A new musical featuring the music and lyrics by Alicia Keys, and apparently based on the R&B singer-songwriter’s young life, is in development at New York’s Off Broadway Public Theater.
The production, titled Hell’s Kitchen after the Manhattan neighborhood where Keys was raised, has some high-profile names attached. According to an Actors’ Equity audition call sheet posted this week, Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal, Dear Evan Hansen) is attached to direct, with a book by Kristoffer Diaz (the Public’s 2019 stage adaptation of Disney’s Hercules) and choreography by Camille A. Brown (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, Choir Boy).
Though casting hasn’t been announced, most if not all of the lead roles have already been filled, including the roles of Ali, “a strong, stubborn girl with a rebellious streak” apparently based on Keys, Jersey, “Ali’s mother, raising her as a single mom,” and Davis, Ali’s father. Also cast are a love interest and various friends and neighbors.
The synopsis describes Hell’s Kitchen as a “new musical that tells the story of Ali, a young girl growing up in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen in the 1990s.”
Although the Equity info doesn’t list a production date, “development dates” are listed as three weeks this year falling within a May 24 and June 18 window.
The Public would not provide additional information on the project, with a rep saying the company does not comment on projects in development. Broadway World was the first to report the casting notice.