{"id":2438105,"date":"2026-05-30T10:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2438105"},"modified":"2026-05-30T10:25:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T10:25:22","slug":"hells-kitchen-review-alicia-keys-musical-brings-the-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/hells-kitchen-review-alicia-keys-musical-brings-the-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Hell’s Kitchen’ review: Alicia Keys’ musical brings the heat"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d the Alicia Keys musical that has landed at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in a blaze of rousing sound, deploys the R&B star\u2019s glorious treasure trove of work in the service of a semi-autobiographical version of her coming-of-age story in the Manhattan neighborhood that gives the show its title.<\/p>\n

The Hell\u2019s Kitchen of Alicia Keys\u2019 story, set in the 1990s, isn\u2019t the gang-ridden Hell\u2019s Kitchen of West Side Story, set in the 1950s. Keys grew up in Manhattan Plaza, a federally subsidized residential complex that provides affordable housing for artists. But for a teenager in rebellion from her watchful mother, the vibrant, music-filled street life comes with its share of dangers.<\/p>\n

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Kennedy Caughell as Jersey and Maya Drake as Ali in the North American Tour of Alicia Keys\u2019 \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.<\/p>\n

(Marc J. Franklin)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Ali (Maya Drake, who\u2019s making her professional debut in this North American tour production) is a 17-year-old ready to break out of the cage her mother, Jersey (Kennedy Caughell), has placed her in. Jersey, a single mom, isn\u2019t a tyrant. She just doesn\u2019t want to see her daughter make the same mistakes that she did, namely get pregnant at a young age before she\u2019s had a chance to realize her own dreams.<\/p>\n

The book by playwright Kristoffer Diaz (\u201cThe Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity\u201d) is structured around a loving but combustible mother-daughter relationship amid the creative ferment of New York. This artistic neverland is crystallized in the apartment building that has music pouring out of every floor when Ali rides the elevator.<\/p>\n

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\"Maya <\/picture>\n
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Maya Drake as Ali and the company of the North American Tour of Alicia Keys\u2019 \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.<\/p>\n

(Marc J. Franklin)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

The story isn\u2019t the strong suit of \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d which is powered by Alicia Keys\u2019 versatile catalog, which has been supplemented with original material. The hits \u2014 \u201cYou Don\u2019t Know My Name,\u201d \u201cGirl on Fire,\u201d \u201cFallin\u2019,\u201d \u201cIf I Ain\u2019t Got You,\u201d \u201cLike You\u2019ll Never See Me Again,\u201d \u201cNo One\u201d and \u201cEmpire State of Mind,\u201d among them \u2014 reverberate inside the Pantages with a thrilling exuberance. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s most impressive, however, is the way these tracks have been arranged both musically and dramatically. Jukebox musicals are notorious for shoe-horning in beloved songs without regard for storytelling integrity. \u201cMamma Mia!,\u201d which crammed in as many ABBA hits as possible, hardly even bothered to find pretext for their inclusion. The lucrative example paved the way for more than two decades of musical theater shamelessness.<\/p>\n

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\"The <\/picture>\n
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The company of the North American Tour of Alicia Keys\u2019 \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.<\/p>\n

(Marc J. Franklin)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

\u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d directed by Michael Greif, takes a more dignified approach, raiding Keys\u2019 greatest hits in a way that doesn\u2019t cause dramatic offense and better yet, adds a layer of surprise to music that is so well known. <\/p>\n

The songs are allocated in unexpected ways. Numbers that you might think belong to Ali are divided among the company. Jersey is first in line, and Caughell makes the most of her opportunities. But sharing in the bounty are Davis (Desmond Sean Ellington), Ali\u2019s mostly absent and chronically unreliable father; Knuck (Jonavery Worrell), Ali\u2019s forbidden love interest; or Miss Liza Jane (Roz White), a pianist who lives in the building and becomes Ali\u2019s formidable mentor. <\/p>\n

There are other characters who offer luminous assistance, but these are the principals in a musical tale built around Ali\u2019s central relationships. Keys\u2019 origin story is more dynamic on an atmospheric than dramatic level. A mother having difficulty with her boy-crazy teenage daughter isn\u2019t exactly breaking any ground, and Diaz avoids venturing into more turbulent territory. Ali\u2019s divided identity, stemming in part from an all-too-present white mother and all-too-missing Black father, sets up issues that are touched on but never deeply engaged. <\/p>\n

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\"Desmond <\/picture>\n
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Desmond Sean Ellington as Davis and Kennedy Caughell as Jersey and the company of the North American Tour of Alicia Keys\u2019 \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.<\/p>\n

(Marc J. Franklin)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

Miss Liza Jane spots Ali\u2019s musical gift right away and fills her with a sense of pride and responsibility in her Black heritage. But her character\u2019s role is somewhat earnestly compartmentalized. Knuck recognizes that Ali\u2019s fascination with him stems in part from the way she sees him, much as her mother does, as a \u201cthug.\u201d But their tentative affair is secondary to the complex bond between Ali and Jersey, whose troubled connection with Davis helps Ali understand why her mother is so paranoid about her romantic choices. <\/p>\n

But these concerns fall away when the performers start singing. Drake has a beautiful voice, but her Ali is slighter than that of Maleah Joi Moon, who won a Tony for her Broadway debut performance. I didn\u2019t mind that Davis sings \u201cFallin\u2019,\u201d as Ellington has a voice of luscious thunder. Worrell\u2019s Knuck more than holds his own with his duets with Ali. (In fact, I was more taken by his velvety interpretation of \u201cLike You\u2019ll Never See Me Again\u201d than Ali\u2019s more straightforwardly pretty version.) White\u2019s Miss Liza Jane takes the Pantages audience to church in her numbers. And when Caughell magnificently directs \u201cNo One\u201d to Ali, I can\u2019t imagine there\u2019s a dry eye in the house.<\/p>\n

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\"Desmond <\/picture>\n
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Desmond Sean Ellington as Davis and Maya Drake as Ali in the North American Tour of Alicia Keys\u2019 \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.<\/p>\n

(Marc J. Franklin)<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n

This tour production isn\u2019t crisp in all areas. The dancing isn\u2019t always smooth, the costumes struck me as a road show idea of New York cool, and the acting didn\u2019t do much to compensate for some of the book\u2019s less subtle moments.<\/p>\n

But the energy of the production is infectious. \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d a New York story of a wunderkind discovering her gift, helped me get over my allergy to the jukebox genre. The soaring quality of the orchestra and the delectable company of voices pay exhilarating homage to a singular artist, who seems right at home at the Pantages. <\/p>\n

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‘Hell’s Kitchen’<\/p>\n

Where:<\/b> Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles<\/p>\n

When: <\/b>7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. (Check for exceptions.) Ends June 21<\/p>\n

Tickets: <\/b>Start at $57<\/p>\n

Contact:<\/b> BroadwayInHollywood.com <\/u>or Ticketmaster.com<\/u><\/p>\n

Running time:<\/b> 2 hours, 35 minutes<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\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.latimes.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d the Alicia Keys musical that has landed at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in a blaze of rousing sound, deploys the R&B star\u2019s glorious treasure trove of work in the service of a semi-autobiographical version of her coming-of-age story in the Manhattan neighborhood that gives the show its title. The Hell\u2019s Kitchen of Alicia […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2438106,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2438105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Hells-Kitchen-review-Alicia-Keys-musical-brings-the-heat.com2F5d2Fab2Ff5a3a40b41b2bb35a3757bff.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2438105","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=2438105"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2438105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2438107,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2438105\/revisions\/2438107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2438106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2438105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2438105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2438105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}