Read reviews of hell's kitchen On Broadway, a new musical featuring songs by Alicia Keys and loosely inspired by her life is coming to the Shubert Theatre.
Before winning 16 Grammy Awards, Alicia Keys was a 15-year-old girl who signed her first record deal and a 20-year-old woman who released her first album in 2001. A minor song His lead single “Fallin'” remains one of her most beloved songs. A new Broadway musical is appropriate. hell's kitchenKeys' songs are a showcase of young emerging talent.
In her stunning Broadway debut, 21-year-old Marea Joy Moon plays 17-year-old Ali, a young Keyes-inspired protagonist. Told through the eyes of her ant, the story of her life in the New York City neighborhood of the title is as frenetic as any real teenager's. Christopher Diaz's book attempts to juggle adulthood, family tensions, young love, racism, and over-policing. None of these themes emerge as a dominant theme, instead what emerges is Keys' incredible songwriting talent through her soulful, soaring R&B hits, and her songwriting ability from one song to the next. This is a reminder of Moon's ability to excite the audience with her songs.
While there are many themes, hell's kitchen Its power is strongest when it is a story of a mother and daughter, or rather, the story of one of the two. The drama centers on the fractious relationship between Ali and single mother Jersey (Shoshana Bean). Protective Jersey must learn not to hurt others in the name of her love for Ali, and Ali must learn to accept her mother's intense violence for her love and wisdom. During her outings with her mother, Ali develops her maternal relationship with her serious piano teacher, Miss Liza Jane (Keshia Lewis), who shares her pain, anger, and passion with Ali. Teach a mother and her how to face the world. piano.
Beane and Lewis are established Broadway talents; hell's kitchen It's a showcase for them too. Bean's second-act centerpiece, “Pawn It All,” is her best M-moment, while the more understated “Teenage Love Affair” features her younger self and Ali. It smartly shows the similarities and is equally beautiful. And Lewis takes possession of the Act I finale, delivering a harrowing rendition of “The Perfect Death,” an anti-racist lament bursting with sadness and passion. Between Moon, Bean, Lewis, and Keyes, these girls are on fire.
hell's kitchen summary
After its off-Broadway world premiere at downtown's Public Theater last fall, hell's kitchen is back home. The Shubert Theater, which currently plays Alicia Keys' musicals on Broadway, is located about a block northeast of Manhattan Plaza, the subsidized apartment building for artists where Keys grew up, and where the show takes place. It is.
hell's kitchen Ali pursues an ill-advised relationship with an older man (Nack, played by a sympathetic Chris Lee), suffers from the erratic reappearances (and re-disappearances) of her father, and witnesses discrimination against her fellow members. I'll follow you. Hell's is part of the Black community in her kitchen, and to her they are the people who bring the city to life with their music and art. Unlike Keys, who began learning piano from her early childhood, Ali awakens to her passion for the piano from an early age. hell's kitchen — and it unleashes a vision of her future.
Keys' catalog of songs includes “No One,” “Empire State of Mind,” and “If I Ain't Got You,” as well as several deep cuts and unreleased songs. hell's kitchen.
what to expect hell's kitchen
Set designer Robert Brill's gray scaffolding places “concrete” in “the concrete jungle where dreams are made.” But Dede Aite's ensemble of brightly costumed performers provides a colorful and wild “jungle.” At times, the dancers (dancing Camille A. Brown's exhilarating choreography) are not just city dwellers, but the inner feelings and fantasies of the characters, or the feelings and fantasies of Ali's diverse community, or the piano or piano. Appears as a personification of musical notes emitted from. sidewalk. Or sometimes all three at the same time.
This happens multiple times. hell's kitchen It feels like an Alicia Keys concert. Moon has a very similar vocal quality to Keys, and Beane goes into stadium headliner mode during “Pawn It All” (my performance earned her a standing ovation midway through the show).
And finally, when “Empire State of Mind” urged us to “raise one hand for the big city,” many of us did just that, dancing together in our seats until the lights dimmed. At that point, I jumped right in. Their feet again.
Viewer opinion hell's kitchen
Total from over 700 ratings hell's kitchen On and off Broadway, the show has earned a 90% approval rating on Show-Score and “Audience Raves” status on review aggregation sites.
- “Before we went into the show, I couldn't name a single Alicia Keys song. Now I'm going to download cast recordings or her songs. Most of the songs were unknown to me, so It was like watching an original musical rather than a box production.'' ” – Show-Score User Traveling Jersey Boy
- “There are some great moments, but the overall theme meandering: whether it’s about the mother-daughter dynamic, a portrait of a neighborhood, or police discrimination against young black men, a child finding his voice.” The women dominate this drama with great singing and acting, but the story could benefit from some editing.'' – Show-Score User Lauren 7090
- “There is no more powerful moment on Broadway this season than when Kesia Lewis sings 'Perfect Way to Die' on 'Hell's Kitchen.' Honestly, it's the most powerful song I've ever seen.” I think it's one of his best performances.'' David Gordon of TheaterMania via X
- “Shoshana Bean's shocking second act number is worth the price of admission.” – Show-Score user GreatAvi
Who should watch it? hell's kitchen
- mothers and daughters — hell's kitchen It depicts the relationship between a mother and daughter as both love and turmoil. (My mother, who went to see the show with me, shed her tears on three separate occasions.)
- A must-see not only for fans of Alicia Keys, but also for those who want to listen to particularly deep cuts. But even those who don't know her music inside out may enjoy discovering it as if it were written for the stage.
- New York local. The longer we've been here, the more disgusted we may become with our city, but local Ari, with all his boundless wonder as a young man who immigrated from Kansas, wonders why we came here in the first place ( Or did it stay here?), it might remind you.
Click here for details hell's kitchen on broadway
hell's kitchen It makes New York streets and Alicia Keys songs feel brand new. Powerful vocal, acting, and dance performances transform the concrete jungle into a living soundscape full of art and possibility if we choose to explore it.
Learn more and get it hell's kitchen Tickets available at New York Theater Guide. hell's kitchen I'm at the Schubert Theater.
addition hell's kitchen content
Photo courtesy of Maleah Joi Moon (center) and the cast of Broadway's “Hell's Kitchen.” (Photo courtesy of Mark J. Franklin)
