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Speaker 8: See you there, all right, guys, Welcome, Welcome back, special
Speaker 8: episode Very New York of Us, our home Brooklyn chop
Speaker 8: House and shout out to Don, Shout out to.
Speaker 6: Don Poor and Marsha.
Speaker 8: I have requested that we have a menu, like you know,
Speaker 8: they put an item.
Speaker 6: You've done some legendary moments here.
Speaker 3: This is true.
Speaker 4: This is the line the fortieth was here was legendary.
Speaker 4: They kept some of the designs. So I've noticed, I've
Speaker 4: noticed that makes it even more legendary. Sure, absolutely so
Speaker 4: today we have a very legendary moment. We're speaking to
Speaker 4: the incomparable Alicia Keys. Hey, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 9: I'm glad to be here in the chop House with y'all.
Speaker 9: For sure, What should I order if I was to
Speaker 9: come here?
Speaker 6: Like the salmon?
Speaker 3: He pronounces the L I noticed, I notice that I
Speaker 3: would see the seventh. Uh. The crab sat is incredible,
Speaker 3: The crab rice is incredible. And there's a plethora of
Speaker 3: one times if you're into one time's.
Speaker 2: I heard that they will put some one time down.
Speaker 3: Did you hear that?
Speaker 6: Please?
Speaker 3: Before she leaves?
Speaker 2: Right, I think they might have said, no, it's okay.
Speaker 8: Some want some say salmon, some say salmons so good.
Speaker 2: But it sounds good and I'm glad to be with y'all.
Speaker 8: This is this is a moment. This is dope. This
Speaker 8: is dope. So first and foremost, thank you, and I
Speaker 8: want to talk. Well, we have to start with Hell's kitchen, right.
Speaker 8: Congratulations first, big congratulations. Yes, so you your career, You've
Speaker 8: done so many great things as far as in the
Speaker 8: world of art music, but now to venture out into
Speaker 8: you know, doing plays on the biggest stage possible and Broadway,
Speaker 8: it's something that is not a small feat especially for
Speaker 8: somebody from our culture. It's extremely important to break down
Speaker 8: barriers into to bring this world of uh, you know,
Speaker 8: Broadway plays to hip hop culture. I think it's extremely important.
Speaker 8: And we got a chance to go to the play
Speaker 8: and it's actually my first time ever going to a
Speaker 8: Broadway play ever.
Speaker 6: In my life.
Speaker 9: Come on, this is the one you need to go
Speaker 9: if you don't go to one. It's thee this is
Speaker 9: the one.
Speaker 6: It's a fact.
Speaker 8: And I think it was really tastefully done and really
Speaker 8: dope how it depicted like your life.
Speaker 6: Story through music.
Speaker 8: And as I'm watching it, I'm thinking of like other
Speaker 8: artists that I would like to see their life stories
Speaker 8: being played out as a musical.
Speaker 9: Right, So I'm gonna cut you off because it's important
Speaker 9: that it's clear that this isn't my life story, This
Speaker 9: isn't autobiographical, but this is a New York All the
Speaker 9: New York energy and New York experiences that I've had
Speaker 9: growing up in New York is definitely infused into this story.
Speaker 9: So there are pieces that come from my experiences, but
Speaker 9: it's not like.
Speaker 6: Life story loosely based.
Speaker 2: We could say, I think.
Speaker 9: Loosely based statements that's want everybody to know the most
Speaker 9: beautiful thing is ours, our story, like it's everybody's story.
Speaker 2: You can you can relate, but please can.
Speaker 6: Put the end.
Speaker 8: But the music ties it all in, which makes it
Speaker 8: really really dope, because it's like I'm just kind of
Speaker 8: talking to the audience that having seen it yet. Yes,
Speaker 8: all of your classic records are placed in the storyline,
Speaker 8: so it all kind of comes together and it all
Speaker 8: makes sense.
Speaker 2: I love that part too.
Speaker 9: That part is really exciting, and because it's about a
Speaker 9: seventeen year old girl named Ali who's really looking for
Speaker 9: her freedom, her independence. She's you know, we all remember
Speaker 9: being seventeen and how that felt. And she's being raised
Speaker 9: by a single mother in New York and the nineties.
Speaker 9: So nineties New York way different from well, I don't know,
Speaker 9: it's kind of starting to reflect in some ways, so
Speaker 9: you know, but you know, nineties New York was its
Speaker 9: own specific energy and so it was it was dark,
Speaker 9: it was hard, so for her to be finding her
Speaker 9: way through it and being raised up by this community
Speaker 9: that's around her, but also to find this kind of
Speaker 9: mentor in this in this woman who teaches her the
Speaker 9: piano's I love seeing I just love that you can
Speaker 9: see so many sides of ourselves on that stage and
Speaker 9: so much diversity on the stage. So for those like
Speaker 9: you who said they never been to a Broadway play before,
Speaker 9: I could see why. And I think this is such
Speaker 9: a beautiful invitation that everybody belongs you know, everybody belongs here.
Speaker 4: I think the beautiful invitation part is exactly like how
Speaker 4: we'd encompass it.
Speaker 3: Right. We've seen different genres.
Speaker 4: We've seen Jersey Boys and we've seen Neil Simon and
Speaker 4: I'm like, all right, that's cool. Then we got Motown
Speaker 4: and MJ was incredible, but there was never one from
Speaker 4: our generation, right from our songs that we grew up
Speaker 4: listening to as teens, and it was like, oh.
Speaker 3: This is it right? So it was it was crazy.
Speaker 3: As it was going on.
Speaker 4: I'm looking around, I'm like this is great, and I
Speaker 4: look and I spot you. I'm like, that's there, She's
Speaker 4: really here. But I'm watching your interactions as you're watching it,
Speaker 4: and it's like Danell and it you grew into it,
Speaker 4: and so I started thinking, I'm like, yo, what was
Speaker 4: that like you said, Lucy Base, So what was it like?
Speaker 3: Crafting around?
Speaker 4: We should put this piece in let's give New Yorker
Speaker 4: feel here, what was create a process like for you?
Speaker 3: Because this is this is different, right.
Speaker 4: This isn't an album, right, this isn't art, but it
Speaker 4: is art it right in a sense, but different art.
Speaker 9: Form the art form when it's a new art form.
Speaker 9: I think that's what's cool. I mean, I think what's
Speaker 9: really special about this is as a kid. You know,
Speaker 9: my mother grew up in Toledo, Ohio, moved to New
Speaker 9: York to come to NYU to study acting. So she
Speaker 9: was really always in love with theater and Off Broadway
Speaker 9: and the National Black Theater and all of these things
Speaker 9: that would be a part of my consciousness growing up
Speaker 9: as a kid. And so I got a taste a
Speaker 9: flavor of what if how you can express in that
Speaker 9: way in this more theatrical way that has a beautiful
Speaker 9: storyline and an art that you can fall in love
Speaker 9: with the characters and all these kind of things. And
Speaker 9: I think that theater or that that acting theatrical side
Speaker 9: had definitely found its way into my music for shorter
Speaker 9: videos because I think a lot of the videos that
Speaker 9: if I think of it, if I got you with
Speaker 9: Me and Meth and that whole conversation about like, when
Speaker 9: you fall in love with a guy who might be
Speaker 9: you know this, this is his lifestyle, and you end
Speaker 9: up having you end up suffering in a way because
Speaker 9: you love this person, and so that drama, that kind
Speaker 9: of theatrical storyline has always been really important to me,
Speaker 9: even with falling, Like falling was a big storyline, So
Speaker 9: I think that it's always been infused in there. But
Speaker 9: people would always ask me, would you do a musical,
Speaker 9: and I was kind of like, oh no, maybe, but
Speaker 9: you know, I would want it to be special or
Speaker 9: wanted to be different, and I think that's what makes
Speaker 9: this really unique. So the process of the process of
Speaker 9: creating Hell's Kitchen came from feeling like there's so many
Speaker 9: stories that I know from our world that I'm not
Speaker 9: seeing out there in the world. And this is obviously
Speaker 9: I've been developing this for thirteen years, by the way,
Speaker 9: so it's been a minute.
Speaker 2: And ten years ago. Thirteen years ago. Television, film, for sure.
Speaker 9: Theater there's recently definitely been more focus on diversity all
Speaker 9: across the board of entertainment, I think, especially from a theater, film,
Speaker 9: television perspective. So that was what was in my head,
Speaker 9: and so that was what I wanted to put together.
Speaker 9: I grew up in this building called Manhattan Plaza. It
Speaker 9: was a subsidized rent for artists, so my mother could
Speaker 9: afford it because it was seventy five thousand a month
Speaker 9: at the time. We would have never been able to
Speaker 9: live on forty third Street in tenth Avenue same five
Speaker 9: thousand a month because it fluctuated depending on the artist's income.
Speaker 9: If you had like a lot of jobs, you paid
Speaker 9: a little more if you didn't have many, And so
Speaker 9: that was really special and it was the only building
Speaker 9: of its kind, and I knew that was such a
Speaker 9: unique story. So that's kind of was the foundation of
Speaker 9: what we started to build Hell's Kitchen around.
Speaker 2: And then we put Ali who's the lead, seventeen.
Speaker 9: Year old lead Joy Moon Jersey's the single mother who's
Speaker 9: really trying to raise her daughter in a hard neighborhood.
Speaker 9: Shashana Bean who's a monster. Davis is the father, who's
Speaker 9: Brandon Victor Dixon, and they, you know, they're they're having
Speaker 9: how to get through their relationship and in a way
Speaker 9: that is it's it's you know, it's not a normal
Speaker 9: quote unquote relationship.
Speaker 2: But whose are.
Speaker 3: That was a pleasant surprise.
Speaker 4: We saw him in Power and then we were like, wait,
Speaker 4: that's the dude from Power right.
Speaker 2: He could sing, he was crazy. He's so good.
Speaker 8: Well, let me let me ask you because you bring
Speaker 8: up an interesting point. You're a native New Yorker. Affordable
Speaker 8: housing is something that's very big topic these days, and
Speaker 8: the rent skyrocketed, has skyrocket over the last decade. I
Speaker 8: think the average Manhattan rent is like close to four
Speaker 8: thousand dollars right now for one bedroom.
Speaker 2: It's too much.
Speaker 8: And a lot of those programs that you described that
Speaker 8: even that you grew up and have been taken away.
Speaker 8: So what's your thoughts on, you know, affordability in the
Speaker 8: city of New York.
Speaker 9: Well, you know, it's very hard to find. I mean,
Speaker 9: in so many ways, we're just being priced out of everywhere.
Speaker 9: It's very difficult for anybody to find a quality of life, lifestyle.
Speaker 9: It's hard I think about, you know, I hear this
Speaker 9: from so many people, and so many young people just
Speaker 9: starting their careers and wanting to figure out, like I
Speaker 9: love this city. I want to stay in this city,
Speaker 9: but I got to live like six hours away to
Speaker 9: be able to do anything. So it's unfortunate. It's definitely unfortunate,
Speaker 9: and I feel like this is such a great example
Speaker 9: of what can come of affordable housing.
Speaker 8: Well that's what I wanted, because I think you are
Speaker 8: actually an advocate almost for it, because you said you
Speaker 8: it was a building for artists, right.
Speaker 9: Yeah, really was specifically for artists, and I think my
Speaker 9: mother explained that also that they had to have thirty
Speaker 9: percent of people from that particular neighborhood or that currently
Speaker 9: lived in the neighborhood as well, which is also important
Speaker 9: because then people come from all over, but those in
Speaker 9: the neighborhood don't get the same opportunity. So that's something
Speaker 9: to think of. We see that in Harlem, we see
Speaker 9: that in Brooklyn. You know, so much of that that regentification.
Speaker 8: So it's important because it's like, let's say, for instance,
Speaker 8: you were not able to live in that building, right
Speaker 8: and you had to grow up in Connecticut or some
Speaker 8: other place. Right now, you never might not have become
Speaker 8: who you became, and now you're actually contributing to the
Speaker 8: economy of the city now, right, So now it's a
Speaker 8: full circle moment. You actually are somebody that had benefited
Speaker 8: from that affordable housing situation because a lot of times
Speaker 8: people don't have sympathy. They like, if you can't afford
Speaker 8: to live it and don't move here. But it's like,
Speaker 8: if we take away, if we take away the artists,
Speaker 8: if we take away the creatives, if we take away
Speaker 8: people that might not have the finances to pay four
Speaker 8: thousand dollars a month, then we actually are hurting the
Speaker 8: whole ecosystem, right. And I think, like I said, you're
Speaker 8: actually a perfect example of that because you're a native
Speaker 8: child who actually not only became chemely successful, but now
Speaker 8: you have a play on Broadway and now millions of
Speaker 8: dollars being generated.
Speaker 2: That's a fact.
Speaker 9: That's such a huge point in being able to being
Speaker 9: able to have that experience, being able to grow up
Speaker 9: close two different creative cultural places, experiencing different styles of
Speaker 9: art forms.
Speaker 2: You know, having that.
Speaker 9: Access it does it changes it. It changes your experience,
Speaker 9: It changes your relationship with it. It changes what you can
Speaker 9: imagine for yourself as you could dream for yourself. I mean,
Speaker 9: you know, growing up on Tenth Avenue, it was always
Speaker 9: it was so bleak, and it was so drastically different
Speaker 9: from just walking out two avenues over three avenues over
Speaker 9: that seventh or eighth which had that those Broadway lights
Speaker 9: and the life and the you know, and so I
Speaker 9: think that that's definitely a big thing that I note
Speaker 9: a lot like the experience, the access, the opportunity came
Speaker 9: from the access to seeing different possibilities. And so I agree,
Speaker 9: I agree, we can't we can't box people out of
Speaker 9: the learning of the education of the of the access.
Speaker 9: Another thing Hell's Kitchen has done is we created a
Speaker 9: fellowship program to bring the young people who normally wouldn't
Speaker 9: be in the space of set design or costume design
Speaker 9: or hair design.
Speaker 2: This is my husband and he's gonna call him, so
Speaker 2: I picked.
Speaker 6: That's our guy. We interviewed on.
Speaker 2: Man, Hi, I'm doing this interview some.
Speaker 3: Guys you might know right now. You might know these guys.
Speaker 6: Some my brother, are you going?
Speaker 2: So were having a little earn your leisure moment, you know,
Speaker 2: he said, like those guys.
Speaker 9: So I was talking about the fellowship that Hell's Kitchen
Speaker 9: created for people who wouldn't normally be in the space
Speaker 9: of learning about studying under the great who do set
Speaker 9: design or hair design, or costume design or lighting design,
Speaker 9: sound design, you know, and all of these pieces are
Speaker 9: the director fellow, the choreography fellow from Camille Brown, Michael
Speaker 9: grif who's one of the best directors you know ever
Speaker 9: in Broadway space, So people get to learn under the
Speaker 9: greats Chris Dia as the book writer. So it's really
Speaker 9: part of what we're talking about is access. We're talking
Speaker 9: about welcoming people into spaces where we belong and giving
Speaker 9: the opportunity to learn and so that we can diversify
Speaker 9: what we're seeing and so we can contribute back to
Speaker 9: the culture of the city. And I think that's exactly right,
Speaker 9: and that's the only way it happens when you have
Speaker 9: access like that.
Speaker 4: All those pieces that you spoke about are so unknown
Speaker 4: to us, right, we don't really know the creative process
Speaker 4: of how to get a show on Broadway. So I mean,
Speaker 4: that's the highest stage, like we hear it, But there
Speaker 4: is a creative process, and there's a journey. You said,
Speaker 4: thirteen years you've been working on this, so before you
Speaker 4: even get there, you have to know all those pieces.
Speaker 3: But you also have to start off Broadway. Yes, So
Speaker 3: like what is that.
Speaker 4: Like from a creative standpoint, do you have to scale down?
Speaker 4: Because when we saw it, I'm like, visually, this is incredible.
Speaker 4: Set is incredible, the lighting is immaculated. The choreography is great, amazing.
Speaker 4: We're gonna start there right.
Speaker 9: No, when you start, you start in a room. You
Speaker 9: start in a small blank room and you have folding chairs,
Speaker 9: and you have desks like regular desks that you put
Speaker 9: the kids at a Thanksgiving and put the put the
Speaker 9: put the tablecloth on. It's like it is folding chair
Speaker 9: and folding tables. And you work on the script. You
Speaker 9: work on the story, you work on we workshop it
Speaker 9: and you put the songs in and you feel how
Speaker 9: does that all work? And what I love about that
Speaker 9: process is is if you can do it in a
Speaker 9: blank room with nothing and you can feel it, then
Speaker 9: you are going you know, you're up to something. It's
Speaker 9: the same like a song to me, like you can
Speaker 9: if you can perform that song just on the piano
Speaker 9: and people are like yo, that means it's going to
Speaker 9: be something because you could put whatever around it. You
Speaker 9: can put the biggest lights, the best projection, all of that.
Speaker 9: That's just going to end hands it. But it doesn't
Speaker 9: create the story, and it doesn't you know, create that
Speaker 9: that foundation.
Speaker 2: So that's where it starts.
Speaker 9: And then so we did years of workshopping, you know,
Speaker 9: years of six, seven, eight, nine years.
Speaker 2: Of workshopping is what I'm talking about.
Speaker 9: You go in a room, you kind of try as
Speaker 9: you know, you make idea, try out this scene. We
Speaker 9: wrote this scene, Chris wrote it. Here's the music with
Speaker 9: you know, Michael's gonna kind of loosely direct. Does this
Speaker 9: feel right? We listen to it. Now we're missing something.
Speaker 9: This doesn't that this song doesn't work. When we whatever
Speaker 9: the case, you workshop it, chop it up, change it,
Speaker 9: fix it, adjusted back revisions for vision, re visions. And
Speaker 9: then after you get to a place where you feel like, okay,
Speaker 9: I have two strong acts and I can put this
Speaker 9: thing in front of people, then you start to create
Speaker 9: the process where you meet your partners in the Usually
Speaker 9: you have a sponsoring theater. If you want to do
Speaker 9: it in the way that we'll be respected by the
Speaker 9: Broadway community, which you do, obviously, we'll just we're not
Speaker 9: just coming in here, like you know.
Speaker 2: The community has to be behind you.
Speaker 9: They have to know that you took these processes, that
Speaker 9: we're building this in a meaningful way. And so the
Speaker 9: sponsoring theater for us became the public theater, which is
Speaker 9: one of the most you know, well known, most respected
Speaker 9: theaters that you presented off Broadway.
Speaker 2: So the public did Hamilton, they did.
Speaker 9: A chorus line, and they did so many I mean
Speaker 9: so many, it's too many to They do Shakespeare in
Speaker 9: the Park like they're super you know. They they own
Speaker 9: Joe's Pub, which is one of the first places that
Speaker 9: I ever performed ever in my life as an artist.
Speaker 9: So you kind of do see the full circle moment
Speaker 9: come around. And so with the public, we workshopped it
Speaker 9: more and then we were able to put it up
Speaker 9: off Broadway. That was a big moment because when you
Speaker 9: put it up off broader, you learn a lot and
Speaker 9: you figure out what works.
Speaker 3: So the public theater, are they the ones the sponsor theater? Matter?
Speaker 3: Excuse me, is are they financing it?
Speaker 4: Are they saying like, you can use the space and
Speaker 4: we'll figure out the back end, like they'll sponsor it,
Speaker 4: and then from there Broadway says we're ready for you.
Speaker 3: Now there's a difference.
Speaker 9: They become partners in the production for sure, So they do.
Speaker 9: There's a portion of it that they because they do
Speaker 9: all of the off Broadway stuff, there will be the
Speaker 9: way that they handle it based on all of the
Speaker 9: unions and all of the specifications and their nonprofit and
Speaker 9: all of those pieces. So so, but they do become
Speaker 9: a partner to the piece with you, which is great
Speaker 9: because they give you creative ideas. It's a creative partnership
Speaker 9: as well, because these are brilliant minds who have done
Speaker 9: this work for years and years. So part of that
Speaker 9: is the partnership between myself, director Chris book Writer, and
Speaker 9: also the public as well.
Speaker 8: So like when creating a movie, right, we kind of
Speaker 8: have been familiar with how movies are made and the
Speaker 8: revenue model behind movies, but being that plays are such
Speaker 8: a niche thing, I don't think a lot of people
Speaker 8: are even familiar with how that actually works. So is
Speaker 8: it similar as far as how a movie would be final.
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Speaker 1: An illegal alien from Guatemala charged with raping a child
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Speaker 1: lowest levels ever recorded, and over one hundred thousand illegal
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Speaker 1: next you will be fine nearly one thousand dollars a day,
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Speaker 8: Sponsored by the United States Department of Homeland Security NaNs
Speaker 8: and you have to pay act theres and then you
Speaker 8: would hopefully get the money back on the back in
Speaker 8: through ticket sales. But movies you can actually you know,
Speaker 8: streaming and stuff like that. You can't really stream a play, right, Well, it.
Speaker 2: Depends how you want to do it.
Speaker 9: I think there's no limit now to what's possible, and
Speaker 9: there are so many ways to have access to it.
Speaker 9: So on the theater side is much more niche I'm
Speaker 9: learning obviously, I'm also learning a new space and a
Speaker 9: new industry, which is amazing. I think that it's something
Speaker 9: really wonderful about it.
Speaker 2: It's new for me.
Speaker 9: But intentionally we made sure that there were veterans around
Speaker 9: the process because we want to bring all that new energy,
Speaker 9: we want to bring that new thought patterns and all
Speaker 9: of those things. At the same time, there's a tried
Speaker 9: and true way that things work that you can miss
Speaker 9: if you don't, and so there's a nice balance between
Speaker 9: kind of the veterans of the business and also these
Speaker 9: up and comers, which I consider myself in the world,
Speaker 9: you know what I mean. And so yeah, so there's definitely,
Speaker 9: you know, the financial model, just like with any creative endeavor.
Speaker 9: You know, ninety percent of the things you know are
Speaker 9: not always going to work, you know what I mean,
Speaker 9: there's a small amount of things that really do cut through,
Speaker 9: and there's not going to be six thousand Rihanna's just
Speaker 9: doesn't go like that. You know, so special things take
Speaker 9: special time and it just kind of is what it is.
Speaker 9: So but yes, there's also there's also there there is
Speaker 9: definitely the flow between the business of it, the rays
Speaker 9: of it, and then how all of you know, the
Speaker 9: way that that all comes back around and obviously depending
Speaker 9: on the length of time and also ancillery things like
Speaker 9: touring when these musicals tour, that's also a big thing,
Speaker 9: and certain musicals are just ready for that.
Speaker 2: That's a big part of it.
Speaker 9: There's there's other worlds where you might want to do offshoots,
Speaker 9: like series or films based on you can do kind
Speaker 9: of streaming moments it all.
Speaker 2: You can kind of like make all of it come together,
Speaker 2: and it all depends on.
Speaker 8: It's like it's like Hamilton, I was just gonna say
Speaker 8: that when they went on tour, they go on to
Speaker 8: London and like even the line can they on cruise
Speaker 8: ships and the merch.
Speaker 4: Right merch Hamilton is blasting through my house right now,
Speaker 4: so it's on Disney Plus that's what they have this
Speaker 4: So like my daughter listens to that in the shower.
Speaker 4: I'm like, this is like the eighth song. Now be
Speaker 4: conscious about the water.
Speaker 2: You got to bring your daughter to help to see it.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, absolutely, I mean it's incredible to watch, right because
Speaker 4: I'm thinking to myself, You've done amazing things in your career,
Speaker 4: right from the creative process. Obviously tons of awards, and
Speaker 4: it goes back to the tickets.
Speaker 3: What would measure success for this?
Speaker 4: Right? I feel like this is not a passion project.
Speaker 4: It feels more like a project.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: So we were able to preview it and we're like,
Speaker 4: this is incredible. I can't wait for the world to
Speaker 4: see it. I know you just dated Beautiful last week, right,
Speaker 4: is there pressure to see the audience's reaction?
Speaker 9: Well, listen, you know, first, I think for anything we create,
Speaker 9: you know, first you do have to have the reason
Speaker 9: why why are you doing it? Like? What about it
Speaker 9: is special for you? What about it is meaningful? What
Speaker 9: about it is missing in the world? You know? And
Speaker 9: I think, no matter what that is, if you're creating
Speaker 9: a technology or if you're creating, if you're creating art,
Speaker 9: there's that connection to it because it's meaningful to you.
Speaker 9: And I think that is the most important thing, and
Speaker 9: that's what we've honored the whole time.
Speaker 2: How do we tell this story? How do we create
Speaker 2: a story of diversity?
Speaker 9: So many unique people that are in this world, especially
Speaker 9: in New York City, how do we see more of
Speaker 9: them reflected in the pure true way and a complex
Speaker 9: true way, because we're all complex.
Speaker 2: We're not just one way. There's so many different things.
Speaker 2: So that was the passion for it.
Speaker 9: And also how do we invite people to a space
Speaker 9: that maybe they don't normally feel like they belong in.
Speaker 2: That's also a big passion of it.
Speaker 9: You know, oftentimes I tell people that actually created this
Speaker 9: musical for my husband, the people like my husband who
Speaker 9: he's not actually a musical person, that's not his first inclination,
Speaker 9: or he hasn't been exposed to it in a way
Speaker 9: that it feels like it reflects what he understands or
Speaker 9: what he wants to feel. And so a show like
Speaker 9: Hell's Kitchen is it's something that it does that it
Speaker 9: has that emotional foundation, plus it has the modernness of
Speaker 9: the way that the music and the storyline is communicated.
Speaker 9: You feel like you understand it, you want to get
Speaker 9: into it. You know people like that you reflect like yo, whatever,
Speaker 9: you know, you it's personal.
Speaker 2: It's personal comes personal.
Speaker 9: So you know, be it the theater goer who loves
Speaker 9: musical for the past twenty five years or my husband
Speaker 9: who probably would be like, yeah, babe, let's not go
Speaker 9: see one of these other things. You know, it's opening
Speaker 9: the minds and saying this Broadway space is a place
Speaker 9: where we belong, where we can create our stories, where
Speaker 9: we can create unique stories, diverse stories, and we can
Speaker 9: be here. And so that's what makes it successful. What
Speaker 9: makes it successful is that people feel it. You want
Speaker 9: to create something artistic because you want people to be
Speaker 9: emotionally touched and affected, you know what I mean. I
Speaker 9: love that this show makes people laugh, makes people cry,
Speaker 9: makes people like make funny faces because they can't believe
Speaker 9: the voices that they're hear. I love that you're not
Speaker 9: going to leave here and not feeling something. And I
Speaker 9: think that that's the success. And then on top of that,
Speaker 9: to be able to be the lead producer of this
Speaker 9: endeavor is a big success. I think again that opens
Speaker 9: the door and shows that we belong in all these positions.
Speaker 9: You know, we belong also as the owners of our
Speaker 9: ips and the owners of our creativity. We don't it
Speaker 9: shouldn't just belong to everybody else, you know.
Speaker 2: So I think.
Speaker 9: That's a big version of success, and obviously for generations
Speaker 9: to feel connected.
Speaker 2: I think another big part of this.
Speaker 9: You can be nine, you can be fourteen, you can
Speaker 9: be twenty five, you can be forty five, you can
Speaker 9: be sixty five, you can be ninety, and you can
Speaker 9: come see this show and you're gonna get it. So
Speaker 9: that's a big success too. Like that intergenerational energy is rare,
Speaker 9: you know, it's rare. So all of that, to me
Speaker 9: is successive.
Speaker 4: I was gonna add in broa etiquette, Like we're walking in,
Speaker 4: they're like, you can't go back to your CEO.
Speaker 3: You gotta wait, oh wait, how does that work?
Speaker 8: I think that's part of the education because it's like country.
Speaker 8: I don't want to generalize this because there are a
Speaker 8: lot of people that do go to place.
Speaker 6: Of course, my circle of people might.
Speaker 8: Have not traditionally gone to Broadway play. So even it's
Speaker 8: like you can't be late or you're not going to
Speaker 8: get in.
Speaker 9: This is true, will you get in, but you have
Speaker 9: to wait till the first number is done, like the
Speaker 9: first song, because obviously you don't want to walk in.
Speaker 9: These people are like killing it, giving it, and you're
Speaker 9: like distracting everybody.
Speaker 2: So they wait until it's an appropriate time.
Speaker 9: So sometimes you miss that opening and then you.
Speaker 3: Time not a thing to be fashionably late, don't They
Speaker 3: don't even wait for me.
Speaker 6: When it When it stops, it's not over. It's just.
Speaker 3: Get your your refreshments. Now here's another.
Speaker 4: I wanted to sing out loud, but I was recognizing
Speaker 4: the talent on stage, and I know it's the show.
Speaker 4: Some people were some people were singing out is that?
Speaker 4: What's the etiquette on that? Because like, these songs mean
Speaker 4: something to us.
Speaker 2: Well, we're changing the face of the energy.
Speaker 9: So the vibe is you definitely, I think what people
Speaker 9: are feeling. There's an electric energy. You know, there's moments
Speaker 9: where people say a line and the whole audience.
Speaker 2: Is like what you know?
Speaker 9: And there's that, So there is definitely that interaction. It
Speaker 9: does have that you can totally sing. You should sing.
Speaker 2: I sing. I'm in there singing.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I saw people getting up I'm like, this is
Speaker 3: what I'm familiar with.
Speaker 2: I can vibe. So everybody experiences the difference.
Speaker 9: Some people are like much more internal and feel a
Speaker 9: little bit more shy. Some people are more a little
Speaker 9: bit more traditional. But we're definitely you know, creating that energy.
Speaker 9: You can stand up, you're shouting at people, you can sing,
Speaker 9: you can sit, you can you can feel however you're
Speaker 9: gonna feel.
Speaker 6: So you write music, obviously you did. You write this?
Speaker 2: I wrote.
Speaker 9: I composed the music, so all of the compositions I wrote.
Speaker 9: I also created new songs for this as well, which
Speaker 9: was really fun.
Speaker 2: That was the first time.
Speaker 9: And I also created the story, so I'm the creator
Speaker 9: of it and also the lead producer. So are all
Speaker 9: the hats that I'm wearing and.
Speaker 8: Working with a writing team. And you're like, you're telling
Speaker 8: them your vision and that they're actually writing it. Because
Speaker 8: when we interviewed ice Cube, I was asking him about
Speaker 8: writing a movie, right, and he said that for him,
Speaker 8: it was easier to write a movie than it is
Speaker 8: to write an album. I found that hard to below,
Speaker 8: like a movie is like this, but he was just
Speaker 8: like he explained, like you know, the beginning, the middle,
Speaker 8: the end, and he was like, you know, he could
Speaker 8: write a movie in a week, the album might take
Speaker 8: him a year.
Speaker 2: That's crazy and he's talented. I really like you a lot.
Speaker 9: Yeah, So there is a book writer, is an official
Speaker 9: book writer who's responsible for all the words that are
Speaker 9: on the page that are being recited. But he and
Speaker 9: I work together to create the arc of the story
Speaker 9: and to create the characters and who's important and who's
Speaker 9: special and why and what's it grounded in and what
Speaker 9: are we really feeling? And Michael Greif, who's the director,
Speaker 9: is a big part of that too. He's kind of
Speaker 9: like directing kind of emotionally the arc. How we have
Speaker 9: to get them to buy into this kind of emotions
Speaker 9: that when we when we come around later, we see Ali,
Speaker 9: she's quite agitated. She's irritated at her mother. She can't
Speaker 9: she feels like she's holding her back, and ultimately at
Speaker 9: the end we see that this love story between them
Speaker 9: is what's what's what's the most dependable of all things
Speaker 9: and you have to kind of go through this rocky
Speaker 9: part to discover who's there for you, you know. So so
Speaker 9: he Michael was also really good at storytelling and how
Speaker 9: do we really bring that emotion out. So that's it's
Speaker 9: really a team a team effort. But that's kind of
Speaker 9: how it all flows together.
Speaker 4: I'm happy you said that one of the one that
Speaker 4: story ended, and this is how you know it's a
Speaker 4: great show.
Speaker 3: I'm like, we need more.
Speaker 2: Right, I'm ready. I'm like, what's next?
Speaker 3: We need more? Like Disney, is there another actor this
Speaker 3: part too? It's incredible. I want.
Speaker 4: I talked about the music a little bit because Kaleidoscope
Speaker 4: is one of the pieces in the in the play.
Speaker 3: I'm like, this is a great record. Then I watched it. Yes,
Speaker 3: I'm like I had to ask him, like, this is
Speaker 3: that's Hell's because I've met the Hell's Kitchen grow up
Speaker 3: in the nineties. Like the only time I ever heard
Speaker 3: of Hell's Kitchen was in the movie Sleepers. Wow, and
Speaker 3: I was like, remember that.
Speaker 2: Movie That's I didn't really put that together.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm like and then you came and was like, oh,
Speaker 3: she's from Hell's Kitchen.
Speaker 6: He is like, Okay.
Speaker 4: I talked about the nostalgia of being back there, being
Speaker 4: back with the talented cast.
Speaker 3: I know, like I told you that. I mean, the
Speaker 3: cast is incredible. Please you gotta go see this but.
Speaker 4: What was that feeling? Like I'm looking in the hallways,
Speaker 4: I'm like, is that the room?
Speaker 3: Does she played the piano? No?
Speaker 2: Is that like pretty incredible?
Speaker 9: I mean the building has been a big part of
Speaker 9: my foundation obviously in my life, like we discussed and
Speaker 9: those opportunities, but also as my son, Egypt he was
Speaker 9: first starting to play piano. I actually called my original
Speaker 9: piano teacher, the woman who taught me, and I said, would.
Speaker 2: You work with my son?
Speaker 9: He's only four, but like he has he has something
Speaker 9: that it feels like he's gravitating towards this. She's like,
Speaker 9: I don't usually do it, but let's see, and she
Speaker 9: ends up working with him. So for years from since
Speaker 9: he was four, so probably about eight or nine, he
Speaker 9: was with the same piano teacher that taught me. So
Speaker 9: I would take him to the building, that building, and
Speaker 9: we would go and do his piano lessons. And when
Speaker 9: I was there, you know, all the people tell your
Speaker 9: mama said, oh my god, it's so excited.
Speaker 2: No, I haven't seen you in so long.
Speaker 9: Like you know, so it would be this beautiful like
Speaker 9: homecoming all the time, which feels so great. So I
Speaker 9: feel like I have a beautiful connection there, but obviously
Speaker 9: this this being based in Manhattan Plaza, I mean, it's
Speaker 9: incredible to go back. So we felt like doing a
Speaker 9: video for Kaleidoscope, which is one of the new songs
Speaker 9: written specifically for Hell's Kitchen. It felt right to be
Speaker 9: there because we talk about the Ellington Room, which is
Speaker 9: a place where Ali meets Miss Eliza Jane, who's the
Speaker 9: woman who teaches her about the piano and the craft
Speaker 9: of it and how she can like grow through it,
Speaker 9: and it's in the Ellington Room. So going to the
Speaker 9: real one was really amazing. Also for the Cavs too,
Speaker 9: because they like live in this world, we.
Speaker 2: Create it, and so to see it like.
Speaker 7: There is.
Speaker 2: Real special, real special.
Speaker 8: Well, if anybody has not seen it, I highly would recommend.
Speaker 8: And it's being played like it's like an everyday thing.
Speaker 2: Right every day.
Speaker 9: We got Matinee and Matinee on Wednesdays, so there's two
Speaker 9: shows on Wednesdays, so these guys are doing eight shows
Speaker 9: a week. They are killing it. The vocals are constantly
Speaker 9: on point. I can't even believe it. This singing runs
Speaker 9: that I ain't even never saying. I'm like they're destructive.
Speaker 9: So it's it's every day it just opened. It's so
Speaker 9: exciting to see it. It's thrilling, and bring the whole family,
Speaker 9: because there's nobody that doesn't belong in Hell's kitchen.
Speaker 8: We appreciate you, and like I said, I think it's
Speaker 8: dope that you did it because even though it's not
Speaker 8: like totally based on your life story, how you're tying
Speaker 8: in the music, it's just interesting to see. I wonder
Speaker 8: even at what point did you know? Like you even
Speaker 8: because I'm thinking of Nas That's the first person I
Speaker 8: thought about, did you When I'm thinking like I'm when
Speaker 8: I'm watching it, I'm like, I want to see the
Speaker 8: story that's based upon you know, illmatic, then going to
Speaker 8: it was written, then going to I am than still mad,
Speaker 8: like and it's all tying in. It's a story, right,
Speaker 8: It's like I could see a kid in the project
Speaker 8: all way and then he gives money and now he's
Speaker 8: in a mansion, he's doing fly and then he's like
Speaker 8: everything like kind of he has like an awakening, Like
Speaker 8: I'm just kind of I actually.
Speaker 9: Love this because I love NOAs too and as an artist,
Speaker 9: and I feel like what I love about this particular
Speaker 9: perspective of Hell's kitchen. And how I can see how
Speaker 9: that would apply is that you really are seeing how
Speaker 9: a person kind of develops before anything of any significance
Speaker 9: happens to them, before anything of any significance happens to
Speaker 9: any of us. There's all these years, all these years
Speaker 9: of like growth and the hard parts, And I feel
Speaker 9: like that's what you're expressing. Like even if it was
Speaker 9: an artist like a nas or an artist like an
Speaker 9: ex even like I think about that sometimes too, like
Speaker 9: what was it when he was you know, six.
Speaker 2: And eight and ten and twelve? And so I hear
Speaker 2: what you mean?
Speaker 9: Why that's so interesting to get into what forms are
Speaker 9: the person?
Speaker 3: I got the title for looking at my project window.
Speaker 3: We're going to use this song, good one. That's a
Speaker 3: good one.
Speaker 4: It can start when he watches rock Sane Chantell Mali
Speaker 4: mal Hey.
Speaker 3: So that point.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well, and how can the people get tickets? How
Speaker 6: can they? Yeah?
Speaker 9: Yes, well you go to Hell's Kitchen dot com for sure,
Speaker 9: you know, so excited for you to be able to
Speaker 9: tune into the audience. Hell's Kitchen Broadway is our handle,
Speaker 9: so you can get into like the storyline and introducing
Speaker 9: yourself to the characters and falling in love with Nick
Speaker 9: and Davis and Jersey and Ali and miss Eliza Chain
Speaker 9: and all of these people from you know, from the show.
Speaker 2: So that's the listen.
Speaker 9: I'm so glad. I feel like I wish I could
Speaker 9: talk to you for at least for sure, you know,
Speaker 9: at lista another thirty minutes. It feels like we got
Speaker 9: layers to go, but I guess that means you got
Speaker 9: to do it again.
Speaker 6: You gave us the wrap so well.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you for being here with.
Speaker 8: Us, and it's a great date night. It's definitely gready
Speaker 8: to go to the Broadway. You're gonna add this shop house.
Speaker 8: You guys told me you go to the play then
Speaker 8: it's literally block away.
Speaker 9: Oh the chop houses here right here. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 9: matter of fact, why happened. I need to come here
Speaker 9: next time.
Speaker 8: Before I'm gonna take my niece. She's actually an actress.
Speaker 8: She does plays, so she's nine years old, so I'm
Speaker 8: gonna take her to see it because appreciate.
Speaker 4: I have to congratulate you before we go on the
Speaker 4: exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, and god, quote.
Speaker 4: You said that you wanted to help people normalize the
Speaker 4: love affair of art, and I feel like you've done
Speaker 4: it in music. You've done it obviously with the book museum,
Speaker 4: but you've done it again with this. So I want
Speaker 4: to congratulations.
Speaker 2: Wow, thank you, thank you so much for bringing up giants.
Speaker 2: Giants is a big deal for all of us.
Speaker 9: I'm so excited that we get to be able to
Speaker 9: have this exhibition of the Dean collection in the Brooklyn
Speaker 9: Museum first place it will be. It'll definitely tour as well.
Speaker 9: But again, we get to see ourselves on these walls,
Speaker 9: these massive, huge walls, and it feels different. It feels different.
Speaker 9: I don't know if y'all got to see it yet,
Speaker 9: but it's also a perfect weekend. You do Help's Kitchen,
Speaker 9: you do giants, and you about to like you good
Speaker 9: for and you.
Speaker 6: Use the skincare line to make.
Speaker 9: Sure before your glow is get your glow popping with
Speaker 9: Key Soul Care and make sure your soul is intact.
Speaker 3: All the above.
Speaker 6: You have. It sounds like a good weekend to me.
Speaker 4: Yes, you're good for at least a year, at least
Speaker 4: at least until are for sure.
Speaker 2: Y'all are going to ring.
Speaker 6: Oh man? All right? God, thank you for Rocko US.
Speaker 6: We'll see you next week. Peace please.
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