This Show Is On Fire: Hell's Kitchen Burns Bright at the Broward Center

By Joanie Cox Henry

Photo by Mark J. Franklin

There's no use trying to resist. You'll find yourself fallin' in love with Hell's Kitchen. Alicia Keys' magnificent musical is now playing through March 22 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

Hell's Kitchen is less a concert in costume and more a fully realized coming-of-age story set to one of the most iconic songbooks of the last two decades. Keys' catalog "Fallin'," "If I Ain't Got You," "Girl on Fire," "No One," "Empire State of Mind," arrives as the emotional architecture of a young woman's story. The songs don't interrupt the narrative. They are the narrative.

The show follows Ali, a free-spirited Tommy Hilfiger and FUBU clad teenager navigating the gritty-gorgeous landscape of 1990s Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan, trading sparks with her fiercely protective mother Jersey and stumbling toward the music that will define her. First love, family friction, the discovery of purpose. It's a classic arc. But what it lacks in plot surprises, it more than compensates for in pure, exhilarating execution.

And what execution it is. The cast sings with the kind of full-body commitment that makes you want to stand up before intermission. The vocal performances are staggering with lead Maya Drake giving her all to portray Ali. Kennedy Caughell causes jaws to drop with her intense vocal abilities as Jersey, Ali's protective mother who makes sure dinner is on the table every night at 6 p.m. for her and her daughter. Through all the strife these two encounter throughout the show, dinner remains this sacred and consistent act of love.

Ali's father Davis is played by the wildly talented Desmond Sean Ellington who possesses R&B vocals smoother than a glass of Hennessy and ginger ale. As the wandering piano playing Davis drifts in and out of Ali's life, we learn more about Ali's journey with an absentee father. She ultimately turns to her music as a steady source of strength when he continues to let her down.

The band outdoes themselves song after song in this show.

Meanwhile, the choreography is a gorgeous controlled chaos, blending hip-hop, contemporary, and jazz into something that feels like the energy of New York City is sitting right there in Fort Lauderdale.

One of my favorite dynamics within Hell's Kitchen is between Ali and Liza Jane, who is played by the talented Roz White. Their piano lessons in the Ellington Room are extraordinary. They sing "Authors of Forever" and this song feels like a compass for life itself. "Authors of Forever" is a luminous meditation on our shared humanity and a humbling a reminder that we are all aboard the same vessel, navigating the vast and uncertain waters between birth and meaning. It is an invitation to love fiercely, doubt bravely, and claim authorship of the brief, brilliant story we each get to write.

I was also deeply moved by "Perfect Way to Die," when projections of pioneering Black musical matriarchs appear on the screen on stage with classical pianist and composer Florence Price, composer and pianist Margaret Bonds, and jazz pianist and singer Hazel Scott. The practice room itself is named after Duke Ellington, and the show's very first song name-checks Sam Cooke. It's one of the most quietly powerful moments in the production. Miss Liza Jane essentially passing a torch that stretches back generations, reminding Ali (and the audience) that the music she is discovering has deep, sacred roots and she is a branch in a bigger tree.

Keys also penned two original songs for the show including "Seventeen," and "Kaleidoscope," and they hold their own beautifully alongside the classics, which is no small feat.

Hell's Kitchen runs through March 22. Tickets range from $60.48 to $243.38 at browardcenter.org or 954-462-0222. Go while the city is still singing.