Jennifer Naimo

On Friday I went to producers for a new ABC show to premiere in the fall, Six Degrees …it stars Hope Davis and Campbell Scott and Erika Chrisrensen. I was submitted for a role of a nun, but picked up for the role of a CNN type assistant. So much fun going to Silver Cup Studios where they filmed Sex in the City, and all the Law and Order shows. I love the casting director, Gayle Keller too. I’m always surprised how different TV auditions are. You read with the casting director, and the producers of the show are all in the room, a small room, and at the same time a camera is filming your every move. The show’s producer is JJ Abrams so how cool would that be. My competition was all different types so it will come down to an essence I’m sure, but I love going in for tv and film and not having to worry about warming up my voice.

Well, I finally took two shows off to celebrate Tim and my third anniversary. We went to Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, NY. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to escape the city and feel like they’re living in Italy. Surrounded by mountains, lakes, and 85 miles of hiking trails, plus a state of the art SPA…and three gourmet meals a day…it’s ideal. The rooms are Victorian with fireplaces and balconies overlooking the lake. We hiked, canoed, rock scrambled, swam, ate, danced etc….and met so many different artists types who yearly choose to spend their summer there. It was so enchanting, invigorating, and restful that I didn’t want to leave, and it was nice to be with Tim. I did hear that Jack Nicholson attended the sunday show I missed…but hey, my man has to come first, right?

P.S. Pictures to come!

All of last week (July 24 to 28) I was cast in a workshop of a new musical The Essential Alice. Des McAnuff, my Jersey Boys director, was directing and he assembled a stellar cast. The book is by Annie Weisman and the lyrics and music by Michael Friedman..Dan Lipton was the musical director and the cast included..Mary Testa, Denis O”Hare,Steve Rosen, Henry Stram, Don Stephenson, Derrick Baskin and Rebecca Kaasa

Usually you have four to six weeks to prepare a show…We had 4 days and had to do our Broadway shows at night. It was gruelling, exciting, scary and rewarding when all is said and done. It should be done full scale at LaJolla Playhouse sometime soon…but it was an honor to be asked to do it and work with this creative team. I played the mouse initially but was than added additional roles of the Duchess and Rosebud when we lost our first Alice(Celia Keenan-Bolger) to tonsillitis and brave Rebecca was moved up.

The story is from Alice in Wonderland so needless to say I had to reread it. I got to sing two nice solos and a lot of challenging quartet and trio songs…Actually more of a load than in my nightly portrayal in Jersey Boys…I hope to do more of this while in NY.