Hell’s Kitchen: Just say “Hells Yeah!!

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“Mayor Giuliano’s gonna clean all this up”

The Public Theater through Jan 14, 2024 The Schubert Theater, Broadway starting March 28, 2024



A last-minute cancellation and AmEx preferred seating scored me a coveted ticket to the final performance of Alicia Keys’s acclaimed new hit. Squeezed front and center between gaggles of young white women and aging patrons, I wondered if this was really her fan base or just the ones privileged enough to get tickets. 

Replete with 90s style and dance moves, this show brings it back in living color. Go for the supremely innovative new arrangements of Alicia Keys’ greatest hits and come back for more to watch the ensemble cast hip hop hooray and ho their way through her catalog, as they bust a move with the Roger Rabbit, the Kid ‘n Play and the Hammer Dance.  The young Ali, played by Alicia Keys look-alike Maleah Joi Moon, sings like a powerhouse while her mother’s jaw-dropping numbers steal the show. Shoshanna Bean as Jersey is one to watch in this hard-to-cast role as a middle-aged single white mom who can dance opposite Brandon Victor Dixon as Davis, the piano-playing Ghost Dad. Yet, this dead-beat dad’s vocal stylings on Keys’ classic, “Fallin’” are both fun for a mini parent-trap plot and so smooth that you must return to hear it again.

Is this suitable for children? I thought this would be the perfect inspirational, make your dreams come true relate-able musical biopic to which my high schoolers could relate. Single-parent drama, young love. Her mom’s comedic opening number about her bratty, love-struck daughter having seventeen on the brain was quickly eclipsed by underage sex and repeated swearing by even the adults. Go for the song, dance, and full band artfully showcased on set in stacked MTV video-style open stage wings. You can skip the teen Alicia’s inner monologue part of the libretto, but nevertheless, I can’t wait to catch it for a second and third time when it comes to Broadway.