Review: Jenn Colella Is Stunning, Exciting, Sexy, And All The Dangnab Things, As Well As Being OUT AND PROUD at 54 Below

Do you know the great thing about Jenn Colella?  I mean, aside from the fact that there is a Jenn Colella and we all get to live in a time when Jenn Colella exits?  The great thing about Jenn Colella is that, everything she does, she starts from a place of love.  That’s a pretty general description with many different aspects that make up that place of love, and a lot of them were plainly visible when the Tony Award nominee for Come From Away opened her new show OUT AND PROUD last night at 54 Below.  For instance, Jenn Colella wants to share her story, her true story, her real story, and she wants to share it with “my gays” and “my breeders” and anyone who cares to define themselves by other means - she just wants to share her truth, in an effort to inspire others to live in their truth, as well as for the good old-fashioned purpose of storytelling.  What better mission for a cabaret concert occurring at the start of PRIDE month in NYC?  It doesn’t stop there, though - like an onion being peeled, or, better yet, a diamond with many facets, Jenn Colella is a lot of things, many of them on display in this new show, and all of them beautiful… and starting from a place of love.

During the seventy -minute program last night, Jenn wanted (natch) to celebrate Pride and her LGBTQIA+ family, but she also had a wish to connect, which is probably why she started the show by coming through the audience (making a full circle around the room) and made sure to end the show by going back into the audience again - singing to people, dancing with people, touching people, and connecting to people (fun fact, Jenn did this in her 2022 show, too, indicating that this is part of her concert mission: to get close to the audience).  While telling the stories of her queer journey, Jenn holds nothing back - not in the recounting of reminiscences and the learning of lessons, and certainly not in her vocal production.  There are confessions about the men (keep an open mind, ladies), there are anecdotes about family reactions to her coming out, and there are honest reflections on the quality of her single mother’s parenting skills.  There are (happy) tear-inducing discussions about the (relatively recent) finding of true love, accompanied by a ballad sung directly to her newlywed wife, Mo Mullen, sitting house left.  There are hilarious tales about PBS producers that, maybe, didn’t quite get her, and a recurring theatrical role that Jenn considers might have a link (in either direction) to her life as a lesbian.  And each one of these stories is shared with the ease of a person who is either A) completely at home with anybody that she meets, B) a master craftswoman unable to appear false while in the act of speaking publicly, C) a true-blue, bonafide star that can make magical every moment that she spends upon a stage, or D)  All of the above.  This writer is betting on D, for Jenn Colella isn’t just special as a person, she is special as a storyteller… as an activist… as an inspiration for anyone within eye and earshot, but eSPECially for members of the queer community.  Jenn is special.  There's the answer.

Jenn is also a (insert your favorite praising profanity here) ROCK AND ROLL GODDESS.  For this current show, she and Musical Director supreme Chris Ranney have designed a program that is varied in origin and style, created treatments that lean into versatility, and sent the star out there in a manner best described as pinnacle Janis Joplin, height-of-career Bonnie Raitt, and kick-ass-take-names Tina Turner.  It doesn’t matter whether Jenn is performing her rapidly becoming signature tune “I Could Have Danced All Night” in a jazz styling, a traditionally treated disco classic (sorry, no spoilers), or a country and gospel infused Shaina Taub original, the attitude, the ferocity, and the presentation is all-over solid rock and roll power.  It is Woman power.  It is Queer power.  It is Colella Power.  That’s what OUT AND PROUD has to offer audiences - and the pure, unholy, authenticity of Jenn Colella.  

There’s a kind of peaceful zen quality about this woman that is ever-present, whether she's sharing these most personal stories about her life, rocking out to some Whitney Houston (again - no spoilers), responding to audience reactions, or introducing the members of the band (the love for the musicians is palpable, it is visible, it is beauty in reverence), and the truth is that it really doesn’t matter what Jenn sings with that once-in-a-lifetime voice, or what story she tells in her open and welcoming style - it is going to be great because of that authenticity.  It’s one of the things that makes Colella a star, that makes her an artist, that makes her a beacon of light and hope.  When the world finds a person and a talent like Jenn Colella, it becomes essential that they become famous - because we need that light and hope, we need it widespread, we need it all around.

Thank goodness for Jenn Colella, for her artistry, for her fame, and for her light.  May that light and she continue to shine for a long time to come.

Jenn Colella OUT AND PROUD will play 54 Below Saturday night, June 8th, at 7 pm.  For information and reservations visit the 54 Below website HERE.

Jenn Colella is online via her Instagram page HERE, and her Twitter page HERE.

The extraordinary OUT AND PROUD band is Carl Carter on Bass, Emma Ford on Drums, Nate Lueck on Guitar, Kristy Norter on Reeds, Orchestrations by Michael Mahadeen, and Musical Director/arranger Chris Ranney on Piano.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.