What makes this award-winning musical a must-see in NYC
Stepping into most Broadway theaters, you're immediately whisked away to a different world far from the streets you just wandered in from. That disconnect can be jarring when you're indulging in one of the most quintessential New York experiences of taking in a musical on the Great White Way.
But that's not the case with Hell’s Kitchen. This is a show rooted in its namesake neighborhood just a couple avenues to the west and a block south. The setting is the driving force as the musical takes you along through a relatable coming-of-age story, navigating family relationships and first loves. And it's all powered by the familiarly inspiring music of beloved artist Alicia Keys, who was raised just a few blocks from Broadway.
"Growing up in New York, I walked all of these streets, all of these blocks," the 17-time Grammy winner told Sunday Today with Willie Geist. "They were unattainable to me."
Defying all the odds to become one of the best-selling artists of all time with multiple diamond, platinum, and gold records, her career has skyrocketed far beyond the place her dreams were born and fostered. It's rather fitting that this tale inspired by her personal journey earned 13 Tony Award nominations last year, solidifying its status as a modern classic on Broadway, combining all the spectacle of a grand stage show in an ode dedicated to the city that fuels its storyline.
Songs in the Key of Keys
With the trend of jukebox musicals—productions that string together a musical artist's entire body of work into a storyline that can feel forced—it's easy to assume this show is the same contrived formula, since it's tied to Keys’ name. Hell’s Kitchen may have many of those ingredients, yet it's an entirely different genre.
In fact, it's Keys herself who spent 13 years grooming, perfecting and pouring every ounce of her heart into writing this project, taking elements of her own trials and tribulations and feeding them all into a compelling account that relays the realities of growing up in what was a rough area in the 1990s, eliciting both nostalgia and empathy. The plotline for heroine Ali pulls from the superstar's life, but is not Keys' autobiographical tale.
There's no sugar-coating the head-butting between the 17-year-old Ali and her mother, that includes a moment so shocking the entire audience gasped. (No spoilers!) There's the exaltation of feeling those early flutters of her bucket-drumming crush and being so lovestruck that it's all that matters. And there's that feeling of finding your passions, even if it takes surviving tough love.
Each time a familiar tune starts, whether it's "Girl on Fire" when Ali's feeling on top of the world, "Fallin'" about her parents' rocky relationship, or "No One" celebrating the mother-daughter love between Ali and Jersey, there's a pregnant pause, as a sense of anticipation hangs in the air to see how the song will be spun. But for every one, it explodes in a way that sheds an entirely new interpretation of the famous tune, something Keys herself was behind.
"I intentionally wanted to deconstruct the expectation of what you would get from the song," she told Sunday Today of the new arrangements. She admitted that she was even surprised to stumble upon new meaning in the hit songs she had performed hundreds of times before.
On top of it, she also added a trio of new songs—"Seventeen," "The River," and "Kaleidoscope"—that enlighten and drive the story along at crucial moments, but are 100 percent Keys. And who doesn't crave a few fresh tunes from the legendary artist?
Reclaiming Broadway Standards
With its immersive setting and all-star inspiration, Hell's Kitchen is reinventing the Broadway experience, without taking any shortcuts. These days, the trend toward fast-tracking productions with no intermission at 90 minutes has made the price-per-minute of the showtime experience skyrocket.
Here, you get the prototypical theatrical length with a running time of two-hours-and-35-minutes, including intermission, giving the time and space to truly be pulled into young Ali's story, and also witness multiple all-stage numbers with jaw-dropping choreography and performances, packing in tons of value and ensuring you're getting so much bang for your Broadway bucks.
While writing the musical, Keys said that she was hyper tuned in to what an audience expects and deserves out of a Broadway experience. And she goes over and beyond to deliver in a big way. It goes back to the days of having stood in the TKTS line in Times Square for cheap seats with her mother, telling Today that she remembers seeing Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk, Rent and Miss Saigon, among others.
"One of the goals of Hell's Kitchen is to really open the door to those who have never stepped foot in a Broadway theater ever before,” she told People. "So I'm excited that when I look around—because I am in that theater often—I see so many different people in so many different walks of life."
That aim wouldn't be possible if the story wasn't dynamic and compelling enough to keep drawing in eager crowds for more than 425 performances since it opened last April becoming a staple of the newfound generation of must-see shows.
“It's incredible to see a New York story in New York City, but no matter where you're from, you'll find yourself there,” Keys said. “This story is meant to welcome you.”
Location, Location, Location
From the moment you step into the Shubert Theatre, with its entrance tucked around the corner of 44th Street in Shubert Alley, the experience draws you in deeper to the neighborhood. Technically speaking, the theater is in the Theater District on the edge of Times Square, but Hell's Kitchen starts just steps away across Eighth Avenue.
The story is inspired by Keys' formative years. Every bit of its essence is heartfelt, especially when it comes to her childhood community that means so much to her that she named this show after it.
Keys has said that she grew up a "couple avenues over, couple blocks down, a whole universe away." That feeling fills the theater immediately upon seeing the cityscape stage. There's the boldly lit outlines of the letters "HK," so reminiscent of the bright lights, big city vibe of Times Square, juxtaposed with a gritty industrial feel, showing the two sides of the area, and how they twist and turn together.
In fact, the stage itself is stacked, quite literally. The band is divided onto multiple tiers, on either side of the stage, not just elevating the energy with more dimension, but also exuding the vertical feel of the high-rises and skyscrapers that are the building blocks of New York City.
Those multiple levels also represent young Ali's journey as she navigates the ups and downs of life through the literal maze of the city streets and figuratively with teenage challenges. There's her evolving relationship with her mother, an all-encompassing romance with her crush-turned-boyfriend Knuck, and the beginnings of finding her life's purpose by stumbling upon a neighbor in the appropriately dubbed all-purpose room.
With each of those storylines, New York City serves as the throughline, culminating with the familiar music and lyrics of Keys' "Empire State of Mind." But in this context, there's an extra emotional pull, as the entire cast fills the stage singing about the place you're all in together, creating a magical moment in that concrete jungle where dreams are made, echoing through every crevice of the theater.
After all, there's no more vibrant way to dive deep into a culture than by watching it come to life through the arts.