Alicia Keys Brings Her Soundtrack to Life in Her First Musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’

Alicia Keys makes a groundbreaking debut together with her first musical manufacturing, Hell’s Kitchen. Recognized for her soulful voice and chart-topping hits, Keys is taking her artistry to new heights by making a musical expertise stuffed with authentic basic hits individuals know and unheard music written particularly for this musical. Hell’s Kitchen guarantees to showcase Keys’ distinctive storytelling and musical prowess as she weaves a fascinating narrative set within the vibrant and various backdrop of considered one of New York Metropolis’s most iconic neighborhoods. Along with her signature mix of R&B, soul and pop, her music will undoubtedly convey the characters and their tales to life, leaving audiences with a distinct musical expertise.

Hell’s Kitchen formally kicked off November 19 at New York Metropolis’s Newman Theater and can proceed to run by January 14, 2024. Keys joins EBONY for a dialog in regards to the inspiration behind Hell’s Kitchen and what individuals can anticipate from this musical together with listening to a few of her basic songs.

EBONY: You have been hands-on with this mission since 2013. What was your inspiration to create a musical? 

Alicia Keys: I bear in mind it being so clear to me on the time that it is a story that will be so good to inform. And I feel that on the time, there was truthfully—10 or 12 years in the past—there was much less variety in so some ways, notably in movie and tv, and positively in theater. I began to actually be impressed and excited to inform tales that perhaps weren’t precisely people who you at all times see. In order that began to develop in lots of alternative ways. I used to be part of the manufacturing of my first Broadway play known as Stick Fly. It was unbelievable as a result of it was a narrative a couple of Black household in Martha’s Winery, and it was simply sick the way in which it was written, it was super, and it was so good. Once more, simply this concept of tales that weren’t at all times ones that we get an opportunity to actually see. So I feel I seen how cool it will be to create a narrative that had my music as part of it however finished in a approach that was only a distinctive tackle issues. One of many issues I really like about Hell’s Kitchen a lot is we meet this woman, Ali. You meet her in her seventeenth 12 months, and also you solely see her in her seventeenth 12 months.

What songs, each authentic and unheard, can audiences anticipate listening to on this musical?

The music is considered one of my favourite components of the present, simply since you hear it in a approach you’ve got by no means heard earlier than. To be an enormous fan is to know the deep cuts and know all of the joints, or in case you did not actually know a lot however the large information, you simply get misplaced within the music, you get misplaced in a narrative. You end up inside it. There’s something that you’ll relate to, however the music itself helps the story alongside in a approach that feels very emotional, typically humorous, typically mild, typically heavy. I really like how the music is definitely surprising. You might be listening to songs, a few of which you could have by no means heard earlier than; I suppose we’d name it a musical theater tune for this piece. It was so thrilling to discover {that a} bit as a result of I do know that the songs match so nicely in there. I do know there are such a lot of individuals who actually love musical theater, it is a style they love. I wished to have the ability to put my twist on that world to have the ability to describe this one second within the mom Jersey’s expression. It is type of powerful, but it surely’s humorous and he or she’s like ironic, and all of the little issues that I would not usually put right into a tune that I might write for an album or something like that. I used to be saying there are variations of the songs that I am like, ‘Why cannot I ever carry out it like that?’ I did not on the time as a result of I suppose it was meant to be right here.

Had been there any moments the place a specific tune introduced you again to a sure reminiscence?

You do bear in mind particular emotions in regards to the songs and stuff that I feel you are so caught up within the piece, you are so caught up in Hell’s Kitchen, you are so caught up within the story, and the way in which that the e book author Kristoffer Diaz wrote this, it is actually particular. You simply actually get caught up in it. After I’m watching I am not going again to my very own recollections in a approach. I am caught proper there experiencing what they’re experiencing. There is a second between Ali and Knuck they usually’re singing “Unthinkable,” and that is positively considered one of my favourite songs for certain, however I by no means even did that tune as a duet ever earlier than with a man. I stated to myself, ‘Why would I by no means have finished that with a man?’ I do not know why … all the possibilities I bought to do it; clearly Drake rhymed on it. There wasn’t a second the place I delivered it in that approach. So I actually suppose that even your favourite songs you are gonna hear in a approach that you have not heard however they’re performed so nicely into the story. You are not taken out of it. You are simply within the zone. It’d remind you of one thing particular which you could hook up with.

What was it like for you rising up in New York Metropolis between Hell’s Kitchen and Harlem?

Rising up between Hell’s Kitchen and Harlem was simply a lot studying, a lot expertise and a lot life in several methods. I feel the attention-grabbing factor about rising up in Hell’s Kitchen was that it is precisely how the title seems like, Hell’s Kitchen: What it seemed like, what it felt like, what it smelled like, and I feel having the ability to expertise that darkness that bleakness surrounded by pimps, prostitutes, drug sellers, heroin addicts, needles on the ground. All these experiences had been one thing that formed who I used to be going to be, not solely as a woman however positively as a lady. I am by no means gonna be a girly woman and that is as a result of I grew up in Hell’s Kitchen, that is simply what it’s. I actually appreciated that perspective of life and simply understanding that and having to respect it. On the identical time, you stroll over between forty second and forty third Streets between twelfth and Eighth Avenues, after which lastly cross your approach over to Broadway, you are in the midst of a dream world the place issues are uniquely attainable. You are seeing all these theaters and all the intense lights and massive metropolis. That is what it was like rising up.

How was the expertise totally different for you with this involvement in Hell’s Kitchen in comparison with being part of the tour course of, particularly since you lately did the Keys To The Summer time Tour?

Oh my gosh, it is totally different, and it is the identical. I imply, there’s lots of issues which are the identical and so much that is totally different. I feel issues which are totally different about Broadway and theater is that it’s totally streamlined. There are such a lot of unions, and there are very clear strains: you may rehearse with this period of time, and you’ve got these quantities of breaks. It’s extremely structured and collectively. Music, it is simply not and was actually distinctive. I bear in mind the primary time after we had been doing a bunch of rehearsals, they needed to do these Max obligatory breaks. I used to be like, what do you imply a break? What are we doing; we’re in the midst of work and there are not any breaks. I feel the way in which that theater is structured is de facto nice. In that approach, it is new for me and there are lots of issues to study. I feel that in methods, it is related. As a performer, I perceive what these artists are experiencing, I perceive that there is a lot happening for them. I perceive that there are alternative ways to actually situation the voice and to be good to your physique and your voice that can assist you have got longevity. In these methods, I perceive with reference to constructing the set, designing it after which ensuring that it suits the vitality and the vibe.