Tina Jensen, Klea Blackhurst & Billy Stritch, an AMAZING Cast Party, and the Puppini Sisters!
Hello all!
Hope you're enjoying this lovely weather! After the steamy, sultry heat wave last week, I'm thoroughly enjoying the more moderate temperatures this week. And you know what else I've been enjoying? Some fantastic shows (how's THAT for a lead-in?!).
On Friday, June 13th, I headed to the Duplex for the cabaret debut of Tina Jensen. I had heard Tina sing at a number of Cast Parties before, and was so happy to finally be able to catch her in a full-length show! Joined by musical director Zachary Ryan and guest vocalist Alex Gonzales, Tina burst on to the stage with an infectious, unbridled, refreshing energy and worked her way through an eclectic mix of pop and show tunes with a fun, outgoing personality. Tina's uncle, well-known musical director Rick Jensen, was in the audience as well, and must have been very proud to have three of his original tunes sung by his talented niece. Indeed, those three songs (Harbor, I've Got To Sing, and Amanda Sang), were among my favorites of the night - Tina seemed to be especially connected to them and they seemed to suit her voice and personality perfectly! Another favorite song for me was James Taylor's Brother Trucker - I'd never heard it before, but Tina really did an excellent job with it. Overall, a very fun start to the weekend.
On Monday evening, I headed over to Birdland a little earlier than usual to catch Klea Blackhurst and Billy Stritch in their show celebrating the release of their CD, "Dreaming of a Song - The Music of Hoagy Carmichael." What a fantastic show! I saw Billy and Klea do this show last year at the Metropolitan Room and was so pleased to be able to catch it again! I love both of them as solo performers and together, they have a wonderful onstage chemistry. Their easy back and forth banter adds to an already top-notch show, and their voices complement each other so very well in their duets. Favorite moments in the show are hard to choose, because there are so many wonderful things going on, but I would have to say that my top three are the duet of "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Billy's rendition of "Georgia on My Mind," and Klea's "Skylark." Absolutely a must-see show if they end up bringing it back again!
And just when I thought my Monday evening couldn't get any better...along came a fantastic Cast Party - seriously, one of the best ever! I was just getting ready to head back into Birdland after taking a brief break to get some fresh air, and who did I see walking into the club but famed Broadway lyricist David Zippel?! But that was nothing compared to my shock when I realized that he was actually walking in with Liza Minnelli! Whoa! And THEN, as I was signing in with Jim, I saw Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell, the stars of the current B'way revival of Sunday In The Park With George walking in! To top things off Ann Hampton Callaway (my favorite singer in the world!), who had also been at the Klea Blackhurst and Billy Stritch show, also decided to stick around for Cast Party! My goodness, what a star-studded crowd! Liza, Ann, and Klea all performed, as did Ms. Lala Brooks - the lead singer of the '60's girl-group, The Crystals. Klea and Billy did a few numbers from their show; Ann did one of her incredible, spur-of-the-moment, completely improvised songs (with intelligent rhyming lyrics and all!); Liza did a beautiful, touching medley of "It Amazes Me" and "The Music That Makes Me Dance;" and Lala entertained with two of her old hits: "Then He Kissed Me" and "Da Doo Ron Ron." I was thrilled to get up onstage in the midst of all of these legendary entertainers and have my two minutes in the spotlight, but man - it's terrifying, too! I think I carried myself off very well, but I was shaking like a leaf for about the next fifteen minutes! Major kudos to Jim Caruso for bringing in such an awesome array of talent, and for doing a superb job of hosting!
Last night was another night of fantastic entertainment - I headed over to BB King's with a group of friends to catch the Puppini Sisters in their one-night-only NYC performance and I'm so happy I did! Although they're not really sisters, Marcella Puppini, Stephanie O'Brien, and Kate Mullins have such a wonderful camaraderie together that it seems very possible that they could be! The "sisters" have a very retro, Andrews-Sisters inspired sound, made even better by the fact that their harmonies are just as tight in person as they are on the CD (phew)! And what I love about them is that while they do, indeed, cover some Andrews Sisters tunes ("Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and Bei Mir Bist Du Schon," they also take more modern songs (including Blondies's "Heart of Glass," Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" and Beyonce's "Crazy In Love," among others!) and retro-ize them - very cool! If you've got a few minutes, check out their website and you'll see what I'm talking about. The show was just fun, fun, fun - I'm STILL in a good mood from it today! Another must-see the next time they're in town.
And THAT, my friends, brings us up to date!
I'm off to a double-header at Don't Tell Mama tonight - the lovely and talented Gretchen Reinhagen at 7 p.m. followed by the legendary Ray Jessel at 9 p.m. - should be a fun night!
Have a great rest of your week and check back for an update soon!
Hope you're enjoying this lovely weather! After the steamy, sultry heat wave last week, I'm thoroughly enjoying the more moderate temperatures this week. And you know what else I've been enjoying? Some fantastic shows (how's THAT for a lead-in?!).
On Friday, June 13th, I headed to the Duplex for the cabaret debut of Tina Jensen. I had heard Tina sing at a number of Cast Parties before, and was so happy to finally be able to catch her in a full-length show! Joined by musical director Zachary Ryan and guest vocalist Alex Gonzales, Tina burst on to the stage with an infectious, unbridled, refreshing energy and worked her way through an eclectic mix of pop and show tunes with a fun, outgoing personality. Tina's uncle, well-known musical director Rick Jensen, was in the audience as well, and must have been very proud to have three of his original tunes sung by his talented niece. Indeed, those three songs (Harbor, I've Got To Sing, and Amanda Sang), were among my favorites of the night - Tina seemed to be especially connected to them and they seemed to suit her voice and personality perfectly! Another favorite song for me was James Taylor's Brother Trucker - I'd never heard it before, but Tina really did an excellent job with it. Overall, a very fun start to the weekend.
On Monday evening, I headed over to Birdland a little earlier than usual to catch Klea Blackhurst and Billy Stritch in their show celebrating the release of their CD, "Dreaming of a Song - The Music of Hoagy Carmichael." What a fantastic show! I saw Billy and Klea do this show last year at the Metropolitan Room and was so pleased to be able to catch it again! I love both of them as solo performers and together, they have a wonderful onstage chemistry. Their easy back and forth banter adds to an already top-notch show, and their voices complement each other so very well in their duets. Favorite moments in the show are hard to choose, because there are so many wonderful things going on, but I would have to say that my top three are the duet of "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening," Billy's rendition of "Georgia on My Mind," and Klea's "Skylark." Absolutely a must-see show if they end up bringing it back again!
And just when I thought my Monday evening couldn't get any better...along came a fantastic Cast Party - seriously, one of the best ever! I was just getting ready to head back into Birdland after taking a brief break to get some fresh air, and who did I see walking into the club but famed Broadway lyricist David Zippel?! But that was nothing compared to my shock when I realized that he was actually walking in with Liza Minnelli! Whoa! And THEN, as I was signing in with Jim, I saw Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell, the stars of the current B'way revival of Sunday In The Park With George walking in! To top things off Ann Hampton Callaway (my favorite singer in the world!), who had also been at the Klea Blackhurst and Billy Stritch show, also decided to stick around for Cast Party! My goodness, what a star-studded crowd! Liza, Ann, and Klea all performed, as did Ms. Lala Brooks - the lead singer of the '60's girl-group, The Crystals. Klea and Billy did a few numbers from their show; Ann did one of her incredible, spur-of-the-moment, completely improvised songs (with intelligent rhyming lyrics and all!); Liza did a beautiful, touching medley of "It Amazes Me" and "The Music That Makes Me Dance;" and Lala entertained with two of her old hits: "Then He Kissed Me" and "Da Doo Ron Ron." I was thrilled to get up onstage in the midst of all of these legendary entertainers and have my two minutes in the spotlight, but man - it's terrifying, too! I think I carried myself off very well, but I was shaking like a leaf for about the next fifteen minutes! Major kudos to Jim Caruso for bringing in such an awesome array of talent, and for doing a superb job of hosting!
Last night was another night of fantastic entertainment - I headed over to BB King's with a group of friends to catch the Puppini Sisters in their one-night-only NYC performance and I'm so happy I did! Although they're not really sisters, Marcella Puppini, Stephanie O'Brien, and Kate Mullins have such a wonderful camaraderie together that it seems very possible that they could be! The "sisters" have a very retro, Andrews-Sisters inspired sound, made even better by the fact that their harmonies are just as tight in person as they are on the CD (phew)! And what I love about them is that while they do, indeed, cover some Andrews Sisters tunes ("Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy" and Bei Mir Bist Du Schon," they also take more modern songs (including Blondies's "Heart of Glass," Kate Bush's "Wuthering Heights" and Beyonce's "Crazy In Love," among others!) and retro-ize them - very cool! If you've got a few minutes, check out their website and you'll see what I'm talking about. The show was just fun, fun, fun - I'm STILL in a good mood from it today! Another must-see the next time they're in town.
And THAT, my friends, brings us up to date!
I'm off to a double-header at Don't Tell Mama tonight - the lovely and talented Gretchen Reinhagen at 7 p.m. followed by the legendary Ray Jessel at 9 p.m. - should be a fun night!
Have a great rest of your week and check back for an update soon!
posted by Jenna @ 1:01 PM
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