Alicia Keys' lively, melodic musical “Hell's Kitchen'' opens tonight at Broadway's Shubert Theater, with the same major opening as its short-lived sold-out run at Off-Broadway's Public Theater, which ended in January. The show opens with the cast and creative team. Although there have been some changes in the transition, there are enough similarities to bring back the November review with new photos from the Broadway production, new videos, new information about venues, prices, and more.
Hell's Kitchen is not a musical biography of Alicia Keys, nor, despite its title, is it about the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood where she grew up. This is actually a jukebox her musical, which means it's an efficient system for distributing Alicia Keys' songs. It includes 24 of her songs (song list below), three of which were newly composed for the show.
Yes, Alicia Keys' songs are structured to tell a story based on a moment in Alicia Keys' life. At the age of 17, Ali (played by Marea Joy Moon, making an impressive professional debut) follows a boy, during which he discovers a piano. She rebels against her strict mother Jersey (Soshana Bean). But the story isn't the freshest or most distinctive of “Hell's Kitchen,” with enough details changed to turn Ali into a fictional character: Keyes' passion for the piano, like Shaw's I caught fire by the age of 6 instead of 17. Her mostly absent father was a flight attendant, not a pianist.
Indeed, Hell's Kitchen is the neighborhood where Ms. Jersey is raising Ali as a single mother in a one-bedroom apartment in bleak 1990s New York City.
“Drugs. Guns. Thugs,” Jersey says. “Mayor Giuliani is going to wipe this all out.”
“Don't worry,” Ali says to the audience. “This show isn't about him.”
But the rough-and-tumble areas of Hell's Kitchen aren't depicted much either. There are some general references to ghetto life in some of the lyrics, as well as a momentary depiction of tensions with the police. This scenic design has a '90s urban feel to it, including occasional background photos of what appear to be nearby buildings and elements that vaguely suggest a fire escape, as if commissioned for the Bloomingdale's showroom. It has a great atmosphere.
But the only vivid use of geography in the play is in the specific building where Ali (and Alicia Keys) grew up: Manhattan Plaza, a 46-story federally subsidized housing complex on West 42nd Street. .n.d. Reserved exclusively for artists of various genres.In a mesmerizing early scene, Ali guides us through the building's elevator – trumpeter number 32n.d. There are dance classes on the first floor and the Ellington Room on the 27th, where classical pianist Miss Liza Jane practices daily.
Teacher Liza, played by Kesia Lewis, is the neighbor who inspired Ali to take up piano. Brandon Victor Dixon, who plays Lewis, Bean and her father Davis, brings “Hell's Kitchen'' to life, executing Camille A. Brown's energetic, hip-hop-flavored choreography with a New York-like ensemble. These are three veteran performers who give.
Keys' new song follows musical theater conventions early in the first act. “The River” is Ali's “want” song. After describing her loneliness and the sirens that “drows out the sounds of children playing” in the distance, she says: She sings the soulful refrain.
I know there's more to life than this
'Cause something's calling me
So let's go along the river
So let's go along the river
I'll catch the wind, I can't wait to get started
So we continue along the river.
Then, in “Seventeen,” Jersey complains to his friends about his daughter, and doorman Ray (Chad Carstarphen) tries to speak up on Ali's behalf. This song reminds me a bit of “How Can I Solve Problems Like Maria?” Songs from The Sound of Music, except those that are straightforward and written in New York language.
She was sassy, kind of mean, and disgusting.
…She's 17 years old and her head isn't working at all
just 17 years old
But she acts strange…
“Kaleidoscope” is a celebratory song after Ali discovers Miss Liza Jane for the first time at the piano. She joins the ecstatically dancing ensemble as she sings:
A night like this will be in the Guinness Book of Records
I never want a night like this to end
don't wait for the end
Let's start the beginning
It's better to stay alive
More than just being alive
Here's the music video for the song (just to be clear, Keys appears in the video, but not in the musical itself):
The main purpose of most jukebox musicals is to include as many hit songs as possible, and the main challenge is adapting the hits so that the story makes sense. “Hell's Kitchen” is perhaps better than most in finding a way to arrange Keys' 21 previously recorded songs with at least some degree of coherence.
Love songs, and most of the songs on Love Is Complicated are associated with the main kind of love story between Ali and a young drummer named Nak (Chris Lee).
However, the relationship between Ali's parents, Jersey and Davis, does not actually have much depth in this fictional version, although a surprising number of episodes are devoted to it.
At one point, Jersey recalls playing “Not Even a King” on the piano with Davis in the park. And then, obviously in a flashback, we see him on the other side of the stage playing the piano. . Never mind that the lyrics glorify pre-existing relationships (even kings “…can't afford what we got”) when Brandon Victor Dixon sings, It's difficult. You haven't lived until you've heard Dixon and Bean's duet “Fallin'” Keys' signature love song.
If Dixon and Beane deliver mesmerizing interpretations of some of the Keys' catchiest melodies, Kesia Lewis is on fire with the Keys' most moving and hard-hitting song, “Perfect Way to Die.” . This song is about a woman whose son was shot and killed. No one was shot to death in Hell's Kitchen. There is no indication that Miss Liza Jane had a son who was killed.
Miss Jane sings this song after Ali enters Ellington's room and tells him that he is too angry to play the piano now. In the immediately preceding scene, the police have a (somewhat opaque) encounter with Knack, leading to his arrest, presumably at Jersey's instigation. Teacher Liza Jane lashes out at her student. She said, “Then why are you here instead of outside? You were in pain. That pain brought you here. Listen to that pain. Do something with it.” please.”
Even if the lyrics don't match the context of the scene, the emotions are deeply aligned and easy for the audience to share. The same can be said about much of “Hell's Kitchen.”
hell's kitchen
schubert theater
Running time: 2 hours and 35 minutes including intermission.
Tickets: $48 – $244 (Digital raffle and general rush: $39. Details.)
Invented by Alicia Keys. Lyrics and music by Alicia Keys.
Christopher Diaz's book.
Musical orchestration is by Tom Kitt and Adam Blackstone, music arrangement is by Keys and Blackstone, and musical direction is by Lily Lin.
Directed by Michael Greif. Choreography is Camille A. Brown.
Scenic design by Robert Brill. Costume design is by Dede Ayite. Lighting Design: Natasha Katz. Sound design by Gareth Owen. Projection design: Peter Nigrini. Hair and wig design by Mia Neal. Makeup design by Michael Clifton.
Cast: Marea Joy Moon as Ali, Shoshana Bean as Jersey, Brandon Victor Dixon as Davis, Chris Lee as Knack, Keshia Lewis as Miss Liza Jane, Chad as Ray. Carstarphen, Reed Clark, Chloe Davis, Nico DeJesus, Timothy L. Edwards, Vanessa Ferguson, David Guzman, Jakeim Hart, Jackie Leung, Rachelle Manalo, Sarah Parker, Niki Sardes , Niceli Vega, Lamont Walker II, Rema Webb
Photo: Mark J. Franklin
Song number:
Act 1
gospel
river*
Seventeen*
you don't know my name
kaleidoscope*
Gramercy Park
Not even a king
teenage love affair
I can't think (I'm Ready)
girl on fire
perfect way to die
second act
eternal author
heartburn
love looks better
I'll work on it
Authors of Forever (Reprise)
Fallen
If I Ain't Got You
pawn it all
It's like you'll never see me again
When It Is All Over
Hallelujah/Like Water
no one
empire state of mind
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