Making its Broadway debut tonight (Thursday March 28), Hell’s Kitchen is already one of the most anticipated new shows of the season — and while many already know Alicia Keys’ neighborhood connections, there’s another creative on the team with West Side roots: set designer Robert Brill, who based much of the show’s architecture on his time living in Hell’s Kitchen.
When the Tony-nominated designer — known for his distinctive visual work on shows like Assassins, Guys and Dolls, Ain’t Too Proud, How to Dance in Ohio, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, the blockbuster 1998 and 2014 Cabaret revivals and more — got a call from director Michael Greif about a project centered on Keys’ childhood growing up in Manhattan Plaza with its eyes on Broadway, he jumped at the chance to revisit his former home turf.
“Although I now live on the West Coast, my connection to this neighborhood runs deep,” Robert told W42ST. “Living in Hell’s Kitchen marked a significant chapter of my life, and it’s always been a source of inspiration for both me and my daughter, not to mention our love for Manhattan Plaza. So when the opportunity presented itself to collaborate on this piece, I knew it would be meaningful on so many levels.”
Though Robert is now based in California, where he works as a professor of design at UC San Diego’s Department of Theatre and Dance, he fondly recalls moving to Hell’s Kitchen in 1995 with ex-wife Loretta Greco (currently the Artistic Director of Boston’s Huntington theater company). “We’re both theatre artists and we were thrilled to find a vibrant community that had all the warmth of being brick and mortar, yet steps from the vibrant Broadway and off-Broadway scene,” said Robert. “The fabric of the neighborhood is so incredibly diverse and family friendly. It’s something that isn’t always legible, being adjacent to the hustle of Times Square, but it captured our attention and got us thinking about how we could be a part of that story.”
Just as Hell’s Kitchen’s Ali finds inspiration all around the neighborhood, “this midtown community was our creative hive,” said Robert of the pair’s time on W47th Street, where they were lucky enough to pick from “four different units in the same building!” He added, “It sort of set the tone for what was to come — where anything felt possible — and there’s something satisfying about taking on the city’s daily challenges.”
Living and working in the neighborhood was also “a privilege,” said Robert. “With my design studio in the Garment District, PS212 just blocks away on W48th, our home on W47th, and my work in the theatre community, every day brought something different, and that’s played a big part in shaping our creative lifestyles.”
In addition to investing their artistic energy into the area, Robert and Loretta committed to raising a family in the neighborhood. Daughter Sophia was born in Hell’s Kitchen, attended 43rd Street Kids Preschool in Manhattan Plaza as well as PS212, located in the very same building where Alicia Keys made her way at the Professional Performing Arts School. “We had a feeling, just like in our musical, that raising a child in the city would be a rewarding experience, where challenges could be transformed into virtues,” Robert said, adding that local organizations like the 43rd Street Preschool provided an “outstanding and nurturing learning environment — laying the groundwork for us as parents to invest in the future of our community.”
“We all agree that growing up in this dynamic and diverse midtown neighborhood was an invaluable experience, shaping Sophia into an adventuresome, street-smart, empathetic individual with a strong moral compass,” said Robert.
Manhattan Plaza in particular “became a second home” to their family, added Robert, who said that it was through the MP and Hell’s Kitchen community that their family met lifelong friends like Heidi Latsky, Stephen Jones and their daughter Charlotte. “Nothing beats Halloween trick-or-treating throughout the 46 floors of Manhattan Plaza!”
When the time came to dream up a stageworthy homage to Hell’s Kitchen, Robert turned to Heidi and Stephen to help him recall Manhattan Plaza’s distinctive style — and in particular, details like the building’s many elevators and The Ellington Room. “The Ellington Room was a big place that things would happen in the building,” Keys told EW in an interview about Hell’s Kitchen’s setting. “This room is very central to the community. Those who have grown up in Manhattan Plaza [and] who have come to see the show [have been] taken by how special the representation of this building and the character of this building is.”
Photographing the building’s exterior to capture “its architectural rhythms,” Robert knew “the visual world onstage would be streamlined, it was important to refresh my memory on its spaces and details,” he said. His time in Hell’s Kitchen factored prominently into the musical’s design — Hell’s Kitchen takes place in the early 1990s “around when I began spending more time in NY as a young emerging designer.”
Combining the immersive, “overwhelming, kaleidoscope of images, sights and sounds” of the neighborhood and the city at large, “I began by exploring how an onstage band could represent the community of artists and musicians that shaped Ali’s creative sphere and fostered her passion for music,” said Robert.
“This concept evolved into two towering structures housing the band, symbolizing the iconic Manhattan Plaza towers,” he revealed. “From there, we began to imagine a complex series of abstract structural elements, echoing the architecture and the rhythm of alternating balconies that make-up the façade of the towers. These elements remain dynamically in motion throughout the performance, aimed at crafting a fluid, ever-changing landscape that mirrors the vibrancy of the city.”
Robert’s evocative set — and the musical — were a smash hit in a sold-out run at The Public Theater, with the production quickly confirming a transfer to Broadway’s historic Shubert Theatre just in time for the 2024 Tony Award nominating period. A new, larger space “is going to allow us to dramatically increase our set vertically,” said Robert as his team made tweaks ahead of this evening’s first preview performance. “We’ve also integrated new technical enhancements that’ll take the design’s multi-layered experience to the next level. Designing a space for Alicia’s iconic music and this beautiful, inspiring heartfelt journey has been absolutely thrilling,” the designer added. “It’s a powerful reminder that anything is achievable.”
And while Hell’s Kitchen has changed significantly since Robert first set foot on W47th Street, “I’ve always been drawn to the allure and tension that defines New York City, and it’s been fascinating to watch it evolve,” he said. “Certainly 42nd Street has had one or two facelifts, and we’d probably all agree that navigating the streets of Hell’s Kitchen is a bit less perilous.
“That said, amidst all the re-branding, I have to admit that a small part of me misses the grit and edge of its notorious past. We’ve sacrificed some of that character and much of the bespoke charm of small businesses,” he added, “but it’s great to see that there’s still a community of trailblazers who are resilient and thriving!”
I enjoyed reading this article as my husband and I had similar life-changing experiences while living (and growing up) in Hell’s Kitchen. I was the website designer for 43rd Street Kids Preschool and it was one of my most favorite design projects. Even though the school has closed its doors, I have some screenshots of the website if you would like me to forward them to you to accompany this or other related articles.
My son, Adam, born in 1982, attended the 43rd St. Preschool. My wife (now ex) and I moved into MP the summer of 1977, one of its first residents. It was grand. I moved out in 1992 but my ex, Bonnie still lives there and she has always loved it. I created a lot of music during my time there. I even worked one summer at the theatre restaurant Curtain Up! Manhattan Plaza is a true oasis.
Robert Brill has been a dear friend of ours and we always been impressed with his major talents. Since living in Manhattan Plaza for nearly 30 years, it was always exciting to go to the Ellington Room on Father’s Day to watch Margaret Pine’s annual recital. Our daughter, Charlotte, performed for several years and Alicia attended many of them. We appreciated Alicia’s attention to the show and especially to the kids. I would also like to give a shout out to Margaret for her special talent of teaching and inspiring those children including Alicia herself.