When it came time to choose what she would wear to the 77th annual Tony Awards on Sunday, Alicia Keys wanted to honor the city that has given her everything.
To celebrate her first Broadway musical, Hell’s Kitchen, being nominated for a whopping 13 awards, including Best Musical, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter wore a custom oxblood-red gown courtesy of Gucci. She paired the look with matching evening gloves and white gold Diamante earrings from Roberto Coin with guidance of her stylist Jason Bolden. According to Keys herself, the ensemble was meant to evoke the essence of New York City. That same ethos applied to her other look of the night: a logo-printed Gucci puffer and matching trousers, which she wore for her surprise performance of “Empire State of Mind” with Jay-Z and Hell’s Kitchen’s company at the show, held at Manhattan’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
“I wanted to have something that celebrates the elegance of the evening,” Keys tells Harper’s Bazaar. “And also something that reflects the boldness and style of Hell’s Kitchen!”
For her glam for the evening, Keys incorporated products from her own beauty line, Keys Soulcare, which helped create her signature glow. While her makeup (done by her longtime artist, Dotti) was fresh and flushed for the night, for her hair, she opted for a sculptural twisted topknot updo crafted by stylist Fesa Nu. Dotti says Keys’s makeup look was meant to “embrace and interpret her inner feline.”
Hell’s Kitchen was one of the night’s standouts, with its stars Maleah Joi Moon and Kecia Lewis both taking home Tonys (for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical, respectively). Keys could be seen cheering them on throughout the ceremony. For the “Girl on Fire” singer, seeing Hell’s Kitchen celebrated this way was a testament to the core story of the jukebox musical.
“There are so many amazing ways that people have reacted to Hell’s Kitchen. Some of my favorite reactions are when people tell me exactly who their Miss Liza Jane was in their lives,” Keys says of Lewis’s character, a music teacher and mentor to Moon’s teenage Ali. “I also love when people tell me they had to call their mother right away after the show. They point out that when everyone else left Ali, her mother was the one there all along. I love when people say that the mother-daughter love story is so impactful.”
The singer describes the reception for the show—which is loosely inspired by her life experiences, with a book by Kristoffer Diaz—as “totally outrageous and incredible,” and a factor that made her even more excited for the Tonys.
“I’m filled with so much gratitude and excitement,” says Keys of the critical recognition for Hell’s Kitchen. “Thirteen years developing and dreaming about this project, and here we are! This story belongs to everyone who watches it—you know these people, you know these moments, you know these feelings. It’s incredible to me that these streets right outside the doors of the Shubert Theatre can have such an impact on people from all over the globe.”
Keys also, of course, credits the show’s success to the entire team behind Hell's Kitchen, including the cast and creative crew. Besides its acting, the show also earned Tony nominations for its scenic design, costume design, lighting design, sound design, direction, choreography, and orchestration, as well as Diaz’s book.
“The biggest takeaway from this experience has been working with the amazing, smart, exceptional creatives that are a part of this show,” she says. “The team of people on this project really showed me that when you are surrounded by greatness and talent and experience and good energy, it creates this magic like no other, and it truly makes all the difference in the world.”
It would be an understatement to say this year’s Tonys ceremony was a night Keys will remember forever.
“I want to remember where dreams begin,” she says, thinking ahead about the formative memories from last night. “I want to just celebrate the raw power and possibility of a small island called New York City, and I want to revel in the love of my family, who give me wings. It’s already so unforgettable.”
Bianca Betancourt
Culture Editor
Bianca Betancourt is the culture editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, where she covers all things film, TV, music, and more. When she's not writing, she loves impulsively baking a batch of cookies, re-listening to the same early-2000s pop playlist, and stalking Mariah Carey's Twitter feed.
