The cool and cloudy weather outside Holmdel, NJ’s PNC Bank Arts Center this Wednesday, May 18, 2025 afternoon hasn’t dampened the spirits of music lovers who stream in for today’s Forever Donna tribute to Donna Summer starring singer Rainere Martin.
Sponsored by the Garden State Arts Foundation, today’s show is the third in a series of free Spring 2025 musical events which also includes Cousin Brucie Presents Tony Orlando and Andy Kim on June 5, The Grass Roots and The Buckinghams on June 10, and the Hispanic Culture and Heritage Celebration show starring Los Lobos and Flor de Toloache on June 19.
Inside the PNC amphitheater, Vice President of the GSAF’s Board of Trustees Ron Gravino welcomes music lovers to today’s performance. Calling it “a great turnout for this weather,” he thanks the many GSAF volunteers and contributors for their help with this afternoon’s event and introduces this afternoon’s opening act, The Chiclettes.
The Chiclettes — Gracie Hyland, Mikayla Cohen, and Jennie Colabatistto — take the stage accompanied by The Coda Band’s Mary Beth Ryan-Mastropaolo on saxophone, Dennis DiBrizzi on keyboards, Joe DeAngelis on guitar, Paul Page on bass, and Pete Mastropaulo on drums.
Vocalizing in three-part harmony, The Chiclettes perform Whitney Houston’s “I’m Every Woman” prior to singing and dancing across the stage on an upbeat medley of The Pointer Sisters’ “Jump (For My Love)” and Aretha Franklin’s “Freeway of Love.”
The women introduce themselves and launch into a medley of Whitney Houston hits where Mikayla moves about the stage crooning “How Will I Know,” Jennie sings with feeling on “So Emotional,” and Gracie makes her way down into the audience singing lead on an upbeat rendition of “I Want to Dance with Somebody.”
Concertgoers cheer and Jennie follows up with a soulful performance of Dusty Springfield’s “Son of a Preacher Man.” Mikayla reveals, “I’m getting married in October and this song reminds me of my fiancé,” prior to chanting, “Simply the best/Better than all the rest,” on Tina Turner’s “The Best.” Gracie instructs, “Stand up and shake it!” as she turns the PNC Bank Arts Center into a disco dance party on a powerful rendering of Gloria Gaynor’s “Never Can Say Goodbye.”
The Chiclettes conclude their performance with the Ike and Tina Turner version of “Proud Mary,” where after starting off slowly, they pick up the tempo and the audience joins them in singing and dancing on the tune’s uptempo “Rollin’, rollin’ rollin’ on a river” chorus.
“Bye bye, New Jersey! We love you!” exclaims Gracie as music lovers whistle and cheer for a compelling performance.
Following a short intermission, The Coda Band retakes the stage along with backup singers Shirley Lites, Monray Francois, and Lauren Pitts. Opening with the instrumental disco tune “I Feel Love” as an overture, vocalist Rainere Martin takes the stage in a silver bodysuit singing, “Lookin’ for some hot stuff, baby, this evenin’,” on Donna Summer’s 1979 chart-topper, “Hot Stuff.”
Backup singers cry, “Toot toot, hey, beep beep!” as Martin accurately channels Donna Summer on “Bad Girls.” Concertgoers move to the groove and Martin exclaims, “I see you dancing all the way in the back!” on the 1979 hit before asking the audience, “How you feelin’?” The crowd replies, “Good!” and Martin announces, “I want to take this time to thank you guys for coming out in this bad weather,” adding, “Because you did, we’re gonna show you a good time!”
Explaining that she’s been doing her Donna Summer tribute for 13 years, Martin and the band slow things down on the intro to the 1979 Top 5 hit, “Dim All the Lights,” prior to increasing the tempo as Martin cries, “Turn up the old Victrola/Gonna dance the night away!”
The crowd hoots and hollers and Martin reveals that one of the biggest honors of her career was getting to sing her next number live with “Joe Esposito, who was the gentleman who sang this song with Donna Summer.” Monray Francois sings backup to Martin as she croons, “Heaven knows, it’s not the way it should be/Heaven knows, it’s not the way it could be,” on Summer’s 1978 hit, “Heaven Knows.”
Martin confesses, “I’ve been singing this next song for the last 13 years and I still don’t know what it means,” as she steps into Donna Summer’s disco arrangement of “MacArthur Park.” Dancing across the stage, Martin chants, “Someone left the cake out in the rain,” on this 1978 chart-topper before dancing with Joe DeAngelis who rocks out on electric guitar.
Martin reveals, “I’m gonna slip into something more comfortable,” as she leaves the stage to Lauren Pitts who handles the lead vocal on Cheryl Lynn’s “Got to Be Real.” Then, Shirley Lites gets the crowd dancing while performing an arrangement of A Taste of Honey’s “Boogie Oogie Oogie” which also features a funky Paul Page bass solo.
Martin returns in a stunning periwinkle patterned ensemble to reveal, “This next song was the first 45 my mother bought me when I was six years old.” Acknowledging, “This song really started my career,” Martin kicks off a tour de force performance of Donna Summer’s “On the Radio.”
Singing her heart out on this 1979 Top 5 tune, Martin wails, “‘Cause they said it really loud, they said it on the air/On the radio, whoa-oh-oh-oh,” before Mary Beth Ryan-Mastropaulo renders a screaming alto sax solo.
The crowd cheers and Martin talks about giving up her music career for 20 years prior to getting the urge to sing again and auditioning for Legends in Concert as a Donna Summer tribute artist. She advises her listeners to “Never give up!” as she puts her best foot forward on the lesser-known Summer dance song, “Stamp Your Feet.”
Dedicating her next number to “each and every one of you, because all of you work hard for your money,” Martin makes her way into the audience singing, “She works hard for the money/So hard for it, honey,” on the 1983 Summer hit, “She Works Hard for the Money.”
Back on stage, Martin recalls, “Donna performed this next song with Barbra Streisand,” joking, “but she couldn’t be here tonight,” and invites Lauren Pitts to join her in singing the star duo’s 1979 blockbuster tune, “No More Tears (Enough is Enough).”
Martin and Co. conclude today’s performance with 1978’s “Last Dance,” where Martin starts off singing “Last dance/Last chance, for love,” on the tune’s’ rubato intro. After asking the crowd, “Are you ready?” the musicians pick up the tempo and the disco beat pulses on the “So let’s dance, the last dance” refrain. The audience sings and dances along prior to giving Martin a reason to bow with a rousing standing ovation for Forever Donna.
To learn more about Rainere Martin and Forever Donna, please go to 4everdonna.com. For info on upcoming free Spring 2025 GSAF concerts — including Cousin Brucie Presents Tony Orlando and Andy Kim on June 5 at 7:30 pm, The Grass Roots and The Buckinghams on June 10 at 1:30 pm, and the Hispanic Culture and Heritage Celebration starring Los Lobos and Flor de Toloache on June 19 at 7:30 pm — please click on gsafoundation.org.
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