#Jagged Little Pill review/synopsis

[derekklenadaily]

Dani’s review/synopsis of the first preview of “Jagged Little Pill” on Broadway!

I had the privilege to go to New York City to see Derek’s first preview “Jagged Little Pill” this past Sunday. While growing up back in the early ‘90s, Alanis Morrisette was definitely one of the most known artists in that era, I do remember hearing her music on the radio all time and even sang along to her tunes with my mother in the car. So, when I saw the news that her music was going to be made into a musical, I was very excited. When I saw this musical last summer in Cambridge, MA during their out-of-town run, and my mind was pretty much blown. Before I go any further, sexual assault is mentioned in this review and very slight spoilers is also present.  

Despite the changes for the first preview for the Broadway run, I got to say this musical is more than I ever thought it would be. The opening number just takes the audience by surprise with their exhilarating dancing and them singing fiercely but so passionately. We could feel such a big electric/energy charge in between us audience and the people on stage. It was like being an awesome rock concert, really. Then the music goes softer as we see the family of four comes up to the stage.  

Elizabeth Stanley who plays Mary Jane Healy who plays the mother of Nick and Frankie and a wife of Steve Healy. In the show, Mary Jane is an all star-kind of mother who supports her kids at various things such as sports and school. But outside of that world, she currently is struggling with drug addiction due after having a car accident earlier that year. At the same time, she has difficult relationship with her husband Steve who has been away from the family most of the time and hasn’t had a great sexual relationship with him ever since the car accident incident. Elizabeth is absolutely beyond brilliant in this show. She has a great comedic timing especially the scenes with the family. Her acting and singing is definitely out of this world. I think the last scene (“Forgiven”) before intermission still got me shaking in the boots, because it was so incredibly beautiful, tragic and damn powerful at the same time, especially having numerous voices from the cast blending with hers as they stood behind. I’m definitely certain that the judges for any kind of theater awards will look into that scene and mark her as Best Actress in a Musical. She deserves to get it. I got to say her and Sean Allan Krill’s chemistry was absolutely perfect to form this tragic and destructive husband and wife relationship. They would start as tense - not wanting to touch each other and then lying behind each other back’s (her addiction with pills and him with pornography). Suddenly, Elizabeth and Sean went out of the box even more at one point - I thought they would end their characters’ marriage and slam it with divorce right there in the show. It was absolutely incredible.  

Sean Allan Krill who plays the father of Nick and Frankie, also a husband of Mary Jane. He’s business man who travels and works in his office most of the time. He doesn’t have a very good relationship with Mary Jane because they hadn’t had any sex over a year. So, to feed that sexual drive - he goes on porn sites and becomes addicted with it. Like what I said in the paragraph before, he and Elizabeth has an amazing chemistry. There’s one scene that Sean does it so amazing when he sings “Mary Jane” in Act Two. It’s absolutely heart-wrenching that we can’t help feeling sorry for him and seeing him trying to mend his relationship with her after all that mess they went through.

There are some hidden secrets and devastating moments that each character cannot escape from, whether it’s sexual assault, drug-addiction, and sex addiction. Especially comes to Derek’s character, Nick - who is the good and golden boy who gets all the accolades and praises for his schoolwork and his sportsmanship. But that bubble suddenly bursts when one of his best friends gets accused of sexual assault by Bella (a classmate that Nick has known since sixth grade). Nick faces such a tremendous difficult decision on what to do and how he get through it without getting a scratch off his record. The songs he sings, “Perfect” was jaw-dropping and absolutely heart-wrenching, really. It shows that he is being pressurized by his parents, after being accepted to Harvard and how he is treated like as a hometown hero. “Wake Up” in Act One was absolutely incredible because it shows the depth of his feelings and being pressurized to speak up about what happened that night.  As I watched Derek in the first preview, I found his character a bit more sympathetic than the Cambridge run. I definitely think that he has improved so much with his craft and his work after “Anastasia” and doing countless rehearsals with this show.  

Kathyrn Gallagher who plays Bella, she is absolutely amazing in this role. After her countless researching and watching documentaries of sexual assaults and hearing several survivors’ stories, she definitely put her feet in their shoes to tell their stories on stage. It may be a really difficult and enormous thing to do, but she does it with a tremendous job. There is this scene where Kathryn sings “Predator” is absolutely devastating and heartbreaking but at the same time, it’s so beautiful because there is a dancer named Annelise Baker who interprets Bella’s character on that night. As Kathryn sings this number, she watches herself to unfold to a beautiful human being from into a complete shattered person. I got to give major kudos to Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui who is the choreographer (you may know his work in Beyoncé's music video). Every single dancing movement in the show is absolutely thrilling and exciting all at once. Also, we see several scenes that relates and mirrors her and Elizabeth’s character especially “Uninvited”. Near at the end of the show, Kathryn’s brilliant and such a strong number “No” with Derek and Celia along with the ensembles, it spreads various but incredibly important messages to speak up.

Celia Gooding who plays Frankie - Nick’s sister and a daughter of Mary Jane and Steve Healy. Frankie goes through several difficult situations in this play; one - she was adopted by Mary Jane and Steve when she was an infant and is the only black member in the family. So, she feels bit out of place especially dealing with Mary Jane who doesn’t grasp the idea of Frankie’s identity. Two, she tries to explores with her relationship in between Jo and Phoenix throughout the show and sees where and which her status falls in place. Celia is definitely bold and so much fierce as heck! She brings it all down when she sings “All I Really Want” with Elizabeth Stanley, “Hand in My Pocket” with Lauren Patten and then her solo piece “Unprodigal Daughter”. Her chemistry with Lauren is awesome because you can see how much they complement each other, it’s all very fun and playful. Her chemistry with Antonio was very cute and flirtatious. Lastly, her chemistry with Elizabeth Stanley was incredible because it showed that they had a tough mother-daughter relationship like Elizabeth had this wall up, blocking everything out and Celia tries to take it down by doing such ferocious, daring and bold things. Towards at the end of the show, something tragically happens in the family - we see the wall in between them shift and eventually come down for good.  

Antonio Cipriano who plays Phoenix, who is Frankie’s classmate and befriends her. Throughout the show, we see how their relationship develops. Antonio who was the finalist for the Jimmy Award. He is extremely talented and absolutely brilliant in this production. He’s great comedic timing and has a wonderful chemistry with Celia Gooding. I absolutely love when they sing “Head Over Feet”. It was really cute! I’d love if he had a solo piece in this show because his singing voice is absolutely terrific. I’m so happy that he made his debut on Broadway which he deserves, along with this incredible cast.

Lauren Patten who plays Jo, who is Frankie’s best friend but also with benefits kind of relationship with Frankie. Like I said in Celia’s paragraph, Lauren has a wonderful chemistry with her. They bounce each other off so incredibly well that they have so much fun onstage and even off stage. And I must say holy crap, Lauren is awesome - I can’t decide which will they give a Tony Award for Best Supporting Actress in A Musical? Celia or Kathryn? Can’t they call it a tie so they can give it to all three of them? In Act Two - she really gave her all and energy which brought the whole house down when singing “You Oughta Know” that we rose on our feet to give her a standing ovation as the song ended. It was so damn powerful. Holy sheeeetz!

Also, I cannot forget everyone in ensemble - they really bring this show alive and go way above the level of energy and perfection. Seriously, this show wouldn’t work without them - their amazing dance and outstanding singing performances, including even them doing the smallest things in the background in several scenes, they did stellar job to bring elevate the show to go where it needs to go. 

I want to say “Jagged Little Pill” is one amazing show. Much as I love RENT the Musical but I dare to say that it’s so much better than RENT. It is even more thrilling after watching back in Cambridge last summer. It involves with lot of diversity dealing with gender identity and the important messages that we see in the news almost every day such as sexual harassment and many other things that are happening in today’s world. It definitely needs to be heard. Diablo Cody’s (won Academy Award Winner for Best Screenplay for “Juno”) outstanding writing and Alanis Morrisette’s music just blends it together so beautifully to create this musical and put it onstage in front of us. From the choreography, the sets, the lights and costumes, and everything in this show - including the cast, I highly believe they will have major success on Broadway for sure. It’s a possible chance that they will make it to award season maybe next year. Seriously, this show is not to miss, please do go see it. It will be worth it!

#Derek Klena #Elizabeth Stanley #Sean Allan Krill #Kathryn Gallagher #Celia Gooding #Antonio Cipranio #Lauren Patten #Jagged Little Pill Cast #Jagged Little Pill #Jagged Little Pill review/synopsis #previews #txt #danI**

[derekklenadaily]

Derek’s Break A Bat Podcast episode review/synopsis!

Break A Bat Podcast is one of the programs of the Broadway Podcast Network. The three hosts; Al Malafonte, Dougie Horowitz and Erin Conners created this series for many fans to hear both sides of mediums such as the stage/screen and sports related from their favorite performer. We hear fun and intimate conversations throughout the episode!

I found this interview was the best one out of all of interviews that Derek had in the past. The interviewers really went through of research on Derek's work before he came on and had such great new questions that we didn't often hear about before in previous interviews that he had.

The hosts and Derek discusses that there are similarities with baseball and theater. Derek agrees, they have the similar kind of task and profession. He says that working out and adapting to the schedule can be both physically and mentally exhausting at times. But he says playing sports from previous years helped him condition and adapt his endurance on Broadway, especially doing it eight times a week.

In the past, Derek gave an insight of his pathway from a baseball pitcher to Broadway actor in various engagements. But in this interview, he gave whole a lot more informative on his experience with theater and baseball throughout high school and college at UCLA, and how he decided to part ways from playing baseball (after realizing how difficult the road would be to become a professional baseball player in the league) and pursue a career as a performer. He told a long-story short about getting his foot in the door, getting his job in New York after being discovered by a Broadway World reviewer and Marc Shaiman heard him sing "Good-Bye" and asking him for a recording for as Aaron Tveit’s standby in Catch Me If You Can before coming to Broadway. After going through several call-backs and rehearsals, it didn't wind up working out but he was offered by a casting director for another project which was an off-Broadway run of Carrie the musical which was his first and official job in New York.

The hosts and Derek discusses again with the similarities with baseball and theatre. It’s really enjoyable to listen to him and the hosts practically ramble on the background of baseball and etc like any kind of sports analysts before the actual game starts on television. They agree that theatre and baseball both have the same ideas such as practicing over and over again to become successful at what you do, having certain preparations for it whether it’s theater or baseball. Derek compares what was it like to be performing on the field and performing on stage.

Then he talks about his time in Anastasia, working with Christy Altomare (Anya/Anastasia Romanov)  who he worked with in the past in Carrie the musical as a high school sweethearts, and John Bolton (Vlad Popov) who he still keeps in touch as well. They discuss about the song “Learn To Do it” (they ask Derek if it was like throwing baseball statistics at him) and how it was just a highlight of the show, sharing the fun and companionship on the show. He says that being in that kind of industry is great because he enjoys meeting similar faces and new faces, working with them and developing life-long friendships. 

He talks about Nick’s character development and challenges he faces upon playing the character in the show. He had similarities with Nick when he was younger, having expectations and striving to be the best to achieve things at the highest level. He is often asked by others, “How is it like a younger version of Derek?” He explains that it’s quite difficult to have a similarities to the character  but much easier to play a character that is nothing like himself and not have to worry about being criticized as much on the portrayal and just focus on bringing the character to life. He pinpoints some things out his younger brother and him at age eighteen would do. He visualizes what Nick’s head is at throughout the show and claims that he tries to do Nick justice, by figuring out who he is as a young adult and learning from the mistakes that he made. 

After Al numbering several previous successful jukebox musicals, he asks Derek about Jagged Little Pill and how the musical just works so well on Broadway. Derek describes how real, fearless and passionate Alanis is through her music. And it was a perfect marriage of Diablo Cody’s writing/working with specific themes in Alanis Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill album and brought the story to life onstage. Her music relates to the different people and face the harsh reality/truths that we still continue to see today’s world. The actors demonstrate who she is and what she stands for, not necessarily what she went through her in life through music. But he makes it clear that it’s not a biography musical. He brings up a moment where Alanis made her first visit to the workshop, feeling sort of hesitant but once after they performed in front of her, she was absolutely pleased and fulfilled that her story and important messages from her lyrics are being told so very clearly after twenty-five years after the album’s release.   

The hosts asks on what Derek has been doing during the quarantine process and Jagged Little Pill being on hiatus. It turns out that Derek has been writing! Perhaps a television show in the future? :)

Towards the end of the episode, each of the hosts gives fire and quick questions to Derek; favorite films - (American Beauty and Shawshank Redemption), favorite places to eat in NYC, top three favorite cast albums (Ragtime, Parade and Spring Awakening), Broadway crush (Patti LuPone), his opinion on Roger Clemens being on the Hall of Fame and being on steroids, best baseball game he ever watched/witnessed (Dodgers vs White Sox World Series), most embarrassing moment on stage (flubbing during “My Petersburg” in Anastasia), memorable moment in his career was doing Dogfight - working with most known director in the theatre industry, Joe Mantello and Tony Award Winning and long time friend/mentor, Lindsay Mendez (Wicked). One of the hosts asks Derek on what was his best advice that he ever gotten. Derek answers, “Prepare.” It’s better to prepare for something in advance rather than having major fears and anxieties over not having materials to work with.  

I really enjoyed the episode because it feels really fresh after hearing the same old questions from previous interviews and we got to hear more of what he went through. I felt like Derek was at his comfort zone being around with the hosts and even geek-ing out over many baseball things with them which was really fun to listen to! :)

So if you want to listen to the episode, click [here]

#Derek Klena #broadway podcast network #broadway #break a bat podcast #appearance: break a bat podcast #appearances #review #podcast

[derekklenadaily]

Synopsis/Review of Derek’s Solo Concert at Feinstein’s 54 Below

Monday night on January 18th, I had the opportunity to go to see Derek’s solo debut concert again but this time, it was at Feinstein's 54 Below in New York City. The place was bit larger than Cafe Carlyle and the place had an old-kind of feel to it with copper tin tiled ceiling and small lamps lit aglow at the booth at the back of the restaurant. We had to arrive at 5:00 and the show started a little bit after 7. Derek arrived in his gray pin-striped suit attire with a casual gray shirt and dark pants. He opened the show by singing ‘Some Kind of Time’ by Pasek and Paul’s Off-Broadway Dogfight, then he greeted the audience, thanking us for coming. In a prelude, before singing a beautiful mashup of “Go The Distance” (Disney’s Hercules)/“Out There” (Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame) He told us about the memories of him growing up, watching a lot of Disney’s films and singing their songs with his younger sister, Lauren and brother, Dillon. Before he got to sing  “Lady” by ‘Styx’, Benjamin stopped him because he had something for all of us to see; with the simple click on two television screens - suddenly, a clip of America's Most Talented Kid appears with Dave Coulier as a host. A young 14 year old Derek comes out onstage, he had a neck length long hair and wearing buttoned down shirt and black pants, giving that 90's vibes to it. And I gotta to say that he seriously had the pipes at that age! Goodness! And what was very sweet that we could see his family members including younger siblings in the audience, Dillion and Lauren holding poster signs saying "Go D!" or "Derek Klena rocks!" During the clip, I took a quick peek over to the stage and under the dim lighting above Derek as he stood next to Benjamin, I could see his adorable reactions; laughing and blushing. After his segment ended, he sat with his mom Lynn and the host Dave, while the kid judges (Daryl Sabara - 'Spy Kids', Scarlett Pomers - 'Reba' and Bobb'e J. Thompson - 'So Raven') gave their review. They gave positive accolades about his segment and Scarlett pretty much had heart eyes emoji look on her face the whole time. After that, Derek continued on his journey with his performing, giving us an insight of his small, baby starting steps to his career; by doing regional shows in LA, battling back and forth whether to stay in baseball for UCLA or continue on to become a performer, getting the golden ticket in American Idol which he end up making it to Hollywood Week. He sang “Come Home” by ‘One Republic’.

Last September, Derek married his longtime girlfriend Elycia who he met during the first week of college. He sang a mash up of Maroon 5′s “Sunday Morning”, “Your Song” by Elton John and “She’s Got A Way” by Billy Joel to her. It was really sweet! Before singing “Goodbye” from Catch Me If You Can, he told us the story where Marc Shaiman heard him sing this song and asking Derek to send a recording for as Aaron’s standby before coming to Broadway. Went off to sing “Dreamer in Disguise” from Carrie the Musical which was lovely to hear! I feel like this song is a bit underrated on the Carrie the musical score. Then he introduced about his time on Dogfight with Tony Winner and a great friend of Derek’s Lindsay Mendez. For the upcoming piece from Dogfight, Benjamin collected a girl who sat behind me, named Abby. During that song, it was really sweet to watch and she did a fabulous job reading/acting as Rose while he sang "Come To A Party"! As he tells us about the decision of whether going back to school or continue to pursuing with performing - he goes into sing “Dancing Through Life” from the show. Then he went off to talk about his Broadway debut in Wicked as Fiyero, doing the special tenth anniversary of it, and his life-long friendship with Lindsay who was Elphaba. A sudden memory comes up when Derek went up to the director, Joe Mantello on how he should have his haircut for the character Fiyero. Short or long? Joe replied, “Bieber, baby.” Then the production still of Derek as Fiyero came on the television screens. He had his long bangs swifted to the side, like the younger days of Justin Bieber. He had Fiyero's one of infamous outfits; green shirt with dark overalls while holding the lantern in the mist. Suddenly, a head of Justin Bieber appears next to Derek's Fiyero to show us the comparison in between the two. It lead him to sing the Bieber medley, which was really great to watch him to sing that again and having fun, swinging the microphone around and dancing a bit on stage.

After that, he talked about his run in Bridges of Madison County with Kelli O’ Hara and Hunter Foster as his parents in the show, which couldn’t be any better than that. He goes to sing Steve's solo piece which placed in Act Two in the show, “It All Fades Away”. Next, he talked about Anastasia, he talked about how it was an embarrassment of riches, working with the creative team, Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flahtery, Darko Tresnjak and Terrence McNally who wrote the book. Also, working with the cast of Anastasia especially the main lead actress Christy Altomare (Anya/Anastasia) who he called a 'Wonder Woman'. With that note, he suddenly gave us a special surprise to all of us in the audience; he announced Christy's name and invited her to join Derek onstage. "My face hurts from smiling so much! Your singing and acting is insane! You heal the soul!” Christy praised after watching him. Derek went 'Awww!' and hugged her in thanks. Christy and Derek reminisced their audition day for the Hartford run; Derek said that Christy was there earlier in the day (she had auditioned before), she told him that she had to come back to audition to read and sing with her "old boyfriend", meaning their respective roles as lovers, Sue Snell and Tommy Ross in Carrie. They both sang "In A Crowd of Thousands" as their audition duet. Derek said that he didn't know the lyrics as much as Christy did. But, thankfully once the creative team saw them, they knew Derek and Christy were it. So, when they sang "In A Crowd of Thousands"  for us, it was so incredibly beautiful and magical to watch them in front of me because it was like going back to the Broadhurst and seeing them on stage as Anya/Anastasia and Dmitry all over again. On that little stage, it was not Christy and Derek, they became their characters. Their chemistry was just sparking so vividly - there's nothing like it on stage. But offstage, you can tell their friendship is so very special and unique after knowing each other for so long.

One of the highlight/favorite parts of the concert was Derek giving such a small inspirational speech about how you may stumble in life, you have to grow and learn from certain experiences. And one of his most known quotes, “Seize every opportunity” is the most important part when going through an experience, because you never know where, when or what will lead you. For him, it went from doing regional theatres, television singing competitions to BWW's random review that got his foot in the door to New York City to do auditions then performing in shows on the Great White Way. This led to “You Learn” from Alanis Morrisette's Jagged Little Pill (the musical is coming to this fall on Broadway), and I can't get enough of listening/watching his acoustic rendition of it on Feinstein's/54 Below's Facebook, it's absolutely gorgeous! For the finale or encore; Derek sang songs from “Always Remember Us” from the recent film, A Star Is Born was lovely to listen to again which was and “You Will Be Back” from Hamilton the Musical which led him to ask the audience to sing with him and show off his silly side once again.

I was so glad that I got to enjoy Derek's solo concert again! I thought he seemed alot more comfortable and relaxed than the concert at Cafe Carlyle. It was absolutely enjoyable, funny, intimate and personal all at once as he shared with us audience about his life experiences and career. If you want to see or follow more updates on Derek, you can follow him on social media: on instagram: @Derek__Klena, on twitter: @derekklena And if you want to follow us to keep an update on his projects and career, we are on twitter and tumblr: @DerekKlenaDaily | tumblr.com/derekklenadaily 

 Sincerely, Dani One of the admins of DerekKlenaDaily

#Derek Klena #Feinstein's/54 Below #54 Below #review/synopsis #Christy Altomare #txt #ours** #dani**

[derekklenadaily]

A review/synopsis of Derek’s Solo Debut Concert at Cafe Carlyle

Tuesday night on January 15th, I had the opportunity to go to see Derek's solo debut concert at Cafe Carlyle in New York City. The place was a bit small and quaint than Feinstein's 54 Below. We had to arrive by 7:00 and the show started a little bit after 8:30. Derek arrived in his gray suit attire with a purple weaved tie, and his hair slightly shortened than we have seen in Anastasia. He opened the show by singing 'Some Kind of Time' by Pasek and Paul's Off-Broadway Dogfight, then he greeted the audience, thanking us for coming. In a prelude before singing a beautiful mashup of "Go The Distance" (Disney's Hercules)/"Out There" (Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame) He told us about the memories of him growing up, watching a lot of Disney's films and singing their songs with his younger sister, Lauren and brother, Dillon. As he sang a mini mashup of  "Lady" by ‘Styx’ and "Come Home" by ‘One Republic’, he gave us an insight of his small, baby starting steps to his career; by doing regional shows in LA, battling back and forth whether to stay in baseball for UCLA or continue on to become a performer, getting the golden ticket in American Idol which he end up making it to Hollywood Week. 

Last September, Derek married his longtime girlfriend Elycia who he met during the first week of college. He sang a mash up of Maroon 5′s “Sunday Morning”, "Your Song" by Elton John and "She's Got A Way" by Billy Joel to her. It was really sweet! Before singing "Goodbye" from Catch Me You Can, he told us the story where Marc Shaiman heard him sing this song and asking Derek to send a recording for as Aaron's standby before coming to Broadway. Went off to sing "Dreamer in Disguise" from Carrie the Musical. Apparently, Tony Winner and a great friend of Derek's Lindsay Mendez was supposed to come to the concert to sing "First Date/Last Night" from Dogfight with Derek but unfortunately, she couldn't make it due to an illness. But singing "Come Back" makes up for it though, because he hasn't sang that song in a while, probably since the CD release concert back in 2013. During that song, we could tell that his voice has become better and stronger over the years. Then he went off to talk about his Broadway debut in Wicked as Fiyero, doing the special tenth anniversary of it, and his life-long friendship with Lindsay who was Elphaba. He goes to sing "Dancing Through Life" from the show. A sudden memory comes up when Derek went up to the director, Joe Mantello on how he should have his haircut for the character Fiyero. Short, long, or blond? Joe replied, "Bieber, baby." It lead him to sing the Bieber medley, which was really great to watch him to sing that and having fun with it. After that, he talked about his run in Bridges of Madison County with Kelli O' Hara and Hunter Foster as his parents in the show, which couldn't be any better than that. He goes to sing Robert's solo piece which placed in Act Two in the show, "It All Fades Away". Next, he talked about having the opportunity to participate the Broadway's Prince's Party after the run of Anastasia in Hartford, Connecticut. Since he couldn't sing any songs from the show due to being out of town at the time, so he and his piano composer Benjamin Rauhala decided to put together a song called "A Prince In Their World" a parody of Ariel's "Part of Your World", which was absolutely terrific to see him sing that song again in front of me after watching the past performance on YouTube several times.

Onto Anastasia, he talked about how he grew up watching the animated film and the character "Dimitri" was one of his dream roles if it had the chance to come to Broadway. After accepting the role of Dmitry and then doing the run for two years (one in Hartford and then on Broadway), "I lived my dream being in Anastasia", he said. Before doing "My Petersburg", he clarified that in the film, Dimitri didn't really have his own songs, so he was really honored that Stephen Flahtery and Lynn Ahrens gave Derek a chance to sing about Dmitry and where he came from. And I got to say when he sang "My Petersburg", it was truly glorious because one; he was literally one of my dream-cast for the show and two; he did an AMAZING portrayal of the character Dimitri/Dmitry so incredibly well that I thought he came straight from the animated film to the stage.

One of the highlight/favorite parts of the concert was Derek giving such a small inspirational speech about how you may stumble in life, you have to grow and learn from certain experiences. And one of his most known quotes, "Seize every opportunity" is the most important part when going through an experience, because you never know where, when or what will lead you. Along side of doing projects in New York, he really enjoys teaching aspiring high school and college students at masterclasses and workshops, and be able to watch them learn and grow as performers. "You Learn" from Alanis Morrisette was the perfect way to conclude this. For the finale or encore; I should say, Derek sang songs from "Always Remember Us" from the recent film, A Star Is Born which was absolutely gorgeous and "You Will Be Back" from Hamilton the Musical which led him to ask the audience to sing with him and show off his silly side.

Overall, I really enjoyed the concert so much! It was enjoyable, funny, intimate and personal all at once as he shared with us audience about his life experiences and career. I'm so happy and honored to be his fan, really. Derek is definitely one of the kindest, hard-working performer that I know. I'm truly ecstatic where he goes from here with his journey with his life and career; whether it's Jagged Little Pill or his future projects ahead. If you want to see or follow more updates on Derek, you can follow him on social media: on instagram: @Derek__Klena, on twitter: @derekklena 

 And if you want to follow us to keep an update on his projects and career, we are on twitter and tumblr: @DerekKlenaDaily | tumblr.com/derekklenadaily

Sincerely, 

Dani 

 One of the admins of DerekKlenaDaily 

#Derek Klena #Dogfight #Wicked #Bridges of Madison County #Anastasia #event: cafe carlyle #event #derek klena daily admins #review/synopsis #txt