Video: Go Inside Opening Night of Alicia Keys' New Musical, HELL'S KITCHEN

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

Grammy Award-winning artist Alicia Keys and Pulitzer Prize finalist, playwright Christopher Diaz

bring their exhilarating coming-of-age musical Hell's Kitchen to the public theater for a sold-out run

and we're here on opening night to celebrate with the company. Well, the building is all abuzz of Manhattan Plaza

the elevators of buzzing. Everybody wants to come down here and see it just so you know

I know it. I'm so thrilled that such a big character in Hell's Kitchen

is the building I grew up called Manhattan Plaza. Big love to all my Manhattan Plaza family

you being one of them. And it really does feel so exciting

to be able to share such a special place. I think that's the thing about Manhattan Plaza

It's the only one of its kind. And obviously being built to support artists and creative people

in a subsidized fashion, especially when my mother first got there, she told me that her rent was $75 a month

Now, I wish we could find $75,000. I'm on rent today, but the point is, is to be able to support the acting, theater, and creative community

It's just one of a kind. So I love it, and it's a really big theme in Hell's Kitchen

What's made it so special with working on this and just the incubation of writing this

What's like writing for the theater? I have to say, writing for the theater and being a part of the theater world, which obviously my mother was born in Toledo, Ohio

She was, she's the quintessential New York dream where you come from a small town to

to New York to hopefully find your path And so to be able to kind of work on this piece which really shows ultimately I do think it is about dreams and where do you know your path And so to be able to kind of work on this piece which really shows ultimately I do think it is about dreams and where do you find them

and how do you not let go of them. It's about a love story between a mother and a daughter

It's about transformation. It's about, you know, really becoming just growing. And so to be able to embody that and create that over all these years

over 10 years, it feels really good. I mean, I'm learning so much

I'm in a new space, but obviously I'm comfortable in my skin in the space

but it's learning new things and being so curious and creating this for this beautiful world

that I have been so inspired by as a child and growing up. It's incredible

I'm grateful, Hell's Kitchen. Collaborating with Alicia Keys, what that has meant for all these years

and watching her create for the theater, and you too. Yeah, it's been incredible

We have gone through a lot of life stuff. We've got more kids than we started out with individually

Having her come into this space has been remarkable. She's made for this

She's made for this and she could write, you know, Broadway shows and off-Broadway shows for the rest of her life if she wanted to

She's got a gift. It's been amazing. I mean, I've listened to her song

I grew up on her song, so for her to actually be in the room with us

making music, teaching the singers, giving feedback to the dancers. It's been wonderful

You look gorgeous. It is opening night. How do you feel? I feel good

I feel good. I'm excited. I'm happy. I think it contagious how excited the first timers are Some of the kids who this is their first big thing their first off Broadway I spoke to Alicia this morning and I was like how do you feel And this is her first theatrical creation

her first baby before her actual children. So living through their experience

seeing it through their eyes, makes it really, really special and exciting. What's it been like being in the room with her

Watching her create all of us and getting to know her? It's been a dream come true

I think that prior to, to saying yes to this experience, there were probably three people left

on my bucket list of artists to work with, and now there's two. So I think it's been so easy to work with her

so easy to communicate and ask. And she's very clear about what she wants

and she's very open to hearing what we need to help tell the story in the best possible way

So it's been lovely. Being in the room with Alicia Keys, getting to know Alicia Keys

what is that like? All the things that you, you could possibly think about Alicia

You know, she's a superstar. She's amazing. She's beautiful. She's so talented

And then you take those and then you add on the fact that she's this grounded spirit in the room

And she brings such an energy that is just like indescribable, honestly

And it's such a dream. I've always loved her music. So it's amazing

She's a wonderful person. Yes. Now talk about who you play and what you love about her

Ali, Ali, she's loosely based off of Alicia Keys. I want to mention that

But when I first stepped into this role there was so much to discover about her And till this day I still I still figuring out everything about her but you know we grown together and I come to understand so much of her story

and what she represents in this show. And I hope that I do her justice

and all the beautiful work on the page. It feels amazing. This is a full circle moment for me in a lot of ways

Very exciting. Been in the business a very long time and being a part of something this

major and so much New York, of which I am a native New Yorker, it says everything. It does everything

What's made this so special for you? Oh, you know, I've always been a big fan of Alicia's

And so I think for me, it's been really wonderful to come to a place where I get to work with her

in this capacity. And I think it's been really wonderful to see, I think her music is unique

uniquely creates an emotional narrative already, and there's depth to her music. And so to put it

in the form of a theatrical narrative, I think just lifts it into a whole new world

and I think it's wonderfully effective, and I think that people should be excited

to see what she's done here. Working with Michael Grythe and Camille Brown, I mean, what a team

They are where they are, because they are extremely passionate, intelligent people

They are artists, and everything they make has soul, and so it is truly an honor to work with those

titans of this beautiful industry that we have. So, yeah, it's amazing

Alicia and Michael allow us to bring ourselves to it. It's not cookie cutter. You're going to see so many individuals on stage

that bring who they are to it, which is just a testament to how authentic Alicia Keys is