On April 20 at the Shubert Theatre, that moment will finally arrive.
Joan Marcus
“Hell’s Kitchenis a lot about identity,” says Keys.
“This is not an autobiography,” explains Keys.
Joan Marcus
“But it does have real life experiences that influence and inspire the fictional characters.
People do tend to think that this is exactly word for word, every single beat my complete story.
It’s important to recognize that that’s not the case.
Pages from ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ script.
It actually couldn’t even go into performance.
It was about this young person coming of age.
“It’s just such a rich space, man.
Pages from ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ script.
There’s no place like it in the world.
You’re seeing creative people all over the place.
Everyone has this creative essence to them.”
“The Ellington Room was a big place that things would happen in the building,” she continues.
This room is very central to the community.
Both Diaz and Keys wanted to ground each character in the show in a specific musical language and style.
“Every character inHell’s Kitchenhas a musical inspiration,” she says.
She’s also based on a little bit of my grandmother.
That’s where all the pieces come together.”
“It’s so powerful to Alicia,” says Diaz.
“Sitting in a room watching what Alicia does at a piano, you feel all those things.
And Alicia used those words in one of our first meetings when she was talking about Nina Simone.”
“I remember the specific performance that I saw of Nina Simone.
Prior to that moment, I had never seen a Black woman so fiercely play classical music.
I wanted to play piano in a way that’d I never played it before.
I wanted to learn what I didn’t know.
I wanted to try what I never thought I could.
(5) Dance it out
In the annotations, Diaz notes “Camille A. Diaz notes that the song evolved a lot thanks to Brown and her choreography.
“The version that Alicia had recorded originally had a real different sound,” he notes.
“Camille captured that moment of waking up,” he continues.
“Camille is a one of a kind choreographer,” adds Keys.
“Her work brings so much emotion to it.
I like to think of myself as an emotional writer.
I love that the songs that I write tug at your heartstrings.
“The exciting thing was knowing that there were new songs coming all throughout the process.”
“There’s songs in the show that are existing,” explains Diaz.
The process was made easier by the fact that Keys' songs are already heavily steeped in storytelling.
“But Alicia is writing songs that already do that.
Not every pop or R&B composer is going to have songs that move dramatically already.
Most of these songs did.”
“Kaleidoscope” was specifically written forHell’s Kitchen.
“‘Kaleidoscope’ was one of those where we knew that it wanted to feel joyful and fun.
It started one way, and as we went on, we realized, ‘You know what?
We need a whole dance.’
Each time it grows and grows and grows.”
