“Hell’s Kitchen” opened on Broadway on April 20, 2024. Below is Aramide His Tinubu's review of the show's Off-Broadway premiere, released on November 19, 2023. Credits and copy have been updated to reflect changes due to Broadway relocation.
Hell's Kitchen, playwright Christopher Diaz's new musical with songs by Alicia Keys, begins at a dinner table. Seventeen-year-old Ali (the charming Marea Joy Moon in her professional debut) has dinner at the same time every night with her mother Jersey (Shoshana Bean) in their Hell's Kitchen apartment. This is a routine Jersey insists on protecting Ali from the dangers of 1990s New York City. But for Ali, his one-bedroom apartment on the 42nd floor feels like a cage. She longs to hang out with her friends, listen to music, and flirt with Knack (Chris Lee), an older drummer who uses the Manhattan Plaza building's courtyard as a stage.
Wearing baggy jeans, Timberland boots, a Tommy Hilfiger crop top, and gold chains, Ali speaks directly to the audience about her feelings, dreams, and aspirations. As if opening her diary, she welcomes the viewer into the beautiful and chaotic world of her teenage years. With no means to express her feelings, she gathers her courage and approaches Nack, while commenting on her growing frustration with Jersey's arrogant attitude.
It's hard to untangle the experience of being a 17-year-old girl, but under director Michael Greif's direction, “Hell's Kitchen'' does just that. Loosely based on Grammy Award winner Keys' personal experiences, the musical, currently playing on Broadway after its world premiere at the Public Theater last year, follows Ali's evolving emotions and It captures her quest for freedom. Despite her mother's rules, Ali rebels against her mother's rules and she stays out late, becomes close with Knack, and fights with Jersey at every opportunity.
Ali's estranged father, Davis (Brandon Victor Dixon), is a professional musician, so Ali only reluctantly takes piano lessons from her strict neighbor, Miss Lisa Jane (Keyshia Lewis). But soon she realized that her music might be the best way to convey her own emotions.
With the cast's overwhelmingly powerful vocals and songs written by Keys with orchestrations and arrangements by Emmy and Grammy Award winner Adam Blackstone, “Hell's Kitchen'' transcends Ali's teenage experiences. It becomes. The play also depicts Jersey's perspective as a single mother determined to let her daughter make different choices than her own. Keys' iconic music is used throughout, but Diaz and Blackstone don't scatter it haphazardly across her two acts. Instead, tracks like “You Don't Know My Name” and “Fallin” come roaring in at unexpected times and from surprising characters.
The set design is simple but captures the essence of New York. Designer Robert Brill uses black steel rectangles to represent the city's vertical structure and linear lines. Image projection is used in the background to orient the audience to a particular neighborhood or location. The minimalism of the stage and Ali's earnest narration make the audience feel part of the production rather than just a spectator.
In addition to Moon and Beane's sensational vocal range, “Hell's Kitchen” shows how tender the relationship between mother and daughter can be. It also reflects the underlying issues of 90s New York City, revealing the effects of loss, absentee fathers, and over-policing on communities of color. Because the show has a long running time of 2 hours and 30 minutes (including intermission), these themes are often portrayed at length, and can sometimes give the impression of being trite, bordering on trite. However, the absolute dynamism of the cast prevents the show from descending into pure melodrama.
Still, “Hell's Kitchen” is a typical musical. Some of the dancing can be overly elaborate, especially on gentler songs like “Hallelujah/Like Water” or sensual moments like “Unthinkable (I'm Ready).” These parts could have shined with just the singing, but the talent of the ensemble is undeniable. The stunning harmonies and fusion of pianist, guitarist, and drummer on stage make this show feel like watching a great tapestry come together.
After all, “Hell's Kitchen” is much more than a story about a young woman's first love. Ali and Nak's relationship is a central element, but as one of her homegirls points out, the presence of men is not the only important element of the story. Instead, “Hell's Kitchen” is a glorious tale that pays homage to New York, the beautiful yet heartbreaking transition between girlhood and womanhood, and the women who hold our hands through it all.
