Coming Home with Hell’s Kitchen

Charlotte native 'Zaiah Ellis has a remarkably succinct description of Hell’s Kitchen, the touring Broadway musical he’s featured in: “A 17-year-old falls in love with a piano and a boy at the same time.”

That 17-year-old is Alicia Keys, and Hell’s Kitchen is the semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story based on a year in her young life. Her romance with the boy, whom her single mother didn’t approve of, fizzled. But the romance with the piano? That’s going pretty well.  

The singer/songwriter/pianist has sold over 90 million records and won 17 Grammy Awards. So, it was no surprise when the jukebox musical featuring her hits was a hit, too.

When the show debuted on Broadway in April 2024, critics raved. Variety described it as “a sparkling story paying homage to New York” as well as to “that beautiful and heartbreaking transition between girlhood and womanhood.” It garnered 13 Tony Award nominations and won for Best Leading Actress and Best Featured Actress.

Hometown boy hits it big

The musical depicts Keys (born Alicia Augello Cook) chasing her artistic dream. But everyone you see on stage was once a 17-year-old kid with a dream. And now, they’re living it.

‘Zaiah (ZAY-uh, as in the last two syllables of Isaiah) Ellis’s Broadway dreams took hold at Northwest School of the Arts under the tutelage of the legendary Corey Mitchell, who won (out of 4,000 nominees) the first-ever Tony Award for a theater educator in 2015.

Ellis has seen shows at the Belk Theater and was on Belk’s stage for the Blumeys in 2014, the year Northwest staged Shrek the Musical. But being on his hometown stage as part of a Broadway tour is decidedly different.

“This is something I’ve been looking forward to since — I won’t lie — before I even got this contract,” he said. When he noticed Charlotte on the tour schedule during his auditions, he considered it a good omen: “The universe was telling me: This is the job for you.”

It’s the first professional theater job for the 27-year-old Ellis, who graduated from the Hartt School, the performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford in Connecticut. He stayed in Hartford after graduation and was bartending when his agent called to ask if he wanted to  audition.

He couldn’t say “yes” fast enough.

As a member of the ensemble, he’s something of a utility player. He acts, sings, even dances a little, although he said, “I haven’t danced professionally in a while” before joking, “You know, I’m starting to creep up there in age.”
He considers himself an actor, singer and dancer in that order.

(The company of the North American Tour of Alicia Keys' Hell's Kitchen. Photo by Marc J Franklin)

A quick study

He can now add drummer to that list.

Much of the action in Hell’s Kitchen takes place on the streets of that Manhattan neighborhood adjacent to the theater district. Street musicians provided the soundtrack to Keys’ teen years, and they’re a big part of this show.

Ellis’s role involves playing the bucket drum, an inverted industrial container that street musicians use as a makeshift drum.  

Had he ever played before?

“Not even a little bit,” he said. “But it was really cool to learn.”  

Before the final call-back, hopefuls were offered a 15-minute lesson in bucket drumming, if they were interested. Ellis was, although he said, “I didn’t see how I could learn anything in 15 minutes. But the associate director was so efficient and such a good teacher, I picked it up quickly. I think that’s what got me the role.”

Look for Ellis and two other bucket drummers at Stage Right (for the audience, that’s the left side of the stage) near the beginning of the show.

And throughout the show, notice the dancers. Ellis said they’re phenomenal. “There are some street dancers in the cast who don’t have the training typical of Broadway performers, but they’re amazing,” he said. “Camille A. Brown, the choreographer, encourages everyone to lean into their individuality and make it their own. It’s all very authentic to what you’d have seen on a New York street in the ‘90s.”

(The company of the North American Tour of Alicia Keys' Hell's Kitchen. Photo by Marc J Franklin)

Hear the hits in a new way

Ellis was a Keys fan before he was cast. But you don’t have to know her songs to appreciate the musical, he said.  

And if you know Keys’ entire catalog by heart, “you’ll hear those songs in an entirely new way,” he said. Take her 2007 hit, “No One,” the song Entertainment Weekly called one of “The 10 Best Songs of 2007.” One of the highlights of Act II, “No One” is still a love song, but not a romantic one. It’s about maternal love.

Most of the music in the show comes from Keys herself, but three new songs were written just for the show. One of those, “Kaleidoscope,” has become a fan favorite. “Everyone seems to leave the theater singing that song,” Ellis said.

When Ellis isn’t at the Belk Theater the week of Sept. 8, you’re likely to find him at one of his favorite places: Duckworth's, Pinky's Westside Grill and his beloved Bojanles. 

If you’re in the audience that week and notice an enthusiastic cheering section, it may be Ellis’ family and friends. “I plan to have so many of my people in the audience; it’ll be crazy,” he said. “Being on this stage in my hometown means the world to me.”