Off-B'way Update: Alicia Keys Musical and More at the Public

Alicia Keys

Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys is coming to Off-Broadway with Hell's Kitchen, a new musical loosely based on her own life, beginning performances Oct. 24 at the Public Theater prior to a Nov. 19 opening. The score will consists of new material from Keys and her previous hits. The book is by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz (The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity). Tony nominee Michael Greif (Rent) directs and Tony nominee Camille A. Brown (for colored girls) provides the choreography. The story follows Ali, a 17-year-old girl living with her overprotective mother in a cramped Times Square apartment. Tensions are high between the two when Ali falls for a young drummer. Then, the girl hears a piano from a neighboring apartment and she begins to liberate herself through music. Newcomer Maleah Joi Moon will play Ali. The cast also includes Shoshana Bean (Mr. Saturday Night) and Brandon Victor Dixon (Hamilton).

The Public also announced its complete 2022-23 season which will include a new musical adaptation of The Tempest to play the Delacorte in Central Park after Hamlet. This will be the last Delacorte production before major renovations close the theater until the summer of 2025. In October, the Public will partner with Druid Theater Company of Ireland to present three Sean O'Casey plays at NYU's Skirball Center.

Josh Radnor

There follows Manhatta, a play by Mary Kathryn Nagle about Manhattan's Native population in pre-colonial times and modern-day Wall Street; The Ally by Itamar Moses starring Josh Radnor as an atheistic Jew caught in a political conflict; Tom and Sally by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks about a theatrical troupe putting on a play about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings; and Jordans by Ife Olujobi, a world premiere about race, assimilation and office politics.  

2023-24 Broadway/Off-Broadway Calendar

June 11--Tony Awards (United Palace)

June 21--Rock and Roll Man (New World Stages)
June 22--Once Upon a One More Time (Marquis)

June 26--Just for Us (Hudson)
June 28--Hamlet (Delacorte/Shakespeare in the Park) 
July 9--Orpheus Descending (TFANA/Polonsky Shakespeare Center)
July 20--Here Lies Love (Broadway)

July 20--Flex (Mitzi Newhouse/LCT)
July 24--The Cottage (Hayes)
Aug. 3--Back to the Future (Marquis)

Aug. 10--The Shark Is Broken (Golden)

Aug. 20--El Mago Pop (Barrymore)

Aug. 27--The Tempest (Delacorte/Shakespeare in the Park)
Sept. 19--Merrily We Roll Along (begins previews; opening TBA) (Hudson)
September--Here We Are (The Shed Griffin Theater)

September--The Refuge Plays (Roundabout/NYTW/Laura Pels)

October--I Need That (Roundabout/AA)

Oct. 4--DruidO'Casey (Public/NYU Skirball Center)

Nov. 13--Harmony (Barrymore)

Nov. 19--Hell's Kitchen (Public)

Dec. 5--Manhatta (Public)

Jan. 9--Prayer for the French Republic (MTC/Friedman)

Feb.--Doubt: A Parable (Roundabout/AA)

Feb.--The Ally (Public)

March--Sally and Tom (Public)

April--Jordans (Public)

Summer 2023

Purlie Victorious

Fall 2023

Jaja's African Hair Braiding (MTC/Friedman)

I Can Get It for You Wholesale (CSC)

Poor Yella Rednecks (MTC/City Center Stage I)

Winter 2023-24

An Enemy of the People

I Love You So Much I Could Die (NYTW)

Pericles (CSC)

Spring 2024

Here There Are Blueberries (NYTW)

Home (Roundabout/AA)

Jonah (Roundabout/Laura Pels)

Wine in the Wilderness (CSC)

The Wiz

Fall 2024

King Lear (Kenneth Branagh Theater Company/The Shed)

2024-25

Smash

Future--Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death; Black Orpheus; BOOP! The Betty Boop Musical; Come Fall in Love--The DDLJ Musical; The Devil Wears Prada; Ella: An American Miracle; Everybody's Talking About Jamie; Frida, the Musical; Game of Thrones; The Great Gatsby; The Griswolds' Broadway Vacation; High Noon; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; The Karate Kid; La La Land; Lempicka; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil; The Mousetrap; Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Spotlight Manor; Our Town; Pal Joey; The Nanny; The Normal Heart/The Destiny of Me; The Secret Garden; Sing Street; Soul Train; Water for Elephants; What a Wonderful World; The Who's Tommy; Working Girl