Concrete Jungle Welcomes Hell’s Kitchen: A New Musical

Hell’s Kitchen is a brand new musical born from the music and mind of Alicia Keys, as she shifts her songs to be experienced in a whole new theatrical way.

With the collaborative efforts of Kristoffer Diaz, book writer, and Adam Blackstone who was the music supervisor, directed by Michael Greif and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, Hell’s Kitchen brings a wonderful and youthfully modern story to Broadway with stunning talent on all fronts to tell the story of love and art in NYC. 

Hell’s Kitchen takes very typical broadway musical theater form and convention and fills it with a very modern, lively, and upbeat story filled with earnest relationships, incredible (and I mean truly incredible) vocals and choreography. With a story inspired loosely off the life of Alicia Keys, Hell’s Kitchen uses Keys’ songs (from classics to a few Broadway originals) to explore how important it is when you are young to be surrounded by art, music, community and love. 

We follow our protagonist Ali (Maleah Joi Moon), living in artist housing in the heart of Hell’s Kitchen. Micheal Greif’s directing brilliantly marries clean and artistic directing technique with a new modern lense to allow us to witness Ali’s world- the art she sees, how she perceives the people and how her relationships inform her and guide her choices and views. The stage is layered with effective technical elements that give a sense of mirrored staging, with the band and screens interlaced visually with the actors on stage. And a shout out to the innovative projections by Peter Nigrini that again, marries our modern-techy world to our familiar theatrical Broadway stage.

Ali introduces us to her community: her friends, her current crush Knuck (Chris Lee) and his friends, the building’s residents and her mother Jersey (Shoshana Bean). Later Ali collides with one of the building’s Matriarchs: Miss Liza Jane (Kecia Lewis) and something shifts in Ali. Her world tilts and suddenly she has found yet another love in her life: music. We watch as she tries to balance life with her Mother and her exciting new loves all while living in New York City.

Jersey on the other hand makes a giant effort to protect and invest in her daughters well being as a working single mother. We see how her community differs from the one her daughter has and yearns for. Meanwhile, we watch Ali awkwardly, but with a genuine charm, flirt with Knuck and soon, she gets the guy. And on top of that, Miss Liza Jane sees Ali’s musical potential in her, noting her almost prodigy-like skills. Ali feels like she’s killing it; truly a “Girl on Fire” who, in the blink of an eye, watches as reality comes crashing down. Like Icarus, she gets too close to the sun, and this Girl on fire gets burned. After getting caught with Knuck, her mother responds to protect her daughter at all costs, and we find out that the costs are high. Ali and her mother lose begin to fight, and Jersey desperately reaches out to Ali’s absent father, Davis (Brandon Victor Dixon) as a hail mary to salvage whatever they have. But once a flakey man–always a flakey man and all the charm in the world can’t make Ali and Jersey forget that. Distracted by her troubles, Ali learns that no matter what, she will always have her music, but through her woes, she  ends up missing crucial moments. Then at her lowest, those who really love her show up. She opens back up to her mother and Ali begins her independent exploration in music. Because at the end of the day, this is a love story: a story of finding love, falling in love, losing love, and watering the love we already have.

Now this show contains some of the most talented vocalists I have ever experienced. That alone makes this musical a tony worthy nominee, but the vocal technique and skills from every single person is truly jaw-dropping. Shoshana Bean’s thrilling voice shows off effectively and consistently and in harmony with the smoothest vocals on earth by Brandon Victor Dixon; it’s a gift to the ears to listen to. Then we have Broadway Legend Kecia Lewis who exhibits truly phenomenal vocal control throughout her range along with the most beautiful tones you’ll ever hear. On top of that, she performs an emotional journey you’ll never forget. And this is all due to Maleah’s ability to connect with us as an audience with her and the story. From her unique and beautiful voice to her genuine emotional experience, Maleah is a breakout star. Everyone in this cast is. Everyone who speaks or peeps a single note is overflowing with talent. And not to mention the dancers in this show. Truly some of the best dancing I have seen on Broadway and hands down one of the best choreographic performances I have ever witnessed. Camille A. Brown truly has magic in her choreography and abilities. Her choreography was able to translate iconic songs in a whole new iteration. It felt like I was listening to these popular Alicia Keys’ songs for the first time watching her choreography. Again, truly worthy of the tony nomination.

 

With all this talent, from the Artistic team, Design team, and the performing company, it would be hard to not see this show. Hell’s Kitchen: a New Musical officially opened April 20th at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre and is nominated for several Tony Awards Including Best New Musical and Best Choreography and more.