Review: DIANA HUEY: FIND YOUR LIGHT Has Lots and Lots of Heart at The Green Room 42

It's always exciting when you see the same artist frequently turn up in different places. In the past few months, I've seen Diana Huey (Little Mermaid, national tour) perform with Adam Gwon and twice as a guest star with The Skivvies. She always brings something passionate and unexpected to the table. And so it was with great anticipation that I sat down to watch her solo show FIND YOUR LIGHT this evening at The Green Room 42. I'm happy to report that Ms. Huey is just as delightful carrying a show as she is as a featured player. It was a joy to get a fuller picture of this marvelous, up-and-coming performer.

Diana Huey is a dynamic singer of power tunes: power ballads, power rock, and power pop songs. The surprise though is that she is equally adept at the introspective monologue and the quirky character song. She has a wry sense of humor which is most often aimed at herself. And most importantly, Diana Huey has heart, lots and lots of heart. Most of her stories dealt with finding your own empowerment through kindness to others. She feels this duty especially when it comes to children. She had wonderful stories about the young girls who came to the stage door to meet her when she played Ariel in The Little Mermaid on tour. Her platform as an Asian woman playing a Disney princess has made her a powerful advocate for these young girls. It is a job she takes very seriously.

She is also serious about seeking out new writers and championing their work. About a third of her program consisted of new works. She began with a medley of some tunes that have figured prominently in her career so far. Songs like "Mama Who Bore Me," "Beyond My Wildest Dreams," "It Sucks to Be Me," "Harden My Heart, "Magic" and "I'd Give My Life For You. " She followed this with three songs from new works, " Outside" from Half the Sky, "I Love You, Ryan Seacrest" a great song by Nico Juber from Millenials Are Killing Musicals and "Love Me, Love Me Not," a song by Joey Contreras. She was particularly good singing Contreas' gorgeous tune.

She paid tribute to her Disney obsession with three tunes from Disney musicals "Beyond These Palace Walls" from Aladdin, "Journey to the Past" from Anastasia (Ok, honorary Disney,) and "Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid. Ms, Huey was born to sing Disney. The brightness of her placement and the slightly midwestern flavor of her diction are a perfect fit for these Menken-era tunes.

She told a story about an internet troll, who turned out to be a 4th-grade teacher, stealing some of the joy she felt at being cast as Ariel with her racist comments. It was a heartbreaking story that was punctuated with the equally heartbreaking "Pretty Funny" from Dogfight. Thankfully, Huey didn't let this woman's nastiness deter her from the path of her dreams. She illustrated this in classic Streisand fashion in a fantastic performance of "Don't Rain on My Parade." She also knocked it out of the park with Brandi Carlile's "The Joke."

She took a moment to remind us that today was the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and commemorated that with Adam Gwon's great song, "I'll Be Here. She wrapped up her concert with the title song of her show "Find Your Light." The audience wasted no time in giving her a standing ovation.

Diana Huey had some amazing support on stage. Her pianist/music director, Andrew Burgoin was awesome, and Andrew Gutauskas played about half a dozen wind instruments to perfection. The two men also morphed into her scene partners for "Beyond These Places Walls." They all gave a magnificent encore of "Defying Gravity." Diana Huey is a mass of talent who is just on the brink of great things. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.

For more information on Diana Huey, visit dianahuey.com or follow her @dianahuey on Instagram or @DianaHuey on Twitter. For more great shows at The Green Room 42, go to greenfignyc.com.

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