Ne-Yo Keeps on Fallin' in Love With Broadway as Davis in Hell's Kitchen

Before joining the cast of Hell’s Kitchen as Davis, Ne-Yo didn’t have Broadway aspirations. The three-time Grammy winner played the Tin Man in NBC’s The Wiz Live! in 2015 and was involved in conversations about bringing the show to Broadway, but admits he couldn’t take the pay cut at the time. Another decade into his career, and that's no longer the case. “I'm in a much different space now. The music industry has been very, very good to me. Now I can explore more passion projects,” he said of making his Broadway debut on December 4.

Ne-Yo credits his team for facilitating this opportunity, but once he knew Alicia Keys was involved, he was “all for it. It’s Alicia Keys, which means there's a level of class, a level of excellence—which to me sounds like a challenge to level up myself.” Speaking to Broadway.com two weeks into his limited run, the singer-songwriter had nothing but praise and admiration for Keys, his castmates and his predecessor in the role, Durrell “Tank” Babbs. “I love being around people that do what they do because they love it," he said. "And that is this entire cast.”

Keys allowed Ne-Yo to create his version of Davis, while helping him understand who the character is at his core. “She told me everybody brings their own thing to it, but there are certain points that need to be hit in order for this to be Davis,” he explained. “Giving Davis certain motivations, which in turn makes you deliver the lines slightly different than you would've, that was a major help.” One way he distinguishes his Davis is by incorporating a few new moves. “I'm the only Davis that has ever danced even a little bit,” he revealed. “I'm not giving full-on choreography; just a slide here, a spin there. Not anything too drastic, because I understand he's a piano guy, he's not so much a dancer. But adding those little flairs and nuances, people are digging it, so I'm happy.”

He may be a seasoned performer, but Ne-Yo admitted that the Broadway stage is a whole different animal from his usual concerts. “I do a lot of ad-libbing; I think it's just the writer in me that does it. That's one note I've been getting—to chill on the ad-libs a little bit, trust the script, trust the words that are already there,” he shared. “This is a new process for me. This is new territory, so I'm working on it.”

Feeding off the energy of the crowd is something artists are warned not to depend on, because "you'll come across those cities where the audience is a little bland or dead and they might not give you the energy that you want." Still, Ne-Yo acknowledged: "Live performance is an energy exchange. It's me giving energy to the crowd in hopes that they receive it and reciprocate. And that happens in spades on Broadway. It's kind of addictive," he added. "In concert mode, it's a sea of darkness, a couple little lights here and there, people with their phones. But you don't really get the opportunity to look a person in the face and see how what you're doing is affecting them. On Broadway, it's intimate."

The day of our conversation, Ne-Yo was scheduled to host a special holiday edition of Encore Sessions, an intimate post-show performance for fans. He was looking forward to getting to do something “a little closer to my wheelhouse. It's mic in hand, addressing the crowd. That's my bread and butter, all day.” He also teased a duet with gospel singer Yolanda Adams, currently playing Miss Liza Jane. “That was not on my bingo card, but I'm not complaining,” he laughed. The same could be said for his Broadway journey as a whole.

Only time will tell whether Ne-Yo returns to The Great White Way after taking his final bow as Davis on January 25, 2026. But the outlook is good: “I could definitely get used to the way this feels.”

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