‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: Kecia Lewis & Maleah Joi Moon. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

HELL’S KITCHEN
Music & lyrics by Alicia Keys
Book by Kristoffer Diaz
Directed by Michael Greif
Sam S. Shubert Theatre
225 West 44^th Street
https://www.hellskitchen.com/

By Scott Harrah

Loosely based on R&B superstar Alicia Keys’ real life, Hell’s Kitchen has arrived on Broadway after playing at the Public Theater downtown. The off-Broadway production received mixed reviews, but director Michael Greif has made many changes and the Broadway production is simply exhilarating and sublime, featuring some of the best songs and vocal talent on the New York stage in years. It received 13 Tony nominations, including one for Best Musical, and rightfully so.

The story focuses on Ms. Keys’ life in the 1990s, growing up in Manhattan Plaza, an affordable-housing complex that provides residences for many in the arts. Ali (beautifully portrayed by Maleah Joi Moon) is 17 when the show starts, raised by her single mom Jersey (Shoshana Bean). Her mother Jersey is protective of her daughter and doesn’t want her hanging out with the “wrong” crowd. Ali gets caught talking to Knuck (Chris Lee), a bucket drummer and part of a group that hangs out in the building. Her mother is not pleased.

Drummers in the complex practice in Manhattan Plaza’s courtyard, and Ali’s friends Tiny (Vanessa Ferguson) and Jessica (Jackie Leon) insist that she pursue Knuck. He turns her down, and shortly afterward her mother Jersey calls the police and has the group thrown out of the building. After leaving her apartment in anger, Ali visits the building’s music-practice area, the Ellington Room, and sees Miss Liza Jane (the outstanding Kecia Lewis) playing the piano. Miss Liza Jane is an older woman, wise and a piano virtuoso. She offers to teach Ali to play piano.

The plot focuses on several themes, from a single mother raising a biracial teenager daughter and struggles with the father who abandoned them long ago to racism, coming of age and grappling with grief when someone passes away. The musical showcases all of Alicia Keys’ iconic hits, from “Like You’ll Never See Me Again” and  “You Don’t Know My Name” and “Girl On Fire,” “Fallin’” to “If I Ain’t Got You,” “No One,” and “Empire State of Mind,” and many more.

The flawless performances and outstanding vocal talent are two of the best aspects of Hell’s Kitchen. Standouts include Ms. Moon as Ali. She has the spunk, sass and vulnerability required for the role. Shoshana Bean as Jersey gives a sincere and touching performance as the doting mother, and Ms. Bean’s powerful vocals are sheer heaven for listeners, particularly in the song “Pawn It All.”

The excellent Kecia Lewis is incandescent and brings down the house whenever she sings, especially at the end of the first act when she beautifully belts out “Perfect Way to Die,” a song about unjust killings of innocent people, police brutality and systemic racism. Brandon Victor Dixon’s vocals are wonderfully melodic on the song “Fallin’,” a jazzy duet with Ms. Bean that is another showstopping number.

Camille A. Brown’s choreography is inventive and wonderfully visual, especially during a new Alicia Keys song “Kaleidoscope” in which dancers twirl around Ali with beautiful kinetic energy.

Hell’s Kitchen is a quintessential New York story about how life is rough here on these mean and dirty city streets, but love from family and friends and neighbors gets us through tough times. It’s a tribute to all who have ever struggled in Manhattan, and one of the spring 2024 season’s best musicals.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published June 1, 2024
Reviewed at May 23, 2024 performance

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: Shoshana Bean & Maleah Joi Moon. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’ Maleah Joi Moon, Chris Lee & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: The cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘HELL’S KITCHEN’: Brandon Victor Dixon & cast. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

The post ‘Hell’s Kitchen’: Alicia Keys’ tribute to NY life appeared first on StageZine.

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: Lauren Ridloff & Joshua Jackson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD
Written by Mark Medoff
Directed by Kenny Leon
Studio 54
54 West 54th Street, 
(212-239-6200)
www.childrenoflessergodbroadway.com

By Scott Harrah

Mark Medoff’s 1980 drama Children of a Lesser God is still a riveting show despite being slightly dated. In a 21st century world of many technological advances and progress in the arts for the challenged (think of the American Sign Language version of Spring Awakening on Broadway by Deaf West in 2015), Mr. Medoff’s depiction of the hearing impaired now seems anachronistic. Regardless, there is still much to admire in this ambitious yet unevenly paced production.

A teacher, James Leeds (Joshua Jackson), starts working at a state school for the deaf and meets custodian Sarah Norman (Lauren Ridloff), a 26-year-old who communicates solely in American Sign Language (ASL). She’s not interested in learning to read lips and to speak to fit in with the “hearing” community, and she feels it isn’t right for teachers to force the deaf to change. Sparks fly between James and Sarah. Orin Dennis (John McGinty), a deaf man who speaks and reads lips, warns Sarah that a romance between her and James ultimately won’t work. When they become engaged, school headmaster Mr. Franklin (Anthony Edwards) tells James that marriage is not a good idea.

What makes the story so engrossing is the manner in which James and Sarah interact, and Sarah repeatedly explaining her conviction that the deaf have a say in what their role should be in society. For this revival, supertitles displaying the dialogue are projected above the stage even though James explains and interprets everything Sarah says in ASL. The purpose and effect of the supertitles is debatable as they become quite distracting at times.

Fortunately, Mr. Jackson and Ms. Ridloff give outstanding performances. Mr. Jackson has the difficult task of playing both a charming romantic character and also being an actor interpreting everything Sarah says, but he does both beautifully.

Ms. Ridloff’s portrayal of Sarah is even more demanding since she can only emote on stage through ASL, facial expressions and body language, but we always feel her power and understand how problematic her life is, and her cathartic moment in the play when she finally speaks is deeply moving.

The supporting cast members are all first rate, especially John McGinty as Orin. Mr. McGinty’s depiction of Orin’s frustration and his nonstop pleas to Sarah to be true to the deaf community ring with truth.

Kenny Leon’s scattershot direction is often cumbersome. At times, especially in Act II, the narrative seems to be all over the place. Particularly frustrating is making sense of a subplot–in which Orin wants to bring a lawsuit against the school–because the details and resolution seem unclear. The final scenes seem hurried and thrust upon the audience in an ambiguous fashion. Mr. Leon could have improved the pacing of the material and brought more focus to the ending.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published April 16, 2018
Reviewed at press performance on April 15, 2018

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD”: Joshua Jackson & Lauren Ridloff. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: John McGinty, Julee Cerda, Lauren Ridloff. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: Lauren Ridloff & Kecia Lewis. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: Lauren Ridloff & Joshua Jackson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: Joshua Jackson (left) & Lauren Ridloff (far right) in ‘Children of a Lesser God.’ Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: Lauren Ridloff & Joshua Jackson. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD’: Lauren Ridloff, Joshua Jackson & Treshelle Edmond. Photo: Matthew Murphy

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