Just two years after its Broadway opening, the singer-songwriter's semi-autobiographical hit makes its Korean-language debut at GS Arts Center on July 24 Alicia Keys (Warwick Saint) Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Alicia Keys is about to meet Korean audiences in an unfamiliar role — not as the voice behind "Fallin'" or "If I Ain't Got You," but as the lead producer of "Hell's Kitchen."She spent 13 years developing the semi-autobiographical Broadway jukebox musical. On July 24, the show will open its first non-English-language licensed production at Seoul's GS Arts Center.Keys, who has 17 Grammy wins to her name, has been intimately involved in the Korean production — directing the casting process and shaping vocal details down to the smallest expression."I have been deeply involved because it is so personal to me," Keys said in a written interview ahead of the opening. "Taking 'Hell's Kitchen' to Korea is such a moving experience for me. Even though the words are being sung in a different language, the meaning of the story remains the same. I've never heard my songs in Korean before — this is a gift." Broadway musical "Hell's Kitchen" (Marc J. Franklin) Story of mother and daughterThe story Keys is bringing to Seoul is, in many ways, her own. "Hell's Kitchen" follows Ali, a 17-year-old girl growing up in a cramped Manhattan apartment in the 1990s, searching for her voice and chafing against the watchful eye of her single mother, Jersey. Keys, 45, grew up just a block from the Broadway theater where the show eventually premiered, and the bond between a daughter testing her independence and a mother holding on draws directly from her relationship with her own mother, Terria Joseph."She's been my best friend through my whole life and gave me the gifts of art and music and theater," Keys said. "Hell's Kitchen is a love story between a mother and daughter. That bond is everything and we don't often see it on stage."That story arrived on Broadway in spring 2024 with a powerhouse creative team behind it. "Hell's Kitchen" led the 2024 Tony Awards with 13 nominations — the most of any show that season — and went on to win the 2025 Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. Director Michael Greif — whose credits include "Rent," "Next to Normal" and "Dear Evan Hansen," all familiar to Korean musical fans — playwright and Pulitzer finalist Kristoffer Diaz, and Tony-nominated choreographer Camille A. Brown round out the creative team. Broadway musical "Hell's Kitchen" (Marc J. Franklin) Her search for the Korean cast, she said, was guided by intuition."When casting, I need to feel it. I need to feel that it means something to the performers," she said. "Something that transcends the words and radiates connection and understanding."The role of Ali will be shared by Son Seung-yeon, Kim Soo-ha and Park Jiwon of girl group fromis_9, making their musical theater debut. Park Hye-na and Choi Hyun-sun will alternate as Jersey, while veteran actors Jung Young-ju and Kim Young-ju take on the mentor figure Ms. Liza Jane. R&B singer K.Will and musical theater regular Tei will play Ali's absent father, Davis, and Park Kwang-sun and Han Seung-yoon will share the role of Ali's love interest, Knuck."We were blown away by the talent that came in, and we cannot wait to share this fantastic company with our Korean audiences," Keys said.The score is where Keys's two worlds meet. The show threads her catalog hits — her debut anthem "Fallin'," the Grammy-winning "If I Ain't Got You," the New York love letter "Empire State of Mind" — through the narrative alongside numbers written expressly for the stage, including "Kaleidoscope" and Jersey's Act One introduction, "Seventeen."What surprised Keys most, she said, was how differently her own songs read inside the story."'No One,' which I originally wrote as a love song, now becomes this powerful anthem between a mother and daughter. 'If I Ain't Got You' becomes a pivotal moment between Ali and her father. I started to see my songs through an entirely different lens and that was thrilling."Choreographer Brown's street-rooted movement vocabulary — drawing on the hip-hop and R&B of 1990s New York — pushes those songs even further from their pop-radio origins.Asked what she would say to the Korean audiences who will hear her songs sung in their own language for the first time, Keys offered a line that doubles as the show's emotional thesis. "Never forget where your dream begins," she said. "And never forget that your family and your community are the powerful relationships that shape who you become.""Hell's Kitchen" runs at GS Arts Center from July 24 through Nov. 8, with a runtime of 160 minutes including a 20-minute intermission. Broadway musical "Hell's Kitchen" (Marc J. Franklin)