Kecia Lewis, the Backstage ‘Mama’ of Broadway’s Hell’s Kitchen, Has Wisdom to Share

On stage, “chemistry” usually refers to a romantic pairing, but in the case of the new musical Hell’s Kitchen, it’s the perfect description for the teacher-pupil bond between Broadway veteran Kecia Lewis and newcomer Maleah Joi Moon. Before they’ve exchanged a word, Moon, as Ali, the teen character loosely based on Alicia Keys, declares that Lewis, as pianist Miss Liza Jane, is her ideal: “Powerful. Regal. A queen.” In return, when Ali mumbles excuses for not pursuing her interest in music, Miss Liza Jane thunders, “You are here because the voices of your ancestors have requested your presence!” Ali straightens up immediately, and so do Shubert Theatre audiences, reveling in the power of the actresses’ partnership.

In real life, Lewis understands the pressure of making a big-time Broadway debut at a young age: At 18, she took on the titanic role of Effie in Dreamgirls. In the four decades since, Lewis has appeared on Broadway in Once on This Island, The Drowsy Chaperone, Chicago and Children of a Lesser God, among many other plays and musicals. Her current performance is winning cheers, tears and rarely heard exit applause for Miss Liza Jane’s plainspoken, truth-telling and roof-raising vocals. After a Wednesday matinee, Lewis led the way into her tiny dressing room, painted a favorite shade of lavender, to reflect on the many ways Hell’s Kitchen dovetails with her experiences on and off the stage.

Your character is the grounded center of Hell’s Kitchen, which must be satisfying to play.

This show is a perfect match for where I am in my life and my career. We’ve got a lot of young ones in the cast, and they call me “Mama” and “Legend,” which is just code for “old actress.” [laughs] But it’s very fulfilling to know that they’ve grown up listening to stuff I’ve done and they want to learn. I’m a spiritual person, and I think Miss Liza Jane is part of me. I am not quite as strict as she is, but I’m certainly as serious about the craft.

Did you feel an immediate bond with your young co-star Maleah Joi Moon?

From day one. Maleah is one of the most professional, conscientious people I have ever worked with. If there is a moment [off stage] where she is not herself and I say, “Are you okay?” she says, “I hope I didn’t mess up that scene for you.” What 21-year-old is thinking about her scene partner? She’s on it. She was born for this.

What did you respond to when you read Hell’s Kitchen for the first time?

I loved the fact that it’s not what people expect. This is a love story between a mother and a daughter, a story of a girl learning her passion for the arts in this community. People think it’s going to be a jukebox musical—they’re going to hear some Alicia Keys songs jimmied into a script—and they’re blown away because it isn’t that.

In fact, your two powerful songs, “Perfect Way to Die” [written in response to police violence] and “Authors of Forever,” are not among Alicia Keys’ greatest hits.

They’re the least known. Someone said to me last night, “I can’t wait to hear ‘Authors of Forever’ on the cast album,” and I said, “Alicia already recorded that.”

What’s it been like working with her, especially on your vocals?

I have been floored at how generous and down to earth and collaborative she is. She doesn’t have to be. At all. No one would fault her if she wasn’t. But from day one, it’s been, “What do you think? How do you feel?” In one of our first sessions, she explained what was going on inside of her when she wrote “Perfect Way to Die.” She said, “I want you to make it your own, but I want you to know where the song came from.” If you listen to her recording, she’s singing it two steps higher than I am.

Critics have commented on the power and depth of your rendition.

I was working on the song last summer with a piano teacher—they kindly paid for lessons so I could look authentic—and it dawned on me that Miss Liza Jane doesn’t sing up there where everybody else sings. I thought, “Let me see how low I can go,” because women don’t get asked to do that, and my speaking voice is low. On the first day of rehearsal, I said to [director] Michael [Greif] and Alicia, “I would like to present something to you.” We played it, and they said, “Can you do that eight shows a week?” [Lewis nods with a smile.] Alicia could have said, “It needs to be in the key I recorded it in,” but she said, “You go there.” It’s a privilege to sing that song.

You went to school nearby [at the former High School of Performing Arts]. Is Hell’s Kitchen true to your experience?

The show is set around 1994-95, and I was grown and doing Once on This Island then, but yes. Danny Burstein and I went to high school together, on 46th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue. Times Square is like Disneyland now, but then, you were stepping over a lot of crazy to get to the thing you were trying to accomplish. One of my friends lived in the building Alicia lived in [Manhattan Plaza, subsidized housing for artists], so I know it well. I had the opportunity to get on the list for an apartment there, but I foolishly thought, “I don’t want to live around a bunch of other actors.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve regretted that decision!

You raised your son, Simon, as a single mother. Do you identify with Jersey, the protective mom played by Shoshana Bean?

Absolutely. Unfortunately in our country, it’s often open season on Black boys. And the heartbreaking part of raising him in New York was constantly having to go over, “What do you do when the police show up? What do you do when something is not fair?” Because my kid has a temper. He would say, “Ma, I’ve got it,” and I was like, “No, we’re going over it again.” The best thing I felt I could do was encourage him in the things he loved so he would not be thinking about what might be more tantalizing.

Was it performing?

No! I put him into a little acting school when he was six, and he did really well, but when he was about 13, he said, “Ma, I just want to be regular and play basketball.” He came to me at the beginning of senior year and said he didn’t want to go to college; he wanted to go to trade school and study electronics. That summer, I did a show at Berkeley Rep, and a woman at the theater who had known my son since he was a baby asked if he might be interested in working backstage. He absolutely loved it, and now he is in Roundabout’s internship program to become a stagehand. My parents were disappointed I didn’t finish NYU after I got Dreamgirls, and I was determined to let my kid do whatever makes him happy.

What are your memories of playing Effie [the role created by Tony winner Jennifer Holliday] when you were 18?

With Sheryl Lee Ralph and Loretta Devine? I was terrified. Brenda Braxton taught me the show—she was the dance captain, and we later did Chicago together. It was an out-of-body experience. I had seen Dreamgirls on my 17th birthday, and at the end of act one, I couldn’t move. My heart said, “You can do this; there is a place for you,” because I hadn’t seen anybody who looked like me sing like that on a Broadway stage. I have so many great memories. One night, I forgot a couple of lyrics in “And I Am Telling You,” and Ben Harney, whose back was to the audience, mouthed the words to me.

Casting in musicals is much more adventurous than when you started out, especially this season. Do you feel Broadway is changing?

Yes, and it’s very exciting. People ask me all the time about a dream role in a classic, and it’s Mama Rose [in Gypsy] or Dolly [in Hello, Dolly!]. But there’s nothing like being part of a new show and seeing so many old friends. My mother used to say, “You can’t walk three blocks in Midtown without seeing five people you know.” Ken Page [Lewis’ co-star of a 1988 revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’] came the other night, and I ran into six people I know when we did a video shoot at Manhattan Plaza. I’ve been here my whole life, and I am having a ball.