onstagepittsburgh.com: Extraordinary voices vying for best in show and a vibrant, pulsating production touched down at the Benedum Center this week, as Hell’s Kitchen made Pittsburgh the second stop in the musical’s first national tour.
Featuring more than 20 songs from the catalog of 18-time Grammy-winner Alicia Keys (including best musical theater album), the gritty coming-of-age story, with mother-daughter dynamics front and center, is woven with autobiographical elements of Keys’ own experiences.
9 comments:
It is so cool that Hell’s Kitchen is coming to Pittsburgh. Hell's Kitchen is the first show I ever saw on Broadway when I was on a school trip with my choir. I'm not normally a fan of jukebox musicals, actually I tend to really just like them, however Hell's Kitchen was the exception to this. The music felt like it fit so well with the overall theme and tone of the show and because it was all written by a single artist it feels really cohesive which is something I really appreciate. Although I haven't seen the show in Pittsburgh when I saw it, the show's use of projection is really cool and something I hadn't seen before, especially during some of the elevator scenes. I'm not a big crier when it comes to TV or movies or shows, but Hell's Kitchen literally made me sob. I just love the show so much
Hell’s Kitchen sounds great, and I am very excited to go see it this weekend! Jukebox musicals can be very controversial. Personally, I don't understand the hate that they get. You shouldn't be going into a jukebox musical expecting the most fleshed out story ever. You should go into one expecting to have a good time, to be entertained, and to hear some familiar music. Jukebox musicals are also extremely important for our industry. They are often mass appealing, and great for the box offices. They are also ways to get people into the world of theatre. Because they are so great for people that are new to musicals, it often sparks their interest and influences them to go see more musicals and support the art. Hell’s kitchen sounds like a very interesting blend of a jukebox and biographical musical. I am really looking forward to seeing how they use a mix of Alicia Keys’ incredible music and original music to tell this story!
If I’m being honest, when I clicked on the article I thought that the Benedum was literally on fire. I was so scared at first. But after reading what it actually was about I’m not surprised it's such a hit. I think the very last part of this article saying “Hell’s Kitchen is likewise hard to pin down as a jukebox musical or a biomusical or a hybrid, or whatever” is interesting because before this I’ve only ever thought of it as a jukebox, I don't even really know what a biomusical is honestly. I am not really a fan of jukebox musicals but I have heard and read incredible reviews on Hell’s Kitchen. I am kind of a fan of Alicia Keys, I’ve listened to a bunch of the songs in this musical so maybe I would enjoy it. This story sounds really beautiful, and like all the elements came together to tell this story really well, hopefully I will be able to see it here or at some point before it closes.
When I was at NYU a long time ago, a whopping two summers ago, I saw Hells Kitchen for free (take that sunk cost fallacy), so I went in with very low expectations considering it was free and a juke box musicals, which typically are meh at best and dont have a real story behind it, with a few exceptions like MJ. It was… decent… at best. Did I want to walk out at times or fall asleep? Absolutely. Was it worse than Redwood? Nope. It found the staging interesting. It certainly reminded me of a rock concert in a story, similar to the style of alicia keys music, however, I did not find the energy high for the content they were singing. It should have been a high high energy show, it’s alicia fucking keys. HOWEVER, Kecia Lewis was AMAZING. I loved her, and I am sad I will not see her do the role in the Pittsburgh tour. She was funny as hell, and incredibly incredibly talented. She was the one reason I didn’t walk out, just to see her (and perhaps failing the course that required me to write a review on the musical).
This review was full of surprises for me. I regrettably don’t know much about “Hell’s Kitchen” and didn’t get to see it on tour in Pittsburgh, so a lot of it was new to me. First, I didn’t realize it mostly included preexisting Alicia Keys hits. As someone who isn’t a big fan of jukebox musicals, I haven’t been entirely familiar with their contents. I’d heard before that the show was “written by” Alicia Keys, but I feel like that’s a bit misleading, especially that the book was written by someone else. I do appreciate that there are original songs in the musical. I was also shocked by the sheer number of Grammys Keys has. Not that she isn’t an incredible musician, but 18 awards is a really impressive achievement! Finally, I was really shocked by the story. The 17-year-old protagonist pursuing an older man caught me off guard. In general, though, I wished I’d found the time to visit the Benedum to see “Hell’s Kitchen” before its closing tonight.
I’m very excited to see Hell’s Kitchen for the first time this weekend! Jukebox musicals can be quite hit or miss, so I’m a little bit skeptical to see how exactly Alicia Keys’ music is used to tell the story, but excited nevertheless. It will also only be my 3rd Broadway-scale musical I’ve seen on national tour, and the first one not based on the Wizard of Oz (the Wiz and Wicked being the other two). I’m also curious to see Natasha Katz’s lighting style for the first time, as her work throughout the industry has been so acclaimed for decades now, if I recall correctly tying with Jules Fisher for the record for most Tony Awards won for lighting design. Regardless, it is sure to be an interesting show, and based on the Tony Awards snippet I saw a few years ago in 2024, quite high energy in its presentation.
I unfortunately have not had the opportunity to see Hell’s Kitchen yet. I have only heard amazing things from this show and am dying to see it, so when I saw an article about the reviews, I had to read it! As a tech theater student, I was super excited to read about how the set elevated the story and really made the audience feel like they were living in a one-bedroom apartment in New York City! I have seen some of the choreography online, and reading that right at the start of the show, the choreography immediately creates the feeling of community and support around the main character, which is an amazing and beautiful thing to read about how monumental the choreography was to the story. I am very excited for when I can finally get the chance to see this show. This show is an uplifting and female empowerment show that I can not wait to experience!
Who was gonna tell me this was not a musical about a cooking TV show. Okay perhaps embarrassing to admit but as someone who very rarely puts energy into watching musicals (especially jukebox musicals) I had no clue what this was about beyond some reminiscent thought of a certain cooking show and I had just never really bothered to look further because I assumed I wouldn’t be interested… I think I would have been interested. I would love to know the meaning behind the name of the musical, I mean perhaps I’ll have to see it to know but I am always intrigued by something with a crazy title that does not seem to quite fit. In a recent English class I had, we spent an entire day talking about titles and covers of books to dissect from an artist’s lens what a cover could literally mean about a book, the opposite of what we’ve all been told to think. Given such an abstract name for a musical primarily focused on Alicia Keys, I’m incredibly curious about what gave the production its name. Also, Alicia Keys is really, so amazing and her musical skills are phenomenal, I have no doubt in my mind that this production is anything short of amazing, I just wish I knew the tale behind this name.
When I first read this title, I thought it meant that there was a literal fire that happened at the Bennedum. I was about to be shocked and frankly scared, and concerned. I was like, I was just there and there was not a fire! I mean, I wasn’t there for Hell’s Kitchen, but still. I was there, shadowing the stage management team for Pittsburgh Opera’s “La Boheme.” It was such an incredibly cool experience! I also know that Jasper was recently at the Benedum for Pittsburgh Ballet’s production of Dracula and there was not a fire happening then either. This also came at the perfect time for me to think that there was an actual fire because this past week there has been a fire in the College of Fine Arts and Wean flooded, so I was just primed to think that there was a real fire that happened.
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