Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Barn Theatre’s THE SECRET SOCIETY OF LEADING LADIES: A rousing curate-your-own-concert powered by divas in the making

• By drediman
• February 23, 2021
• No Comments

One of the benefits of in-person performance is how it demands complete engagement from attendees. Cabaret performances in particular can be intoxicatingly enticing experiences — both literally and figuratively — offering decadent escapism and plenty of immersive atmosphere. However, since the emphatic closure of virtually all performance venues (has it been almost a year?), fans of theater and cabaret have had to settle for digital approximations of the real thing, which — more often than not — pale in comparison. Personally, one of my main struggles with viewing content at home is how easily distracted I am by the unavoidable proximity of the realities of life around me, which invariably threaten the level of immersion I crave.

Enter Ryan Carter’s interactive The Secret Society of Leading Ladies, which is available for on-demand streaming through March 7 courtesy of the U.K.-based Barn Theatre. To keep us engaged in the performance at hand, this virtual cabaret ingeniously prompts viewers to choose which performers/songs they would like to see at certain junctures over the course of the showtunes-heavy concert. Although the choices you make in this curate-your-own-concert don’t affect the evening’s ultimate “outcome” (yes, there is a thin narrative stringing the songs together), the collective set list – primarily culled from peppy 21st century musicals – is diverse enough to impact the overall texture of the “nightlife experience” of one’s chosen path. My only complaint is that each run-through is comprised of only five numbers (not including an encore for the entire ensemble), all-in-all scarcely taking half an hour to polish off. Inevitably, this bite-sized helping only whets the appetite for repeated viewings.

Given the level of talent involved across the board, I’d argue that you’re likely to get most out of Secret Society if you actively seek out and view what every performer has to offer. Each young singing-actress is a musical theater diva in the making, and it’s exciting to catch these Broadway babies early on in their ascent and make the most of this opportunity. Although at times I wished there were more nuanced emotional shadings throughout – there’s a certain eagerness and broadness that permeates the entire endeavor – the aggressive, reach-for-the-rafters song stylings demand nothing less than your full attention. By grabbing you by the collar, all there’s left to do is forget about your worries and surrender to this empowered, appealing cast. Of the bunch, especially rousing are Jarnéia Richard-Noel, Claudia Kariuki, and Emma Kingston; these women exhibit an extra distinctive spark in their powerhouse vocals and stage presence that could take them a long way (they impressed, respectively, with satisfying interpretations of showstoppers from Waitress, Sister Act, and Bonnie & Clyde).

RECOMMENDED

THE SECRET SOCIETY OF LEADING LADIES
Cabaret / On-demand
Barn Theatre
30 minutes per concert
Through March 7