News
What Kiley’s been up to…
Heartbreak Hotel
Elvis is in the building! Kiley is currently having a blast playing Priscilla Presley in Heartbreak Hotel. Experience your favorite Elvis hits at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia!
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Kiley was thrilled to make her professional theatre debut as “Bex” in Iron Crow Theatre’s production of “Everybody’s Talking About Jamie!”
“…There’s a reason everybody’s talking about Jamie…this is why we need this company in this city right now. The entire company has talent to burn and burn up the stage they certainly do.”
— Bmore Art
Cabaret (Round 2!)
Kiley starred as Sally Bowles in Phoenix Festival Theatre’s production of Cabaret, directed by Bambi Johnson!
“Unhinged, off-the-charts, larger-than-life, erratic, wild, the thesaurus pages are wearing thin trying to find ways to accurately describe what Kiley Ernest has manifested in her portrayal of Sally Bowles. Again, following the luminous path of Bambi Johnson’s “Not-your-grandma’s-Cabaret,” Ernest doesn’t take Sally down a rabbit hole, she plunges her from the top of the Empire State Building straight down the Marina Trench at warp speed. And her overly heightened ‘English’ accent is perfectly aligned with this larger-than-life caricature of Sally Bowles. You get the sassy, saucy, insane (check the cocaine-use moments because Johnson & Ernest don’t shy away from those moments either) confidence that floods through “Don’t Tell Mama” and “Mein Herr”, with belting brash vocals to back up all of that chutzpah. But what’s truly striking— gob-smackingly unexpected— is “Maybe This Time” and it’s not just because of the insanely genius staging with the mirror. The way Ernest lets go in this number— it’s not the pitiable Liza-Minelli-ballad we’ve all heard a million times. It’s something else, a seeping desperation that creeps out from the darkest reaches of Ernest’s soul; it’s phenomenal. And I can’t even get into that whacked-out, strung-out, maniacal trainwreck performance (and I say trainwreck to encapsulate the magnitude of how shocking and truly unhinged it is, so ‘best use possible’ of the word, if you will) of “Cabaret”, where Ernest’s vocal and emotional intensity is so bombastic she actually shocks and scares some of the Kit Kat Girls who are just watching helpless from the tables. Kiley Ernest is a perfectly marvelous fit for the role and it is unlike any Sally Bowles you’ve ever seen.” -
-TheatreBloom Review, June 2023
Kander and Ebb’s Cabaret
WATCH CABARET FOOTAGE HERE
Kiley starred as Sally Bowles in Rider University’s spring production of Cabaret, directed by Broadway’s T. Oliver Reid, choreographed by Nathan Peck, and musically directed by Andy Hudson.
Senior Showcase
Kiley graduated in May of 2022 from Rider University with her BFA in Musical Theatre, and a minor in Arts and Entertainment Industries Management. Kiley is featured in the class of 2022’s virtual senior showcase, directed by Robin Lewis and Louis Goldberg. Check it out!!
Chasing Grace
Kiley was grateful to be a part of the virtual production of the new musical, Chasing Grace. Written by Elizabeth Addison, directed by DeMone Seraphin, and music directed by Nicholas Place.
“The show is an unforgettable celebration of women finding and owning their power through struggle, joy, heartbreak, and laughter, set in a women’s residential treatment facility. This new musical written by IRNE nominee Elizabeth Addison will take you on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Come experience soul with a touch of reggae, musical theater, hip hop, and rock and roll like never before!”
ISM
Kiley sang her favorite song, “Liability” by Lorde in this exciting production! Directed by John Tedeschi, this devised cabaret addressed the habitudes, ideologies, and situations that we as individuals must endure and change as one and as a whole: Sexism, Racism, Suicide, Mental Health and many other themes were explored through monologue and song.
JRB Cabaret
Kiley sang “The Flagmaker, 1775” in Rider’s student produced production, celebrating the work of Jason Robert Brown.
Working
Kiley was thrilled to understudy Woman 3 as a part of Rider University’s production of the 2012 Revised Version of Working: The Musical. Directed by T. Oliver Reid, musically directed by Andy Hudson, and presented as a virtual production.