Photos: Victoria Elena at Greenroom 42 'Confessions of a Professional Princess'

On March 8th Victoria Elena brought her show “Confessions of a Professional Princess” to the Greenroom 42 stage in midtown NYC.  The show was a tip of the hat and homage to combining her many professional endeavors as an artist.  First and foremost a singer and musical theater performer, Victoria began her “Princess Party” side line of work performing for children and young adults for events.  She also serves as a vocal teacher to young singers interested in the magic of Broadway – and on this night the magic of Disney.

The set list for this show was made up of some of Disney’s most iconic songs and characters.  Victoria also brought along her musically gifted husband, her charming friends, and one of her engaging young students to sing and share the spotlight.  The evening was a stage full and audience full of some of New York City’s newest and brightest performers.
 

Ms. Elena’s stand out songs included hits from Frozen, Pocahontas, & Moana among others.  After opening the show with a set of several upbeat songs that quickly define Victoria as a modern day Julie Andrews - a millennial Mary Poppins - she brought her first duet partner onstage.  Jacob Khalil has fast established himself as New York’s go to singer/songwriter/piano man on the scene (look for his new and recently released recordings and live nightclub appearances).  He is also Victoria’s husband, which brought a sweet and unassailable chemistry to their duet “That’s How You Know”.
After a few more solos Victoria brought her next guest onstage to sing “Love Is An Open Door”.  Bryan Chan is newer to the New York Cabaret/Nightclub scene and is already taking his place among the working actors in New York’s musical theater world.  Indeed he leaves soon to portray “Lun Tha” in a production of “The King & I”.  The back and forth play of the Frozen tune perfectly suited the enthusiastic energy between Victoria and Bryan and was a crowd pleaser.

Victoria displays her character range by cleverly placing her rendition of a less-than-Princessly song “Mother Knows Best” from Tangled into the set list before bringing on the youngest guest - a vocal student of Ms. Elena’s.  Sweet Miss Evelyn Cawley took the stage with the confidence of youth and launched into a show stopping rendition of “Part Of Your World”.  One could expect a pleasant soprano style from such a young girl, but Evelyn was more than capable of bringing it home with a strong belt tone.  Ms. Elena must be a fantastic teacher to have instilled such sense of calm, confidence, and musical proficiency in her young protégé. 

The show was supported musically by pianist Ben Weiss who pulled the heavy lifting of being a one man band.  Special mention must be given to sound and lights engineer Sheridan Glover who makes expert use of some of the most interesting lighting effects in the cabaret world right now.

Victoria Elena - Home (thevictoriaelena.com)

The Green Room 42 (venuetix.com)

Photos:  Kevin Alvey