FESTA DELLA DONNA Comes To The Laurie Beechman Theatre

Festa Della Donna, a celebration of Italian-American women, is slated for the Laurie Beechman Theatre Saturday March 7th. The event, in honor of International Women's Month, pays tribute to their contributions to the arts and features an accomplished lineup of female Italian-American performers spanning the genres of music, comedy and dance.

Festa Della Donna boasts the talents of Alessandra Belloni, Regina DeCicco, Mary Dimino, Jenna Esposito, and Vanessa Racci. The evening is co-produced by both Esposito and Racci.

Singer Jenna Esposito, known as "The Voice of Little Italy," is notable for her tributes to Connie Francis, Dean Martin and The Great Italian American Songbook, which features songs that have their origins in Italy as well as songs made famous by Italian-Americans. Singer Vanessa Racci, whose album titled Italiana Fresca which has been dubbed "The Mob Hits for Hipsters," has performed at over 70 Italian festivals, events and jazz clubs across the country and has been played on over 20 Italian radio stations across the US and Italy. Her new show Jazzy Italian, celebrates the history of Italian-American influence on jazz.

The headliner for the evening is Alessandra Belloni, a traditional Southern Italian folk singer, dancer and percussionist. Belloni's stage shows Rhythm Is the Cure and Tarantella Spider Dance are productions combining music, tammuriata dance and drumming, drama, fire dance and aerial dance. Belloni is the director of the Italian theatre group I Giullari Di Piazza, and is currently artist in residence at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

Two New York city based Italian-American comedians will also be performing that evening. Regina DeCicco, the warm up comedian for ABC's The View, has been heard on The Howard Stern Show, Sirius XM, and seen on FOX and AXS-TV. Mary Dimino, MAC award winning comedian, has been seen on NBC's Today Show, FOX's Laughs, sketches on Comedy Central, and VH-1's Best Week Ever.

The event takes place Saturday March 7th 7pm at The Laurie Beechman Theatre at The West Bank Cafe 407 West 42nd Street. There is a $25 cover plus a $20 food/drink minimum.

Reserve online at www.westbankcafe.com

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