Alicia Keys musical HELL’S KITCHEN - Opening Night Reviews

From The Public’s Facebook:

HAPPY OPENING HELL’S KITCHEN!! Congratulations to all who have helped bring this one-of-a-kind new musical to Astor Place! This ‘90s musical coming of age story driven by Alicia Keys' soulful songcraft will have you dancing in your seat! Now on stage at The Public through January 14th! Learn more about our $40 in-person and online lotteries at thepublic.nyc/HKlottery!

HELL’S KITCHEN
Music & Lyrics By Alicia Keys
Book By Kristoffer Diaz
Music Supervision By Adam Blackstone
Choreography By Camille A. Brown
Directed By Michael Greif

Featuring: Shoshana Bean, Chad Carstarphen, Reid Clarke, Chloe Davis, Nico Dejesus, Brandon Victor Dixon, Timothy L. Edwards, Desmond Sean Ellington, Badia Farha, Vanessa Ferguson, David Guzman, Crystal Monee Hall, Gianna Harris, Jakeim Hart, Chris Lee, Jackie Leon, Kecia Lewis, Raechelle Manalo, Jade Milan, Maleah Joi Moon, Onyxx Noel, Susan Oliveras, Sarah Parker, Aaron Nicholas Patterson, William Roberson, Niki Saludez, Mariand Torres, Donna Vivino, Lamont Walker Ii, & Oscar Whitney Jr.

Scenic Design: Robert Brill
Costume Design: Dede Ayite
Lighting Design: Natasha Katz
Sound Design: Gareth Owen
Projection Design: Peter Nigrini
Hair And Wig Design: Mia Neal
Prop Manager: Claire M. Kavanah
Orchestrations: Adam Blackstone & Tom Kitt
Arrangements: Alicia Keys & Adam Blackstone
Music Consultant: Tom Kitt
Music Coordinator: Kristy Norter
Music Director: Dominic Fallacaro
Casting: Heidi Griffiths/Kate Murray
Production: Stage Manager Danny Maly
Line Producer: Citlali Pizarro
Company Manager: Heather Fichthorn
Production Manager: Cristina Ayón Viesca

Gotta be the Golden.

Which would mean 5 brand new musicals on Broadway all playing within a few feet of each other.

EDSOSLO858 said: "This has the Shubert”

*taps nose*

The Golden hasn't housed a musical since Avenue Q, so I'm skeptical it will end up there

Patriots is rumored to have the Golden.

I guess this has the Shubert.

Jesse Green's Review is up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/theater/hells-kitchen-review-alicia-keys.html

Gift link to the Jesse Green review here: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/theater/hells-kitchen-review-alicia-keys.html?unlocked_article_code=1._0w.a4Pr.M_cFk5ZIfuh-&smid=url-share

DramaTeach said: "Can’t read it. What’s the gist?"

Wonderful first hour, messy second act, but ultimately satisfying.

It’s basically in the same shape as Lempicka at this point.

Variety

‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Review: Alicia Keys Soundtracks a Powerhouse Cast in Vibrant Off Broadway Depiction of Teen Girlhood

https://variety.com/2023/theater/reviews/hells-kitchen-review-alicia-keys-musical-1235795883/

The Wrap

‘Hell’s Kitchen’ Off Broadway Review: Alicia Keys Celebrates a Big Apartment Complex The songwriter makes her legit stage debut with a jukebox musical about a songwriter

https://www.thewrap.com/hells-kitchen-alicia-keys-off-broadway-review-manhattan-pla/

"It’s an admirably slim, self-effacing story: an overly protective mother, after being seduced by a lover (Brandon Victor Nixon in great singing voice) is abandoned and left with a child, Ali, whom she doesn’t want to repeat Mom’s mistake. Most of the songs in “Hell’s Kitchen” are Keys standards. It’s nice to hear them sung so well — the exception being the angry “Pawn It All,” which Shoshana Bean caterwauls to such an extreme that it surpasses Leslie Rodriguez Kritzler’s parody of a caterwauling diva in the recently opened “Spamalot” revival.

“Pawn It All” and the nearly 20 other Keys songs from her many albums are not book songs. They effectively, but merely, encapsulate an emotion or a state of mind — which means the narrative, which is already slight, stops cold so characters can express what they’re feeling. Greif’s direction beefs up these moments by enlisting choreographer Camille A. Brown to overpopulate the stage with dancers who stomp, wave, thrust, swivel and perform other exercises."

The Guardian

Observer:

Review: Alicia Keys Is in a ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ State of Mind at the Public

Part juke-box musical and part feel-good empowerment fable, this musical from Alicia Keys hungers for a home on Broadway.

https://observer.com/2023/11/review-alicia-keys-is-in-a-hells-kitchen-state-of-mind-at-the-public/

"A teen rom com that morphs into artistic awakening and resolves as a sentimental tribute to mothers and New York as the city of dreams, Hell’s Kitchen has a warm and spirited book by Kristoffer Diaz that nevertheless struggles to justify its songs by the second act. Apart from a brief appearance by menacing cops and a manipulative cancer twist, the story drags out its family angst as long as it can."