Alicia Keys’ musical ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ coming to Tucson

“I was hearing ‘Fallin’ on the radio for the first time, and it was just this continuous, really simplistic piano motif and a circular loop that just kept … going back and forth,” recalled Orr, who at that age had already been studying piano for several years. “I would go home, and when I was supposed to be practicing my Mozart sonata, I would try to figure that out on the piano instead.”

One day when the song came on the radio, she recorded it on a cassette tape, then played it over and over until she learned the piece by ear.

Over the past 25-plus years, Keys’ music has played a role in the Wichita, Kansas, native’s musical story, from performing Keys’ songs on a cruise ship for five years early in her career to her latest gig, as music director of the first national tour of the Alicia Keys musical “Hell’s Kitchen,” which Broadway In Tucson is bringing to Centennial Hall Aug. 18-23.

Orr will direct and perform in the six-piece band. Two of the band members — the drummer and a keyboard player — will perform on stage with the cast while the rest — bass player, percussionist, guitarist and keyboard conductor — will be somewhere off stage.

The setup was the brainchild of Tony Award-winning sound designer Gareth Owen, whose credits include “MJ the Musical” and “The Who's Tommy.”

“This is a loud, big show,” Orr said. “I think you are gonna feel it in your bones. You're gonna feel it vibrate your chest. … You really feel the band in a dynamic, powerful, really full way, and I think that just gives all the more energy to the actors and their performance, and certainly the audience.”

While it features nearly two dozen of Keys’ songs including three — “Seventeen,” “The River” and “Kaleidoscope” — that she wrote specifically for the show, Orr said “Hell’s Kitchen” is not a jukebox musical.

“One of the things that I think is beautiful about ‘Hell's Kitchen’ is the way that this works,” said the 36-year-old Orr, whose résumé includes touring with “Back to the Future: The Musical” as the associate music director from April 2024-November 2025. ”It's really not your typical jukebox musical. … This is just next level because we have a songwriter who created the show, and all of this is coming from her. So those lyrics are really like parallel to the character.”

“Hell’s Kitchen” draws from Keys' "experience of growing up in New York City, really chasing a dream, trying to find who you are, discovering your identity, and really following your heart, ultimately," Keys told “Good Morning America” in 2023. The story explores the mother-daughter relationship between Ali, played by 19-year-old Maya Drake, and her mother Jersey (Kennedy Caughell).

The dynamic includes single mom Jersey objecting to Ali’s boyfriend, which leads the teen to hide out in the apartment complex’s music room, where she first meets the piano teacher Miss Liza Jane (Roz White). Miss Liza Jane opens a new world for Ali.

When Ali’s absentee musician father comes into the picture, Ali hopes to find an ally. But when he makes an excuse for not being available to be with her, she quickly realizes why he is not part of her life. The disappointment leads her back into the arms of her consoling mother.

Keys' songs are woven throughout the play, adding context to the moment and the characters.

“The lyrics are really parallel to the character. Some of her most iconic songs like ‘Fallin’ become seen through the lens of a different context; it's a duet between the mother and the father … and their relationship and the turmoil of their relationship,” Orr said. “You're not going to hear ‘Fallin’ in the sort of original arrangement with that groove. Adam Blackstone and Tom Kitt put together these amazing orchestrations and arrangements, and it's this incredible, like sultry, upright bass that drives the song and everything else sort of comes in, and you get this kind of amazing piano, jazz, guitar, bass arrangement.”

“Kaleidoscope” becomes a revelation for Ali, through the joy she experiences when she meets her teacher and mentor, while “River” reflects all the things Ali wants and doesn’t have in her life.

“Hell’s Kitchen” premiered Off-Broadway at The Public Theatre, where it ran from Oct. 24, 2023, to Jan. 7, 2024, before moving to Broadway’s Schubert Theatre in spring 2024. After nearly 800 performances, including 23 preview performances, the show closed on Feb. 22.

The first national tour, which launched last October, runs through the fall; Tucson is the final stop before it takes a two-week break.

U of A grad will be on the stage in Tucson  

When the show gets here next week, the cast will likely get an earful of Tucson and University of Arizona trivia and tidbits from cast member Sydney Townsend, a 2025 U of A music theater grad who understudies the roles of Ali, Jessica and Tiny.

When the show played Gammage Auditorium in Tempe last month, Townsend got to stand in for Drake as Ali. In Tucson, she will be on stage as Ali’s friend Tiny.

“I just recently hit 100 performances between all three roles that I cover,” said Townsend, who said landing the opportunity on “Hell’s Kitchen” was “something I prayed for.”

“I grew up listening to her on the radio all the time. You hear her all the time, and you're just like, ‘Oh yes, Alicia Keys’,” Townsend said. “That's my childhood for me. So being able to apply that to the context of this show is very, very special, especially as someone who has such a close relationship with their mom, and that's what the show emphasizes is Alli's relationship with her mom.”

During her time at the U of A, the Detroit native had roles in “Much Ado About Nothing” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” as well as a solo in the cabaret “Soundtrack of Our Lives.”

“I think the nice thing about the U of A Fine Arts Program is that I had to learn how to work within unforeseen circumstances,” she said. “I got used to not always knowing what was going to happen next, but knowing that okay, I can control what I can control, and what I can control is how I put in the work and how I show up for myself. I think that really helped me with this professional world.”

When the show pulls into Tucson early next week, it will be Townsend’s first time back since graduating. Her to-do list includes getting new U of A gear and showing off some of her favorite places to her castmates. But when it comes time to step into Centennial Hall, she said the experience is “going to probably feel extremely, extremely surreal” being on the same stage where she graduated just a year ago.

“And I'm performing on the same stage that I saw so many other tours come through and perform on,” she mused aloud. “I think it's just a testament to working really hard and honestly just the right place, right time. And I think it’s just kind of maybe a love letter to my younger self.”

“Hell’s Kitchen” is Broadway In Tucson’s 2025-26 season finale. The 2026-27 season opens with “The Who’s Tommy” on Oct. 20. For details and tickets, visit broadwayintucson.com.