Interview: JonAvery Worrell, Knuck in HELL'S KITCHEN at The Fox Theatre

The first national tour of the Tony and Grammy Award winning HELL’S KITCHEN, the hit Broadway musical from Alicia Keys, is set to ignite Atlanta’s Fox Theatre from January 6–11 as part of the 2025/2026 Regions Bank Broadway in Atlanta season. To celebrate this electrifying new musical, I caught up with JonAvery Worrell, who stars as Knuck, to talk about his journey from Georgia to the stage, the heart of HELL’S KITCHEN, and what it means to perform for his hometown crowd.

BWW: JonAvery, thanks so much for taking time to speak with me. I’m excited to hear more about you, HELL’S KITCHEN, and its Atlanta run at The Fox!

JonAvery Worrell: Absolutely.

To start, I’d love to hear a little bit more about your journey into the world of theater.

Absolutely. Well, my journey definitely came in bursts. My parents came down from New York to Georgia when I was really little. I spent a lot of time trying to find my thing. My mom would tell you when I was a kid, I wanted to be a paleontologist of all things. I was homeschooled growing up, so it was a lot of isolated time. My mom wanted something for me to feel connected, to feel like I had something. So, I jumped into performing arts when I was about eight. I started training at AGI Entertainment, a triple-threat performing arts school. I trained there for my entire adolescent and young adult life. I spent a lot of years just working, praying, hoping, auditioning, and traveling.

You grew up here in Atlanta, right? What parts?

I grew up in a couple different parts. When I was younger, my family moved around a little bit. We started in Covington, GA. I remember driving hours at a time just to go to performing arts class. AGI used to have these six-week intensives, two-week intensives in the winter, where at the end we’d perform in front of agents and casting directors. I did it every year, hoping and praying I’d get signed, hoping I’d get an agent. Then we moved to Fayetteville because my parents were doing a lot to make ends meet and keep me and my little sister engaged.

Your family sounds like they’ve been a big part of your journey.

Absolutely. I really wanted to do this and be successful so I could give back to my parents for all the nights with no water, no lights, no heat. My parents were just doing the best they could. My mother ended up becoming a pastor later in life. She used to be an army nurse, then became a pastor. We moved to Fayetteville to be close to the church she preached at. Moving to Fayetteville and going to church in College Park was where I got my first real exposure to an audience. I used to do church Christmas plays, and that was the highlight of my year.

How did you make the leap from those early years to this current experience?

Funny enough, just with a lot of persistence and prayer. I spent a lot of years being very doubtful that I’d ever amount to this professionally. There were so many instances—flying out to LA, auditioning all the time, thinking “this is the one.” I remember being in L.A. at 19, doing a chemistry read, being told I’d get a screen test, and then the information just never came. I remember sitting there crying for hours, wondering “why not me?” It’s a lot more rejection than acceptance. My theatre experience really kicked off over the last couple years. I’m relatively new to theatre compared to some. My first theatre show was a regional production of IN THE HEIGHTS at Marietta’s Theatre in the Square. I was an ensemble track dancer, which was a beautiful experience. That was when I first caught the theater bug. After doing IN THE HEIGHTS and then THE WIZ, I really found that communal aspect, that cast family.

Sounds like uou’ve had some great mentors and friends along the way?

Absolutely. A really good friend of mine, Elario Grant, is actually the principal MJ in MJ: THE MUSICAL in Australia now. We were in an R&B music group together for about five to six years called AFTEROURS. That introduced us to taking theatre seriously. When he booked MJ, I flew to New York and auditioned for the show as well. Seeing him on stage living the dream we talked about for six years was incredible. We’ve been on this journey together for a long time—working the same jobs, sharing sandwiches, sharing dollars, sleeping in the same car sometimes. Finally seeing him on stage made it feel so real and achievable.

Let’s talk about HELL’S KITCHEN and especially coming here to Atlanta. Are you looking forward to being on stage at The Fox?

I don’t think you understand the amount of excitement I have coming home to be on stage at The Fox. I am literally over the moon to come home. A couple years ago, I was a backup dancer for someone else at The Fox. So, to go from backup dancer to principal in a Broadway First National Tour—I could not express to you the level of full circle moment. This is the first time my parents will get to see me in this capacity, along with my community, and my church family. There are so many people texting my parents and me, saying “we’re coming to the show, we’re so proud of you.” I teach acting now at the same studio I grew up in, and some of my students are coming. It’s such a full circle moment.

For readers who may not know much about HELL’S KITCHEN, how would you describe the story?

I would describe HELL’S KITCHEN as a coming-of-age story. We follow a young lady trying to make sense of life—falling in love for the first time, living in Hell’s Kitchen, New York. There’s a lot of independence in Ali, the lead, and the show mirrors that young adult experience that sometimes leads to hard lessons. She falls in love for the first time, maybe not with the right guy, searches for her father, navigates big concepts like police brutality, single parenthood, working several jobs to make ends meet. As much as it has weight and heaviness, it’s a beautiful reminder of the experiences we go through to find ourselves. It’s literally watching a girl for two and a half hours find herself. When she meets Miss Eliza Jane, her first real mentor, it’s that classic tough love. Ali has attitude! Miss Liza Jane gives her a very different vantage point than her mother, Jersey. Our cast is so diverse, so colorful, so rainbow-coded. It’s a beautiful experience—an amalgamation of people, characters, backgrounds, colors, with some of the most beautiful voices you’ve ever heard.

Tell us about your character, Knuck. What’s he like, and what’s it like playing him?

Knuck is very akin to myself in a lot of ways. It’s a luxury to find a character that lives so closely to your own heart. Knuck is a man who’s been through experiences that have caused him to become very jaded to people and to life. Everything about his journey is about self-preservation, which I relate to due to my own personal experiences. The love story he has with Ali is fearful and turbulent for him. Falling in love means putting yourself at risk, at the mercy of someone else. Over the course of the show, we watch him go from a completely introverted young man to someone who learns how to be vulnerable and allow someone in for the first time. Especially as young men, and as a young Black man, a lot of the concepts Kuck walks through in the show, direct confrontation with the police, walking around every day with a level of fear and cautiousness, are very real realities. I get the luxury of expressing how real these experiences can be for young Black men or young men in general.

Is there any particular inspiration you draw from for your portrayal, outside of your own experience?

It’s a collection of things. Part of my performance is drawn from the experiences I’ve heard from my father, who grew up in Brooklyn, NY, literally surviving, working any job he could, eating noodles and mac and cheese for weeks, putting himself through school with no support but himself. I’ve had my own personal experience being a young man trying to make something of himself. I’ve spent a lot of time studying the beautiful work of Phil [Phillip Johnson Richardson] (the previous Broadway Knuck) and Chris [Lee]. They’ve laid such an incredible groundwork for what that looks and sounds like on stage.

You’re following in some big shoes!

Oh my, if I’m a size 11, the shoe is about a size 26—a real Shaq-size shoe out here.

Is there anything in particular that you look forward to the most before you go out on stage each night?

There are two moments. The thing that brings me the most excitement is “The Gospel,” the opening number. It literally feels like home—even if you’re not from New York. It’s an explosion of family, community, and love for eight minutes. There are so many nuanced moments unique to our touring company. “Un-Thinkable” makes me the most vulnerable every show. Every time I do that scene with Maya, our Ali, I glow. These people are so amazing. That “Un-Thinkable” scene is the first time Knuck is vulnerable, to say “I’m guarded, I’m jaded, I’m afraid, but I’m here.” That’s exactly what my experience was like the first time I fell in love. And then there’s a dance number called “Work On It”—my favorite song in the show. It’s chaotic, grungy, free, and fun. Our ensemble does that dance, and when you see it at The Fox, I promise it’ll make you smile even though the context is heavy. The dancing is what does it for me every time.

As a young performer yourself, what advice do you have for others looking to get into this world?

If I had any advice for a young performer, I’d say—find something else you love that has nothing to do with what you do. Something that brings you joy that you can focus on. If all you have is what you do, you’ll begin to identify your significance and self-worth with the acceptance or rejection of an audition. That can be a demoralizing journey. Find something that always lifts your spirit, no matter the result. Secondly, prepare like you know you’re going to get the job, and have the grace to say, whether I get it or not, I’m OK. What’s for you is for you. If you prepare like the job is yours and give yourself grace, it’s a much freer, more enjoyable journey.

So, what is the thing that brings you joy that you focus on besides performing?

It’s a couple things. My family is one. My family has been a sounding board for me my entire career—there through the hard, low nights, and through every audition. My mom is a super fan—she thinks I’ll book every I audition for. My little sister is the best reader ever; every job I’ve booked, I taped with her. My family brings me joy. My getaway is reading and video games. Video games are a form of escapism, and reading is just another extension of that.

HELL’S KITCHEN plays at the Fox Theatre Tuesday, January 6th through Sunday, January 11th as part of the 2025/2026 Regions Bank Broadway in Atlanta season. Tickets are available at the Fox Theatre box office at 660 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30308 and by visiting https://www.foxtheatre.org/events/detail/hells-kitchen or by calling (855) 285-8499. Group orders of 10 or more may be placed by contacting sales@foxtheatre.org. Performances are Tuesday January 6th through Thursday, January 8th at 7:30 PM, Friday, January 9th at 8PM, Saturday, January 10th at 2PM and 8PM, and Sunday, January 11th at 1:00PM and 6:30PM.

Lead Photo: Maya Drake as Ali in the North American Tour of HELL’S KITCHEN, the hit Broadway musical from Alicia Keys. Photo by Marc J Franklin

Top Photo: JonAvery Worrell

Mid Photo 1: Kennedy Caughell as Jersey and Maya Drake as Ali in the North American Tour of HELL’S KITCHEN, the hit Broadway musical from Alicia Keys. Photo by Marc J Franklin