JonAvery Worrell News

As substantial as its built-in assets are, the two-time Tony Award winner, musical is lacking in other areas. Book writer Kristoffer Diaz has crafted an exciting leading character, and an even more interesting supporting player. Alas, he has also included a rather perfunctory family triangle that gums up the play’s second act

AKW Entertainment and producers of the Grammy and Tony Award-winning musical HELL’S KITCHEN have announced that tickets will go on sale for the Portland engagement that premieres at the Keller Auditorium.

Hell’s Kitchen recently closed on Broadway where it was a critical and commercial success garnering 13 Tony nomination and winning two. This touring production allows the rest of the country to experience a brief taste of New York City’s pulsing rhythms set to the music and reflections of Alicia Keys teen years in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood.

Alicia Keys’ Hell’s Kitchen at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts tells a perfectly coherent story—it’s just not a very interesting one. An overprotective mother badgers her daughter to stay safely in her apartment and away from the glitz, glamour, and danger of those pernicious New York City Streets; a father forges an emotional and artistic connection with his daughter, but is only there for her inconsistently; a young, naïve girl is looking for love in all the wrong places.

I walked in knowing only a handful of the songs, and it made no difference. Hell’s Kitchen at the Straz is driven by feeling, character, and raw honesty. The music meets you where you are.

The North American tour of Hell's Kitchen is coming to ATG San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre, Hell's Kitchen is directed by five-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, and features the music of Alicia Keys.

Inspired by the music and upbringing of Alicia Keys. Hell’s Kitchen follows Ali, a 17-year-old girl full of fire, searching for freedom, passion, and her place in the world. Along the way, we meet her dynamic family, a musical mentor who changes her life, and the neighborhood that helps her grow up.

Around the BroadwayWorld is our monthly snapshot of the biggest stories making waves across the global theatre community.

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.

Set against the grit, rhythm, and unmatched energy of 1990s New York City, Hell’s Kitchen translates Alicia Keys’ personal narrative and iconic catalog into a timeless coming-of-age story rooted in one of the city’s most well-known and misunderstood neighborhoods.

Hell's Kitchen, the Broadway musical from 17-time Grammy Award winner, Alicia Keys, will bring its North American tour to The Fabulous Fox. Hell's Kitchen is directed by five-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif.

HELL’S KITCHEN, the Alicia Keys jukebox musical now making its Chicago premiere as part of the first national tour, has a messy storyline wrapped in slick packaging. While the show is loosely based on Keys’s childhood in Manhattan, the storytelling is generic, and the songs are often awkwardly incorporated into the book. Admittedly, Kristoffer Diaz’s book is weak. It’s a flimsy vehicle for Keys’s song catalog. Huge Alicia Keys fans might enjoy hearing her biggest hits performed by musical theater actors, but the plot around them doesn’t hang together.

HELL’S KITCHEN, the 13-time Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical featuring the songs of Alicia Keys, is now playing at the James M. Nederlander Theatre in Chicago through November 30, 2025.

HELL'S KITCHEN – the hit Broadway musical from 17-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys – will play a limited one-week Atlanta engagement. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.