Hell's Kitchen

This rousing show is not a jukebox musical but a billet-doux to New York – a loving musical tribute to the Big Apple loosely about Alicia Keys’ life and her music.

“Hell’s Kitchen”

Reviewed by Cynthia Allen 

(4/16/2024)

Maleah Joi Moon (Ali) strikes an attractive and hip pose on top of Hell’s Kitchen’s buildings in Fifteen East Media Group’s branding portrait for “Hell’s Kitchen.”  Hands stuffed in her baggie jeans pockets, with her Tommy Hilfiger FUBU (For Us, By Us) cutoff shirt, and Timberland boots (costumes by Dede Ayite), Broadway newcomer, and exciting new musical talent, Moon, is a larger-than-life character. Reminiscent of 17-year-old Alicia Keys, Ali gazes into the horizon, wide-eyed and open to what is in the future for her. A girl fearless and with attitude, Moon exemplifies the Keys’ lyrics from her hit song and the show’s finale anthem, “Empire State of Mine”:

“a pocket full of dreams, I’m gonna make it by any means,

Baby, I’m from New York!” 

This rousing show, which successfully transitioned from the Public Theater to Broadway’s Sam S. Shubert Theatre, is a not jukebox musical but a billet-doux to New York – a loving musical tribute to the Big Apple with a score by singer/songwriter Alicia Keys and a retooled book loosely about Keys’ life by playwright Kristoffer Diaz. Diaz’s revised story focuses more on Ali in a more intimate and exacting way than having Ali’s family central to the story arc, as it was formerly show-cased at the Public Theater.

Ali leans into the audience telling her story. She says she lives with an over-protected mother Jersey who thinks the neighborhood has become too dangerous. Ali wants to rebel and to find adventure. A street drummer Knuck who is many years older than her captures her attention. Ali’s mother reaches out to her absentee husband Davis, hoping that he can knock some sense in her. Ali wanders Manhattan Plaza and hears music coming from the building’s Ellington Room. The pianist and singer, Miss Liza Jane, takes Ali under her wing and inspires her. When Miss Liza Jane dies suddenly, Ali realizes her mission in life is music. The show ends more or less where it began.

Manhattan Plaza circa 1998 in Midtown Hell’s Kitchen is the setting. This apartment complex is an artists’ oasis, where artists have found inexpensive apartments -- federally subsidized housing. Manhattan Plaza and its environs are Ali’s hood where she interacts with her homegirls, Jessica (Jackie Leon) and Tiny (Vanessa Ferguson).

Michael Greif (director) is renowned for many celebrated musicals (“Dear Evan Hansen,” “Grey Gardens, and “Rent”). Grief mounts a production with an exceptionally gifted cast. He gives each of them a moment to shine.

Camille A. Brown(choreographer) is want to say that she “speaks things into existence.” Her exuberant and uplifting movement wonderfully complements the Keys’ music and story. She gives each dancer a moment to shine and be recognizable. However, they elicit what the “Big Apple” is known for in the 90s – teens making eyes at boys, drumbeating on metal cans, ladies of the night, and blue-collar workers in a hurry to get to their jobs. Brown captures the gritty nuances and constantly changing City, always in motion. Her choreography wonderfully complements the show’s aesthetics. 

Shoshana Bean (Ali’s mother Jersey) gets to belt a stand-out blues number. Brandon Victor Dixon (Ali’s father Davis) renders a duet with Ali of “If I Ain’t Got You” with his delightful tenor voice. Lamont Walker II is Knuck, Ali’s object of infatuation. Miss Liza Jane (Kecia Lewis) is a neighbor who changes Ali’s life. She helps Ali recognize the musical path that she should follow by teaching her to play the piano and giving her life advice. The most substantial number is Miss Liza Jane’s softly sung “Perfect Way to Die” with its hushed, unassuming accompaniment. 

Adam Blackstone (music supervisor) skillfully orchestrates and arranges. Robert Brill (scenic designer) has redesigned the Broadway set bringing it more towards the audience to create more intimacy. Gareth Owen (sound designer) doesn’t oversell the music and makes it too loud. Natasha Katz (lighting designer) uses a dark and edgy approach in keeping with the Hell’s Kitchen gritty era of 90s.

“Hell’s Kitchen” is an inspiring love letter to New York highlighting Alicia Keys’ becoming wise in self, developing her love of music, learning to find her own voice in singing and composing, and recognizing how New York City’s influence on her will forever be spiritually embedded within her.

Justin Peck’s extraordinary, genre-bending “Illinoise” is a fitting tribute to Sufjan Stevens’s celebrated 2005 story album, combining dance, music, and narrative in a unique, new media approach.  

“Illinoise”

Reviewed by Cynthia Allen 

(3/21/2024)

Justin Peck’s (director, choreographer, and book) extraordinary, genre-bending “Illinoise” at the Park Avenue Armory is a fitting tribute to Sufjan Stevens’s (music and lyrics) celebrated 2005 story album, combining dance, music, and narrative in a unique, new media portrait approach. Enclosed within the butterfly playbill design is a person with lamp lights, feet, and butterfly wings on either side. A butterfly design astutely encapsulates an evolution of a self – a realization of who one is. This coming-of-age approach is visually portrayed in the playbill cover design, in the program insert of the main character’s journal, and in the vocalists’ translucent, multicolor butterfly wing costumes, as well as in the music lyrics. Consistent with the play’s narrative, these butterfly images are recurring motifs that represent the privacy of cocoons and the fragility of coming out into a world fraught with challenges and emotional conflicts. 

Stevens’s innovative and celebrated album wove “Land of Lincoln” history and Illinois state iconography with Stevens’s deeply personal background. Stevens’s narrative, with help from Pulitzer-winning playwright Jackie Sibblies Drury’s book, and a rearrangement of the original song sequences finds astute ways to incorporate song lyrics and pay homage to Illinois history and makes “Illinoise” special.

Peck’s structure owes an incredible debt to Twyla Tharp’s unconventional jukebox musical Movin’ Out (2002) based on the songs of Billy Joel as well as the narrative structure of James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante’s A Chorus Line (1975). In “Illinoise,” a campfire circle serves as a stepping out into the narrative light way to convey personal stories.

Drury helped the characters grow and expand the narrative arc, giving the show form that was complementary to the type of choreography Peck wanted to experiment with in relation to his lifelong influences of theater dance, break dance, tap dance, modern, and ballet. 

Henry (a brilliant and dynamic Ricky Ubeda) is the focal point of the story. He is in a monumental transition time, where he is discovering his gender affiliation and love therein. He has always grappled with his attraction (and love) for childhood best friend Carl (Ben Cook) from his Illinois hometown. Then Henry finds a mature love in Douglas (Ahmad Simmons) in his travels to New York City which propels Henry to go through an identity crisis. 

Journeying from New York City to the Midwest, an encounter with a group of storytellers (Kara Chan, Jeanette Delgado, Christine Flores, Rachel Lockhart, Brandt Martinez, Craig Salstein, Byron Tittle, Alejandro Varga) in a cornfield settlement near his home helps him define his raison etre. Storytelling by a campfire among travelers is the framing device that Peck and Drury utilize to bridge the disparate dance compositions into a cohesive and flowing narrative. Peck primarily uses contemporary, but also cleverly incorporates facets of ballet, tap, and hip-hop. In addition, Peck puts his unique choreographic stamp on each of dance pieces. 

Shara Nova (electric guitar and vocalist), Tasha Viets-VanLear (electric guitar and vocalist), and Elijah Lyons (keyboard and vocalist), are responsible for the musical renditions of Stevens’ album that along with the dance illustrate the story. The vocalists/musicians are perched ahigh each wearing translucent, multicolored butterfly wings (costume design by Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung), on two balconies (set design by Adam Rigg), one on the right side and one on the left side.

Rachel Lockhart is one of the exceptional storytellers and dancers, particularly with her performance of “Jacksonville.” Playing both Clark (as in Superman in “The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts” and other musical numbers) and the leader of the hiking group, Robbie Fairchild, has the splashiest dance piece and executes his dances brilliantly.

Composer Timo Andres, who has worked with Sufjan Stevens before has created the effervescent new music arrangements and orchestrations. Both the masks worn in the Zombie number by celebrated designer Julian Crouch and the innovative sound design by Garth MacAleavey get special mention. Each designer is integral to the choreography.

Peck has a distinct choreography all his own. “Illinoise” allows him to create a moving and emotional je ne sais quoi that is unlike any other musical play and leaves audiences on their feet wanting more.