‘Hell’s Kitchen’ review: Alicia Keys’ musical has fabulous songs, lacking story

Murtada Elfadl Arriving a whopping 26 years after 1997’s cult-favorite Nickelodeon comedy, “Good Burger 2” fits the streaming-era trend in which audiences seek a nostalgia bump reconnecting with old favorites, like “Coming to America” or “Hocus Pocus” — not exactly classics so much as modest pleasures from more innocent times. In this obnoxiously unfunny followup from Paramount+, stars Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson return as hapless fast food employees.

Catching up on Netflix’s GeekedWeek with some trailers we missed. Next up is “The Brothers Sun,” a new series starring Michelle Yeoh.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Russell Tovey wants you to know who David Robilliard was. He was a queer British poet and visual artist who died of AIDS in 1988 when he was just 36 years old. “I first learned about David at the ICA in London,” the “American Horror Story” star tells Variety, speaking from his London-area home.

Alicia Silverstone’s son, Bear, is all grown up. The “Clueless” actress brought her 12-year-old to the Los Angeles Clippers game against the Houston Rockets on Friday, November 17 — and he nearly towered over her.Before the match, Bear was photographed shooting hoops on the Crypto.com arena court while his famous mom looked on from the sidelines.Bear, whom Silverstone shares with ex-husband Christopher Jarecki, wore a Clippers jersey over a hoodie sweatshirt during the rare outing.Silverstone, 47, and Bear are big fans of the NBA, as she revealed in December 2022 that she acquired a signed jersey from Milwaukee Bucks athlete Giannis Antetokounmpo for Hanukkah.The “Reptile” actress has raised eyebrows over the years, however, for some of her parenting choices with her only child.

Alicia Keys is officially a musical theatre composer!

The IDF’s ground war in Gaza to root out the Hamas perpetrators of the Oct 7 terror attack has prompted demonstrations as casualties and the death toll mounts. As tensions continue to mount, groups of benefactors have focused on not allowing Oct 7 to be dismissed. After 45 minutes of gruesome footage shot by terrorists was shown in Hollywood and New York, some survivors are being flown to Hollywood to speak. That happened Saturday at the home of producer Lawrence Bender, and more than 100 gathered to hear the experiences of several survivors. One was Ella Shani, a 14-year old survivor of the attack on her Kubbutz Be’eri. Her father and neighbors were murdered, and her 16 year old cousin was kidnapped and is being held hostage. Another is Tomer Peretz, an Israel American artist on holiday in Israel when he volunteered with the Zaka-Rapid response unit of volunteers for mass casualty disasters, and was one of the first men to witness the carnage. The third was Ariel Ein-Gal, who was on the beach asleep when the missiles started pounding the beach, and suddenly terrorists landed by boat, firing AK-47s at him and his friends. Here is Ariel’s account of his harrowing experience, written as a guest column for Deadline.

Richard Madeley, a host on ITV's Good Morning Britain, broke his silence on his daughter Chloe Madeley's split from husband James Haskell during the show on Monday morning. He referred to James Haskell as his son-in-law, even though his daughter Chloe Madeley recently announced her split from the former rugby star.

Aramide Tinubu “Hell’s Kitchen,” playwright Kristoffer Diaz‘s new musical with songs by Alicia Keys, begins at a dinner table. 17-year-old Ali (a magnetic Maleah Joi Moon, making her professional debut) has dinner with her mom, Jersey (Shoshana Bean), in their Hell’s Kitchen apartment every night at the same time. It’s a routine that Jersey insists on to keep Ali safe from the perils of New York City in the 1990s.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “When You Wish Upon a Star” is one of those songs, like “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” that’s bigger than a song. It was first heard, of course, in the 1940 Walt Disney animated classic “Pinocchio,” where it was sung by Jiminy Cricket.

Even before they turned up on “Saturday Night Live,” taking over the Digital Shorts duty from the Lonely Island trio—which is still the best element of ‘SNL’ these days—the comedy trio Please Don’t Destroy (Ben Marshall, John Higgins, and Martin Herlihy) were seemingly destined for greatness. Their viral videos about the COVID-19 pandemic that blew up on Twitter and TikTok were hysterical, and when they landed that coveted ‘SNL’ gig in short order, it felt like a well-deserved no-brainer.

Joni Mitchell and Leonardo DiCaprio were among those who gathered to celebrate the life and music of the late The Band guitarist and singer-songwriter Robbie Robertson last night (15 November).The memorial, held at Robertson’s longtime Los Angeles studio home The Village, included a moving tribute from director Martin Scorsese and performances of Robertson’s music from Jackson Browne, Citizen Cope, Angela McCluskey and others.Robertson died after a long illness on 9 August, aged 80.Scorsese and Robertson first met while making The Band’s legendary concert film The Last Waltz. “I guess when all is said and done it was a kind of folie à deux,” said Scorsese in his eulogy.

It will come as a surprise to absolutely no one that the reunion of director Ridley Scott and “Napoleon’s” leading man, Joaquin Phoenix, is a rich, layered, and satisfying offering. There is alchemy at work that transfixes the audience as much as any of the epic battle sequences.  Directed and produced by Scott, “Napoleon” is based on the true story of Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Phoenix.

The Cleveland Browns have had a few key injuries so far this season, but none of them have been as heartbreaking as Nick Chubb’s. Chubb went down in week two against the Pittsburgh Steelers with what everyone thought was a season-ending knee injury.

EXCLUSIVE: Tony Yazbeck is set for a key recurring role opposite Josh Andrés Rivera, Lindsay Mendez and Patrick Schwarzenegger in Ryan Murphy’s FX anthology American Sports Story, Deadline has learned.

Josh Andrés Hernandez is preparing to dig into the mind of Aaron Hernandez for his upcoming role in Ryan Murphy‘s American Sports Story.

the musical “Parade” and Tom Stoppard’s play “Leopoldstadt.” The problem is that while “Harmony” is about a sextet of singers whose voices blend like milk and coffee, its elements do not similarly fuse into a cohesive and satisfying musical.The show, directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, has been tinkered with by Manilow and lyricist/book-writer Bruce Sussman for nearly 30 years, but on its largest stage yet it still doesn’t quite work.Structural flaws that were mostly forgivable when the production played the more intimate Museum of Jewish Heritage downtown last year are detrimentally exacerbated by Broadway’s imposing size. The musical, therefore, is lopsided.

“Hells Kitchen” at the Newman Theater that’s based on her life.However, her finger prints are all over the musical. From the music to the coming-of-age story about 17-year-old Ali living in a cozy Times Square apartment, “Hells Kitchen” is all Keys.And if you want to see her journey live, you can grab seats to shows all the way up until when it closes on Jan.

BreAnna Bell Spoiler Alert: This interview contains spoilers for the season finale of “Power Book IV: Force,” titled “Power, Powder, Respect,” now streaming on Starz. Sometimes kingpins can’t have it all. The “Power Book IV: Force” Season 2 finale aired on Friday night, leaving viewers with more questions than answers as fans await the fates of several power players in Tommy’s (Joseph Sikora) story — but showrunner Gary Lennon isn’t sharing too many answers ahead of what he hopes will be Season 3 renewal.

EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company have nabbed The Best Christmas Pageant ever which The Chosen creator/producer/director Dallas Jenkins will direct and adapt from Barbara Robinson’s comedic family book and play. Cameras roll next month in Canada for a 2024 holiday theatrical release.

Prime Video superhero show Invincible has just begun airing, and the show is known for its killer soundtrack.Season one of the ultraviolent Invincible series scored a four star review from NME‘s Dan Seddon, who wrote: “Invincible is wildly unpredictable, its ruthless narrative and handbrake turn plot twists belying the show’s conventional superhero setup. In fact, the series is so willing to off key characters that it makes Game Of Thrones’ ‘Red Wedding’ look like a summer tea party in a country garden.”Joining the cast in season two are Tatiana Maslany, Daveed Diggs, Peter Cullen, Cliff Curtis, Calista Flockhart, Scoot McNairy, Lea Thompson and Ben Schwartz. Returning voice actors include Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, Zazie Beetz, Grey DeLisle, Chris Diamantopoulos, Walton Goggins, Gillian Jacobs, Jason Mantzoukas, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Kevin Michael Richardson, Seth Rogen and J.K.