EYL: #290 Alicia Keys On Creating Broadway's Newest Sensation, Her Hit Play "Hell's Kitchen" - podcast episode cover

EYL: #290 Alicia Keys On Creating Broadway's Newest Sensation, Her Hit Play "Hell's Kitchen"

May 14, 202442 min
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Episode description

Join Alicia Keys on "Earn Your Leisure" as she delves into the heartfelt stories and pivotal moments that have shaped her both personally and professionally. In this enlightening interview, Alicia shares the inspiration behind her Broadway play "Hell's Kitchen" and discusses how her upbringing in affordable housing influenced her life and artistry. 


Discover the profound importance of finding meaning in art as Alicia reflects on her 13-year journey to create "Hell's Kitchen," revealing the dedication behind her creative process. She also opens up about Broadway musical etiquette and the influence of Broadway on her illustrious career.


Additionally, Alicia explains the storytelling dynamics unique to Broadway productions and discusses her initiative to foster new talent through a fellowship program designed to give hands-on experience in the Broadway industry. She also sheds light on the business model of Broadway, providing insights into the economic and creative aspects that drive the industry.


This conversation is a must-watch for fans of Alicia Keys and anyone interested in the intersections of music, theater, and personal growth.


#AliciaKeys #EarnYourLeisure #HellsKitchen #Broadway #ArtInspiration #MusicIndustry #CreativeProcess #TheaterLife #BroadwayBusiness



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Transcript

Speaker 1

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Speaker 8

See you there, all right, guys, Welcome, Welcome back, special episode Very New York of Us, our home Brooklyn chop House and shout out to Don, Shout out to.

Speaker 6

Don Poor and Marsha.

Speaker 8

I have requested that we have a menu, like you know, they put an item.

Speaker 6

You've done some legendary moments here.

Speaker 3

This is true.

Speaker 4

This is the line the fortieth was here was legendary. They kept some of the designs. So I've noticed, I've noticed that makes it even more legendary. Sure, absolutely so today we have a very legendary moment. We're speaking to the incomparable Alicia Keys. Hey, thank you for joining us.

Speaker 9

I'm glad to be here in the chop House with y'all. For sure, What should I order if I was to come here?

Speaker 6

Like the salmon?

Speaker 3

He pronounces the L I noticed, I notice that I would see the seventh. Uh. The crab sat is incredible, The crab rice is incredible. And there's a plethora of one times if you're into one time's.

Speaker 2

I heard that they will put some one time down.

Speaker 3

Did you hear that?

Speaker 6

Please?

Speaker 3

Before she leaves?

Speaker 2

Right, I think they might have said, no, it's okay.

Speaker 8

Some want some say salmon, some say salmons so good.

Speaker 2

But it sounds good and I'm glad to be with y'all.

Speaker 8

This is this is a moment. This is dope. This is dope. So first and foremost, thank you, and I want to talk. Well, we have to start with Hell's kitchen, right. Congratulations first, big congratulations. Yes, so you your career, You've done so many great things as far as in the world of art music, but now to venture out into you know, doing plays on the biggest stage possible and Broadway, it's something that is not a small feat especially for

somebody from our culture. It's extremely important to break down barriers into to bring this world of uh, you know, Broadway plays to hip hop culture. I think it's extremely important. And we got a chance to go to the play and it's actually my first time ever going to a Broadway play ever.

Speaker 6

In my life.

Speaker 9

Come on, this is the one you need to go if you don't go to one. It's thee this is the one.

Speaker 6

It's a fact.

Speaker 8

And I think it was really tastefully done and really dope how it depicted like your life.

Speaker 6

Story through music.

Speaker 8

And as I'm watching it, I'm thinking of like other artists that I would like to see their life stories being played out as a musical.

Speaker 9

Right, So I'm gonna cut you off because it's important that it's clear that this isn't my life story, This isn't autobiographical, but this is a New York All the New York energy and New York experiences that I've had growing up in New York is definitely infused into this story. So there are pieces that come from my experiences, but it's not like.

Speaker 6

Life story loosely based.

Speaker 2

We could say, I think.

Speaker 9

Loosely based statements that's want everybody to know the most beautiful thing is ours, our story, like it's everybody's story.

Speaker 2

You can you can relate, but please can.

Speaker 6

Put the end.

Speaker 8

But the music ties it all in, which makes it really really dope, because it's like I'm just kind of talking to the audience that having seen it yet. Yes, all of your classic records are placed in the storyline, so it all kind of comes together and it all makes sense.

Speaker 2

I love that part too.

Speaker 9

That part is really exciting, and because it's about a seventeen year old girl named Ali who's really looking for her freedom, her independence. She's you know, we all remember being seventeen and how that felt. And she's being raised by a single mother in New York and the nineties.

So nineties New York way different from well, I don't know, it's kind of starting to reflect in some ways, so you know, but you know, nineties New York was its own specific energy and so it was it was dark, it was hard, so for her to be finding her way through it and being raised up by this community that's around her, but also to find this kind of mentor in this in this woman who teaches her the piano's I love seeing I just love that you can see so many sides of ourselves on that stage and

so much diversity on the stage. So for those like you who said they never been to a Broadway play before, I could see why. And I think this is such a beautiful invitation that everybody belongs you know, everybody belongs here.

Speaker 4

I think the beautiful invitation part is exactly like how we'd encompass it.

Speaker 3

Right. We've seen different genres.

Speaker 4

We've seen Jersey Boys and we've seen Neil Simon and I'm like, all right, that's cool. Then we got Motown and MJ was incredible, but there was never one from our generation, right from our songs that we grew up listening to as teens, and it was like, oh.

Speaker 3

This is it right? So it was it was crazy. As it was going on.

Speaker 4

I'm looking around, I'm like this is great, and I look and I spot you. I'm like, that's there, She's really here. But I'm watching your interactions as you're watching it, and it's like Danell and it you grew into it, and so I started thinking, I'm like, yo, what was that like you said, Lucy Base, So what was it like?

Speaker 3

Crafting around?

Speaker 4

We should put this piece in let's give New Yorker feel here, what was create a process like for you?

Speaker 3

Because this is this is different, right.

Speaker 4

This isn't an album, right, this isn't art, but it is art it right in a sense, but different art.

Speaker 9

Form the art form when it's a new art form. I think that's what's cool. I mean, I think what's really special about this is as a kid. You know, my mother grew up in Toledo, Ohio, moved to New York to come to NYU to study acting. So she was really always in love with theater and Off Broadway and the National Black Theater and all of these things that would be a part of my consciousness growing up

as a kid. And so I got a taste a flavor of what if how you can express in that way in this more theatrical way that has a beautiful storyline and an art that you can fall in love

with the characters and all these kind of things. And I think that theater or that that acting theatrical side had definitely found its way into my music for shorter videos because I think a lot of the videos that if I think of it, if I got you with Me and Meth and that whole conversation about like, when you fall in love with a guy who might be you know this, this is his lifestyle, and you end up having you end up suffering in a way because you love this person, and so that drama, that kind

of theatrical storyline has always been really important to me, even with falling, Like falling was a big storyline, So I think that it's always been infused in there. But people would always ask me, would you do a musical, and I was kind of like, oh no, maybe, but you know, I would want it to be special or wanted to be different, and I think that's what makes

this really unique. So the process of the process of creating Hell's Kitchen came from feeling like there's so many stories that I know from our world that I'm not seeing out there in the world. And this is obviously I've been developing this for thirteen years, by the way, so it's been a minute.

Speaker 2

And ten years ago. Thirteen years ago. Television, film, for sure.

Speaker 9

Theater there's recently definitely been more focus on diversity all across the board of entertainment, I think, especially from a theater, film, television perspective. So that was what was in my head, and so that was what I wanted to put together. I grew up in this building called Manhattan Plaza. It was a subsidized rent for artists, so my mother could afford it because it was seventy five thousand a month

at the time. We would have never been able to live on forty third Street in tenth Avenue same five thousand a month because it fluctuated depending on the artist's income. If you had like a lot of jobs, you paid a little more if you didn't have many, And so that was really special and it was the only building of its kind, and I knew that was such a unique story. So that's kind of was the foundation of what we started to build Hell's Kitchen around.

Speaker 2

And then we put Ali who's the lead, seventeen.

Speaker 9

Year old lead Joy Moon Jersey's the single mother who's really trying to raise her daughter in a hard neighborhood. Shashana Bean who's a monster. Davis is the father, who's Brandon Victor Dixon, and they, you know, they're they're having how to get through their relationship and in a way that is it's it's you know, it's not a normal quote unquote relationship.

Speaker 2

But whose are.

Speaker 3

That was a pleasant surprise.

Speaker 4

We saw him in Power and then we were like, wait, that's the dude from Power right.

Speaker 2

He could sing, he was crazy. He's so good.

Speaker 8

Well, let me let me ask you because you bring up an interesting point. You're a native New Yorker. Affordable housing is something that's very big topic these days, and the rent skyrocketed, has skyrocket over the last decade. I think the average Manhattan rent is like close to four thousand dollars right now for one bedroom.

Speaker 2

It's too much.

Speaker 8

And a lot of those programs that you described that even that you grew up and have been taken away. So what's your thoughts on, you know, affordability in the city of New York.

Speaker 9

Well, you know, it's very hard to find. I mean, in so many ways, we're just being priced out of everywhere. It's very difficult for anybody to find a quality of life, lifestyle. It's hard I think about, you know, I hear this from so many people, and so many young people just starting their careers and wanting to figure out, like I love this city. I want to stay in this city, but I got to live like six hours away to

be able to do anything. So it's unfortunate. It's definitely unfortunate, and I feel like this is such a great example of what can come of affordable housing.

Speaker 8

Well that's what I wanted, because I think you are actually an advocate almost for it, because you said you it was a building for artists, right.

Speaker 9

Yeah, really was specifically for artists, and I think my mother explained that also that they had to have thirty percent of people from that particular neighborhood or that currently lived in the neighborhood as well, which is also important because then people come from all over, but those in the neighborhood don't get the same opportunity. So that's something to think of. We see that in Harlem, we see that in Brooklyn. You know, so much of that that regentification.

Speaker 8

So it's important because it's like, let's say, for instance, you were not able to live in that building, right and you had to grow up in Connecticut or some other place. Right now, you never might not have become who you became, and now you're actually contributing to the economy of the city now, right, So now it's a full circle moment. You actually are somebody that had benefited from that affordable housing situation because a lot of times

people don't have sympathy. They like, if you can't afford to live it and don't move here. But it's like, if we take away, if we take away the artists, if we take away the creatives, if we take away people that might not have the finances to pay four thousand dollars a month, then we actually are hurting the

whole ecosystem, right. And I think, like I said, you're actually a perfect example of that because you're a native child who actually not only became chemely successful, but now you have a play on Broadway and now millions of dollars being generated.

Speaker 2

That's a fact.

Speaker 9

That's such a huge point in being able to being able to have that experience, being able to grow up close two different creative cultural places, experiencing different styles of art forms.

Speaker 2

You know, having that.

Speaker 9

Access it does it changes it. It changes your experience, It changes your relationship with it. It changes what you can

imagine for yourself as you could dream for yourself. I mean, you know, growing up on Tenth Avenue, it was always it was so bleak, and it was so drastically different from just walking out two avenues over three avenues over that seventh or eighth which had that those Broadway lights and the life and the you know, and so I think that that's definitely a big thing that I note a lot like the experience, the access, the opportunity came

from the access to seeing different possibilities. And so I agree, I agree, we can't we can't box people out of the learning of the education of the of the access. Another thing Hell's Kitchen has done is we created a fellowship program to bring the young people who normally wouldn't be in the space of set design or costume design or hair design.

Speaker 2

This is my husband and he's gonna call him, so I picked.

Speaker 6

That's our guy. We interviewed on.

Speaker 2

Man, Hi, I'm doing this interview some.

Speaker 3

Guys you might know right now. You might know these guys.

Speaker 6

Some my brother, are you going?

Speaker 2

So were having a little earn your leisure moment, you know, he said, like those guys.

Speaker 9

So I was talking about the fellowship that Hell's Kitchen created for people who wouldn't normally be in the space of learning about studying under the great who do set design or hair design, or costume design or lighting design, sound design, you know, and all of these pieces are the director fellow, the choreography fellow from Camille Brown, Michael grif who's one of the best directors you know ever in Broadway space, So people get to learn under the

greats Chris Dia as the book writer. So it's really part of what we're talking about is access. We're talking about welcoming people into spaces where we belong and giving the opportunity to learn and so that we can diversify what we're seeing and so we can contribute back to the culture of the city. And I think that's exactly right, and that's the only way it happens when you have access like that.

Speaker 4

All those pieces that you spoke about are so unknown to us, right, we don't really know the creative process of how to get a show on Broadway. So I mean, that's the highest stage, like we hear it, But there is a creative process, and there's a journey. You said, thirteen years you've been working on this, so before you even get there, you have to know all those pieces.

Speaker 3

But you also have to start off Broadway. Yes, So like what is that.

Speaker 4

Like from a creative standpoint, do you have to scale down? Because when we saw it, I'm like, visually, this is incredible. Set is incredible, the lighting is immaculated. The choreography is great, amazing. We're gonna start there right.

Speaker 9

No, when you start, you start in a room. You start in a small blank room and you have folding chairs, and you have desks like regular desks that you put the kids at a Thanksgiving and put the put the put the tablecloth on. It's like it is folding chair and folding tables. And you work on the script. You work on the story, you work on we workshop it and you put the songs in and you feel how

does that all work? And what I love about that process is is if you can do it in a blank room with nothing and you can feel it, then you are going you know, you're up to something. It's the same like a song to me, like you can if you can perform that song just on the piano and people are like yo, that means it's going to be something because you could put whatever around it. You can put the biggest lights, the best projection, all of that.

That's just going to end hands it. But it doesn't create the story, and it doesn't you know, create that that foundation.

Speaker 2

So that's where it starts.

Speaker 9

And then so we did years of workshopping, you know, years of six, seven, eight, nine years.

Speaker 2

Of workshopping is what I'm talking about.

Speaker 9

You go in a room, you kind of try as you know, you make idea, try out this scene. We wrote this scene, Chris wrote it. Here's the music with you know, Michael's gonna kind of loosely direct. Does this feel right? We listen to it. Now we're missing something. This doesn't that this song doesn't work. When we whatever the case, you workshop it, chop it up, change it,

fix it, adjusted back revisions for vision, re visions. And then after you get to a place where you feel like, okay, I have two strong acts and I can put this thing in front of people, then you start to create the process where you meet your partners in the Usually you have a sponsoring theater. If you want to do it in the way that we'll be respected by the Broadway community, which you do, obviously, we'll just we're not just coming in here, like you know.

Speaker 2

The community has to be behind you.

Speaker 9

They have to know that you took these processes, that we're building this in a meaningful way. And so the sponsoring theater for us became the public theater, which is one of the most you know, well known, most respected theaters that you presented off Broadway.

Speaker 2

So the public did Hamilton, they did.

Speaker 9

A chorus line, and they did so many I mean so many, it's too many to They do Shakespeare in the Park like they're super you know. They they own Joe's Pub, which is one of the first places that I ever performed ever in my life as an artist. So you kind of do see the full circle moment come around. And so with the public, we workshopped it more and then we were able to put it up

off Broadway. That was a big moment because when you put it up off broader, you learn a lot and you figure out what works.

Speaker 3

So the public theater, are they the ones the sponsor theater? Matter? Excuse me, is are they financing it?

Speaker 4

Are they saying like, you can use the space and we'll figure out the back end, like they'll sponsor it, and then from there Broadway says we're ready for you.

Speaker 3

Now there's a difference.

Speaker 9

They become partners in the production for sure, So they do. There's a portion of it that they because they do all of the off Broadway stuff, there will be the way that they handle it based on all of the unions and all of the specifications and their nonprofit and all of those pieces. So so, but they do become a partner to the piece with you, which is great because they give you creative ideas. It's a creative partnership as well, because these are brilliant minds who have done

this work for years and years. So part of that is the partnership between myself, director Chris book Writer, and also the public as well.

Speaker 8

So like when creating a movie, right, we kind of have been familiar with how movies are made and the revenue model behind movies, but being that plays are such a niche thing, I don't think a lot of people are even familiar with how that actually works. So is it similar as far as how a movie would be final.

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Speaker 1

An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child in Massachusetts. An MS thirteen gang member from Al Salvador accused of murdering a Texas. Man of Venezuelan charged with filming and selling child pornography in Michigan. These are just some of the heinous migrant criminals caught because of President Donald J.

Speaker 2

Trump's leadership.

Speaker 1

I'm Christy nom the United States Secretary of Homeland Security. Under President Trump, attempted illegal border crossings are at the lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal aliens have been arrested. If you are here illegally, your next you will be fine nearly one thousand dollars a day, imprisoned and deported.

Speaker 2

You will never return.

Speaker 1

But if you register using our CBP home app and leave now, you could be allowed to return legally. Do what's right.

Speaker 2

Leave now.

Speaker 1

Under President Trump, America's laws, border and families will be protected.

Speaker 8

Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security NaNs and you have to pay act theres and then you would hopefully get the money back on the back in through ticket sales. But movies you can actually you know, streaming and stuff like that. You can't really stream a play, right, Well, it.

Speaker 2

Depends how you want to do it.

Speaker 9

I think there's no limit now to what's possible, and there are so many ways to have access to it. So on the theater side is much more niche I'm learning obviously, I'm also learning a new space and a new industry, which is amazing. I think that it's something really wonderful about it.

Speaker 2

It's new for me.

Speaker 9

But intentionally we made sure that there were veterans around the process because we want to bring all that new energy, we want to bring that new thought patterns and all of those things. At the same time, there's a tried and true way that things work that you can miss if you don't, and so there's a nice balance between kind of the veterans of the business and also these up and comers, which I consider myself in the world,

you know what I mean. And so yeah, so there's definitely, you know, the financial model, just like with any creative endeavor. You know, ninety percent of the things you know are not always going to work, you know what I mean, there's a small amount of things that really do cut through, and there's not going to be six thousand Rihanna's just doesn't go like that. You know, so special things take special time and it just kind of is what it is.

So but yes, there's also there's also there there is definitely the flow between the business of it, the rays of it, and then how all of you know, the way that that all comes back around and obviously depending on the length of time and also ancillery things like touring when these musicals tour, that's also a big thing, and certain musicals are just ready for that.

Speaker 2

That's a big part of it.

Speaker 9

There's there's other worlds where you might want to do offshoots, like series or films based on you can do kind of streaming moments it all.

Speaker 2

You can kind of like make all of it come together, and it all depends on.

Speaker 8

It's like it's like Hamilton, I was just gonna say that when they went on tour, they go on to London and like even the line can they on cruise ships and the merch.

Speaker 4

Right merch Hamilton is blasting through my house right now, so it's on Disney Plus that's what they have this So like my daughter listens to that in the shower. I'm like, this is like the eighth song. Now be conscious about the water.

Speaker 2

You got to bring your daughter to help to see it.

Speaker 4

Absolutely, absolutely, I mean it's incredible to watch, right because I'm thinking to myself, You've done amazing things in your career, right from the creative process. Obviously tons of awards, and it goes back to the tickets.

Speaker 3

What would measure success for this?

Speaker 4

Right? I feel like this is not a passion project. It feels more like a project.

Speaker 3

Right.

Speaker 4

So we were able to preview it and we're like, this is incredible. I can't wait for the world to see it. I know you just dated Beautiful last week, right, is there pressure to see the audience's reaction?

Speaker 9

Well, listen, you know, first, I think for anything we create, you know, first you do have to have the reason why why are you doing it? Like? What about it is special for you? What about it is meaningful? What about it is missing in the world? You know? And I think, no matter what that is, if you're creating a technology or if you're creating, if you're creating art, there's that connection to it because it's meaningful to you.

And I think that is the most important thing, and that's what we've honored the whole time.

Speaker 2

How do we tell this story? How do we create a story of diversity?

Speaker 9

So many unique people that are in this world, especially in New York City, how do we see more of them reflected in the pure true way and a complex true way, because we're all complex.

Speaker 2

We're not just one way. There's so many different things. So that was the passion for it.

Speaker 9

And also how do we invite people to a space that maybe they don't normally feel like they belong in.

Speaker 2

That's also a big passion of it.

Speaker 9

You know, oftentimes I tell people that actually created this musical for my husband, the people like my husband who he's not actually a musical person, that's not his first inclination, or he hasn't been exposed to it in a way that it feels like it reflects what he understands or what he wants to feel. And so a show like Hell's Kitchen is it's something that it does that it has that emotional foundation, plus it has the modernness of the way that the music and the storyline is communicated.

You feel like you understand it, you want to get into it. You know people like that you reflect like yo, whatever, you know, you it's personal.

Speaker 2

It's personal comes personal.

Speaker 9

So you know, be it the theater goer who loves musical for the past twenty five years or my husband who probably would be like, yeah, babe, let's not go see one of these other things. You know, it's opening the minds and saying this Broadway space is a place where we belong, where we can create our stories, where we can create unique stories, diverse stories, and we can be here. And so that's what makes it successful. What

makes it successful is that people feel it. You want to create something artistic because you want people to be emotionally touched and affected, you know what I mean. I love that this show makes people laugh, makes people cry, makes people like make funny faces because they can't believe the voices that they're hear. I love that you're not going to leave here and not feeling something. And I think that that's the success. And then on top of that, to be able to be the lead producer of this

endeavor is a big success. I think again that opens the door and shows that we belong in all these positions. You know, we belong also as the owners of our ips and the owners of our creativity. We don't it shouldn't just belong to everybody else, you know.

Speaker 2

So I think.

Speaker 9

That's a big version of success, and obviously for generations to feel connected.

Speaker 2

I think another big part of this.

Speaker 9

You can be nine, you can be fourteen, you can be twenty five, you can be forty five, you can be sixty five, you can be ninety, and you can come see this show and you're gonna get it. So that's a big success too. Like that intergenerational energy is rare, you know, it's rare. So all of that, to me is successive.

Speaker 4

I was gonna add in broa etiquette, Like we're walking in, they're like, you can't go back to your CEO.

Speaker 3

You gotta wait, oh wait, how does that work?

Speaker 8

I think that's part of the education because it's like country. I don't want to generalize this because there are a lot of people that do go to place.

Speaker 6

Of course, my circle of people might.

Speaker 8

Have not traditionally gone to Broadway play. So even it's like you can't be late or you're not going to get in.

Speaker 9

This is true, will you get in, but you have to wait till the first number is done, like the first song, because obviously you don't want to walk in. These people are like killing it, giving it, and you're like distracting everybody.

Speaker 2

So they wait until it's an appropriate time.

Speaker 9

So sometimes you miss that opening and then you.

Speaker 3

Time not a thing to be fashionably late, don't They don't even wait for me.

Speaker 6

When it When it stops, it's not over. It's just.

Speaker 3

Get your your refreshments. Now here's another.

Speaker 4

I wanted to sing out loud, but I was recognizing the talent on stage, and I know it's the show. Some people were some people were singing out is that? What's the etiquette on that? Because like, these songs mean something to us.

Speaker 2

Well, we're changing the face of the energy.

Speaker 9

So the vibe is you definitely, I think what people are feeling. There's an electric energy. You know, there's moments where people say a line and the whole audience.

Speaker 2

Is like what you know?

Speaker 9

And there's that, So there is definitely that interaction. It does have that you can totally sing. You should sing.

Speaker 2

I sing. I'm in there singing.

Speaker 3

Yeah. I saw people getting up I'm like, this is what I'm familiar with.

Speaker 2

I can vibe. So everybody experiences the difference.

Speaker 9

Some people are like much more internal and feel a little bit more shy. Some people are more a little bit more traditional. But we're definitely you know, creating that energy. You can stand up, you're shouting at people, you can sing, you can sit, you can you can feel however you're gonna feel.

Speaker 6

So you write music, obviously you did. You write this?

Speaker 2

I wrote.

Speaker 9

I composed the music, so all of the compositions I wrote. I also created new songs for this as well, which was really fun.

Speaker 2

That was the first time.

Speaker 9

And I also created the story, so I'm the creator of it and also the lead producer. So are all the hats that I'm wearing and.

Speaker 8

Working with a writing team. And you're like, you're telling them your vision and that they're actually writing it. Because when we interviewed ice Cube, I was asking him about writing a movie, right, and he said that for him, it was easier to write a movie than it is

to write an album. I found that hard to below, like a movie is like this, but he was just like he explained, like you know, the beginning, the middle, the end, and he was like, you know, he could write a movie in a week, the album might take him a year.

Speaker 2

That's crazy and he's talented. I really like you a lot.

Speaker 9

Yeah, So there is a book writer, is an official book writer who's responsible for all the words that are on the page that are being recited. But he and I work together to create the arc of the story and to create the characters and who's important and who's special and why and what's it grounded in and what are we really feeling? And Michael Greif, who's the director, is a big part of that too. He's kind of

like directing kind of emotionally the arc. How we have to get them to buy into this kind of emotions that when we when we come around later, we see Ali, she's quite agitated. She's irritated at her mother. She can't she feels like she's holding her back, and ultimately at the end we see that this love story between them is what's what's what's the most dependable of all things and you have to kind of go through this rocky

part to discover who's there for you, you know. So so he Michael was also really good at storytelling and how do we really bring that emotion out. So that's it's really a team a team effort. But that's kind of how it all flows together.

Speaker 4

I'm happy you said that one of the one that story ended, and this is how you know it's a great show.

Speaker 3

I'm like, we need more.

Speaker 2

Right, I'm ready. I'm like, what's next?

Speaker 3

We need more? Like Disney, is there another actor this part too? It's incredible. I want.

Speaker 4

I talked about the music a little bit because Kaleidoscope is one of the pieces in the in the play.

Speaker 3

I'm like, this is a great record. Then I watched it. Yes, I'm like I had to ask him, like, this is that's Hell's because I've met the Hell's Kitchen grow up in the nineties. Like the only time I ever heard of Hell's Kitchen was in the movie Sleepers. Wow, and I was like, remember that.

Speaker 2

Movie That's I didn't really put that together.

Speaker 3

Yeah, So I'm like and then you came and was like, oh, she's from Hell's Kitchen.

Speaker 6

He is like, Okay.

Speaker 4

I talked about the nostalgia of being back there, being back with the talented cast.

Speaker 3

I know, like I told you that. I mean, the cast is incredible. Please you gotta go see this but.

Speaker 4

What was that feeling? Like I'm looking in the hallways, I'm like, is that the room?

Speaker 3

Does she played the piano? No?

Speaker 2

Is that like pretty incredible?

Speaker 9

I mean the building has been a big part of my foundation obviously in my life, like we discussed and those opportunities, but also as my son, Egypt he was first starting to play piano. I actually called my original piano teacher, the woman who taught me, and I said, would.

Speaker 2

You work with my son?

Speaker 9

He's only four, but like he has he has something that it feels like he's gravitating towards this. She's like, I don't usually do it, but let's see, and she ends up working with him. So for years from since he was four, so probably about eight or nine, he was with the same piano teacher that taught me. So I would take him to the building, that building, and we would go and do his piano lessons. And when I was there, you know, all the people tell your mama said, oh my god, it's so excited.

Speaker 2

No, I haven't seen you in so long.

Speaker 9

Like you know, so it would be this beautiful like homecoming all the time, which feels so great. So I feel like I have a beautiful connection there, but obviously this this being based in Manhattan Plaza, I mean, it's incredible to go back. So we felt like doing a video for Kaleidoscope, which is one of the new songs

written specifically for Hell's Kitchen. It felt right to be there because we talk about the Ellington Room, which is a place where Ali meets Miss Eliza Jane, who's the woman who teaches her about the piano and the craft of it and how she can like grow through it, and it's in the Ellington Room. So going to the real one was really amazing. Also for the Cavs too, because they like live in this world, we.

Speaker 2

Create it, and so to see it like.

Speaker 7

There is.

Speaker 2

Real special, real special.

Speaker 8

Well, if anybody has not seen it, I highly would recommend. And it's being played like it's like an everyday thing.

Speaker 2

Right every day.

Speaker 9

We got Matinee and Matinee on Wednesdays, so there's two shows on Wednesdays, so these guys are doing eight shows a week. They are killing it. The vocals are constantly on point. I can't even believe it. This singing runs that I ain't even never saying. I'm like they're destructive. So it's it's every day it just opened. It's so exciting to see it. It's thrilling, and bring the whole family, because there's nobody that doesn't belong in Hell's kitchen.

Speaker 8

We appreciate you, and like I said, I think it's dope that you did it because even though it's not like totally based on your life story, how you're tying in the music, it's just interesting to see. I wonder

even at what point did you know? Like you even because I'm thinking of Nas That's the first person I thought about, did you When I'm thinking like I'm when I'm watching it, I'm like, I want to see the story that's based upon you know, illmatic, then going to it was written, then going to I am than still mad,

like and it's all tying in. It's a story, right, It's like I could see a kid in the project all way and then he gives money and now he's in a mansion, he's doing fly and then he's like everything like kind of he has like an awakening, Like I'm just kind of I actually.

Speaker 9

Love this because I love NOAs too and as an artist, and I feel like what I love about this particular perspective of Hell's kitchen. And how I can see how that would apply is that you really are seeing how a person kind of develops before anything of any significance happens to them, before anything of any significance happens to any of us. There's all these years, all these years of like growth and the hard parts, And I feel

like that's what you're expressing. Like even if it was an artist like a nas or an artist like an ex even like I think about that sometimes too, like what was it when he was you know, six.

Speaker 2

And eight and ten and twelve? And so I hear what you mean?

Speaker 9

Why that's so interesting to get into what forms are the person?

Speaker 3

I got the title for looking at my project window. We're going to use this song, good one. That's a good one.

Speaker 4

It can start when he watches rock Sane Chantell Mali mal Hey.

Speaker 3

So that point.

Speaker 6

Yeah, well, and how can the people get tickets? How can they? Yeah?

Speaker 9

Yes, well you go to Hell's Kitchen dot com for sure, you know, so excited for you to be able to tune into the audience. Hell's Kitchen Broadway is our handle, so you can get into like the storyline and introducing yourself to the characters and falling in love with Nick and Davis and Jersey and Ali and miss Eliza Chain and all of these people from you know, from the show.

Speaker 2

So that's the listen.

Speaker 9

I'm so glad. I feel like I wish I could talk to you for at least for sure, you know, at lista another thirty minutes. It feels like we got layers to go, but I guess that means you got to do it again.

Speaker 6

You gave us the wrap so well.

Speaker 3

I appreciate you for being here with.

Speaker 8

Us, and it's a great date night. It's definitely gready to go to the Broadway. You're gonna add this shop house. You guys told me you go to the play then it's literally block away.

Speaker 9

Oh the chop houses here right here. Oh my gosh, matter of fact, why happened. I need to come here next time.

Speaker 8

Before I'm gonna take my niece. She's actually an actress. She does plays, so she's nine years old, so I'm gonna take her to see it because appreciate.

Speaker 4

I have to congratulate you before we go on the exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.

Speaker 2

Oh my god, and god, quote.

Speaker 4

You said that you wanted to help people normalize the love affair of art, and I feel like you've done it in music. You've done it obviously with the book museum, but you've done it again with this. So I want to congratulations.

Speaker 2

Wow, thank you, thank you so much for bringing up giants. Giants is a big deal for all of us.

Speaker 9

I'm so excited that we get to be able to have this exhibition of the Dean collection in the Brooklyn Museum first place it will be. It'll definitely tour as well. But again, we get to see ourselves on these walls, these massive, huge walls, and it feels different. It feels different. I don't know if y'all got to see it yet, but it's also a perfect weekend. You do Help's Kitchen, you do giants, and you about to like you good for and you.

Speaker 6

Use the skincare line to make.

Speaker 9

Sure before your glow is get your glow popping with Key Soul Care and make sure your soul is intact.

Speaker 3

All the above.

Speaker 6

You have. It sounds like a good weekend to me.

Speaker 4

Yes, you're good for at least a year, at least at least until are for sure.

Speaker 2

Y'all are going to ring.

Speaker 6

Oh man? All right? God, thank you for Rocko US. We'll see you next week. Peace please.

Speaker 1

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