Jennifer Naimo

Last night’s show (August 22) was something else. To start, Dominic Nolfi was going to play Tommy for his first time after playing practically every other character in Jersey Boys but the women…so far. And Matthew Scott was to be Bob Gaudio, and Heather Ferguson was on for Lorraine…As if that wasn’t exciting enough, we were holding the curtain because our sound system crashed. Now I’m not a technical computer wizard type…but needless to say, we waited for 30 minutes to start, and when we did sing “Ces Soir Eh La” and “Tommy” starts his speech, there was no sound, and when we sang, we heard the worst kind of backup music…and we had to start all over again. So…they made another announcement and we started the show all over again. The audience was going nuts clapping at everything. Our sound designer, Julie is amazing and she mixed our whole show manually. I’m not sure what that means—only to say we couldn’t hear anything backstage;we had no sound effects; we could not talk backstage, cuz everything we said or sang was heard onstage and the band heard everything (even using the toilet) in their headsets. We were so relieved when the entire audience was on their feet at the end of the show. Kudos to Dominic and Julie for being so calm and cool..oh, and Matthew too..as his mic went out during “Cry For Me,” and as a waitress, I stood by him at the piano and held to his mouth a handmic…This is why I prefer live theatre to anything else…. Also it was nice to meet Kay and her family. She surprised her mom and dad for their 30th anniversary by bringing them to this eventful night. Thanks for saying hello, Kay.

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!

Tim and I at the Jersey Boys opening night party November 6, 2005, at the Marriott Marquis.

These are cell phone photos of Rhea Perlman and Danny DeVito with myself backstage of Jersey Boys. Rhea was a doll and Danny a teddybear and a Jersey Boy himself.

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.

Welcome to my new website! This is a candid photo of myself backstage at the August Wilson Theatre. Currently I am appearing in the smash hit Broadway musical Jersey Boys where I play Mary Delgado (and others) opposite John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli.