INTERVIEW: Chris Lee on finding the heart of Knuck in ‘Hell’s Kitchen’
Photo: Hell’s Kitchen stars Maleah Joi Moon and Chris Lee. Photo courtesy of Marc J. Franklin / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
Hell’s Kitchen, the new musical set to the songs of Alicia Keys, is one of the most in-demand tickets on Broadway. Playing at the Shubert Theatre on 44th Street, the show tells the story of Ali (Maleah Joi Moon) as she grows up in Hell’s Kitchen, a neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan that’s not far from the location of the theater. Shoshana Bean plays Jersey, her mother, and Brandon Victor Dixon plays Davis, her father. A mentor she meets along the way is Miss Liza Jane (Kecia Lewis), who teaches her how about inspiration and how to play the piano.
One of the pivotal characters in the narrative is Knuck, played by Chris Lee, in his Broadway debut. Ali meets Knuck in an opening scene, and she immediately wants to get to know him better. But Knuck resists the budding relationship; he’d rather focus on his job and not entertain the idea of going out with Ali.
Lee has been with the musical for years. He considers it an honor to have worked with Keys, book writer Kristoffer Diaz, choreographer Camille A. Brown and director Michael Greif, a team he’s know since before the pandemic. He remembers his initial entry into the project. Approximately five years ago he went out to audition for Hercules, a new Disney adaptation that the Public Theater was staging in Central Park. He didn’t land that role, but he made an impression on the casting directors.
“And the next thing you know I got this call about this reading that I was asked to do,” Lee said in a recent phone interview. “I didn’t know anything about the project, so I was kind of walking in blind to it. The first day I sat down, and Michael Greif walked in and Kristoffer Diaz. And then in walks Alicia Keys. My mind was blown. What is this for? I’m looking at the script, and it’s got all the songs. Oh, this is what we’re doing. That was a reading, and I’ve been doing it since then.”
Those songs by Keys are instantly knowable to countless fans. The musical features everything from “Girl on Fire” to “The River” to “No One” to “Empire State of Mind,” and so many more. After reading the story that was built around these songs, Lee fell in love with the musical.
“I thought it was full of heart,” he said. “We’ve gone through a lot of different versions over the years of what happens to these characters, but generally the story has been the same. The heart of it has been there, and I instantly fell in love with Ali, with Knuck, with Jersey. I really love these characters and love how each one of the four [main] characters accepted Ali and this journey she’s going through. I’ve always been into it, and my character specifically I really felt that he was such a good guy. I love that he wasn’t chasing this girl, but the girl was chasing him. He had to try to resist her, and that was a really interesting thing to read and to bring to life. I really did love it.”
During the development stages of the musical, Lee was given a lot of freedom to work on the characterization of Knuck. One goal of his was to “ground” the role in New York City, making him a “New York guy,” as the actor put it.
“I’m from the south, so I had to really pay attention to the attitude and the demeanor of the people up north,” Lee said. “I really approach him as being soft-spoken, not too much on the forefront. A lot of the characters are boisterous, loud, and they’re presenting their case. For him, I chose to approach him as the one that was an outlier due to the fact that he’s going to be a little more soft-spoken. He’s bringing the audience in. If you really want to hear what he has to say, you have to lean in. You have to come to him; he’s not coming to you.”
Even when Lee sings some of Keys’ songbook, he pulls back a bit, offering a softer voice for the character of Knuck. The actor said this man is to the point, clear and trying not to be divisive.
“He’s kind of sticking to the melodies a little more than most characters,” Lee said. “He’s not doing a ton of riffing and running. He’s really to the point, and what he says really matters. It’s very clear, and I really wanted him to just not be divisive, not just be the boyfriend. And so he really has to sell you on who he is at Gramercy Park in that first scene, when he talks about himself for the first time. You’ve really got to feel him. I love what we’ve done with that number. I love what Camille Brown did with that number. … He’s a really good guy just trying to keep his head above water and be kind of left alone. We don’t get to see that often.”
Lee has many credits to his name, including a run in Hamilton in Chicago and many roles on TV and in film. He’s also expanded his career to include singing, songwriting, screenwriting and producing. This experience in Hell’s Kitchen has been particularly enjoyable because the show represents his Broadway debut, which has been a long-term goal of his.
“I was telling myself to really cherish this moment,” Lee said about his first performance at the Shubert Theatre. “I remember Kecia Lewis came to me and said, ‘Hey, you only get one of these. Your first time, your first performance on Broadway ever, it goes by like lightning, so really sit back and enjoy this.’ And so I was just telling myself to enjoy it, sit back, relax. I really had the time of my life.”
He added: “I’ve done a lot of things in my career, but this is the only thing I really wanted to do when I first got started was to go to Broadway and originate a cool role. I couldn’t believe I had been graced enough to do that. I couldn’t really believe it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Hell’s Kitchen, featuring Chris Lee, continues at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway. Click here for more information and tickets.
