Synopsis: Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys and Pulitzer Prize-finalist playwright Kristoffer Diaz bring their exhilarating coming-of-age musical Hell's Kitchen to The Public this fall.
In a cramped apartment hanging off the side of Times Square, 17-year-old Ali is desperate to get her piece of the New York dream. Ali’s mother is just as determined to protect her daughter from the same mistakes she made. When Ali falls for a talented young drummer, both mother and daughter must face hard truths about race, defiance, and growing up. Ali feels trapped, until the sound of a neighbor playing piano opens the door to an unexpected friendship and a radically different future.
Choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, direction by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, and book by Pulitzer Prize-finalist Kristoffer Diaz, Hell's Kitchen is an unforgettable new show loosely based on Alicia Keys’ personal experiences, featuring both newly created music and many of her soulful, iconic songs.
Artistic Statement: With Hell’s Kitchen, Alicia Keys makes a triumphant entrance into the world of theater. The story of a young woman coming of age in New York is in the great tradition of the Public’s Chorus Line and Hamilton. The support of the Edgerton Foundation enabled us to create Camille Brown’s astonishing choreography. We spent over a year in workshops that produced one of the most exciting uses of dance in the modern theater.