The day before the 2024 Tony Awards, June 15th, will mark 40 years to the day since Kecia Lewis made her Broadway debut in “Dreamgirls.” After four decades in the industry, the actress will finally be attending Broadway’s biggest celebration as a first-time Tony nominee. “I had let go of the idea that that would happen for me,” admits Lewis, but her powerful performance in this season’s “Hell’s Kitchen” has finally unlocked this “surreal” full circle moment. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Lewis portrays Miss Liza Jane in the new Alicia Keys musical. She is a longstanding resident of Manhattan Plaza, and encounters Ali (Maleah Joi Moon) in the artist housing complex’s famed “Ellington Room.” Liza provides a safe space for the young girl, while sharing wisdom and teaching her piano.
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“I’m a teacher I think, at heart,” admits Lewis, who has taken numerous jobs as an instructor herself. “What I enjoy most is helping people to discover more than what they already know of their value, and perhaps the other gifts inside of them that they either haven’t discovered yet or they don’t recognize,” she elaborates.
The moments of teaching in “Hell’s Kitchen” extend far beyond just piano lessons as Liza Jane imparts a lifetime of wisdom and experience to Ali through powerful renditions of Keys’ most emotional ballads. This is perhaps most notable during the song “Perfect Way to Die.” “Her past is colliding with her present,” explains Lewis of the song, which describes a mother losing her son prematurely to police violence. The actress describes feeling the “most fully” inside her character at this moment than in any other scene during the show.
This thunderous rendition of “Perfect Way to Die” was crafted over time with Keys herself. “Alicia is really one of the less celebrity-like celebrities I’ve ever met,” reveals Lewis, “She’s very down to earth, she’s very grounded.” The two women were able to discuss how their own experiences related to the lyrics of the song, and the combination of those aspects led to Lewis’ rousing edition. It’s sung in a purposefully lower key than the original, which allows the actress to hammer home the emotion. “I worked on a key that was a bit lower and had to bring it to Alicia and ask, ‘what do you think about this?’ And she was like, I think it’s mind blowing, and if you can do it eight shows a week, do it,’’ explains Lewis, “So that’s where we landed.”
The number earns a tremendous applause, one of many “electric” moments in the show that Lewis looks forward to. “There are some nights where, when the audience applauds, I feel like my hair is blowing back because of that energy,” admits the actress, “that synergy of joy from 1500 people coming at you all at once, it’s like a wall of excitement and it kind of pushes through us.” It’s enough to make every actor on stage say “whoa” in disbelief. “We can feel what’s coming at us,” beams Lewis, “It’s very exciting.”