“Hell’s Kitchen” is a sensational production that explores what it’s like to grow up, live, and thrive in New York City. Lead by the music of Alicia Keys, this semi-autobiographical show contains talented and hardworking actors and crew that travel the country to showcase their abilities to put on a wonderful production. Marley Soleil, age 19, got her big break in this show after making a huge impression in the Jimmy Awards, and is continuing to shine in the production as they travel from city to city. We were lucky enough to talk to Marley before “Hell’s Kitchen” performances in Pittsburgh in early November.
Q: Could you give a basic summary or rundown of “Hell’s Kitchen”?
A: Sure. “Hell’s Kitchen” is a jukebox musical using Alicia Keys songs, whether they’re from her previous albums, or she wrote them specifically for the musical. It’s about this seventeen year old girl who is on a journey to find herself, and she’s having trouble growing up in New York City in the 90s. She has a single mother raising her named Jersey, and her mom, who is white, cannot relate to the struggles that she’s going to going through. So she finds this wonderful music teacher named Miss Liza Jane, who teaches her things about life and makes her fall in love with the piano, which her father used to play for her before he was no longer in her life. And so, in a way, the piano is connecting her to her past – to something that’s in her DNA. It’s the key to finding herself. She falls in love, and it’s a wonderful journey of people who are in the 90s understanding the culture and people who are young and seventeen can see themselves in this young girl. It’s it’s a wonderful watch for all ages.
Q: What is it like to tour the country with the cast and everyone else involved in the production?
A: It’s wonderful. This is my first national tour, my first professional gig. You’ll be shocked to hear that there are a lot of people on this team who have never been on the tour before, and I think that is definitely not an accident. We are all here, and we all really care about each other. I hear a lot of horror stories about going on the road, but I’m not kidding when I say that everybody in the entire cast really enjoys each other’s company. After rehearsals we’ll go grab something to eat, or on our day off, we’re writing songs together, or we’re just texting or reaching out to each other. I think because we have young people on the cast – our lead is eighteen years old, I am nineteen years old – all of the older members of the cast are looking out for us. In a way, that brings everyone together and creates this wonderful dynamic of a familial relationship.
Q: Where were you, and what were you doing when you found out that you had booked the show?
A: I was in my second semester of college, and I was in rehearsals for our school play, “Peter and the Starcatcher”. I got an email, I opened it up, and obviously, I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone at the time, but I started screaming. And one of my best friends happened to look at my phone, and then he too started screaming. We both started screaming together and we ran around the room. Then I called my mom and my manager, and then they started screaming with me as well.
Q: What is one of the best mishaps you’ve had or witnessed during the show?
It literally just happened yesterday. “Kaleidoscope” is a very big number with a lot of moving parts – dancers, the singing ensemble, and Maya, who’s playing Ali, is dancing all over the place. The piano, which Maya sits on top of and the dancers dance on top of, would not move. One of the legs was just stuck. So one of the dancers tried to push the legs and saw that it wasn’t moving. There’s this universal movement to call for a stop on stage, like to stop the entire musical, and one of the dancers did it. Maya saw it, and so she did it as well. Everybody walked off stage mid number. We had to make the entire show stop for like five minutes as we all waited backstage for crew to fix the piano, because without the piano there is no musical. It was pretty crazy.
Q: What are some difficult things you encounter when performing?
Self doubt. I feel like every performer deals with some form of self-doubt, some form of imposter syndrome. That can be really tough, especially when you’re surrounded by older folks. I know people in high school, maybe seniors, especially when they’re about to go into college and be in a new environment with all these new people it can be really intimidating and hard to validate your own strengths when all you’re seeing is everyone else’s strengths, which might not be the same as your own. So comparison is really, really hard, but I do know that making real connections, talking things out with other people, and having a good support system helps you get out of these holes. That absolutely helped me get through some of these rough patches. You’re not alone.
Q: What is your usual itinerary for a show day?
I walk right to the smoothie shop right next to our theater. I grab a little acai bowl, I go to the theater early, and because I’m understudying Ali as well, I like to run through her music so that I’m fresh and sharp because you never know what’s going to happen. I warm up, I move my body a little bit, I stretch, I nebulize. If you don’t have a nebulizer please get one – life changing device. And then I don’t talk for fifteen minutes. Put on my makeup wig prep. We have an entire team of beautiful hair and wig crew, and they help put my wig on and just go for it. We also have a pre-show routine where everyone gathers around in a circle. We hold hands and we pray over the show, and we pray over each other and hope that it goes well. And then we just kill it every night.
Q: You mentioned that you understudy Ali. What is it like playing your principal role, Jessica, and also balancing the content you have to learn for understudying the lead?
I’m still learning. It’s so difficult. Understudying is the hardest job you will ever have to do in theatre, because a lot of productions won’t even really let you rehearse your roles. Our wonderful directors have set understudy rehearsals for us to show up to and practice our blocking, which is unheard of. That’s been really lovely, but it still is incredibly difficult to perform as Ali, which is such a taxing role. She is always on stage – she leaves stage probably five percent of the show, so the other 95 percent is blocking and singing and lines. To do that during the day while also performing shows at night was really taxing. I know that it’s just preparing me for the future, for when I am fully a role and not understudying anybody and having the empathy to relate to those who are understudying because it’s so rough, but it’s rewarding nonetheless.
Q: What did you see yourself doing when you were younger, if not this?
I had no idea I was going to be a performer – no idea. I want everyone to know that you don’t have to have anything figured out! I was going to go to college for computer science and robotics, and I did basketball my entire life. I was team captain of my basketball team, my robotics team, and I was super left brained. It was a very different life that I was living. It wasn’t until – yes, I’m not joking – I watched Hamilton on my television screen in 2020 that I was like, ‘you know what? I actually think I could do this. Why not give it a shot?’ And then seventh grade, I auditioned for my very first musical, “Rent”, and I booked Mimi and it was awesome. I fell in love with it, and I haven’t stopped doing it since. But I was not going to be a performer, so it was a swift change, but it was a it was worth it nonetheless. And those parts of my life are still in my life. Anything can happen, life changes really quickly.
Q: Do you have any advice for those who look up to you, and want to follow in a career that is similar to yours?
Push for what you want. Advocate for yourself. I would not be here if I did not push my teacher my senior year to enter us into the Jimmy Awards. My school did not have a lot of funding in their arts programs; I went to a school that mainly prioritized sports, which is fine. That’s normal for a high school to do, but our arts program did not have a lot of people in it. Our classroom was small. We had to make do with what we had. I saw the Jimmy Awards live, and it changed my life. I asked my teacher every single day, ‘hey, did you sign up yet? Did you sign up? Did you sign up?’ I was so annoying, but you have to be irritating when it comes to your dreams, otherwise it’s going to pass you by. You must, I beg you, you must not let fear get in the way of what you want, because you’re going to have regrets and what-ifs for the rest of your life. We entered and I competed, and I made it to the top 20. It changed my life forever, and I got this opportunity from my clip going viral on TikTok. I cannot emphasize enough that you must push yourself into a space that maybe you don’t even imagine yourself being in, but if you want to be in it, you absolutely can if you dedicate all of yourself to it.
