Alicia Keys' HELL'S KITCHEN Extends Additional 2 Weeks

The Public Theater has revealed an additional two-week extension for the world premiere musical HELL’S KITCHEN. With music and lyrics by 15-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys, book by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz, music supervision by Emmy and Grammy Award winner Adam Blackstone, choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, and direction by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, HELL’S KITCHEN begins performances with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Tuesday, October 24 and officially opens on Sunday, November 19. Originally scheduled to run through Sunday, December 10, the production has been extended twice, now running through Sunday, January 7, 2024. Tickets for the additional two weeks are on sale now.

The Public’s Joseph Papp Free Performance initiative will offer free tickets to the performance on Tuesday, October 24 through TodayTix lottery. The lottery will open for entries on Thursday, October 19 and close at 12:00 p.m. on Monday, October 23. Additionally, $40 tickets are available in multiple ways. On the day of most performances, a limited number of tickets will be available through a digital lottery provided by TodayTix and an in-person ticket lottery will be held in the lobby of The Public Theater prior to each scheduled performance. In-person lottery entry will open two and a half hours prior to each scheduled performance, with the lottery starting 30 minutes later. Student tickets may also be purchased in advance at The Public Theater Box Office with a valid student ID. 

Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys and Pulitzer Prize-finalist playwright Kristoffer Diaz bring their exhilarating coming-of-age musical HELL’S KITCHEN to The Public this fall. 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. Loosely based on Alicia Keys’ personal experiences, with choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown and direction by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, HELL’S KITCHEN is an unforgettable new show featuring both newly created music and the soulful, iconic songs of New York’s own Alicia Keys.  

The complete cast of HELL’S KITCHEN includes Shoshana Bean (Jersey), Chad Carstarphen(Ray/Ensemble), Reid Clarke (Ensemble), Chloe Davis (Ensemble), Nico DeJesus (Ensemble), Brandon Victor Dixon (Davis), Timothy L. Edwards (Ensemble), Desmond Sean Ellington(Understudy), Badia Farha (Understudy), Vanessa Ferguson (Tiny/Ensemble), David A. Guzman (Ensemble), Crystal Monee Hall (Crystal/Ensemble), Gianna Harris (Understudy), Jakeim Hart(Q/Ensemble), Chris Lee (Knuck), Jackie Leon (Jessica/Ensemble), Kecia Lewis (Miss Liza Jane), Raechelle Manalo (Ensemble), Jade Milan (Understudy), Maleah Joi Moon (Ali), Onyxx Noel (Understudy), Susan Oliveras (Understudy), Sarah Parker (Ensemble), Aaron Nicholas Patterson(Understudy), William Roberson (Understudy), Niki Saludez (Ensemble), Mariand Torres (Millie/Ensemble), Donna Vivino (Understudy), Lamont Walker II (Riq/Ensemble), and Oscar Whitney Jr. (Understudy). 

HELL’S KITCHEN features scenic design by Robert Brill, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Natasha Katz, sound design by Gareth Owen, projection design by Peter Nigrini, hair and wig design by Mia Neal, and prop management by Claire M. Kavanah. The music team of HELL’S KITCHEN includes orchestrations by Adam Blackstone and Tom Kitt, arrangements by Alicia Keysand Adam Blackstone, music consulting by Tom Kitt, music coordination by Kristy Norter, and music direction by Dominic Fallacaro. Danny Maly serves as production stage manager and Anthony Rigaglia, Tiffany N. Robinson, and Luisa Sánchez Colón as stage managers.

Following HELL’S KITCHEN, The Public Theater’s 2023-24 season at its downtown Astor Place home continues with MANAHATTA. The gripping play by Emerging Writers Group alumnus Mary Kathryn Nagle and directed by Obie Award winner Laurie Woolery returns to The Public, where Nagle first developed the epic play about a young Native American woman connecting with her ancestral Lenape homeland. 2024 kicks off with the world premiere of Tony Award winner Itamar Moses’ THE ALLY, a provocative new play directed by Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer and featuring Josh Radnor about the vanishing line between the personal and the political. Pulitzer Prize winner and writer-in-residence Suzan-Lori Parks returns with SALLY & TOM, an edgy dramedy about art, history, and politics, directed by Steve H. Broadnax III. Emerging Writers Group alumnus Ife Olujobi makes her professional stage debut with the bold, bitingly funny play JORDANS. Directed by Obie Award winner Whitney White, the world premiere play is a piercing exploration of assimilation, racial capitalism, success, and survival.

The Library at The Public serves food and drink Tuesday through Sunday, beginning at 6:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. Beginning October 24, dinner service will begin at 5:00 p.m. The Library is closed on Mondays. 

BIOS:

Alicia Keys 

(Music & Lyrics, Arrangements) is a 15-time GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician, producer, founder of Keys Soulcare, New York Times best-selling author, film/television and Broadway producer, accomplished actress, entrepreneur, and a powerful force in the world of activism. Since the release of her monumental 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor, Keys has sold over 65 million records, over 5 billion streams and built an unparalleled repertoire of hits and accomplishments. Keys has become the #1 RIAA certified Female R&B artist of the millennium with over 37 million certified track sales (US) and 20 million album sales (US). She released her eighth studio album, Keys (Originals and Unlocked)—a double album—in 2021 followed by a deluxe version in 2022 and a sold-out Alicia + Keys World Tour that celebrated the Keys and Alicia albums. She recently completed her first Latin American leg of that tour to rave reviews and ravenous audiences. Keys released her book More Myself: A Journey via Flatiron Books, which debuted and spent multiple weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. In March 2022, she released her first graphic novel titled Girl on Fire with HarperCollins. Keys released her first-ever holiday album Santa Baby in November 2022 which includes four original songs, including the single “December Back 2 June.” Keys recently completed a spectacular, 360-degree show, the Keys to the Summer Tour, which hit 22 cities across North America. Hell’s Kitchen, the original stage musical Keys diligently worked for 13 years to create, opens November 19 at The Public Theater.  

Kristoffer Diaz 

(Book) is a playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and educator. His play The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Other full-length titles include Welcome to Arroyo’s, Reggie Hoops, Things With Friends, Hercules, and The Unfortunates. His work has been produced, commissioned, and developed at The Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center, Geffen Playhouse, ACT, Center Theatre Group, The Goodman, Second Stage, Victory Gardens, and Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among many others. Awards include the Guggenheim, Jerome, Van Lier, NYFA, and Gail Merrifield Papp Fellowships; New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award; Lucille Lortel, Equity Jeff, and Obie Awards; and the Future Aesthetics Artist Regrant, among others. As a screenwriter, Diaz has developed original television pilots for HBO and FX, written for the first season of Netflix's “GLOW,” and adapted the musical Rent for FOX. Diaz teaches playwriting at New York University. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists and a member of its Board of Directors, and the current secretary of the Dramatists Guild Council. 

ADAM BLACKSTONE 

(Music Supervision, Orchestrations, Arrangements) is a multi-faceted musician, bass player, Emmy-winning music director, Grammy-winning writer, and CEO of BASSic Black Entertainment. He is the musical mastermind behind the live shows of many of today’s biggest artists, serving as the musical director for acts such as Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson, and Maroon 5. He has also served as musical director for Rihanna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show, Academy Awards, Grammy Awards, RRHOF, NBC’s “That’s My Jam,” the NBA All-Star Game, and numerous BET, VH1, and MTV specials. Blackstone sits at the helm of BASSic Black Entertainment, LLC (BBE), a music service company that specializes in live music production, connecting musicians and studio production. In 2022, Blackstone released his debut album Legacy, which reached #1 on multiple charts. Lead single “‘Round Midnight” featuring Jazmine Sullivan received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional R&B Performance and was selected in President Barack Obama’s favorite songs of 2022 playlist. 

Camille A. Brown 

(Choreography). Three-time Tony Award-nominated director and choreographer is the first Black woman in 67 years to direct and choreograph on Broadway with for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf in 2022. The production garnered seven Tony Award nominations including two nominations for Brown as director and choreographer. She is the 2023 winner of the Broadway Black award for Best Direction/Broadway (for colored girls...). Other Broadway: Choir Boy (Tony nomination, Choreography) and Once on This Island (Drama Desk nomination, Choreography). Off-Broadway choreography credits include Toni Stone (Roundabout Theatre, A.C.T.), Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet (Shakespeare in the Park), Bella (Playwrights Horizons; AUDELCO Award, Choreography), and Fortress of Solitude (The Public; Lucille Lortel Award nom). At the Metropolitan Opera, Brown became the first Black director in the history of the Met Opera main stage with Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones (which she co-directed with James Robinson and also choreographed), as well as choreographed Blanchard's Champion and Porgy & Bess at the Met. Film/TV includes the Oscar-nominated Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Emmy-nominated “Jesus Christ Superstar Live” (NBC), and “Harlem” (Amazon). She is the Founder and Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and has Honorary Doctorates from The University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Drew University. She received the 2020 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Choreography. camilleabrown.org @camilleabrown

Michael Greif 

(Director). Notable productions on and off Broadway include: The Low Road, f-ing A, Dogeaters, Giant, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide, Romeo and Juliet, Machinal at The Public and Delacorte; Our Lady of Kibeho, A Few Stout Individuals, Landscape of the Body, Angels in America at NY’s Signature Theater; Dear Evan Hansen, Next to Normal (also Arena Stage and Broadway), A Parallelogram, Make Believe at Second Stage; Grey Gardens (also Broadway), Far From Heaven, Spatter Pattern at Playwrights Horizons; Street Scene, Therese Raquin, The Cherry Orchard at Williamstown Theater Festival; and Rent at the New York Theater Workshop and Broadway. Most recently, he, along with Schele Williams, co-directed the critically acclaimed musical adaptation of The Notebook at Chicago Shakespeare Theater.

ABOUT The Public Theater:

THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Lab, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 60 Tony Awards, 190 Obie Awards, 57 Drama Desk Awards, 61 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 62 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

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