Review: With A ONE-WOMAN SHOWCIAL at The Green Room 42 Kaisha Huguley Modernizes The Art Form of Cabaret

The calendar page on the Green Room 42 website billed the star of this show as @kaishacreates. The announcer last night introduced @kaishacreates to the stage. So this is what it's come to. This is where it's at: we are no longer referring to artists by their names. People are booking their club acts and cabaret shows by their social media handles. No. This cannot be. It's not right.

But wait.

It can be, and it is right because times change, art evolves, and we must grow, change, evolve with the times and the arts and, like it or not, there is a category of celebrity called The Reality TV star, and though there is no art required to be a star of reality television, there is a form of artistic expression to be found online, so it is possible to be a YouTube star and a TikTok star, and Kaisha S. Huguley is a viral social media star.

It is what she does, it is where she thrives, it is where she creates. She's good at it, too. @kaishacreates has 1.09K Youtube subscribers HERE, nearly 4000 Instagram followers HERE, and 20.5K TikTok followers HERE. Although the actress moved to New York five years ago with dreams of Broadway, although she has a resume with some New York and regional theater credits, her greatest artistic success has come by way of the social media, something, she explains in her show A ONE-WOMAN SHOWCIAL, that happened because of the pandemic. What started as a way to pass the time during quarantine has become her work, her art, her way of connecting to the creative outlets of the times in which we live. So, having gained so much popularity as a social media star, Ms. Huguley decided to do some real-life entertaining, in real-time, with a live audience (and streaming, of course, thank you Green Room 42 for live streaming almost every show produced). It was last night, in the middle of a freezing-cold snow day, that Kaisha stepped out onto the stage with a program that brings cabaret into the digital age.

A One-Woman Showcial was a wonderful example of how two art forms can come together as one, and how an art form that has existed (in some way or another) for centuries can be informed by the technology of today. Integrating video samples of some of her online artistry, a digital program available by way of a QR code, interactive audience polls and quizzes, and an entire script centered around her life as a social media content creator, Ms. Huguley has hit on something that is apropos to her aesthetic, of the moment, and really quite brilliant, possibly the first of its kind, and definitely something future acts should consider embracing.

The lady has an exciting personality, a strong stage presence, and a good deal of heart that remained often hidden by bravado, but that she was kind enough to get out now and then, by way of a live-stream shout-out to her Cousin Sienna, through personal conversations about her marriage and about how social media can damage the self-esteem, in confessions about her degree of nervousness and the need to present as a strong black woman, and with incredibly moving talk about the Black Lives Matter movement. In short, Kaisha Huguley has everything needed to create a good cabaret show.

Except a director.

In the digital program for the One-Woman Showcial, the credited director is Kaisha Huguley herself. Perhaps a seasoned cabaret performer could get by without an extra pair of eyes to guide them in their club act, but not a cabaret novice, and Ms. Huguley should seriously consider bringing one on board before moving forward with more cabaret outings (and she should move forward with more cabaret outings).

A director will always be a benefit to a cabaret and concert performer because they are there to serve the artist and their vision - they have no other interest than helping the artist present the best possible version of what is in their head and their heart. A director would have helped Huguley to create a show that had an organic arc, a storytelling flow, a place to start and a place to end. As it is, what Ms. Huguley presented was a clunky series of speeches that tied in to neither each other nor the music chosen to represent her story; perhaps that is why the dialogue was not in Ms. Huguley's blood or memory but was, instead, in a script on a music stand, both of which she leaned on so heavily that she spent more time looking at her pages than she did looking at the audience, something a director might have advised her would not serve her show well.

A director might have helped Kaisha to determine precisely how many minutes of her live show should be given away to the screening of TikTok videos that her audience could, rather, have watched at home. A director could have guided Ms. Huguley into a decision regarding how many times the flow of her show would stop for a commercial promoting her social media handles (the answer is twice - once, briefly, at the start of the show and once, in detail, at the end). A director would have helped to create cue lines for tech director Sheridan Glover to work off of, rather than having Ms. Huguley flick a manicured nail in his direction each time she wanted a video played, not unlike the snapping of one's fingers at a waiter. A director might have been of assistance in guiding this leading lady in the choosing of songs that fit her skill set, rather than allowing her to go on stage to perform songs for which she is not, yet, ready, an area in which Musical Director Jason Wetzel might have considered having an informal chat with his protege.

Lest anyone reading this review should think, after the above suggestions, that this writer does not have faith in nor admiration for Kaisha Hugeley, please let me be clear: given what I saw last night and what I have seen on her social media platforms, I like Kaisha Huguley - I like her a lot - and I consider her an artist. In her musical play last night I found evidence of talent, personality, humor, pathos, social consciousness, and much drive.

On her social media platforms, there is plenty of proof of her artistic vision and skills, and a strong work ethic. There is no reason why Ms. Huguley should not conquer the cabaret and concert stage with the same sheer force with which she has made herself a bonafide viral social media star. This was her first outing in the small venue performing arts arena, and there were some areas that will need improvement, but there was also reason for praise. What is needed next is just a little help from an industry professional who knows the art form as well as she knows the art of creating online content - because the price of a ticket to a cabaret show is a little heftier than a 'like' or a 'share' on a device, and for that price, audiences deserve a proper cabaret performance. And Kaisha Huguley has everything needed to give that to them. Next time.

The One-Woman Showcial band was Musical Director Jason Wetzel at the piano, Jed Feder on drums, and Danny Weller on bass.

Find great shows to see at the Green Room 42 website HERE.

THIS is the Kaisha Huguley website.

Kaisha Huguley gets a three out of five microphones rating for the continued use of a lyric sheet, tablet, or music stand for the reading of her script, though, to her credit, Ms. Huguley performed every musical number from memory.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

To post a comment, you must register and login.