sickles closed. redbankgreen reported that the last piece of that remake, The Lobby Bar, opened on Friday, September 18. It serves fresh juice and made-to-order smoothies by day, then switches to cocktails, aperitivo, bar snacks and low- or no-alcohol drinks in the evening.
2. Studio Omakase, in the adjoining room. Chef Steven Wong runs a 14-seat counter serving a 12-course tasting menu built around the day's fish. The booking page lists $108 per person plus a 20% gratuity, a 3% processing fee and 6.625% tax. Service runs Wednesday through Sunday, with four seatings a night of about 90 minutes each. A 90-minute seating fits before a 6 p.m. curtain only if you book early, so for finale night a later seating after the show may be easier. In redbankgreen's report, Wong called it "the first omakase in Red Bank."
3. Little Andy's Burgers, also inside Anderson Market. It's taking over the counter that Namkeen Hot Chicken left when it closed on September 20. In the Asbury Park Press's September report, the owner said he hoped to open in early October, so check before you plan a meal around it.
4. Old World Shaving Parlor, 75 Monmouth Street. It moved here from 12 West Front Street. If your retro costume includes a 1920s-style shave, this is the closest barber to the theater.
5. Reves Smooth & Acaí Cafe, 42 Monmouth Street. The second location for husband-and-wife owners Sebastian Balk and Cynthia Noack held its grand opening in mid-September. It serves soft-serve açaí with no refined sugars, pitaya bowls, smoothies and coffee. It's next door to Crazy Story Books, the independent bookstore that Two River Times covered when it opened on May 30.
6. Linked By Mint, 29 Monmouth Street. A permanent-jewelry and charm bar with another location in Long Branch. It has been hosting workshop nights, and its first one sold out in advance.
7. 19 Monmouth Street. The former Surf's Up Coffee & Candle space is set to become Julia's Coffee Company, according to redbankgreen's September 25 report.
8. Insomnia Cookies, at the Broad Street corner. It opened September 1 at 74 Broad Street, also listed as 6–8 Monmouth Street, in a storefront that had sat empty since Valley National Bank left in 2018. Per redbankgreen, it keeps late-night hours, which helps on a night that starts at 6 and runs into the evening.

Put together, the list has a food hall at one end of the block, a late-night bakery at the other, and the theater in the middle. In 1926, crowds lined up on this same street two hours early. This November, there are places to spend those two hours.

What stays after November 14

The finale ends a 16-month program that the Basie announced in July 2025. Several pieces of it will stay around after the costumes go back in the closet.

The Count Basie Center is able to celebrate 100 years because of the community that has been here, continuously, to support it.

Jeremy Grunin, Chairperson, Count Basie Center Board of Trustees, in the Basie's centennial announcement

The Walk of Fame honors performers whose early shows on the Basie stage came before worldwide fame. Count Basie and Jon Bon Jovi were inducted in 2025. Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider of The B-52s, along with Dramarama, joined in 2026. Count Basie also has a statue, unveiled in August 2023 at the William and Catherine Basie Arts Plaza.

The centennial plan also called for a community mural on the White Street exterior of Basie Center Cinemas. Through Stamped Stories, a project with Monmouth Arts, the Basie planned to commission designs for a commemorative 12-month postcard set celebrating the venue decade by decade. The first design is by Red Bank artist and muralist Michael White and shows the present-day marquee and main entrance.

Two of the centennial pieces come in a glass or a cup. Newark's Brix City Brewing made the Basie Center CentenniALE IPA, and Bridging The Gap roasted Basie Center Centennial Swing coffee. Sales of both benefit the Basie and support groups and services for veterans.

"100 Years of Soul, Sounds and Stories" was announced as a project to collect and share people's memories of the theater, from the Reade's Carlton years to today.

The Anderson Building, the 1926 theater and the storefronts between them have all been reused for new purposes over the past century. Old buildings in and around Red Bank tend to come with their own histories. If you own one and want to know what yours is worth today, Viggiani Property Group can walk you through it with a practical eye for how the place was built and how it has been kept up. Get a Free Home Valuation, and enjoy the 100th birthday on Monmouth Street.