STAGE WEST: "Hell's Kitchen" presented by Broadway San Diego

Maya Drake (left) and Roz White in "Hell's Kitchen."                                             Photo by Marc J. Franklin

            No question “Hell’s Kitchen” is entertaining. It has the musical artistry of Alicia Keys, for starters. Also kinetic choreography by Camille A. Brown and the scenic design of the dependably ingenious Robert Brill.
            Story-wise? Yes, I know the book by Pulitzer Prize winner (for the much more daring “The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity”) Kristoffer Diaz, written over the course of 13 years in partnership with Keys, is inspired by her personal bio growing up as a teenager in Manhattan in the ‘90s. So there’s some narrative integrity there. But in two and a half hours the “Hell’s Kitchen” tale tries to tackle far too much without completely committing to a thematic focal point.
            Is it Ali’s (the name for Keys) relationship with her mother? With her absent father? Is it her infatuation with a young painter (of the non-artistic kind) who isn’t aware that she’s only 17? Is it her tutelage by a wise and inspiring musician, Miss Liza Jane, who resides on another floor in young Ali’s apartment building? Is it her discovery of the transformative power of music and subsequent drive to make that her life?
            As the national touring production of “Hell’s Kitchen” suggests, it’s ALL of these, and by the rousing finale, a high-tech salute to New York City, there’s no definitive answer.
            A talented cast led by recent high school graduate (!) Maya Drake as Ali overcomes the too-busy script, and with “Hell’s Kitchen” practically being an Alicia Keys jukebox musical maybe it doesn’t matter that much to audiences. Hearing “Girl on Fire” and “No One” and the Big Apple anthem “Empire State of Mind” may be enough. The live accompanying band led by music director Emily Orr is a truly outstanding one, too.
            Enjoying nearly as much time in the spotlight as Drake is Kennedy Caughell playing her helicoptering mother Jersey. She’s got the pipes for emotionally charged numbers but often sounds like she’s overdoing it, and to me there’s too much mom and not enough absent dad (Desmond Sean Ellington as Ali’s father Davis) in this show. Ellington’s is a lovely, R&B-flavored voice but the storyline keeps bringing him in, then taking him out, then bringing him in, etcetera.
            Roz White’s Miss Eliza Jane is a stately and powerful presence in “Hell’s Kitchen”; no wonder young Ali is drawn to her – and vice versa. Her rendition of Keys’ “Perfect Way to Die” is a potent closer to the first act.
            “Hell’s Kitchen” is a musical of palpable energy with a winning heroine and lots of flash, but there aren’t many surprises and in the end Diaz’s book is no match for Keys’ varied and sometimes adventurous songwriting.
            “Hell’s Kitchen” runs through Aug. 16 at the Civic Theatre, downtown.