CLEVELAND, Ohio — For most recording artists, a greatest hits set is a capstone. For Alicia Keys, it was a starting point.<\/p>\n
In \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d the Tony-winning musical inspired by her teenage years, the 17-time Grammy winner doesn\u2019t just stitch together her best-known songs. She pulls them apart, finding new emotion and meaning in lyrics she\u2019s been singing for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was really a beautiful experience,\u201d Keys said in a recent interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer<\/a>. \u201cAs many times as I sang \u2018No One\u2019 all across the globe, I never thought of it as being a love song between a mother and a daughter. It even hit me<\/i> differently.\u201d<\/p>\n In the show, which launched its national tour this month at Playhouse Square and runs through Nov. 1, \u201cNo One\u201d serves as the story\u2019s emotional resolution \u2014 a reconciliation between Ali (Maya Drake), the headstrong 17-year-old at its center, and her protective mother, Jersey (Kennedy Caughell). The moment reframes one of Keys\u2019 biggest hits as a song about unconditional love rather than romance.<\/p>\n That kind of reinvention didn\u2019t happen overnight. Hell\u2019s Kitchen took 13 years to develop, giving Keys, along with book writer Kristoffer Diaz and director Michael Greif, time to explore how each song could serve the story. \u201cWe really dissected it and made it the best it could possibly be,\u201d she said. \u201cThe way the songs are woven in, it really propels the story forward \u2014 it\u2019s not just insert song (here).\u201d<\/p>\n Keys began to hear her catalog in a new light. \u201cUn-thinkable (I\u2019m Ready),\u201d for instance, became a tender duet between Ali and her love interest, Knuck (JonAvery Worrell).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the most beautiful thing,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m like, \u2018How did I miss that? How did I never sing that as a duet?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Even \u201cFallin\u2019,\u201d the Grammy-winning breakout that introduced her to the world, gets a fresh twist \u2014 turned into a playful, jazz-infused number performed by Ali\u2019s absent father Davis (Desmond Sean Ellington) to Jersey.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s possibly one of my favorite moments in the show,\u201d Keys said. \u201cHe sings it in a way that you\u2019ve absolutely never heard before.\u201d <\/p>\n And when Ali seemingly blows up her relationship with her mother after a series of questionable decisions, \u201cGirl on Fire\u201d takes on a different kind of power \u2014 performed not by Ali, but by her best friends Tiny (Gigi Lewis) and Jessica (Marley Soleil), who add some hip-hop flair. It\u2019s still an empowerment anthem, but one seen through the eyes of the people who care about her most.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an interesting creative choice \u2014 and one of the show\u2019s most surprising strengths. Some of Keys\u2019 most famous songs aren\u2019t sung by her onstage counterpart at all. By giving \u201cFallin\u2019\u201d and \u201cGirl on Fire\u201d to other characters, she lets the music speak from new perspectives, expanding her own voice through theirs. <\/p>\n For Keys, that\u2019s the magic of \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cPeople leave the show saying, \u2018I\u2019ve never heard the music like that,\u2019\u201d she said. \u201cIt feels totally new \u2014 and I know that\u2019s true because even I feel that same way.\u201d<\/p>\n The show also let Keys stretch into new territory. She wrote three original songs for \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d including \u201cSeventeen,\u201d which she calls her \u201cfirst musical-theater song,\u201d and the joyful, African-influenced \u201cKaleidoscope.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI love that number,\u201d said Drake. \u201cIt\u2019s just such a cool moment with everybody on stage in their costumes and the lighting, the music and the beat. I think it will definitely be one of the audience\u2019s faves for sure, too.\u201d<\/p>\n The result is a show<\/a> that reminds you why Keys\u2019 music endures \u2014 soulful, sincere and alive with possibility. It\u2019s a coming-of-age story, not necessarily about the making of a pop star, but about finding yourself and the people who lift you up.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you step into that theater, your jaw is gonna hit the floor,\u201d she said. \u201cThis is the perfect opportunity to bring all of your loved ones and really enjoy a night together.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d is playing at the KeyBank State Theatre, 1519 Euclid Ave., Cleveland, through Nov. 1. Tickets, $35-$150, are available at <\/i>playhousesquare.org<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.cleveland.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" CLEVELAND, Ohio — For most recording artists, a greatest hits set is a capstone. For Alicia Keys, it was a starting point. In \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d the Tony-winning musical inspired by her teenage years, the 17-time Grammy winner doesn\u2019t just stitch together her best-known songs. She pulls them apart, finding new emotion and meaning in lyrics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[357657],"class_list":["post-2106962","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","tag-tonys"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2106962"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106962\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2106963,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2106962\/revisions\/2106963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2106962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2106962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2106962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Hell's](\"https:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/resizer\/v2\/63XHYPT2MRBD3OR6KFYFQHBLHY.jpg?auth=00c3d11dbca329fa437be9dd3e2cf63605ab2b32d26766364cc7bba260607ffe&width=1280&smart=true&quality=90\"\/)
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