Jonelle Allen

 

  Jonelle starred off-Broadway in the musical version of Irwin Shaw’s Bury the Dead right after filming Come Back Charleston Blue. New York Times reviewer Walter Kerr saw her performance and was moved to award her the dream of every actor, “a love letter review.” It was soon thereafter that Joseph Papp called her for Two Gentlemen of Verona. Originally planned as one of the New York Shakespeare Festival productions in Central Park, it was given a rock score at the suggestion of director Mel Shapiro to help give the modern adaptation of the play the proper contemporary flavor. She was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and won The Drama Desk Award, Drama Critics Award, Outer Circle Award, and Theatre World Award. 

 

Jonelle Allen sings “Junk Man” 1982 TV salute to Frank Loesser

 

 

Jonelle Allen sings “If I Were a Bell” from “Guys and Dolls”

1982 TV salute to Frank Loesser. 

 

Jonelle Allen sings the Betty Hutton hit “Rumble, Rumble, Rumble” in this 1982 TV salute to Frank Loesser.