Alicia Keys musical HELL’S KITCHEN - Opening Night Reviews

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 3:10pm

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

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 3:16pm

Regardless of the reviews, we're going to hear about a Broadway transfer for the Spring VERY soon after a current show closes.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 3:26pm

Gotta be the Golden.

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

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 3:44pm

This has the Shubert, and I’ve heard a West End transfer yet to be announced is set for the Golden (not 100% sure on this though).

[quizking101]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 3:53pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "This has the Shubert”

*taps nose*

 

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 7:36pm

I could see this going to the Golden. Still, though, I think they should wait until next season because of the over-crowded season for musicals. I still think the Scherzinger Sunset will take the Shubert in the spring. 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 7:47pm

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

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 7:48pm

EDSOSLO858 said: "This has the Shubert, and I’ve heard a West End transfer yet to be announced is set for the Golden (not 100% sure on this though)."

Was guessing the Golden because Shark closes today. Poster above suggested imminent news once a tenant closes-- SLIH isnt closing for another six weeks. I know nothing. 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 8:03pm

Patriots is rumored to have the Golden.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 8:19pm

I don't know what house this has, but generally speaking there is NO reason why a show should wait until the existing tenant closes. Once there's a deal with the theater owner, and once the old tenant has posted its notice, it should be fair game to announce. Unless the OP meant that HK is going to a house where the current tenant hasn't posted notice.

It is sensible to hold an announcement until after the Off-Bway reviews come out, since such announcement can make a critic go in with their arms folded and a "prove it!" attitude.

 

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 8:42pm

I guess this has the Shubert.  

[JSquared2]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 8:48pm

It's great that we now have 2 threads full of people who know absolutely nothing telling us what's happening next with this show.

 

 

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:38pm

Jesse Green's Review is up.

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

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:40pm

Can’t read it. What’s the gist?

[akhoya87]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:43pm

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]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:47pm

Thank you!

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:48pm

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. 

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:52pm

NY Stage Review

Hell’s Kitchen: Alicia Keys Tries Her Hand at Theater

By Melissa Rose Bernardo

★★★☆☆ Michael Greif directs this don’t-call-it-a-jukebox-musical valentine to New York City

https://nystagereview.com/2023/11/19/hells-kitchen-alicia-keys-tries-her-hand-at-theater/

 

Hell’s Kitchen: A Musical Neighborhood Worth Visiting

By Frank Scheck

★★★★☆ Featuring old and new songs by Alicia Keys, the musical is loosely based on the performer's early life.

https://nystagereview.com/2023/11/19/hells-kitchen-a-musical-neighborhood-worth-visiting/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:53pm

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/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:54pm

NYP: 2 1/2 stars

‘Hell’s Kitchen’ review: Alicia Keys’ musical has fabulous songs, lacking story

https://nypost.com/2023/11/19/entertainment/hells-kitchen-review-alicia-keys-show-sounds-great-lacks-story/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:56pm

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."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:56pm

Slant

Hell’s Kitchen Review: Fallin’ In and Out of Love with Alicia Keys’s Jukebox Musical

There are few dramatic moments that justify the music that stems from the songs.

https://www.slantmagazine.com/theater/hells-kitchen-review-alicia-keys/

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:57pm

The Guardian

Hell’s Kitchen review – Alicia Keys jukebox musical is a marvel

The star helps craft a show-stopping semi-autobiographical off-Broadway musical that brings the house down

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2023/nov/19/hells-kitchen-alicia-keys-musical-review

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 9:59pm

NY Stage Review:

2 stars

https://www.newyorktheatreguide.com/reviews/hells-kitchen-off-broadway-review-alicia-keys

"This is partly because show speeds through its packed score (of more than 20 musical numbers), as if the performers are waiting to get to the next movement, scene, and song. What were once tender meditations on particular moments or feelings now feel like gears to be oiled and to move the show, if not the story or the emotions, along. The show might be better suited as a song cycle, giving the impressive vocalists room to just jam to Keys’s pulsating and genre-fluid compositions."

[MemorableUserName]

Posted: 11/19/23 at 10:02pm

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."