Alicia Keys' autobiographical jukebox musical "Hell's Kitchen" may take a moment to preheat, but once it gets rolling, it truly cooks. The show overcomes a choppy start to hit its stride and sing its story with a gusto to match Keys' pipes.
Maya Drake, a recent high school graduate making her professional debut in the lead role, captures the callow angst of the adolescent version of Keys, known as Ali in the show, whose aimlessness abandon tortures her overbearing mother, Jersey, played by Kennedy Caughell.
If the plot is to be taken at face value, Ali was more than a handful at age 17. Hanging out on the streets, chasing older men and smacking her mom's dinner plates to the floor in frustration gave Jersey sleepless nights. Even as Ali starts to turn a professional corner by channeling her teen angst into her musical skills, she distances herself and becomes even less appreciative of her mother's efforts to protect her.
This dynamic sets up an emotional reckoning for both characters. Piano teacher Liza Jane (Roz White) and Ali's absentee father, Davis (Desmond Sean Ellington) represent fleeting parental figures who register in similarly powerful denouements.
The Tuesday performance thrived despite operating with one major strike against it. Technical difficulties caused a 30-minute delay shortly after the show started. By the time the curtain raised again, the crowd had thinned out noticeably. There was little energy for the performers to feed off of.
It's a testament to the cast's professionalism that the show managed to pick up steam immediately once the musical resumed. The spell was quickly and decisively cast among the crowd, which sprang to life in unbridled appreciation of the thundrous choreo and soaring musical numbers. The crowd culling may have even helped the atmosphere in the long run. With the weak-willed, less-interested portion of the patrons absent, the diehards got to take over the tone, supercharging its half of the cast-audience interplay.
Clever projections intersperse names of settings into the background staging, which comes alive with incredibly energeticand athletic 1990s-flavored. FUBU-cad hip hop b-boy numbers. This love letter to the glory days of 90s hip hop recalls the era when there was still plenty of "hop"in the equation.
It also helps that the musical is somewhat backloaded, building momentum as Keys' best-known hits start to trickle out before surging. Drake's caged bird-like rendition of "Girl on Fire" kicks the energy into a high gear. Why the musical isn't named after that anthem, and instead takes the rather generic moniker that has already been brand-worn by the Gordon Ramsay reality cooking show franchise, is tough to fathom. Other standouts are Ellington's half-spoken word version of "Fallin,'" a chills-inducing "If I Ain't Got You" and the bottom-of-Drake's-lungs belting of "Empire State of Mind."
On its national tour, the show has proven well that it can indeed make it anywhere. Even in Tucson when its equipment takes a while to work right.
"Hell's Kitchen" plays through Sunday at Centennial Hall. Buy tickets here.
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