For Yolanda Adams, 'Hell's Kitchen' came along at the perfect time

The four-time Grammy Award-winning gospel legend makes her Broadway debut in Alicia Keys's musical as piano teacher Miss Liza Jane for a two-month limited run.

Summary

• Grammy-winning gospel singer Yolanda Adams discusses joining the cast of Hell's Kitchen on Broadway
• Adams plays piano teacher Miss Liza Jane in the musical co-created by and loosely inspired by the life of Alicia Keys
• Adams discusses making her Broadway debut; succeeding Tony Award winner Kecia Lewis in her role; and joining a cast of artists from various musical backgrounds

Yolanda Adams believes there are no accidents in life, and the circumstances that led to her Broadway debut in Hell's Kitchen make a strong case for that to be true.

She'd dipped her toe into Broadway in 2017, as one of more than 20 Tony Award-nominated songwriters on the SpongeBob SquarePants musical. She knew co-creator Alicia Keys, having met her as an up-and-coming teen on The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2001. And long before she was a four-time Grammy Award-winning gospel icon, Adams began her career as an educator — similar to her Hell's Kitchen character of Miss Liza Jane, who teaches headstrong 17-year-old Ali (a character loosely inspired by Keys) how to channel her inner fire into the piano.

Adams agreed that Hell's Kitchen marks a full-circle moment, and that the opportunity taught her the strength of her own voice, an experience not unlike Ali's. "You know when you want something and you say, 'Okay, it's going to happen,' and it does?" Adams said. "It lets you know your words are so much more powerful than you believe."

Of course, Broadway didn't just fall into Adams's lap; it's the latest achievement in a trailblazing, 40-plus-year career that also includes 16 total Grammy nominations (including one for 2026), seven NAACP Image Awards, five BET Awards, and the first American Music Award for Contemporary Gospel Artist. But she believes that hard work and willpower beget the right timing, and she strives to "be in the position, grateful, in the moment" when opportunities come along.

Adams starts as Miss Liza Jane on November 21, alternating with Tony-winning original Hell's Kitchen cast member Kecia Lewis through December 13 before assuming the role full-time through January 25. Ahead of her first performance, Adams spoke with New York Theatre Guide about her take on her character, her history with Alicia Keys, and the uniquely varied musical landscape she's stepping into at the Shubert Theatre.

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Congrats on your latest Grammy nomination! How has it been for that and your Broadway debut to happen all at once?

I have been feeling like I walk on clouds every single day. I was saying to my assistant the other day, if you look at the schedule and how everything worked out, there's this pocket of time I had that was perfect for Hell's Kitchen, and then it happened.

And then they called the other day and said, "Hey, you got the Grammy nomination," and I was like, "AAAAHHHH!" I've been this plethora of emotions all at the same time.

Having written for Broadway before, what is it like coming back as a performer?

I love coming into the space of Broadway because it's historic. And now to be on the stage, and not just a part of the production and a part of the soundtrack, means a lot.

I love this role of Miss Liza Jane. She's a force, and she's fierce, and she has a secret — or several secrets — but she means well.

Do you remember what you felt when you first saw Hell's Kitchen?

You look at the scenery, you look at the characters, you look at the activity and you say, "Wow, this is amazing for all of this to go on on a stage." [...] That's why you should see it more than once, because if you're honed in on just one scene, one character, you miss a whole bounty of action and excellence.

When I first saw it, I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm coming back. I'm coming back." And then I found out I was really coming back, and I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I get to see it every night. I get to be a part of it every night!"

How has it been to work with Kecia?

First of all, there's no one like Kecia Lewis. She is the epitome of an actress par excellence. It's beyond. Just watching her over the years, knowing her over the years, and what her strides have been — for me, I couldn't see a better Miss Liza Jane to walk with and then to to emulate.

Of course, she has Broadway written all in her genes, and to learn from her, to listen to her, to watch her movements, to watch her grace, to watch how she prepares [...] I'm learning so much on a daily basis, just sitting and being quiet while she's sitting and being quiet!

When she exudes that excellence, I watch every moment so I can capture some of that in the character for myself. We're two different people, but Miss Liza Jane has something that both of us understand.

I'm sure you connect to Miss Liza Jane as a teacher, having been one yourself.

It really does feel full-circle. As an educator, you want the best for your students. You want them to thrive. [...] You want to teach them things about themselves and the power that is really inside them, the power of their mind — how you can take an idea [and] expound on it.

That's what Miss Liza Jane is doing with Ali. She's trying to get her to see beyond her present circumstances, because she has several things going on, and that all of it together does actually work for her benefit: Putting that anger or that fastness or that pertness into the passion of music is going to help her down the road.

How did you first meet Alicia Keys?

I met Alicia when she was just a teenage baby. We were doing The Oprah Winfrey Show: myself, Jill Scott, Mary Mary, India Arie. We were all on Oprah's new stage [...] and she was really excited about having us be some of the first women artists in the building. It was a great experience.

It was so long ago that Alicia's mom and her little brother were traveling with her. I knew at that moment, I'm like, "This kid is going very far. She has the talent, she has the demeanor, she has the presence. She has all of that to be a superstar." And here we are today.

People from so many different musical backgrounds join this show: Broadway singers, R&B singers, now you as a gospel singer. What is that like to be part of?

That speaks to the multiplicity of music Alicia has heard, and her ear. As an R&B legend, she's heard hip-hop, she's heard rap [...] and she's heard gospel, so it would make sense to parlay that in there.

To have Tank and Ne-Yo at the same time, and then to have me and Miss Kecia at the same time — she knows what she's doing. And the opportunities that it presents to have the not-so-normal things happen also brings a mystique. Folks are like, "Maybe I need to check that out."

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This interview has been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Photo credit: Yolanda Adams. (Photo courtesy of production)