THE WEDDING SINGER
(Musical Theatre West)
"...Finally there's Coker-Jones' star-making ball-of-fire performance as Holly, as exciting an L.A. debut as you'll ever see."
-Stage Scene LA, Steven Stanley
"Coker-Jones is screamingly in-your-face funny. She has an indomitable display of comic aplomb."
-Broadway World, Don Grigware
"As for Jenna Coker-Jones, her performance as Holly (Julia's kooky best friend), is so loaded with vim, vigor, and hijinx. she steals the show every time she bounces on stage." -Gazette.com, Shirley Gottlieb
"Jenna Coker-Jones powerfully providing many of the show's best song, dance, and comedic moments with show-stopping skill."
-CSULB Daily, Joseph Sirota
"...A spectacular Jenna Coker-Jones...sparks fly and pheromones are in the air..."
-Showmag.com, Ben Miles
"Among many supporting turns are Jenna Coker-Jones as Julia's zany Madonna-esque cousin Holly."
-Backstage, Les Spindle
"Jenna Coker-Jones is sweet and bubbly..." -Dailybreeze.com, AK Whitney
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
(Ford's Theatre)
"part of the credit here goes to jenna coker-jones , whose impeccable comic timing turns what can be a rather vapid role into a real winner. Her "somewhere that's green" is more a satirical farce on the trappings of suburbia. (which is really how it should be)"
-The DCist
"... her portrayal of Audrey as a brave self-deprecating survivor makes for a magnetic performance. "Somewhere that's green", perhaps the show's best known song, has never sounded better than in her care. She provides an endearing, comic take on the song, barely hinting at a deep vunerablity lying beneath her smiling facade"
-DC Theatre Scene
"...the Joneses are husband and wife and make a winsome
duo...those appealing Joneses give the performance a stable base"
-Washington Post
"...energetic performances that are bigger than life yet not so over the top as to annoy. Coker-Jones is a fire cracker on stage and proves to be a great pairing with her real-life partner."
- www.DC.Metblogs.com
"— packs a powerful voice into a petite body. She also makes sure you’re laughing with Audrey and not at her during ballads like “Somewhere That’s Green"
-www.brightestyoungthings.com
"The Joneses bring a sweetness to their characters without forgoing the dark humor at the show's core. in performances tinged with clever physical comedy, the pair is bright!"
-The Washingtonian
"Jones and Coker-Jones, who are married offstage, convey the genuine sweetness as well as the silliness in their characters... and the necessary singing voices"
- www.talkinbroadway.com
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING...
(Arkansas Rep)
“...with sparkly eye shadow and biceps that look as if they were built in a lab. She starts the show as a school marm leading the children's choir (the choir wears school uniforms throughout, which is a nice reminder that Webber and Rice's show began life as a middle school exercise) and ends up as an aerobatic leader of the ever-wilder “Joseph” circus.”
—Werner Trieschmann, Arkansas Times
“...makes a sassy narrator, who transforms herself from a polite school-marm, to cow-girl, to secret agent. Her range is amazing and stage energy infectious.”
--GerberaDaisyDairies.com
“...is a hoot. We’ve seen Joseph directed in a number of different ways, but never with the Narrator as a bit of a sarcastic member of the band of brothers. It actually works, and provides another level of humor to this production.”
--HotInLittleRock.com
TWILIGHT IN MANCHEGO
(NYMF 2008)
"The cast is also strong. I was particularly moved by Jenna Coker-Jones..."
-curtainup.com
"There's a particular bright spot in Jenna Coker-Jones as Katy Shelaq, the fiery, precocious best friend of Leo. A delightful performer, Coker-Jones also manages to be one of the few members of the class who actually seems to be in elementary school. Most of her classmates are overblown high school stereotypes, but her Katy still has that innocence we expect of younger children."
-Zachary Fithian, nytheatre.com
"Jenna Coker-Jones nails the part of oddball student Katy, who really can see dead people, and is instrumental in bringing about the show's conclusion."
- Dan Bacalz, Theatremania.com
JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING...
(Stage St. Louis)
"...is a real bundle of dynamite, (as the Narrator). She ties everything together throughout the evening with a bounce in her step and a lilt in her voice."
Steve Allen, KFUO-FM
"Anchoring the story is our narrator, a firecracker named Jenna Coker-Jones. She sings with plenty of attitude and no restraint. From the moment she opens the show, alone on stage... she twinkles like a star."
Judy Newmark, St Louis Post-Dispatch
"...played with vast energy and a big voice that belies her small size... If you have seen "Joseph" many times over the years, you likely might recall a more subdued narrator than that offered by Ms. Coker-Jones. But it is something that is quickly overcome, as she injects her unlimited energy into the performance and makes the role positively her own."
Daniel Hines, Todaysseniornetwork.com
"...adds spunk and sex appeal to the proceedings as the Narrator. 'The Prolouge' sets the tone for the show, and she immediately lets the audience know that this is going to be a fun ride."
Chris Gibson, reviewer
THE FULL MONTY
(Stage St. Louis)
"...sharp performances by the women in the cast...most notably by Jenna Coker as a wife struggling to understand what her man is going through."
Robert Boyd, Talking Broadway
"She impressed me as Dave's horny wife, Georgie. This actress infused an amazing amount of energy in the production as she nearly stole the show with her flawless performance. There is nothing I can negatively critique Coker on her performance as she was that tight. Even in a scene where she was just sitting on a suitcase waiting for her part of the scene to start, I was impressed with how intense Coker appeared; I couldn't take my eyes off her and she wasn't even speaking."
Jim Cambell, Playback:STL
EVIL DEAD
(off-Broadway)
"But the stealer of the show is Ash's little sister Cheryl, played by Jenna Coker, the first to become a demon. She constantly pops out of the cellar spitting out the corniest jokes, but Coker makes them amazing!! I was on the floor in fits of laughter every time she spoke. It's obvious that Coker was picked because she can make anything hilarious! You'll love seeing her running in place and popping out of the cellar …"
Broadway Banterer, Craig Stekeur
"...awesomely insane Jenna Coker...delivered a performance that would make Meryl Streep gravel at her feet and Judy Garland resign from singing—if she were still alive. She played the awkward bookworm for the first twenty-or-so minutes of the show and then the rockin’ Janice Joplin meets Courtney Love, badass demon as seen in “Look Who’s Evil Now” the rest of the time."
Shaun R. Toogood, The Communitarian
"But once possessed, it's comic fireball Jenna Coker who threatens to steal the show. Trapped under the cellar door for most of the evening, she pops up regularly to spit out one-liners and menace those who dared to sit up front. When the demons dance "Do The Necronomicon" she wildly pounds the floor into submission."
Michael Dale, BroadwayWorld.com
"The petite and rambunctious Coker stands out as Ash's sister, who gets attacked and almost torn limb from limb by rampaging trees (that's right!) and who spends most of the show popping up from a cellar trap door screaming puns and wreaking mayhem. She gets what she deserves from the ensemble with "You Blew That B. . .Away."
Simon Saltzman, A Curtain Up
"Jenna Coker as Cheryl…tears into her role with relish..."
William Shunn, SciFi Weekly
"The cast is superb. One by one they flawlessly sing and dance their way to hilariously grisly deaths. Whether being disemboweled, attacked by killer trees, mutilated by a chainsaw or blown apart by a shotgun, the ensemble performs and bleeds with gleeful abandon. In the tradition of Little Shop of Horrors and The Rocky Horror Show, Evil Dead: The Musical has assumed its place in the cult pantheon of theater."
Sean Michael O'Donnell, Show Business Weekly
"The vocal standout among the cast is Coker, who uses her dynamic rock voice effectively in "It Won't Let Us Leave" and "Look Who's Evil Now."
Dan Bacalzo, TheatreMania
"That spirit boosts most of the show, particularly when Cheryl (Jenna Coker), sister to the heroic demon-slayer Ash (Ryan Ward), turns evil and gets trapped in the cabin's cellar. She keeps popping up from a door in the floor to make hideous puns, but because the groaners never stop coming, the sheer volume makes them funny."
Variety
"Coker is a riot as his introverted sister, munching happily on lines and scenery that make Cheryl the most animated character onstage."
Talking Broadway, Matthew Murray
"I'd have to say that Jenna Coker who played Ash's sister Cheryl was great & really stood out. Super energetic and really, really funny. I love Ellen Sandweiss, but gosh, this gal was enthusiastically all over the place!"
IconsOfFright.com
GREASE
(Stage St. Louis)
"Jenna Coker nailed down her role as Frenchy showcasing her terrific comic timing and giving her character a hint of vunerability."
Playback:stl, Jim Cambell
SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL
(Fulton Opera)
"It was Jenna Coker's awesome voice and charming clumsiness that stole the show as Gertrude McFuzz, the wallflower love interest of main character Horton the Elephant…"
Susan E. Lindt, Intelligencer Journal
"Coker's Gertrude is the heart of the show. Her bumbling self doubt and declaration of love for Horton are charming."
Jane Holahan, New Era
FAME ON 42nd STREET
(Little Shubert)
"The only special effects here are the mostly young cast members... who have been directed to withhold nothing. Most of the 18 energetic kids sing, dance, and act. A few play instruments...In other words, the troupe is packed solid with triple-threat and even quadruple-threat performers. "
David Finkle, TheatreMania
FOOTLOOSE
(Theatre By The Sea)
"Coker...is a real sparkplug, a tiny little thing with a mop of red ringlets and enough energy to light a small town, or at least enough to make Let's Hear It For The Boy glitter."
Channing Gray, The Providence Journal
"She is an absolute bundle of energy, and whenever she's on stage - even when she's surrounded by 20 other cast members - you can't help but focus on her."
Frank O'Donnell, The Valley Breeze
"...a little red head firecracker named Jenna Coker, who sparks even when standing still."
Bill Rodriguez, Providence Phoenix
"Coker possesses enough perkiness for the entire cast. In this summer's 2 productions, she has clearly emerged as a crowd favorite."
Mark Morin, The Westerly Sun
ANYTHING GOES
"Coker sings, dances, and flirts her way not only into the hearts of the sailors, but the audience as well."
Mark Morin, The Westerly Sun
"Jenna Coker is superb as Erma, the man-killing sidekick of Moonface Martin. There's a delightful Betty Boop in her performance, and you'll be wishing she had more time in the spotlight."
Frank O'Donnell, The Valley Breeze
GREASE
"Jenna Coker also scores as pint-sized but tough-as-nails Rizzo, the leader of the Pink Ladies and a potential woman of the world…Coker takes no prisoners."
Mal Vincent, The Virginian Pilot
NO, NO, NANETTE
"Nanette...Coker's petite china doll, a little girl with a big talent."
Diana Anderson, Times Observer
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