“Hell’s Kitchen” brings contemporary Broadway heat to the Fisher Theatre

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Calling “Hell’s Kitchen” hot as…well, you know…may seem obvious.

But it’s also exactly on point.

The stage musical, at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre through Dec. 14, may be drawn from Grammy Award-winner Alicia Keys’ upbringing in that Manhattan neighborhood and built around songs from her 24-year recording career (plus three new tunes written especially for the project). But it transcends the usual definition of a “jukebox” musical with a movingly presented story, some fully contemporary and fresh approaches to staging and choreography, and, of course, a tremendous body of already proven music.

Simply put, we’ve seen its like before, but we’ve not seen anything quite like “Hell’s Kitchen.”

The show presents us with Ali, a precocious but angsty