Pittsburgh Cultural Trust PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh

AKW Entertainment and producers of the Grammy and Tony Award-winning musical HELL’S KITCHEN, the hit Broadway musical from 17-time Grammy Award winner, Alicia Keys, are thrilled to announce the cast for the North American tour when it premieres in Pittsburgh, PA at the Benedum Center, 237 7th Street, from November 4 – 9, 2025.  This event is presented by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, part of the 2025-2026 PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh Series.

Tickets are on sale now. For tickets and information, visit Pittsburgh Cultural Trust official ticket sources:  online at TrustArts.org; in person at Theater Square Box Office, 655 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222; or by calling 412-456-4800.  Orders for groups of 10+ tickets or more may be placed by calling 412-471-6930, email groupsales@trustarts.org, or submit a group ticket reservation online at TrustArts.org/groupsales.  

The North American Tour of HELL’S KITCHEN will star Maya Drake as Ali, Kennedy Caughell as Jersey, Roz White as Miss Liza Jane, Desmond Sean Ellington as Davis, and JonAvery Worrell as Knuck. Joining them on stage will be Stemarciae Bain, Miya Bass, Jaylen T. Bryant, Rashada Dawan, Sherée Marcelle Dunwell, ’Zaiah Ellis, Mae-Lynn Flores, Marques Furr, Destini Hendricks, Jeffrey May Hyche, Alfred Jackson, GiGi Lewis, Christopher Miller, Usman Ali Mughal, Chikezie Nwankwo, Sangeetha “Sang” Santhebennur, Marley Soleil, Beda Spindola, Asten Stewart, Teetee, Sydney Townsend, Timothy Wilson, and Ethan Zundell. Together, this company will bring Alicia Keys’ music and Kristoffer Diaz’s story to vibrant life in cities across the country.  For more information about the cast, visit:  https://hellskitchen.com/tour/.

HELL’S KITCHEN is directed by five-time Tony Award nominee Michael Greif (Rent, Dear Evan Hansen and The Notebook) and features choreography by five-time Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, a book by Pulitzer Prize finalist Kristoffer Diazand the music of Alicia Keys. 

Your journey begins with Ali, a 17-year-old girl full of fire, searching for freedom, passion, and her place in the world. Along the way, you’ll meet the musical mentor who changes her life, her dynamic family, and the neighborhood that helps her grow. Relatable, raw, and refreshingly fun, HELL’S KITCHEN is a celebration of finding yourself, your purpose, and the people who lift you up.

More than a performance, this experience pulls you out of your seat with Alicia Keys’ greatest hits and brand-new songs written exclusively for the show — brought to life through exhilarating choreography.

Feel the energy of this multi-award-winning musical and experience where dreams begin: HELL’S KITCHEN!

Hailed by the New York Times as a Critic’s Pick that is “thrilling from beginning to end – a rare must-see,” HELL’S KITCHENwon two 2025 Tony Awards and the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Now in its second year on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre, the musical continues to play to rapturous audiences nightly.

The massively talented creative team also includes Tony Award® nominee Robert Brill (Scenic Design), Tony Award® winner Dede Ayite (Costume Design), Tony Award® winner Natasha Katz (Lighting Design), Tony Award® winner Gareth Owen(Sound Design), Tony Award® nominee Peter Nigrini (Projection Design), Mia Neal (Hair and Wig Design), Michael Clifton(Makeup Design), Monet (Associate Director), Ricky Tripp (Associate Choreographer), and Foresight Theatrical (General Management). Casting by Heidi Griffiths, CSA & Kate Murray, CSA. The Production Stage Manager is Veronica Aglow and the Company Manager is Deborah Barrigan.

The music team of HELL’S KITCHEN includes orchestrations by Tony Award® winner Tom Kitt and Tony Award® nominee Adam Blackstone, arrangements by Alicia Keys and Adam Blackstone, music consulting by Tom Kitt. Lily Ling is the Associate Music Supervisor and Emily Orr is the Music Director for the tour.

Aaron Lustbader serves as Executive Producer and Mandy Hackett as Consulting Producer. DML Productions, The Sunshine Group, The Jacobs Family, John Gore Organization, Clara Wu Tsai, Score 3 Partners, No Guarantees Productions, Front Row Productions, Sharpton Swindal Productions, Grove Entertainment, Terria Joseph, James L. Nederlander, Candy Spelling, Universal Music Publishing, Independent Presenters Network, Della Pietra Spark Theatricals, TodayTix ARGU, Julie Yorn, Andy Nahas, Serena Williams/Nine Two Six Productions and The Public Theater are Co-Producers.

For more information, visit Hell’s Kitchen Broadway’s Hit Musical From Alicia Keys, North American Tour:  https://hellskitchen.com/tour/
cast biographies:  https://hellskitchen.com/tour/the-creative-team.

Fans are encouraged to visit HellsKitchen.com to sign up for tour updates and exclusive content.
Follow along at @HellsKitchenBway.   

The Benedum Center, Theater Square Complex and Cultural District are projects of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  For more information: PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh:  TrustArts.org/Broadway; Pittsburgh Cultural Trust venue entry requirements:TrustArts.org/welcome; accessibility services, call guest services at 412-456-6666 or visit TrustArts.org/TheaterAccessibility. For more information about Pittsburgh’s Cultural District, visit TrustArts.org/visit and CulturalDistrict.org. 

Photo Credit: Maya Drake as Ali in the North American Tour of Hell's Kitchen, the hit Broadway musical from Alicia Keys. Photo by Marc J Franklin.

"We are wishing a huge congratulations to former Carnegie Mellon School of Drama faculty member Paul Tazewell for his historic #Oscar win tonight! 

Tazewell was awarded Best Costume Design for his compelling creations in Wicked Movie, the first Black man to receive the honor.” CMU School of Drama

Tazewell was a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama from 2003 to 2006. He was an associate professor and resident artist of costume design.
Paul Tazewell is the first Black man to win the Oscar for best costume design. He won an Academy Award on Sunday for his work on "Wicked."

Tazewell was nominated for an Oscar in 2022 for costume design on "West Side Story" and became the first Black man nominated in the category.

This isn't Tazewell's first big award. He won a Tony for his costumes in "Hamilton."

For his work on "Wicked," Tazewell designed more than 1,000 costumes, which were worked on by 70 people.

Glinda and Elphaba had 60 costumes, each with more than 25 looks for the movie.

Odd Future's fearless leader Tyler, The Creator is an outspoken producer and performer, unafraid to say exactly what he thinks with devastatingly tight rhythmic flow and discordant, hypnotic samples. Tyler's songs often take the form of stream-of-consciousness style catharsis, with no subject too taboo. Catch him live as he performs across North American on the Chromakopia World Tour in support of his new album Chromakopia, led by the critically acclaimed psychedelic lead single Noid!

Tyler's live shows are just as anarchic and volatile as his songs; mass hysteria and mosh pits are common, yet his palpable connection with the audience is often the calm, however short-lived, in the center of the storm as he talks between songs. Don't miss this opportunity to see this rabble-rouser in his element!

Ticket Information

This showcase has featured early films from Ryan Coogler (Sinners, Black Panther), Stephen Caple Jr. (Creed II, Transformers: Rise of The Beast) and Reinaldo Marcus Green (King Richard, Bob Marley: One Love).

In Good Hands tells the compelling story of Dr. Diana Asante, a pediatric emergency physician navigating the challenges brought on by her last patients of the shift: a white boy unfamiliar with a Black female doctor, and an African American teenager caught in a dire situation with law enforcement. These incidents were drawn from real-life events of Dr. Owusu-Ansah, who works in a nationally recognized children’s hospital in Pittsburgh and also recently consulted for HBO’s The Pitt.

The film was written by Yasmine Crawley, a former CBS Page who currently works as an assistant and production associate at See it Now Studios, which produces documentaries and unscripted series for Paramount+ and CBS. Crawley and Dr. Sylvia participated in the PITTch Storytelling Initiative, which was funded in 2021 by a Richard King Mellon Foundation grant to help create more local career opportunities in southwestern Pennsylvania's growing film industry. In Good Hands was made as a community teaching film with a diverse group of students and community members working in front of and behind the camera, led by a producer/professor with Hollywood experience.

The film features a talented cast, including Chanell C.J. Harris in the lead role of Dr. Asante. After spending 18 years in LA working behind the lens in the music industry,  winning ASCAP FILM & TV Award for her original work on the BET hit show Real Husbands of Hollywood, Harris moved back to her native Pittsburgh, where she has curated and created original music for "The Writer's Landscape," a permanent exhibition at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. The film was shot by cinematographer Haji Muya, a Somali refugee who learned his craft in Pittsburgh, believing that media at its best could do what the city’s famed Fred Rogers suggested, and “make good attractive.”

In Good Hands tackles complex themes of racial bias and equity in the medical field.

“We aim to create positive change through storytelling that highlights the realities and complexities of patient interactions in emergency medicine,” said Dr. Owusu-Ansah, who is also the medical director of Prehospital and Emergency Medicine services at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh.

The film was directed by Nick Buchheit, at the invitation of his friend and collaborator, cinematographer Muya. Buccheit is a filmmaker and co-founder of Covalent, a video production company headquartered in Pittsburgh. He directs commercials and writes for brands ranging from GoDaddy to Big Brothers Big Sisters. After spending over a decade shaping and guiding narratives for corporate America, Buccheit is championing more personal, creative, and socially reflective stories that showcase his passion for grounded performances and emotionally honest narratives, whether serious, strange, or somewhere in between.

In Good Hands was produced by Carl Kurlander, who returned to his hometown to teach after a career as a screenwriter (St. Elmo’s Fire) and TV writer/producer (Saved By the Bell)  He ended up on The Oprah Winfrey Show for leaving Hollywood to teach at the University of Pittsburgh, where he ended up producing a number of award-winning documentaries on the Salk polio vaccine, transplant pioneer Dr. Tom Starzl, and a new film on playwright August Wilson — all Pittsburghers who helped change our world. He is also the founding producer of the Pittsburgh Lens at Pitt’s Center for Creativity, which ran The PITTch Storytelling Initiative.

“We had over 70 entries for PITTch, and what stood out about Dr. Sylvia’s story and Yasmine’s script was how impactful it was, but also how somehow we have yet to see a lead character in a medical drama or movie who is a female African American. Dr. Sylvia’s work to get the Freedom House Ambulance Service story out there and reboot that historic EMS program is inspiring, and it is fitting that when Yasmine was a student at Pitt, she worked on the documentary we are doing on playwright August Wilson, who was also inspired by the compelling stories he found in Pittsburgh,” said Kurlander.