Alicia Keys is one of the most successful artists, but she is still making dreams come true. The 43-year-old is the lead producer on ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ set to preview on Broadway on March 28th. She stopped by The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with her lead, Maleah Joi Moon, and later reflected on the journey on Instagram. “Remember where dreams begin,” she captioned the post. In the gallery was an epic throwback of Keys on Oprah, because Joi Moon’s debut on Fallon brought her back to that moment when she was there for her debut album “Songs in A Minor.”
Hell’s Kitchen is a 2.5-hour show, including intermission, from the book by Kristoffer Diaz, which is loosely based on Keys’ life. She told Fallon she considers it her “first child.” “This was 13 years ago that we started ... and now it’s coming to life.”
It’s especially special because of her mother, who she said was “the quintessential New York story.” “She grew up in Toledo, Ohio, begged her mom to come to NYU in New York, and that was when, you know, she was in college, and she really wanted to be a dancer and an actor, and she did all these things, and she brought me into the theater community, taught me about it, and showed me all of it and really enriched my life with it. And now, you know, we’re able to create this piece about my experiences growing up in New York City, in Hell’s Kitchen.” Keys said her mom gets to “live her dream through this,” adding, “It’s really unbelievable.”
The show’s synopsis is described as, “In a cramped apartment hanging off the side of Times Square, 17-year-old Ali is desperate to get her piece of the New York dream. Ali’s mother is just as determined to protect her daughter from the same mistakes she made. When Ali falls for a talented young drummer, both mother and daughter must face hard truths about race, defiance, and growing up. Ali feels trapped, until the sound of a neighbor playing piano opens the door to an unexpected friendship and a radically different future,” per Public Theater.
The lead actress making it all come to life is Joi Moon, who Keys said took years to find. She made her talk show debut on Fallon, and she looked like a star. But she almost didn’t go to the audition. “By the time that the audition for the development of ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ down at The Public Theater downtown came around, I just kind of felt like I wasn’t ready. I felt like I wasn’t big enough yet, or I wasn’t full enough to pursue something like this,” she told Fallon.
© GettyImagesAfter she was pushed by her agent, she auditioned, and Keys knew she was the one. “We all knew that she was the one. You know, it’s a long journey. It takes a very special person. You have to be able to be a killer dancer, killer singer, killer vocalist, killer actor. And she’s so phenomenal. And you have to have that New York energy. Because you can’t -- this can’t be a New York story [without that]. So, she really captures all of it, and she’s captivating. She really takes you, and you’re with her,” the “No One,” singer said.
Hell’s Kitchen officially opens on Broadway from October 24 - to January 14, 2024.
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