CAST & CREATIVE HEADSHOTS
THE PUBLIC THEATER
ANNOUNCES
COMPLETE CASTING, MUSIC TEAM, AND
TWO-WEEK EXTENSION
FOR WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL
HELL’S KITCHEN
THROUGH SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23
Music & Lyrics by Alicia Keys
Book by Kristoffer Diaz
Choreography by Camille A. Brown
Directed by Michael Greif
Performances Begin Tuesday, October 24
With Joseph Papp Free Performance Through TodayTix;
Access $40 Tickets Through TodayTix, In-Person Lottery, and Student Tickets
September 12, 2023 – The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director and Patrick Willingham,
Executive Director) announced today complete casting and a two-week extension for the world premiere
of HELL’S KITCHEN. A new musical with music and lyrics by 15-time Grammy Award winner Keys, a book
by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz, choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, and
direction by Tony Award nominee Michael Greif, HELL’S KITCHEN begins performances with a Joseph
Papp Free Performance on Tuesday, October 24 and officially opens on Sunday, November 19. Originally
scheduled to run through Sunday, December 10, the production will now run through Saturday, December
23. Tickets for the additional two weeks will be on sale for Public Theater Partners and Supporters on
Tuesday, September 12 at 12:00 p.m., and full-price single tickets will be on sale on Thursday, September
14 at 12:00 p.m.
The Public’s Joseph Papp Free Performance initiative will offer free tickets to the performance on Tuesday,
October 24 through TodayTix. The Lottery will open for entries on Thursday, October 19 and will close at
12:00 p.m. on Monday, October 23. Additionally, $40 tickets are available in multiple ways. On the day of
each performance, a limited number of tickets will be available through a digital lottery provided by
TodayTix. Additionally, an in-person ticket lottery will be held in the lobby of The Public Theater prior to
each scheduled performance. Entry will open two and a half hours prior to each scheduled performance,
with the lottery starting 30 minutes later. Student tickets may also be purchased in advance at The Public
Theater Box Office with a valid student ID. Tickets are subject to availability.
The complete cast of HELL’S KITCHEN will include Shoshana Bean (Jersey), Chad Carstarphen
(Ray/Ensemble), Reid Clarke (Ensemble), Chloe Olivernaz Davis (Ensemble), Nico DeJesus
(Ensemble), Brandon Victor Dixon (Davis), Timothy L. Edwards (Ensemble), Desmond Sean Ellington
(Understudy), Badia Farha (Understudy), Vanessa Ferguson (Tiny/Ensemble), David A. Guzman
(Ensemble), Crystal Monee Hall (Crystal/Ensemble), Gianna Harris (Understudy), Jakeim Hart
(Q/Ensemble), Chris Lee (Knuck), Jackie Leon (Jessica/Ensemble), Kecia Lewis (Miss Liza Jane),
Raechelle Manalo (Ensemble), Jade Milan (Understudy), Maleah Joi Moon (Ali), Onyxx Noel
(Understudy), Susan Oliveras (Understudy), Sarah Parker (Ensemble), William Roberson (Understudy),
Niki Saludez (Ensemble), Mariand Torres (Maria/Ensemble), Donna Vivino (Understudy), and Lamont
Walker II (Riq/Ensemble).
The music team of HELL’S KITCHEN will include music supervision by Emmy and Grammy-winning Adam
Blackstone, orchestrations by Adam Blackstone and Tom Kitt, arrangements by Alicia Keys and Adam
Blackstone, music consulting by Tom Kitt, music coordination by Kristy Norter, and music direction by
Dominic Fallacaro.
“I’m so excited that Adam Blackstone is a part of this All-Star team!” said Alicia Keys. “Everything from
the Grammys to the Super Bowl has been transformed by his Midas touch and now the musical theater
world will be as well! Hell's Kitchen is so exciting, the music and every part of this show is going to touch
you in a way you can’t predict! I’m so grateful for all the tremendous artists bringing the magic! Get ready!”
Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys and Pulitzer Prize-finalist playwright Kristoffer Diaz bring their
exhilarating coming-of-age musical HELL’S KITCHEN to The Public this fall. In a cramped apartment
hanging off the side of Times Square, 17-year-old Ali is desperate to get her piece of the New York dream.
Ali’s mother is just as determined to protect her daughter from the same mistakes she made. When Ali
falls for a talented young drummer, both mother and daughter must face hard truths about race, defiance,
and growing up. Ali feels trapped, until the sound of a neighbor playing piano opens the door to an
unexpected friendship and a radically different future. Loosely based on Alicia Keys’ personal experiences,
with choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown and direction by Tony Award nominee
Michael Greif, HELL’S KITCHEN is an unforgettable new show featuring both newly created music and
the soulful, iconic songs of New York’s own Alicia Keys.
HELL’S KITCHEN features scenic design by Robert Brill, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design
by Natasha Katz, sound design by Gareth Owen, projection design by Peter Nigrini, hair and wig design
by Mia Neal, prop management by Claire M. Kavanah. Danny Maly serves as production stage manager
and Tiffany N. Robinson and Luisa Sánchez Colón as stage managers.
Following HELL’S KITCHEN, The Public Theater’s 2023-24 season at its downtown Astor Place home
continues with MANAHATTA. The gripping play by Emerging Writers Group alumnus Mary Kathryn Nagle
and directed by Obie Award winner Laurie Woolery returns to The Public, where Nagle first developed the
epic play about a young Native American woman connecting with her ancestral Lenape homeland. 2024
kicks off with the world premiere of Tony Award winner Itamar Moses’ THE ALLY, a provocative new play
directed by Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer and featuring Josh Radnor about the vanishing
line between the personal and the political. Pulitzer Prize winner and writer-in-residence Suzan-Lori Parks
returns with SALLY & TOM, an edgy dramedy about art, history, and politics, directed by Steve H.
Broadnax III. Emerging Writers Group alumnus Ife Olujobi makes her professional stage debut with the
bold, bitingly funny play JORDANS. Directed by Obie Award winner Whitney White, the world premiere
play is a piercing exploration of assimilation, racial capitalism, success, and survival.
The Library at The Public serves food and drink Tuesday through Sunday, beginning at 5:00 p.m. and
closing at midnight. The Library is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit publictheater.org.
BIOS:
ALICIA KEYS (Music & Lyrics) is a 15-time GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter, musician,
producer, founder of Keys Soulcare, New York Times best-selling author, film/television and Broadway
producer, accomplished actress, entrepreneur, and a powerful force in the world of activism. Since the
release of her monumental 2001 debut album, Songs in A Minor, Keys has sold over 65 million records,
over 5 billion streams and built an unparalleled repertoire of hits and accomplishments. Keys has become
the #1 RIAA certified Female R&B artist of the millennium with over 37 million certified track sales (US)
and 20 million album sales (US). She released her eighth studio album, Keys (Originals and Unlocked)—a
double album—in 2021 followed by a deluxe version in 2022 and a sold-out Alicia + Keys World Tour that
celebrated the Keys and Alicia albums. She recently completed her first Latin American leg of that tour to
rave reviews and ravenous audiences. Keys released her book More Myself: A Journey via Flatiron Books,
which debuted and spent multiple weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List. In March 2022, she
released her first graphic novel titled Girl on Fire with HarperCollins. Keys released her first-ever holiday
album Santa Baby in November 2022 which includes four original songs, including the single “December
Back 2 June.” Keys recently completed a spectacular, 360-degree show, the Keys to the Summer Tour,
which hit 22 cities across North America. Hell’s Kitchen, the original stage musical Keys diligently worked
for 13 years to create, opens November 19 at The Public Theater.
KRISTOFFER DIAZ (Book) is a playwright, librettist, screenwriter, and educator. His play The Elaborate
Entrance of Chad Deity was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. Other full-length titles
include Welcome to Arroyo’s, Reggie Hoops, Things With Friends, Hercules, and The Unfortunates. His
work has been produced, commissioned, and developed at The Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center,
Geffen Playhouse, ACT, Center Theatre Group, The Goodman, Second Stage, Victory Gardens, and
Oregon Shakespeare Festival, among many others. Awards include the Guggenheim, Jerome, Van Lier,
NYFA, and Gail Merrifield Papp Fellowships; New York Times Outstanding Playwright Award;
Lucille Lortel, Equity Jeff, and Obie Awards; and the Future Aesthetics Artist Regrant, among others. As a
screenwriter, Diaz has developed original television pilots for HBO and FX, written for the first season of
Netflix's “GLOW,” and adapted the musical Rent for FOX. Diaz teaches playwriting at New York University.
He is an alumnus of New Dramatists and a member of its Board of Directors, and the current secretary of
the Dramatists Guild Council.
CAMILLE A. BROWN (Choreography). Three-time Tony Award-nominated director and choreographer is
the first Black woman in 67 years to direct and choreograph on Broadway with for colored girls who have
considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf in 2022. The production garnered seven Tony Award
nominations including two nominations for Brown as director and choreographer. She is the 2023 winner
of the Broadway Black award for Best Direction/Broadway (for colored girls...). Other Broadway: Choir Boy
(Tony nomination, Choreography) and Once on This Island (Drama Desk nomination, Choreography). Off-
Broadway choreography credits include Toni Stone (Roundabout Theatre, A.C.T.), Much Ado About
Nothing and Hamlet (Shakespeare in the Park), Bella (Playwrights Horizons; AUDELCO Award,
Choreography), and Fortress of Solitude (The Public; Lucille Lortel Award nom). At the Metropolitan Opera,
Brown became the first Black director in the history of the Met Opera main stage with Terence Blanchard's
Fire Shut Up in My Bones (which she co-directed with James Robinson and also choreographed), as well
as choreographed Blanchard's Champion and Porgy & Bess at the Met. Film/TV includes the Oscar-
nominated Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Emmy-nominated “Jesus Christ Superstar Live” (NBC), and
“Harlem” (Amazon). She is the Founder and Director of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and has Honorary
Doctorates from The University of North Carolina School of the Arts and Drew University. She received
the 2020 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Choreography. camilleabrown.org @camilleabrown
MICHAEL GREIF (Director). Notable productions on and off Broadway include: The Low Road, Fucking
A, Dogeaters, Giant, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide, Romeo and Juliet, Machinal at The Public and
Delacorte; Our Lady of Kibeho, A Few Stout Individuals, Landscape of the Body, Angels in America at
NY’s Signature Theater; Dear Evan Hansen, Next to Normal (also Arena Stage and Broadway), A
Parallelogram, Make Believe at Second Stage; Grey Gardens (also Broadway), Far From Heaven, Spatter
Pattern at Playwrights Horizons; Street Scene, Therese Raquin, The Cherry Orchard at Williamstown
Theater Festival; and Rent at the New York Theater Workshop and Broadway. Most recently, he, along
with Schele Williams, co-directed the critically acclaimed musical adaption of The Notebook at Chicago
Shakespeare Theater.
ABOUT THE PUBLIC THEATER:
THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-
stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years
ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that
theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of
Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of
programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free
Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New
York City’s five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Lab, Public Works, Public Shakespeare
Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of
American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton
by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country
and around the world. The Public has received 60 Tony Awards, 190 Obie Awards, 57 Drama Desk
Awards, 61 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 62
AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org
The Public Theater stands in honor of the first people and our ancestors. We acknowledge the land on
which The Public and its theaters stand—the original homeland of the Lenape people. We acknowledge
the painful history of genocide and forced removal from this territory. We honor the generations of stewards
and we pay our respects to the many diverse indigenous peoples still connected to this land.
The LuEsther T. Mertz Legacy Trust provides leadership support for The Public Theater's year-round
activities.
Lead production support for HELL’S KITCHEN is provided by Peter Fine.
HELL’S KITCHEN is made possible by generous support from David C. Frederick & Sophia Lynn,
Gina Maria Leonetti, Teresa Tsai, Audrey & Zygi Wilf, and Ted & Anne Clarke Wolff.
Additional production funding provided by an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award and Lauren
Rosenkranz.
TICKET INFORMATION
HELL’S KITCHEN begins performances in The Public’s Newman Theater with a Joseph Papp Free
Performance on Tuesday, October 24 and runs through Saturday, December 23, with an official press
opening on Sunday, November 19. Originally scheduled to run through Sunday, December 10, HELL’S
KITCHEN has extended two weeks ahead of performances beginning.
Tickets for the additional two weeks will be on sale for Public Theater Partners and Supporters on Tuesday,
September 12 at 12:00 p.m., and full-price single tickets will be on sale on Thursday, September 14 at
12:00 p.m. Tickets can be accessed by visiting publictheater.org, calling 212.967.7555, or in person at the
Taub Box Office at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette Street.
The Public’s Joseph Papp Free Performance initiative will offer free tickets to the performance on Tuesday,
October 24 through TodayTix. The Lottery will open for entries on Thursday, October 19 and will close at
12:00 p.m. on Monday, October 23. Winners will be notified by email and push notification anytime from
12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., and if selected, winners will have one hour to claim their tickets.
Additionally, $40 tickets are available in multiple ways. On the day of each performance, a limited number
of tickets will be available through a digital lottery provided by TodayTix. Additionally, an in-person ticket
lottery will be held in the lobby of The Public Theater prior to each scheduled performance. Entry will open
two and a half hours prior to each scheduled performance, with the lottery starting 30 minutes later. Student
tickets may also be purchased in advance at The Public Theater Box Office with a valid student ID. Tickets
are subject to availability.
The performance schedule is Tuesday through Sunday at 7:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday at 1:00
p.m. (There will be no 1:00 p.m. performance on Saturday, October 28; Saturday, November 11; or
Sunday, November 19. There will be a 1:00 p.m. performance on Wednesday, November 8; Wednesday,
November 15; and Tuesday, November 21. The performance on Wednesday, November 22 at 1:00 p.m.
There will be no performance on Thursday, November 23. There will be a 1:00 p.m. performance on
Wednesday, December 20.)
The Open Captioned performance will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 2. The Audio Described
performance will be at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 9. The American Sign Language Interpreted
performance will be at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 9.
The full performance calendar can be found at publictheater.org.
CONNECT WITH US
Facebook.com/PublicTheater
Instagram | @PublicTheaterNY
Threads | @PublicTheaterNY
TikTok | @PublicTheaterNY
# # #
