January 5, 2000

From: Maurice M. Reder

For Immediate Release

JACQUELINE JONÉE

The World’s First Concert Pianist/Drag Diva

Sundays, February 6, 13, 20, 27, Sundays, March 5, 12, 2000, 6:00 p.m.

Don’t Tell Mama

Special Opening Night Benefit, February 6, for

The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus

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Jacqueline Jonée, stars in "Je m’appelle Jacqueline ( Ma vie c’est la Vie)" a glittering and enchanting evening of songs, comic vocal selections and virtuoso piano solos set in gay Paris. The glamorous, multi-talented female concert pianist/drag diva, Jacqueline Jonée, takes you on a dazzling madcap musical romp from the Paris bistro cabaret to the Follies Bergères with haute couture panache and dazzling Liberace-esque cadenzas.

Jacqueline Jonée, (created by John Nieman) pianist, female impressionist, singer, actor, comedienne is the world’s first concert pianist/ drag diva delighting audiences wherever she has performed. Sidney Myer of Don’t Tell Mama says she is "a feast for the eyes and ears. The ivories have never been tickled more beautifully."

OutMusic Quarterly’s Patrick Arena says of the "jaunty" Jacqueline Jonée, she has a " humorous command at the piano… rollicking pianos solos…the next Victor Borge only in drag!"

"… deliriously funny, light, brilliant and refined. Jacqueline Jonée is never a drag-caricature. Nieman creates a real woman, pretty and spicy who comes from inside of him. Through the passion of Jacqueline for the piano, he tells a very original and hilarious love story with the music." -- Michel Hermon

Ms. Jonée made her Carnegie Hall singing and piano début with the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus in the Cole Porter tribute "Swellegant Ellegance" with guest stars Harvey Fierstein and Kristen Chenoweth in 1999. This year she also appeared on the fabulous Jamie DeRoy and Friends cabaret show on cable television, and at The Triad, Sardi’s with Mark Nadler, and the former Eighty-Eights.

"I’ve loved playing the piano since I was a child," says Ms. Jonée. "Performing allows me to evoke the colorful characters I’ve encountered in the music world from New York concert stages and stuffy classical conservatories to jazz clubs and cabarets. "Ma vie c’est la vie!"

"Je m’appelle Jacqueline,( Ma vie c’est la Vie)" stars the incomparable Jacqueline Jonée, with Mary Rodriguez on percussion and Jason Tobias DiMatteo on string bass. Directed by Brett Obermann. February 6, 13, 20, 27 and March 5, 12, 2000, 6:00 p.m. Sundays at Don’t Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, $15 cover, two drink minimum, no checks/Credit cards. For reservations call 212-757-0788.

Special opening night benefit for The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus, Cover $20.

344 West 72nd Street, #12H New York, N. Y. 10023 (212) 874 –0580