Let's create the soil from which they can grow on their own
Hell's Kitchen — I booked my tickets a whole month in advance and have been counting down ever since!!
Today I finally saw it for the first time!!
But what is this...?
Wow, the numbers are lol so good
These songs... I feel like I've heard them all before
Songs I already loved, all woven together into a medley...
I'm absolutely thrilled!!
And unlike other large-venue productions,
the ensemble dancers had a remarkably substantial presence throughout the show.
And thanks to that,
I now know exactly what it means to have that hip, electric energy!!
If Rent — a musical with a similar feel —
leaned a little darker and heavier,
perhaps because this show is based on the true story of pop singer Alicia Keys,
it centers on the story between a parent and child during adolescence,
and unfolds that story as its main thread —
giving the whole production a bright, uplifting feel.
So there's really nothing to love or hate about it —
it's the kind of show everyone can sit back and enjoy!!
For a large-venue production, the staging isn't exactly lavish,
but it's simple in a way that expresses everything so well?
The elevator staging was great too.
There's definitely a New York sensibility here that's distinct from anything Korean.
The direction in the Act 2 ending was just stunning!!
As "Empire State of Mind," which Alicia Keys featured on,
plays and the New York night skyline comes into view —
right, this isn't Korea!!
This is Manhattan lol — the rush of emotion in that moment...
What struck me most
was that rather than forcing a tidy happy ending,
the show presents a story anyone can relate to,
and simply shows us Ali working through it all.
Watching the show, I found myself thinking back to my own high school days — the trouble I caused, the way I never listened —
and how it wasn't until my late twenties that I finally began to feel, even just a little, the sincerity behind everything my parents had done.
I made up my mind to do better...
I started being more affectionate on purpose, and began saying out loud how grateful I was.
I came to understand that being like my parents is no easy thing —
that it's only possible through enormous sacrifice.
I regretted having realized it so late,
but told them I was grateful to know it now, even if it took this long,
and that I would do better going forward — and I remember crying as I said it
In the show, Liza Jane tells Ali
that if the ancestors are the roots, then Ali is the young branch just beginning to bud —
and that what they are doing is creating the soil
so that Ali can walk her own path.
I think it's the same between parents and children...
Not doing everything for your child, and not steering them in the direction you want —
but letting them find their own way,
and whatever they encounter along that path,
giving them the foundation to keep moving forward on their own...
That is what I took away from Hell's Kitchen.
Today I got to see it with a fellow musical theatre fan from HTC cohort 3,
and being able to share a few thoughts about it afterward made the whole experience even better!!
