Exclusive: Tony Award Nominee Kecia Lewis talks Hell's Kitchen: A New Musical, Playing Miss Liza Jane & singing Alicia Keys' songs
Recently nominated for a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical was Kecia Lewis for her role as Miss Liza Jane in Hell's Kitchen: A New Musical.
Ali is a 17-year-old girl full of fire – searching for freedom, passion and her place in the world. How she finds them is a New York City coming-of-age story you've never felt before – HELL’S KITCHEN, a new musical from 16-time Grammy® Award winner Alicia Keys, whose songs and experiences growing up in NY inspire a story made for Broadway.
Rebellious and stifled by an overprotective single mother, Ali is lost until she meets her mentor: a neighbor who opens her heart and mind to the power of the piano. Set to the rhythm of the 90s, HELL’S KITCHEN is a love story between a mother and daughter. It's about finding yourself, your purpose, and the community that lifts you. Come remember where dreams begin.
The “powerhouse cast” (Variety) is led by Shoshana Bean, Brandon Victor Dixon, Kecia Lewis, Chris Lee, and Maleah Joi Moon. HELL’S KITCHEN is directed by four-time Tony Award® nominee Michael Greif, with choreography by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, a book by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diaz – and the music of Keys, featuring new songs and her greatest hits.
For Lewis, who plays Ali’s neighbor Miss Liza Jane and teaches her to play the piano, it’s been a long time coming when receiving a nomination of this magnitude. A veteran stage performer with 40 years with experience, Lewis started out at the age of 18 the original production of Dreamgirls. She was the understudy of Effie Melody White played by Jennifer Holliday and also played the role of Edna Burke
She previously won an Obie Award and a nomination for the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for her role as as Sister Rosetta Tharpe in Marie and Rosetta. Her other Broadway appearances have been in hit musicals such as Chicago, Big River, Ain’t Misbehavin, The Gospel at Colonus and Leap of Faith.
Besides the Tony nomination this year, Lewis also received a Outer Critics Circle Awards nomination and a Lucille Lortel Awards nomination for Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical for Hell’s Kitchen.
Blackfilmandtv.com’s Wilson Morales spoke with Ms. Lewis prior to the Tony Awards nomination about Hell's Kitchen: A New Musical, Playing Miss Liza Jane & singing Alicia Keys' songs.