CHOICE VOICES IN RED BANK, MIDDLETOWN
AMERICA’S GOT TALENT breakout sensation Jackie Evancho, left, makes her area debut at the Count Basie this Friday, while Gianna Salvato (of THE VOICE competition) joins kindie-rocker Miss Sherri for a show taping at the MAC on Saturday.
The greater Red Bank Green rolls out the red this weekend for a pair of young performers, each of whom made a nationwide impression on TV talent shows.
Friday has the Count Basie Theatre welcoming a teen singing sensation in her debut Red Bank appearance — Jackie Evancho, the soprano who wowed the crowd and jolted the judges (at the age of 10) during Season Five of America’s Got Talent. Since then, the now-14-year-old from Pittsburgh has returned to AGT for encore appearances, inked a major label recording contract, earned a gold record for her first full-length album, and hit the road for a cross country tour that brings her to Basie’s legendary stage for an 8 pm solo spotlight. It’s a date keyed to Awakening, her most recent “Puccini to pop” mix of operatic arias, Broadway showstoppers and Songbook standards — and tickets ($29.50 – $79.50) can be reserved here.
Saturday finds the Middletown Arts Center (MAC) hosting an opportunity to catch a homegrown TV-tested talent in a pretty novel setting — as special guest for the recording of a kid-centric music show. A native of Freehold Township, Gianna Salvato made it to Season Seven of The Voice (as part of Gwen Stefani’s Team Gwen), also on the strength of her YouTube endeavors. While she was eliminated from the finalist rounds, the 18 year old has continued “working with top music producers and singing in legendary venues” — none of which keeps her too busy to drop in on Miss Sherri Ehrlich and her Little Animal Band, when the onetime proprietor of Red Bank’s Honey Child Music goes before a live all-ages audience for the latest in her series of self-produced Miss Sherri Live video shows. The show starts at 11 am, and tickets ($10, with kids under 1 admitted free) can be reserved by calling (732)706-4100.