Hell's Kitchen
Behind the Dream
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- USD 16.99
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- USD 16.99
Publisher Description
A stunning behind-the-scenes look into Alicia Keys’ hit Broadway musical, Hell’s Kitchen, featuring never-before-seen photographs, exclusive interviews, and insights from Keys herself.
Hell’s Kitchen debuted on Broadway in 2024—and the show has been electrifying audiences ever since. With plenty of awards attention, the musical has drawn sold-out crowds to the Shubert Theatre for Alicia Keys’ relatable, raw and refreshingly fun production that shows us where dreams begin. Based on Keys’ own experiences of growing up in New York City's Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, your journey starts with Ali, a 17-year-old girl full of fire, searching for freedom, passion, and her place in the world. Along the way, you'll meet the musical mentor who changes her life, her dynamic family, and the neighborhood that helps her grow. It's a celebration of finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who lift you up.
The music—a mix of Keys’ classics and new songs written exclusively for the show—is brought to life through exhilarating choreography. It’s a soundtrack of rebellion, life, and love that speaks to you no matter where you’re from, where you’ve been, or where you’re going.
The Hell’s Kitchen book shares an intimate look inside the show’s creation, from the first spark of an idea through the musical’s thirteen-year journey to Broadway, where it continues to thrill audiences today. The book includes exclusive interviews with key cast and creative team members; first-person notes from Keys on her original songs; stunning stage photography and behind-the-scenes images; insights into costume creation, set design, choreography, and casting; and much more. This beautiful tribute answers every burning question a fan of the musical may have. Ultimately, it’s a triumphant celebration of Alicia Keys and New York City.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The evolution of Hell's Kitchen, a jukebox musical loosely based on the coming-of-age of Grammy winner Alicia Keys, is comprehensively chronicled in this colorful melange of interviews, photographs, and song lyrics compiled by Keys (More Myself) and Funderburg (Pig Candy), a creative writing lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania. Frustrated by theater's lack of diversity, Keys in 2010 began sketching out a musical about a strong-willed mixed-race girl who grows up in 1990s New York City under her mother's watchful eye and seeks to carve out her place in the world. The narrative covers Keys's search for a playwright (Kristoffer Diaz), a director (Michael Greif), a theater (New York's Public Theater) willing to back a risky new production, and a cast and crew. Drawing on extensive interviews, the authors intersperse the account with sections on key people, ideas, and places from Keys's life, including the Manhattan building where she was raised (nicknamed "Broadway's Bedroom" for its proximity to city's theater district). Along the way, Keys and Funderburg transform what might have been a supersized Playbill program into an intimate and in-depth look at the joys and challenges of bringing an original musical to life at a time when TV and film adaptations are more palatable to risk-averse Broadway producers. Theater geeks and Keys fans alike will savor this enthusiastic peek behind the curtain.
