![]() ![]() The heart of “Hell’s Kitchen” is Kecia Lewis as Ali’s stern piano teacher Miss Liza Jane, who shatters us at the end of Act 1 with “Perfect Way To Die.”Īnd the throbbing pulse is the fierce ensemble, who are full of fire when they dance Camille A. As Davis, Brandon Victor Dixon croons “Not Even the King” with a voice that could melt Antarctica. Moon gloriously sings a new number from Keys called “Kaleidoscope.” And, while it just barely fits in contextually, Bean lets Jersey’s musician ex (and Ali’s absentee father) Davis - not to mention the rapt crowd - have it with “Pawn It All” downtown at Arthur’s Tavern on Grove Street. Instead, “Hell’s Kitchen,” directed with 1990s edge by Michael Greif, is set during a few crucial weeks of Keys’ teen years living in the title Manhattan nabe where she caught the music bug, developed a crush on an (uncomfortably older) boy and fought with her hardworking mother, here called Jersey (Shoshana Bean).Ĥ Jersey (Shoshana Bean, left) and Ali (Maleah Joi Moon) have a touch-and-go mother-daughter relationship. ![]() ![]() Keys has said in interviews that she and book writer Kristoffer Diaz did not wish to create the usual sprawling, paint-by-numbers bio-musical about her career, a la “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” or “MJ the Musical.” That’s fine - she’s only 42 after all. It’s when the singing stops that this show with its sights set on Broadway is no longer on fire. Moon’s sheer presence is a wow, and her voice is sublime, as is that of everybody in the megawatt cast of “Hell’s Kitchen.” Keys’ hit R&B songs - as well as three original compositions - soar onstage and, musically, there is no better production in New York right now. Two hours and 30 minutes, with one intermission. ![]()
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