Jen Eden

Monthly Video Series!

2011-08-16T15:36:00.000-04:00

Jen Eden sings "Screw Loose" in the West Village. Directed by Matt Livingston. Filmed in HD.

The Dorset Theatre Festival

2011-06-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

Jen recently performed as Fern in Charlotte's Web at the Dorset Theatre Festival in beautiful Dorset, Vermont. In addition to playing Fern, she also composed and played original themes on flute and accordion. For more information about the Dorset Theatre Festival: http://www.dorsettheatrefestival.org/about.php

W "Talent Splash"

2010-09-11T00:38:00.003-04:00

Jennifer Recently competed in the W Hotel talent show singing and playing accordion!See her video below!

West Village Musical Theatre Festival

2010-06-07T12:05:00.004-04:00

Jennifer will be featured in the upcoming festival in "Galileo the Musical" at the Wings Theatre.

Book by Marisol Rivera
Lyrics by Cheryl Krebs
Music by James Behr
Directed by Stephen Wisker
In the Congressional hearing room of interrogating Conservative Senators, NASA Administrator, General John Holden imagines himself being transported into a giant telescope, as he is transformed into Galileo of Galilee. He embarks on a soulful journey of the past to the life of Galileo in his quest to save the environment and preserve intellectual freedom.

Performance Schedule:
June 10th: 7pm
June 11th: 9pm
June 12th: 1:30pm and 7pm
June 13th: 3:30pm.

Tickets are $18.00 for general admission. To buy tickets visit: www.brownpapertickets.com Galileo the Musical is a part of "Series A".
Actor's Equity card holders can attend free of charge.

Please Help Us Go Away!

2010-04-22T11:44:00.005-04:00

Jen Eden will be performing in "Please Help Us Go Away". A comedic show where she plays Yelena, the accordion-playing Russian! You will be delighted to hear her play many songs including Britney's Toxic, and Jackson 5's "I want you back". See her perform Monday May 17th at The Producer's Club 348 W 44th street between 8th and 9th ave. She will also be performing at the historic Stonewall Inn (53 Christopher Street) on Monday May 24th. Check back for more details!

Meet Yelena.

Jen Eden Wins Stagebuddy.com Talent Contest

2009-07-31T01:09:00.008-04:00

Jen Eden performed singing "Maybe This Time". She won the competition and will go on to compete for 7,500 in prizes! (Skip to 06:02 for the Jen's performance.)

Sign-Arella!

2009-04-23T00:24:00.006-04:00

Jennifer is currently in rehearsal for a new musical comedy, Sign-Arella, loosely based on Cinderella. The first musical of it's kind with the roles of the prince and Arella played by deaf actors who sign, with their voices springing alive from the band onstage (comprised of actor musicians). Jennifer will be playing one of Arella's oafish stepsisters, singing and speaking for herself, as well as playing a little bit of flute. If you'd like to experience story telling in a whole new way, come and enjoy the innovative and the entertaining, Sign-Arella. Appropriate for all ages, hearing and deaf alike.

The show will open (to rave reviews) May 2nd, 2009 with a final performance taking place May 17th.

For more information and to purchase tickets click below:

http://www.theatermania.com/new-york/shows/signarella-a-new-musical_154018/

Jen Eden's New Show

2008-05-26T13:43:00.002-04:00

…evocative and exciting….sharp and funny…enormously moving…profound…cast [is] impressive. beTwixt, beTween & beTWAIN is quite a charming evening, and it showcases some fine performers – Martin Denton, www.nytheatre.com

Jennifer Eden is appearing in a new musical BeTwixt, BeTween and BeTWAIN, playing off Broadway at the Producers Club May 16th - June 8th. She can be seen and heard playing the oboe, flute, piano, accordion and singing!

About: A troupe of singers and storytellers regales the audience with witty, odd and poignant tales from the American West and then travels on the first American cruise ship journey to Europe and the Holy Land, where the American character meets Old World sensibilities with comic and moving results. beTwixt, beTween & beTWAIN is performed by a talented ensemble of seven actor/singer/instrumentalists who play multiple comic characters, sing a wide array of jaunty tunes and engrossing melodies, and play numerous instruments like piano, guitar, flute oboe, clarinet, violin, accordion and two wooden frogs. Book, music and lyrics are by Danny Ashkenasi, whose music the New York Times said has "dimensionality and touches of poignancy," and the Village Voice called "lovely." Danny Ashkenasi also received the FringeNYC Festival's Award for Outstanding Music and Lyrics in 2006.

Jen Eden sings to Danny Leary "On the Rocks!"

2008-02-18T13:10:00.003-05:00

Hello People! Two great shows happened this week!
First "On the Rocks" with Danny Leary. I sang two original parodies. First "Take the A Train" (rewritten as the "The Last Stop") and Miss Byrd from "Closer than Ever" (rewritten as Danny Leary is Fierce) Enjoy!!

Jen Does Grimm

2007-08-31T14:25:00.001-04:00

Hello Everyone!
My one woman show, "Jen Does Grimm" was a huge success! If you didn't get a chance to see it, I'm putting it up again!
The show is built around the twisted tales of the Grimm brothers, who wrote, Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and many others. So who's life is more screwed up...mine... or theirs? Let's go on a journey together! Tons of singing, bad dancing and of course my original blend of storytelling and stand up comedy! I am looking into putting up the show October 15th at the D Lounge. (101 E 15th street). So save the date, and I'll see you there!

Reviews

2005-11-07T03:02:00.003-05:00

BeTwixt BeTween and BeTWAIN
nytheatre.com Review
Martin Denton May 17th, 2008


	The Cast In Rehearsals
	Photo Credit:Edward Elder

Some people are a jack of all trades but a master of none, while others, like the cast of BeTwixt, BeTween and BeTWAIN, appear to have seamlessly mastered a dizzying assortment of trades. Take, for example, the production's musical director, Danny Ashkenasi. He is also the writer of the play's book, lyrics and music, and is featured throughout the performance as a piano player and performer.

BeTwixt, BeTween and BeTWAIN also has a strong multi-talented ensemble in Aaron Piazza, Jennifer Eden, Alexander Gonzales, Rachel Green, Andrea Pinyan and Michael Satow. There seems to be no end to the number of instruments this troupe can play: piano, flute, violin, accordion, oboe, clarinet, triangle, guitar, harmonica, maracas, wooden frogs – even forks and knives.

The ensemble never loses their zest or energy, an incredible feat considering the demands placed on their abilities in this packed night of music. The evening begins with some of Mark Twain’s lighter tales: The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, A Genuine Mexican Plug, and Blue Jays. Ashkenasi’s musical adaptation of these tales highlights Twain’s humorous eye for life’s small details and people’s unique oddities. He has chosen works with topics that one would never imagine anyone could write a story about, let alone a musical.


Rehearsing On Stage
Photo Credit:Edward Elder

The mood turns slightly bleaker in The Californian’s Tale; a mysterious account of a town mad with love over a young woman suspiciously absent from the scene, and Cannibalism in the Cars, a darkly comedic song that Satow delivers with the perfect blend of hilarity and horror. Act one concludes with Life on the Mississippi, a soft, trance-like tribute to the river that has become synonymous with the name Mark Twain.

The second act is a musical adaptation of Twain’s popular travel literature, The Innocents Abroad (or The New Pilgrim’s Progress), chronicling the adventures of tourists as they trek through Europe in search of the Holy Land. Each stop on the tour is told through a series of songs, the most comical being Italy’s Michaelangelo, where the tourists have some fun with their stuffy museum guide asking if everything from Egyptian artifacts to pieces created a million years ago were created by Michaelangelo. Remember Me is another stand-out, addressing the somber moment every bright-eyed tourist encounters when their travels take them to Pompeii.

The length and complexity of each song does give the latter part of the evening a longer, heavier feel, especially given that these are not fluffy commercial jingles, but compact musical stories. But, while some musical interludes may feel weighty and unnecessary, none are uninspired. The actors appear to be having a great deal of fun with their roles. They commit to them without reserve, unafraid to twist their handsome features into ridiculous, ugly expressions.


	BeTwixt, BeTween and BeTWAIN
	Photo Credit:Edward Elder

Rachel Green, in particular, has a funny visual moment where she stands hunched over on a chair, neighing like a lame horse while simultaneously playing a violin, infusing a beautiful classical soundtrack into her own silly scene.

As the backbone of the production, Ashkenasi has an absorbing stage presence. When you have an artist this involved in their work you know you are seeing a fully realized vision that is deeply personal to that artist. There are special moments in beTwixt, beTween, and beTWAIN, outside of the story, where it is fun to watch Ashkenasi close his eyes on the sheet music and play the melody he hears in his head.

Mark Twain may have written the tales, but the collection of tunes belong to Ashkenasi and the six person ensemble of DiPiazza, Eden, Gonzales, Green, Pinyan and Satow, whose combined efforts give this production a fun and energetic life.

nytheatre.com review

Martin Denton · May 17, 2008

Danny Ashkenasi's beTwixt, beTween & beTWAIN brings several stories by Mark Twain to the musical stage. It is at its best when plumbing the substance of Twain's populist, humanist philosophy; some of the songs that Ashkenasi has written for this show, especially in its second act (which is based on The Innocents Abroad) are transcendent, lovely, and moving.

The first act is entitled "Journey Through America" and combines material from Life on the Mississippi with several other Twain tales set in the American West. The Life on the Mississippi section, which closes the act, is the strongest; several songs about pilots navigating the vastness of the river ("Let the River Flow," "Mississippi Song," and "Sunset on the River") are evocative and exciting. I also enjoyed some of the less familiar material, especially "Blue Jays," a fanciful number about a methodical bird who thinks he's filling a hole with nuts but turns out to be doing something entirely different.

The second act takes us to Europe and the Middle East, following the outline of Twain's travelogue to present his excursions to France, Italy, Turkey, and the Holy Land. Twain's observations about American tourists on the loose are sharp and funny and in many ways still ring true; but the most effective parts of Act Two come when the material turns more introspective. The visit to the ruins of Pompeii (in a gorgeous song called "Remember Me") is enormously moving. And the sequence in Palestine, especially a journey through the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, is presented with a simplicity and clarity in Ashkenasi's music ("Jerusalem, Jerusalem" and "Sea of Galilee") that makes it profound.

Ashkenasi's compositions are often beautiful, and the arrangements for piano, keyboard, recorder, guitar, oboe, flute, accordion, clarinet, and harmonica—all played variously by the composer and the other six members of the cast—are impressive. His is a musical voice that commands attention.

I do have a few reservations about beTwixt, beTween & beTWAIN: the purely humorous and satirical sections feel like more of a stretch for Ashkenasi, who seems most at home when the subjects are spiritual or transcendental. And the show's staging, by Tracy Bersley, feels overly busy to me: I think simplicity all around will serve this material best, in a story theatre mode with the actor/musicians singing, playing, and enacting the tales with as little extraneous detail as possible. I was greatly impressed by the seamless way that Ashkenasi moved the performers from instrument to instrument without ever calling attention to the process; but Bersley has the cast shifting the few chairs and props around frequently and distractingly.

Some editing might be in order as well. There's a lot of material here, including several numbers in both acts that feel redundant (each act really needs only one opening and one closing, but it feels like there are several of each).

But despite these quibbles, beTwixt, beTween & beTWAIN is quite a charming evening, and it showcases some fine performers in addition to Ashkenasi, including Andrea Pinyan, who sings beautifully, and Alexander Gonzales and Aaron DiPiazza, whose talents as musicians and singers are similarly strong. Ashkenasi is an ingratiating presence on stage as actor and musical director, and his promise as a musical theatre composer is clear.