Jenna's Two Cents Blog   
Website: JennaEsposito.com   

Sunday, July 26, 2009

This and That...oh, and the Other!

Well, hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying the summer so far - I know I am! It's been a busy one, but some great things have been happening, so you won't hear me complaining! I had a great run of my show, Jenna Esposito Sings Connie Francis, at the Metropolitan Room, and we're actually heading into the studio next week to begin mixing the live recording! We're hoping for a CD release date sometime this fall, so make sure to stay tuned for details!

In addition to doing my own shows, I've gotten to see some really terrific performances...you can read details on just about all of them in my Broadway World column (check out the most recent one by clicking here), but off the top of my head, there are definitely a few standouts! Marilyn Maye's new Mercer show at the Metropolitan Room simply blew me away on June 20th, then there was yet another terrific concert at Tudor City Greens on July 8th. Produced by Broadway/cabaret veteran Raissa Katona Bennett, this outdoor concert series always boasts a stellar lineup of talent and draws in a huge audience! The June show featured Ms. Katona Bennett herself, as well as Eric Michael Gillett, Nina Hennessey, Julie Reyburn, Daryl Glenn, Ricky Ritzel, Spider Saloff and Philip Chaffin - what a great show! Then, last week, I ventured over to Citi Field (a tough trip for a Yankee fan) to catch Paul McCartney in concert - and I'm still in awe, a week later! At 67 years old, he is still in incredible voice, and boy, can he rock! His band was amazing, and they delivered fantastic renditions of sooooooo many favorite Beatles tunes and Wings tunes. It was a really special night, and I was thrilled to be able to witness it! Besides all of the shows I've seen, I've been hitting the open mics as regularly as possible and having a great time at all of them: Cast Party, The Algonquin Salon, The Summer Oak Room Salon and, of course, MetroJam (which I now host)! So, as I said, it's been a busy summer so far, but a great one!

I've got to go get gussied up to head out to see Tony DeSare perform at Bemelmans Bar, so that's about all I've got time for right now, but stay tuned for another update soon!