Keisha Gilles is a Haitian American singer, actor, teaching artist, and cabaret performer in New York, N.Y. She is currently featured in Aladdin on Broadway. She is also a cast member on the hit children’s series, Ms. Rachel, and has produced many of her own plays and theater projects. IndyKids spoke with Gilles in October 2025.
IK: What sparked your interest in musical theater?
KG: I was really lucky to have had a really robust arts programming in my public school, so I was exposed to drama and music and arts at a really young age. In elementary school, the show choirs from the high school performed for us. And I was like, “I have to do that. I have to be on stage. I have to be in one of those sparkly dresses and singing and dancing at the same time.”
IK: What was it like being the child of Haitian immigrants?
KG: It was challenging at times. For the most part, the other students that I was around were all very Americanized. So bringing my cultural food to lunch was something I didn’t want to do. It wasn’t as cool to be Haitian American back then as it is now, which I’m really glad has changed. I’m glad that I am a child of immigrants. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
IK: What did it feel like when you first learned you would be on Broadway?
KG: It was unbelievable. It was a dream come true. I will never forget. I got to do Book of Mormon on Broadway. I was covering someone’s leave for a little bit, and that turned into another job with them. And it felt amazing. It felt like all my dreams were coming true.
IK: Were you ever on other Broadway shows?
KG: Right now I’m doing Aladdin on Broadway. Hopefully soon I will do another one. But the hustle really never stops. As an actor, you’re still auditioning and trying to figure out what story you want to tell next.
IK: Did you ever have stage fright?
KG: Yes, a lot of the time, especially in college when I was learning how to be an actor for real. And when I was younger, I would get really nervous. I had this habit of having to have a bottle of honey with me, because I thought, “My voice will never survive if I don’t have honey.” So I would have the honey with me and, like, guzzle it. I don’t do that anymore, because I don’t experience stage fright at that level anymore. I do have nerves, but sometimes I’m just excited, and the nerves and excitement kind of run along the same pathways in my body. But on the daily, when I’m doing Aladdin, rarely am I actually nervous, unless I have an injury I’m dealing with or my voice just doesn’t feel right—then I might get a little bit nervous. But I know what to do. I know how to handle these things. So my confidence kind of takes over, and it’s fine.
IK: Do you have any advice for kids who want to do musical theater or acting?
KG: Practice every day as much as you can and find the playfulness in it.
IK: What sparked your interest in musical theater?
KG: I was really lucky when I was growing up. I had a really robust arts programming in my public school, so I was exposed to drama and music and arts at a really young age. In elementary school, the show choirs came down from high school and performed for us. And I was like, “I have to do that. I have to be on stage. I have to be in one of those sparkly dresses and singing and dancing at the same time.”
IK: What was it like being the child of Haitian immigrants?
KG: It was challenging at times, having one culture at home and then being in a different culture in school. For the most part, the other students that I was around were all very Americanized. So bringing my cultural food to lunch was something I didn’t want to do. I didn’t really have the opportunity to share in my culture growing up. It wasn’t as cool to be Haitian American back then as it is now, which I’m really glad has changed. I’m glad that I am a child of immigrants. I wouldn’t change it for the world.
IK: Did you face any challenges while you were in college for dance and theater?
KG: Yeah, a few. I went to college during the early to mid-2000s, and body image was very specific in terms of what is seen as beautiful in pop culture. And I didn’t have that kind of body. And so, a lot of the time I was being told, “You know, maybe if you just lose a couple pounds, you’ll do better,” and things like that. And I was trying to be healthy, and I was trying to take care of myself, but that was something that definitely challenged me and brought me down, on top of the schedule.
I was a busy kid in high school. I was used to having things from 7:00 in the morning until 9:30 at night. But being in college on that same schedule and having a higher expectation of the level of work was ridiculously challenging—doing ballet twice a week and then going to an acting class and then going to some sort of script analysis academic course, and then general education courses on top of that. And then, at the end of the day, you’re going to rehearsal. It was a lot, and that was another challenge.
And then I think the last challenge was just really learning to sing and act during that time, because it wasn’t something I was super comfortable with. I was really comfortable in my dancing. And so, learning to sing and act in college, while everybody else seemed to have already had those skills and was very practiced in it already, was tough.
IK: What did it feel like when you first learned you would be on Broadway?
KG: It was unbelievable. It was a dream come true to have that phone call come in for my agent, and so having that agent come through and say, “You booked the show. You’re going to be making your Broadway debut,” it was incredible. I will never forget. I was on tour with Book of Mormon, and that tour was coming to an end soon, and so I remember being like, “Oh my gosh. Like, what am I going to do next? I have no idea. I have this great credit on my résumé.” And then my agent called me and told me, “Hey, do you want to do Book of Mormon on Broadway?” I was like, “Yes, I do.” And so, yeah, I got to do it on Broadway. I was covering someone’s leave for a little bit, and that turned into another job with Book of Mormon, as well. And it felt amazing. It felt like all my dreams coming true, and it felt like a very proud moment in my life.
IK: Were you ever on other Broadway shows?
KG: So, right now I’m doing Aladdin on Broadway, and those are my two Broadway shows that I’ve done so far. Hopefully soon I will do another one. But, you know, the hustle really never stops. As an actor, you’re still auditioning. And you’re still looking for your next gig and trying to figure out what story you want to tell next.
IK: Did you ever have stage fright?
KG: Yes, a lot of the time, especially in college when I was learning how to be an actor for real. And when I was younger, I would get really nervous. I had this habit of having to have a bottle of honey with me, because I thought, “My voice will never survive if I don’t have honey.” So I would have the honey with me and, like, guzzle it. I don’t do that anymore, because I don’t experience stage fright at that level anymore. I do have nerves, but sometimes I’m just excited, and the nerves and excitement kind of run along the same pathways in my body. But on the daily, when I’m doing Aladdin, rarely am I actually nervous, unless I have an injury I’m dealing with or my voice just doesn’t feel right—then I might get a little bit nervous. But I know what to do. I know how to handle these things. So my confidence kind of takes over, and it’s fine.
IK: How did you get on the Ms. Rachel series?
KG: Mr. Aron, who is on the show, is Ms. Rachel’s husband, and he used to be a conductor at Aladdin. So, one time, he asked me to sing some lullabies, and we recorded them, and I didn’t know what the show was really. I was like, “Oh, this sounds cute, to sing some lullabies for kids. Like, I love doing work for children.”
And then it turned into this huge thing, and it’s really exciting to be a part of it. And, like, I’m so happy that I get to do that, as well, because it really fulfills a big dream of mine, which is to do a TV show. I used to watch Blue’s Clues when I was growing up and Reading Rainbow and Wishbone, which were kids’ programming on PBS. So it makes me really happy to be able to be a part of something like that.
IK: Do you have any advice for kids who want to do musical theater or acting?
KG: Practice every day as much as you can, and make sure that practice doesn’t feel like boring or hard, hard work all the time. Sometimes it will be a little boring, and sometimes it will feel like hard work. But the main thing is that you find a playful quality to your work if you want to do musical theater. Like, sometimes I’ll be walking around the city, and I’ll observe how people walk, and maybe I’ll copy them a little—as long as they can’t see me. So don’t get yourselves in trouble! I’ll just observe the world around me, and I’ll learn so much about people.
Especially if you want to do musical theater, you have a lot of skills to work on. You’re singing, you’re dancing, you’re acting. So finding the play in it and working on it every day.
