It’s going to be hard talking about, let alone reviewing, ONE IN A MILLION MUSICAL CABARET, for a lot of reasons. But chiefly of all, what Writer, Director, and Band Leader Kevin “KD” Davis presented on stage could hardly be called a finished product. Not so much in a Keith Haring Unfinished Painting
way, but just because it’s hard to even make heads or tails of the actual ONE IN A MILLION musical from the cabaret presentation alone.
The ONE IN A MILLION MUSICAL CABARET didn’t traditionally function as a musical cabaret typically does. Usually, such a presentation is a park-and-bark showcase of the libretto, and sometimes a choice sampling of scenes that would otherwise provide critical context or just show off the writer’s chops. What KD instead opted for is a jumbled grab bag of scenes, scores, monologues, and jazz interludes that give more of a general “vibe” but very little in the way of substance.
What we are presented with is also highly incongruent, and it’s very hard to grasp the connective tissue that would otherwise explain why the little red riding hood is narrating a musical about the dangers of greed, or why a veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long video of police brutality highlight reels is followed up with a few minutes of really great jazz. It’s around the time that Little Red revealed that she was actually a DACA dreamer that
I just kinda gave up on understanding what I was watching and let the vibes wash over me.
And to KD’s credit, the vibes were otherwise positive. His band, The Jazzcats, acts as the heart of the show, running jazz interludes between sections and playing out the score for samples of the musical proper. Disappointingly, they don’t do it live, relying on a backing track whenever the actors need to sing, but it’s enough to get the idea across. The Jazzcats themselves are a great listen, and I’d love to actually see what they’d do in a live musical. I can’t really wrap my head around ONE IN A MILLION MUSICAL CABARET, but when tickets for ONE IN A MILLION the musical go on sale, I’d buy that
for a dollar.
The Independent Artists movement 