This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Kelsee Kimmel: My name is Kelsee Kimmel and you're listening to Eleven, the official theatre podcast.

[0:15] William J Connolly: Hello and welcome to Eleven, the official theatre podcast that brings the biggest stars and creatives together in one place to discuss life in the arts. She's the Broadway star of Six, Rent, and Kinky Boots that's currently steering the final chapter of Alicia Keys' smash hit semi-autobiographical mega-musical Hell's Kitchen. So how do you sum up a journey that's taken you from standby to leading role in one that sees you take over the reins from the likes of Shoshana Bean and Jessica Vosk? Well, let's find out as here in an exclusive conversation direct from her home we talk about stepping into the most difficult role of her life, feeling happy giving it all in a loud and high character like Jersey, and why stretching her instrument and emotional bandwidth eight times a week is something that she is embracing fully.

However challenging. Plus, we talk about the connection this musical has to young women and their mothers, why "Pawn It All" is the moment she gets to unleash every single night, and why validation from actual Alicia Keys, including performing with her during a now iconic curtain call moment, is a full circle thing for her. We also celebrate the power of swings and standbys, why being honest around calling out when your instrument is not at its best is something she hopes becomes greater practice for the arts, and why having co-stars like Ne-Yo and Yolanda Adams was everything. It's the remarkable talents of Kelsee Kimmel here now on this the next episode of Eleven, the official theatre podcast.

[1:54] William J Connolly: Please help me welcome to this the next episode of Eleven. She's the leading lady of Broadway that's currently belting for the gods in Alicia Keys' smash hit mega-musical Hell's Kitchen, and she's here to tell me all about life in one of the most moving and impactful shows to grace the Schubert stage. So I say hello Kelsee Kimmel. Is today a good day to be belting?

[2:16] Kelsee Kimmel: You know, most days are good days to be belting. I find any day I get to sing loud and high is very exciting.

[2:22] William J Connolly: Well, that should be your mantra for life. Loud and high is the goal.

[2:26] Kelsee Kimmel: Loud and high. We talk about that a lot at Hell's Kitchen actually. There are people who are very finessy and then there are people who just get hired to sing loud and high and we can fit that bill. Own your niche, but I imagine, and I don't want to assume anything, I imagine you feel quite comfortable doing that.

[2:38] Kelsee Kimmel: Yes, I love it. I love it.

[2:43] William J Connolly: Are you the sort of person then that naturally went into that world? Because it's quite a big ask and we will get into this in a second. I don't want to go too deep early on, but it's a huge ask for you every night and you know you've either got it or you ain't and it means you've got to work with your body. So is that like, yeah, or are you like, no, no, no, no, we got to be careful?

[2:56] Kelsee Kimmel: Yeah, that's a great topic for starters because I completely agree you kind of either have got it or you ain't and there are plenty of things to either have it or not have. In terms of this singing, I do kind of feel like I've always come from this kind of a place. Like I grew up with lots of different voice teachers, pardon, and lots of different mentors and I started from kind of a more classical training place, which sounds funny knowing that I'm now in the Alicia Keys musical doing, you know, a Shoshana Bean track, but I've always found that that classical training has helped support everything else that I do as a singer fundamentally and this is absolutely one of those things. So yeah, when it comes to belting, to singing loud and high and doing it every night, doing it eight times a week, I do find that it has made a lot of sense for me and my instrument to be able to tackle this.

And yeah, I mean, I'm not going to be like I'm over here, you know, smoking my cigarette, but I absolutely take care of myself to maintain that. I always say like starting with a lot of rest and a lot of water is a good foundation, but otherwise this show is such a thrill to just kind of get to explore and live in. For someone who loves this kind of music as much as I do, loves singing this kind of music as much as I do, it's just been the biggest, like I'm a kid in a candy store, I swear to God, and we just get to like unleash every single night, the whole company. It's really, really special.

[4:36] William J Connolly: Definitely special, that's absolutely the right word and a gift that you have that I'm very glad that you share with the world because some people are scared to do it and to make that leap. You're one of those people that have sort of dived headfirst and I feel like that's reflective of your career, is that you sort of approach stuff and go maybe I might not be able to do that now, but I'm gonna find a way to be able to do that. Is that a fearlessness with your singing that comes from, does that come from your personality or is that from I don't like to be told I can't do something? Where does that courage come from?

[5:03] Kelsee Kimmel: That's a wow, that's another really good question. I again, I think I come back to my mentors. I think I come back to my mentors and the way that I was raised and I don't know, I was never really told that I couldn't do something and I think I'm really lucky in that sense, especially as a woman in our world. I don't ever really have memories of being told no, you can't or you shouldn't try. And so I think with that, that just maybe it is a personality thing. I'm an Aries, I'm an April Aries, and so there's a big part of me that is just kind of like a go-getter. I'm extremely focused, I'm extremely, you know, there's a little bit of insanity involved in terms of like trying and trying and trying and trying again until you figure it out, but I say that with endearment for myself and all others who relate.

But yeah, there was just sort of this like no quit aspect to my work ethic and my way of thinking and because there wasn't anyone really like actively putting up barriers for me, I don't know, it just kind of became like a why not thing. And yeah, there is a lot of fearlessness involved, but there also is a lot of fear. Like I talk sometimes with other artist friends about like if something scares you, it probably means you should do it. And you know, because you're never not going to be afraid until you tackle it. And something like this, this literal job is really, really indicative of that for me because when Hell's Kitchen hit the scene and you know, it's the Alicia Keys musical and you know, there's this track I was aware of this role that Shoshana Bean was creating and of course we all know the singular talent that that woman is and that she possesses.

And I've sort of always found myself a little bit in that world just like the crossover from the contemporary music into the musical theater and the acting. And you know, I've sure like I sort of had myself as a young musical theater student and you kind of look at like chasing the carrot of you know, who are the people in the industry who are like me, who do I maybe want to emulate, whose careers inspire me, what roles do I want to do, etc. Sure, Shoshana was always present on those lists, but it seemed so far-fetched for a lot of reasons. And when the audition came through at the end of 2024, it was for the standby. I don't know, something clicked. Something just like made so much sense about it in that moment and I was kind of like, yeah, like this is kind of crazy.

I'm on the younger end of the world in which this role is portrayed and we talk about that a lot with the team and with fans of the show. You know, I get told all the time at the stage door, you're so young, you can't play this mom. And truth be told, it is the story of a young mom. We are telling the story of a woman who had this child at a young age and her life's trajectory sort of changed because of that and that is a part of the subject matter of the show. But you know, it wasn't a stretch. All of that being said, it wasn't so much of a stretch. It was like, no, I actually I could buy myself in this world and because I could buy myself in this world, I'm going to get other people to buy myself in this world.

And I don't know, with each one of those kinds of like rungs of the ladder being unlocked a little bit, it kind of helped the fearlessness, the fear strip away and become a type of fearlessness. And then once you're in a space, I don't know, you just like you absolutely have to own it. There just comes a point where it's like, well, I'm here and even if I conned my way here, I gotta commit. So, hey guys, let's do some singing, let's riff a little, let's work with Alicia Keys and Adam Blackstone and find my version, curate my version of the groundwork that Shoshana motherfucking Bean laid down and that Donna Vovino, you know, was the standby for and that Jessica Vosk is coming into. It was instantly this like insane umbrella to kind of be under and yeah, again, I think it just comes back to like the support I've always felt as a young artist and as a child that I know is such a privilege to have had.

There weren't a ton of voices in the back of my head telling me you can't do this. You just have to kind of like find your way through and figure it out. There's always a path to be forged, I believe that too. So yeah, I don't know, it's like we say, we talk about like fake it till you make it and there is like a bit of that too. It's like sell it, like we're in show business, baby, like sell it. I'm here, I'm confident, you're gonna get the Kelsee Kimmel product because Kelsee Kimmel is here to sell the Kelsee Kimmel product.

[9:38] William J Connolly: Whatever you're selling, I'm buying. Let me just make that very, very clear.

[9:45] Kelsee Kimmel: Thank God I've got one customer.

[9:50] William J Connolly: Behave. I've seen the response to you online. I'm gonna get to that in a second. You've got a long line of customers, but some sense of fearlessness with a sprinkling of insanity I think is the perfect way to live your life. And hey, if you're selling that, I'm buying because that feels like the perfect way to navigate this extraordinary, extraordinary world that you just referenced. And obviously for context, you are playing Jersey in Hell's Kitchen, which is this Alicia Keys semi sort of autobiographical musical based around some of the experiences of her life, which I had the pleasure of seeing almost to the day a year ago from now and it was unbelievable. I don't know what I thought I was getting.

I got a full course meal, not just a start. I mean, it was like you guys were serving and giving very much. That was of course the first time I had the pleasure of meeting you and one thing, and perhaps the reason why I wanted to start with where you based yourself is this is like no other. There's a sense of one's ownership, there's a sense of grand singing on a scale that I was like, I need this in every musical and feel somewhat disappointed when I don't get this level of singing now, which I know is easy for me to say as the customer, but for you to actually deliver it can be somewhat challenging, right?

[10:54] Kelsee Kimmel: No, I mean, I understand what you mean. It's like there is a lot about Hell's Kitchen in terms of artistic richness that spoils us as both the artist and as the patron. Like when I first joined the show, I was so in awe of the dancers. Like yes, there's so much extravagance in the music and the singing and what is happening sonically on stage, but what Camille A. Brown has created as the choreographer for the piece and what our dance ensemble has somehow maintained for almost years on Broadway and long before that at the Public Theater downtown in New York City and before that in workshops. I mean, it takes so long to build a musical. I think Alicia was working on this for like 13 years before it hit Broadway.

So all of the people who have been involved in building this, like the dancing, the choreography, the bodily maintenance that is required. And I remember talking to one of our dance ensemble members, Sarah Parker. I said to her, she was complimenting my vocal performance one night and as I clear my throat, thanks Sarah for complimenting my vocal performance. Let me just clear away the phlegm to make sure that happens again. She and I were talking about how this stretches us artistically and she made a comment about how it's kind of an honor to get to stretch your instrument to be a part of a piece that requires you to stretch your instrument so much as this one does. And she said it's exactly like what it does for you and your voice.

Like I've never stepped into a sing like this before. This is the biggest thing I've ever done. And my, you know, I did Six for two years where you're on stage constantly and you're pretty much speaking and singing the whole time. Even if it's not your feature, you are using your instrument the entire time that you are on stage for 80 minutes straight. And yes, it's a short show and it's an 80-minute show, it's exhausting. It's the hardest thing I've ever done, but this Hell's Kitchen is the biggest thing I've ever done. And again, like coming back to the fear factor, like there is something very, very daunting about that, but then you do it a couple times and you're like, oh my God, I can do it.

Okay, let me do it again. Okay, let me reproduce it again. Okay, let me lock it in, let me find the consistency. And I think the same can be said for the dancers, even for the acting and the scene work that exists. There's just, again, there's so much artistic richness to be found that I have spent a lot of time here at Hell's Kitchen thinking like when am I going to get this again? And so the fact that you as an audience member think like, oh my God, you know, this feast of riches that I'm seeing and experiencing, like, oh, I want more, I want more. And the fact of the matter is I think part of what makes it so special is that it is unique in that way that it stretches all of us so, so far and wide and hard and it's relentless.

And sometimes you're like, oh my God, how am I going to figure out how to do this again? But you do and because your body knows how to do it and there's a lot of trust, self-trust involved. But this is not to at all to like all musicals are hard and they're...

[14:49] Kelsee Kimmel: Do you think that's why you also speak so highly about your experience getting to be a student at this show before you then became the principal role, because you got to watch others? I believe you came in with Jessica Vosk. Is that right? Yes, that is correct. And yeah, 100 percent. I mean, I'm a firm believer that we're always like we never stop being students. So like first and foremost, like even now as the principal, like there's still so much to learn. And, you know, we at this time of recording this episode, we have four and a half weeks left of our run. And I am by no means thinking like, all right, like we did it. And, you know, here we are at the end. Like there is so much to be found and so much to discover and so much to learn constantly.

And that's kind of like the cool thing about theater is it's this like living, breathing amoeba art form that relies so much on the day-to-day maintenance and changes and challenges and things that come up as humans creating art. But yes, being a student to the piece as a standby and to Jessica and, you know, everyone before me creating the piece and to Michael Greif, our director, and, you know, there again, it's just it was insane to kind of like have this project fall into my lap the way that it did when it did. And I really get to dig in because the preparedness kind of like created itself. It was like, well, I'm coming to rehearsal every day. And even if it's Jessica's rehearsal and I'm there, you know, as the standby and I'm kind of learning under her and like she's creating her Jersey and as the standby, I'm sort of creating my version of Jersey under her, with her, alongside of her.

It was a cool collaborative process for both of us and underneath the, you know, the directorial team. And we kind of had like our time like separate and together. And we got to talk about it. You know what I mean? We would like on breaks be like, hey, like, how are you going to speak this? Hey, how are you like? What do you feel about this? And it was really cool to have that sort of teammate. And also for me, it was this kind of like protective layer to kind of have her to guide me. I never took that for granted. And it's really cool that I had that to again, like going forward. Maybe someday I can be that for someone else. Maybe I can be that for myself next time. You know, just again, like the trust, the self-trust aspect. But 100 percent being a student to the piece and continuing to do so.

[17:20] William J Connolly: One thing that I do love and you reference about having customers and people that maybe we're buying what you're selling. A very dear friend of mine, whose opinion I do trust very much, actually had the pleasure of seeing you within the last couple of weeks. And he sent me a very lovely message by which I'm going to embarrass you a little bit by reading out. But he just put, "Friend, she shut the place down. What the fuck?" And this is something that a lot of other people, I know there's been some clips of you in the show, but people are turning out for you and you're very vocal about the performance that you give. I mean, eight times a week, maybe this talent is out of this world. This was genuinely a life-changing experience seeing life like this. I literally forgot how to breathe.

[18:00] Kelsee Kimmel: Wow, wow, wow. But honestly, one of my favorite voices. What you do is unreal. People love you.

[18:03] Kelsee Kimmel: Oh, my God. Wait, I am absolutely, first of all, I'm blushing. I might be sweating a little bit and I'm clutching my pearls because I am floored and the kind like, oh my. Oh my God. These are comments online. These are comments on a video. I think it was your "Pawn It All" video that went up, one of which came from Miss Caroline Bowman. She was singing your praises as well. So you've got royalty in there too.

[18:21] Kelsee Kimmel: Yeah, Caroline is an angel on earth and so talented and so hardworking. I respect her so much. She's one of those people who is just like in everyone's corner all the time. I hope to be half of the woman and artist that she is.

[18:34] William J Connolly: That's so, so sweet. Wow. I'm just like giving myself a little hug. Oh, to do that. Having also just spoken about being a student of other people and to learn from them and you speak so highly and rightfully about Shoshana and Jessica and how they taught you and wanting to match your colleagues, as you said, with the dance ability within your lane and be able to do that and then most importantly, to be able to inspire other people as well and to actually do the thing that you wanted to do and to do it at this level of success, this level of approval. Have you had a chance to sit with it at any point and go, actually, I deserve to be here. I deserve to be this principal and I get to enjoy this, which I know is not always the case. Sometimes people spend contracts, quite frankly, just getting through. But actually, hopefully the enjoyment is coming through now.

[19:19] Kelsee Kimmel: That actually this is kind of emotional. It's hard. It's hard to sit with the feeling of deservedness because the industry and the world at large is so ruthless and unforgiving. And, you know, things don't make a lot of sense most of the time. And in this industry, especially in terms of success and opportunity, that rings so true. And a quick little sidebar that I'll try to keep brief. When I moved to New York City, I love to talk about this, especially for young kind of, you know, upstarts, people who hope to do this. And, you know, we look at people and we see success and we just think like, oh, Kelsee Kimmel, Hell's Kitchen. No, Hell's Kitchen is the absolute tippity tippity tippity littlest ice cube piece of the iceberg of what I've experienced as a professional in New York City.

When I moved to New York City, I had just graduated from my BFA program. I went to Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia. And when I graduated from Shenandoah, I moved to New York City. I did not have an equity card. I did not have an agent. I had nobody essentially. Yes, a network of people from school and a network of friends who supported me and that I could commiserate with, you know, after a bad day. But essentially no one advocating for me when I went to auditions, when I went to, you know, concerts or other like events that afforded a networking opportunity. There was no one on my side being like, pay attention to this person. It was just me, which is a really, really cringy thing to have to do to say, hey, it's me, it's my turn.

Pay attention to me. I promise I have something that you want to see or hear. That was the case for about three and a half years. I remained unrepresented. I remained non-equity. I went to open calls and EPAs and ECCs and waited in line at the audition studio from 6 a.m. sometimes until 6 p.m., sometimes not being seen at all, sometimes getting typed out, sometimes leaving a headshot and a resume for casting, hoping they would look at it, sometimes being seen. There was a time my roommate and best friend and I, Tess Marshall, we went to a beautiful EPA together and we waited all day and we were the second to last and the third to last people seen, which means that we were seen at about like 5:56 and 5:58 p.m. of a ten to six audition day.

Like that was the reality for three and a half years. And I come back to the insanity part. I come back to the no-quit part. I come back to the I'm dropped into an environment and a scenario. And you say, well, I'm here. I just there's this thing in me, in my chest, in my belly, in my head, whatever it is that is telling me I have to see this through. And yeah, so then like that is a part of like to answer your question from way before like that is a part of my personality than 100 percent. You either got it or you ain't, I suppose.

[22:30] Kelsee Kimmel: And when I booked my first national tour, I booked the Kinky Boots National Tour in 2018. And I did that without an agent. I did that without an equity card. The Kinky Boots National Tour then led me to book the Rent National Tour. The Rent National Tour got me to sign with my current team of representatives. That sounds like a legal statement. My agents and my talent reps, you know, it's like one thing, like one branch had to break and one thing absolutely led to the next. And I'm going to say that I forget what your initial question was, because I said sides quick sidestep. And I got so my point was to say, this isn't the success that I've always had. Like, it took a long time to get here. So what was your initial question?

[23:21] William J Connolly: I was asking you about believing in yourself and actually being able to write, do you deserve to be here?

[23:28] Kelsee Kimmel: Yeah, everyone, you just saw my ADHD on a first-hand level. Thank you to the ADHD crash outs of America. Yes. So anyway, I spent the point of all of that is that I spent so long thinking, you know, this could be me. Why not me? I think I'm good enough for it to be me. I think I'm kind enough for it to be me. I think I'm consistent enough for it to be me. It took a long time. I mean, I moved to New York City over nine years ago. You know, Hell's Kitchen is my like my I call it my official Broadway debut. I technically made a Broadway debut with Six as a standby, but I didn't actually perform on the Broadway stage. I was just in the building for a bit on standby in case of emergency. But Hell's Kitchen marks my, you know, my official Broadway debut.

And then, you know, again, like coming in as an offstage standby and then getting promoted to the principal and finishing up the run, like the fact that I get to be the final Jersey of the run on Broadway. And it's just I found myself in this really peculiar situation of like, oh my God, there's still this imposter syndrome part of like, oh my God, it's me. And do I deserve like how many other people in the world or in New York City alone want this opportunity and could do this? And it's me. And so sitting with that feeling of that's what I mean when I said it's very emotional because I spent so long wanting this exact thing that I get to do right now. And none of it is lost on me. The gratitude and the hard work and the time spent and the wishing and the manifesting and everything that it takes and the doses of insanity that it takes.

I do. I do feel I do believe somewhere in me that I do deserve it. But the deservedness, the idea of that comes from that, like the kind of time spent, the it's it's the work part of it, because there are so many talented people in the world. That's the thing too. It's like when you go to an audition, you're never going to be the best singer. You're never going to be the best actor. You're never going to be the best dancer. You're just not there. It is it there's a wealth of talent and ability. The thing that people, I think, tend to look for is is consistency and reliability, and that's the thing that I feel landed me, you know, to feel like I deserve anything. Nobody really deserves anything.

But if we did, it's like, well, I've I've put in the time I've put in the work and yeah, I'm here. OK, OK. But it is it's a very emotional like hug my college age self hug. You know, younger me who was singing Wicked karaoke in her bedroom into a hairbrush, you know, who just wanted to be on Broadway. And oh my God, I get to be on Broadway and I get to play this incredible role. All of that encapsulated. I don't even know if I answered the question. I just it just means a lot to be asked something like that and to be in a position to answer something like that. Very emotional and overwhelming in the best way.

[26:36] William J Connolly: Emotional, overwhelming, I feel like is Broadway. I feel like that's just if Broadway had a tagline. Let's I think we might have just found it. But it is it's so hard and so many people want to do it. And so many people spend so many, you know, so much time wanting to do it. And like, I don't know, I look back on that time. Like again, like when I when I reference those three and a half years that I spent post post college without without, you know, unionization, without a team of people behind me pushing me and like really knowing who I was like three and a half years. That's that's a long period of time to kind of like be chasing something. You know, how many people talk about like five year plans or like and again, I was lucky enough to come from a family and have a mom who just like saw this for me the same way that I saw it for myself.

And, you know, there was no one in my life who was really saying like, OK, well, it hasn't happened yet, Kelsee. So when are we going to stop trying? There was just no question that we were going to keep trying. It just doesn't it does not happen overnight. Sometimes people sometimes it happens. Sometimes people get really lucky and the right thing comes at the right time and you get you know, you get you land a Broadway lead overnight. But that's not the case. Most of the time, it's kind of like a plane crash. You think it happens a lot because you hear about it a lot when it happens. But for the most part, it's people like me. It's people like Jessica Vosk. It's people, you know, who started Shoshana Bean starting in ensembles, covering roles, starting as a swing.

And now all of a sudden it's like they're the name on everybody's lips. And you just think like, oh my God. Well, they're that person. And then you find out yesterday, actually, actually the 24th, January 21st yesterday was what we call National Swing Day with Actors' Equity here in the States. The actors union, there was like Broadway World or Playbill or someone did a post of like current Broadway stars who made their Broadway debuts as swings. And it was like Kate Baldwin, Donna Murphy, Jeremy Jordan, Jonathan Groff, you know, people who we revere as like absolute stars who started in these positions. So it's just like, yeah, those the those are the stories that are like the real grit.

[28:48] Kelsee Kimmel: And when you see someone who's experiencing success, it did not just like happen. That did not just arrive. So that's my point of all of that. I could talk about it for days, darling. For days. What does it then mean when you get the opportunity in your journey, for example, to be the standby, to be a student, to be able to learn, to be able to then take over principally knowing that somebody of the calibre of someone like Alicia Keys that truly understands music, that understands the gift that you have, probably beyond most people, because she is such a genius in that way. She understands the technicalities of things that, you know, that, oh yeah, she's a great singer, yes, but can she sustain eight shows a week?

This person can, this person can't. And this is the reason why. What about when she gives you validation or she invites you, as those extraordinary curtain call videos are, to sing with her in her show on Broadway as her new starlet? What does it mean to get that level of validation?

[29:51] Kelsee Kimmel: Yeah, I mean, that part is surreal, because, I mean, when you talk about can she do it, you know, there's someone like Alicia Keys who's looking at me. There's someone like Michael Greif who's looking at me even, you know, on an A-list theatre scale. But, you know, someone like Alicia and her team looking at me and, you know, can she do this? And then to have the opportunity to show them that, yes, I can, yes, I can, let me show you that I can, and to let them see that, and to have them champion me along the way, and support me along the way, and validate me along the way, is really, really surreal. Because you're right, I mean, Alicia gets it. There's rarely, you know, it's very rare in theatre that you have a producer.

Alicia's the lead producer on the show, and it's extremely rare that you have a producer, let alone a lead producer on a Broadway musical who has any sort of performance experience of any kind, let alone the kind that Alicia does. And no, Alicia's not done an eight-show Broadway week, but she knows what the demands are and the anxieties are of creating a product and maintaining it for your audience and for your fans. And to sort of be recognized alongside someone like that, or something like that, of like, yes, I trust you to come into my world that I've created, my baby, my story. Because like you said, it's semi-autobiographical. I'm playing her mother. And to be like, yeah, here, her mother is also a producer on the show.

And her mom has seen me in the role and said such lovely things to me afterward. And like that, again, it's just kind of like, oh, my God, like, you know, the person who I'm loosely based on, we call her Miss Loosely Based, is saying, yeah, is saying, I like what you're doing. And I want to see you do it more that.

[31:47] Kelsee Kimmel: Yeah, I mean, the validation is one thing. But beyond that, it's just like a lot of, oh, my God, is this really happening? Is this really? Thank you. Thank you. There's just a lot of gratitude. Is that also why? And I know that Shoshana and Jess have both spoken about this very publicly, which is why you have to make the very honest decision about when that is not there when you do the other end of the sword, which is actually some days you just aren't feeling great. And I love the fact that there is this ever-growing conversation about the power of swings, the power of standbys, the power of understudies. And actually, do you know what, I'd rather you go home, we see a fantastic understudy and give them their moment. And you then come back when you feel like you can deliver what you promised to Alicia and what her mom is expecting of her portrayal and stuff, because I know it feels like a weakness. But actually, I'd argue it's actually probably a strength.

[32:36] Kelsee Kimmel: No, it's not. It's not a weakness. Missing a show because you need to take a day or missing a couple shows because you're ill or injured and you need to recover is way more powerful, empowering and strong than it is a weakness because it's showing that you're caring for your instrument, for your body, for your vocal instrument, for your instrument at large to go home, take care of it so that you can continue to do it in the future. And it's never about that show. It's never about that one performance. It's about everything that's yet to come. And yeah, I talk a lot about what's in any show, not just Hell's Kitchen. This is not a Hell's Kitchen specific thing. But who is the best show in the building right now?

When you come to that crossroad of like, I'm just not really feeling it. Maybe you're a little under the weather. Maybe you're fatigued. Maybe spiritually, you're just not there. Maybe there's something going. We are human. We're doing eight shows a week, but we all have, you know, life happening and, you know, everyday stressors of being a human in 2026 planet Earth. And some days it's just like, to take a step back and have the humility to say, like, it's just not me today. There is a better show in the building that the audience deserves, that the show deserves, that the company deserves, that will serve the piece better than I am able to today.

[34:02] Kelsee Kimmel: And opening up that conversation from both sides, from both the principal, like star side, the, you know, the Megan Hilty side, the Shoshana Bean side, the Jessica Vosk side of like, hey, I just need to step away and open up, you know, an opportunity for myself to get better in whatever ways I need to get better. And then also the standby side of like, hey, oh, my God, I get to do this. Now there's an opportunity for me to show my work, because the work of standbys and understudies and swings, etc. is so, so much of it is done in the dark, the rehearsing on your own, the rehearsing with the team in a rehearsal studio somewhere, you know, you'll get a put in, you know, that you get to run the show with all of the elements on stage that then like the company will see.

But, you know, going into that performance element and actually doing it with the adrenaline with the audience with the nerves is a completely different beast. And getting that experience is like a type of, it's like a rite of passage. And, you know, everyone, everyone should be afforded that opportunity. But then, you know, you get to do it again and again and again. And like those reps that come with that are really, really so valuable.

[35:15] Kelsee Kimmel: And anyway, it's just like, like you said, this conversation that's kind of opening up the shedding of the old school mentality of like, we have to live and die by the eight show week, no matter what. No, we actually need to take care of ourselves. And it's going to be okay. And if you go home and you sit down and you take a show off, it's going to be a really, really special day at the theater for this other person. And, you know, that person gets to have a moment in the limelight and be celebrated for their work and their abilities to...

[35:49] Kelsee Kimmel: What about when you're also feeling super spicy? So the other end of that, that spectrum, and it's like, the beat is on, the wig is wigging, I'm ready to go, the audience is in, that speaker, that system in that building. I know a lot has been said about it's fucking loud, and it absolutely gives me life. And then it's you're like, right, Pawn It All's coming. Are you just like, bitches take notes because mother's coming? Like, what's that experience like?

[36:06] Kelsee Kimmel: I honestly, I mean, Pawn It All is my favorite moment that I get to do in the show. And for a lot of reasons, musically, but also emotionally. For a lot of reasons. This story is extraordinarily close to my heart and my own experience. And I tell people a lot of the time without the race element. I am Allie and the parental story that we are telling has a lot to do with my own lived experience. And it's been a really, really, at the risk of sounding corny, it's been a really, really healing experience to get to do a number like Pawn It All. Because of that, I always kind of feel like maybe it's not necessarily like mother's coming. But it's there is a like a thoroughbred quality of like, I'm, I'm in the wing, and I'm about to walk out and I get to do this scene and sing this song and represent hope and freedom and victory to anyone who has ever felt like they just need to, like, take their own life by the reins and, you know, eliminate any sort of a problem, eliminate a harmful person.

You know, at any scale, what that represents has, has meant so much to me, it's been a really, really, there have been plenty of Pawn It Alls where I am truly in tears in the middle of the piece, because, you know, if the audience is really there, I mean, the audiences are awesome all the time. But if there's a particularly hot audience, that's really, really with me, and I get a little choked up. I get messages from people after the show, you know, who, you know, there was this one time that one sticks in my head, I got this message from a young lady who said that she was seeing the show with her mom, I get a lot of, you know, Oh, my God, I saw the show with my mom. And I didn't expect to cry.

Yeah, buckle up, bring your tissues, especially if you're seeing it with a parent. But the you know, she said, I saw it with my mom. And she recently got divorced from my dad. And it was a long time coming. It should have happened a long time ago. But obviously, it's a really hard decision, blah, blah, blah. And when you sang Pawn It All, I got so emotional because I saw her seeing herself in a hopeful, victorious light for the first time in probably decades. And to be that representation for anybody, but especially a woman who's, you know, experiencing a split or a hardship in a, you know, co-parenting marriage situation, really, really means the world to me.

[38:42] Kelsee Kimmel: So yeah, I mean, those nights were like, the makeup is hitting the wig is hitting the audience is hitting that just makes it all better. I mean, I won't lie. But Pawn It All is is that's one of those things when I say like, when am I going to get to do something like this? Again, this thing is stretching my instrument and my emotional bandwidth to a place that I haven't experienced before. And it's so gratifying. And it's so fulfilling. And it's just a big old artistic meal. And I can only hope to get to do something again. I know that I will but I can I can only hope that I get to do something again, that that feels any bit like this.

[39:21] Kelsee Kimmel: One of my favourite moments on the show, which actually didn't necessarily happen on stage, but I remember there was a security guard stood next to me for most of the show. And I remember thinking that's quite unusual for somebody to be stood in the audience like and then he sort of kneeled down and I was thinking, sure, like, I'm a Brit, maybe this is what happened here. I didn't really think much of it. And then the interval when I turned around, I noticed who the person was. And I thought, oh, fantastic. And then of course, Love Looks Better on You happened. And I was like, oh, I could be one of my favourite songs. And it was Taraji P. Henderson's Security. And I was like, obsessed. It was the night that I came.

But she was insanely vocal throughout the whole show. And that song, I think that may have struck a chord with her. I don't want to speak on her behalf. But she was viscerally screaming through most of it because it was like, whatever's going on in her world was connecting to her. And I thought how extraordinary that she felt connected enough to be vocal, to be overt, to be honest, to be upfront, to be incredibly vulnerable, and to respond to the experience that she was having. I felt like sort of spoke a million ways to how this show connects with people and particularly women. I thought it was extraordinary.

[40:25] Kelsee Kimmel: Yeah, that's really cool. I remember the night Taraji came. Because yes, I remember that that coincided with your visit. And yeah, she was so thrilled to see I mean, and then that's another intersection that obviously I can't speak to on any sort of a personal level. But the way that the show speaks to the black experience, and especially the black experience in America, Taraji was so and any any one of our black audience members, you know, any any person of color who comes through, I think, I hope, experiences a bit of catharsis and appreciates the visibility that that comes along with something like Hell's Kitchen telling the story of being black in America so bravely, and it's it's not, you know, it's not grisly, it's not, you know, there's no, you know, brutal killing or anything.

But it kind of alludes to the fact that, like, we're treading on that topic very, very lightly. And this is a real thing that happens to black Americans and to see people say, like, to see our story to see, you know, to see the black story, not my story, again, this is a podcast, I need to be clear about what I'm talking about with semantics. But to see the black story and the black experience told so bluntly and bravely on a Broadway stage is immeasurable, and really, really important. And that stuff to just be a part of a piece like that is, I mean, an honor isn't even the right word. It's, it's, it's just something that I do not take lightly. It's a responsibility I do not take lightly. And that's really, really cool to know that Taraji was responding like that.

And she's not alone. That's the thing too. It's like, she's, she's, she's all of us. But to know that people were responding that way and do respond that way to that moment in the show to the freedom and the release is why literally why we do it.

[42:16] Kelsee Kimmel: You said about the honor of getting to perform this story with this cast. One thing that I think is insane about Hell's Kitchen is the absolute legends that have been able to play some of those roles, of which I think one of these individuals may be just about to leave at the point of which record this podcast. But Miss Adams being in your cast is pure jokes. Ne-Yo being in your cast is pure jokes. What's it like to get to know you're going to get to go to work with actual Grammy winning music legends underline the word legends multiple times, underline the word legends multiple times?

[43:03] Kelsee Kimmel: Yeah, again, I come back to the surrealness and the kind of like the experience of like, well, I've been plopped here in this space already. So we've just got to go for it. And we've just got to pretend like we belong here. Because you know, in a world we do belong here. Absolutely. But like, what? Um, yeah, I mean, we've had...

[43:11] Kelsee Kimmel: I just had a conversation with the book writer of the show the other week, Chris Diaz, and he was like, who have you sung with in the last year? Referencing the Davises that I've had, because I've had the pleasure of performing with every Davis that the Broadway company has seen, both Principals and Understudies. And I mean, that list includes Brandon Victor Dixon, it includes Christopher Jackson, it includes Tank, R&B legend, Grammy-nominated Tank. Um, it includes Ne-Yo. And it's just like, what, like, the list of, you know, if a singer collected a body count, I think mine is pretty incredible. Yeah, knowing that Ne-Yo was joining, like, I remember walking into my first I had met Ne-Yo, Ne-Yo came to the show.

And I was actually on that day. It was it was when I was still the standby. But I was I performed the day that Ne-Yo came to the show. So I had the opportunity to meet him. And we all kind of knew when he attended that there was a conversation have the deal was not done. But we were aware that there was a conversation of him potentially joining as Davis. So I the ice was broken. And I and I had, you know, a friendly meeting and introduction with him. But when I walked into my first rehearsal with him, he's just he's so warm and opening. He gives the best hugs in the entire world. If you ever have the opportunity to receive a hug from Ne-Yo, take it. And you know, he just walk into a space and he's all smiles and he, you know, arms spread wall to wall to embrace you and greet you.

And he's just like a theater kid, you know, like the rest of us. He's just like so excited to to run the scene. There was one time where we were rehearsing all of the Jersey Davis scenes and we had done Fallen. We had done the Fallen scene. And the associate director was like, OK, so, Ne-Yo, do you want to like, do you want to keep moving forward through the rest of the show? Do you want to run this again? How are you feeling? You know, and he literally said, I mean, this is a really fun scene. So like we could we could just run it again because it's like it's really it's really fun. And I was like, right on. It is fun. It's too hard for it to not be fun. So, yes, it's fun. And we ran it again and it was just like playtime.

And yeah. And I have one scene with the Miss Liza Jane character. And, you know, so I don't I don't get to sing with Miss Yolanda Adams, but I do get to share the stage with her. And I tell her I've told her multiple times. It's just I mean, I would say the same thing to Keisha Lewis. It's just such an honor to get to inhabit the same space at all, to get to share a stage and be your scene partner for, you know, 90 seconds or two minutes or however long that scene lasts. Again, it's another thing that's just not lost on me to be to be plopped into this world of Alicia Keys and all of her friends who she invites to come to her Broadway show. It's just a little insane, insane, surreal, gratifying all of the words that we've been saying this whole this whole time.

[46:03] William J Connolly: Who are some of the people then you mentioned that? Because I mean, the backstage pictures are crazy on your Instagram. Like it becomes like this point, just like almost an eye roll of like, oh, my God, how on earth is that person like they're like, what on earth are you thinking at that point? Who's been the one that you've been like, I can't actually believe. Did Patti LaBelle come? Did I make that up?

[46:21] Kelsee Kimmel: Patti LaBelle came. That would have been me out. I'd have been like, I'm not on today. Good. I'm not singing for Patti LaBelle. Goodbye. I and you know what, and I wasn't I wasn't on that day. Okay, good. Right. Depending on who depending on who it is, I'll be completely frank when I was the standby and when I wasn't when I when I wasn't on every day and I and I wasn't required to stay until the end of the show every day, depending on who it was. I would I would sometimes not not stay for the meet and greet just because I feel and this is this might be something I should just get over it. But the imposter syndrome of it all kind of kicks in when you haven't just performed the piece and you just kind of feel a little bit like, hi, I'm Kelsey.

I wasn't on stage tonight. But sometimes I play the mom just feels a little like icky to me. So sometimes that's not always a position that I choose to put myself in. But Patti LaBelle, when when Patti LaBelle was there, I said, Oh, no, my ass is staying to meet Miss Patti LaBelle. One thing about me, I'm going to shake Miss Patti LaBelle's hand. I have spent so much time with her voice and with her music and her placement, the way her sound literally skyrockets out the top of her head and into the stratosphere is something I will never quite understand. But yeah, yeah, we had Patti LaBelle. This is just in my time. I mean, the people who came through before it because I joined, I guess, oh, gosh, maybe like eight or so months into the show's run, seven or eight months into the show's run is when I joined.

So the people who came before then, listen, I don't even know. But Michelle Obama came. Patti LaBelle came. Shania Twain came. That was one where I was like, I'm about to perform. Dionne Warwick came. Anthony Anderson came. Susan Sarandon came. Those those are the ones that are coming to mind immediately. But yeah, it's an insane roster of people who we've been able to perform for. There are also there are some like public servant types who come through, too. And that's all, you know, as an American fighting to keep democracy alive. That is really incredible, too, to get to share art and provide that service for them to provide, you know, an escape and a bit of music and dancing and laughter and catharsis for people who do really, really hard work for us as the American public.

But yeah, just to be a part of something, too, that people want to come to. Like sometimes, you know, we'll see like you'll know that there's someone in the audience and it's like like when Dionne Warwick just came and I was like, Dionne Warwick wants to come see Hell's Kitchen. What? Do you know what I mean? It's like, wait, what do you Shania Twain wants to see? And there's part of me and part of like the little kid in me who's like, why? What do you mean? But that that speaks to Alicia's prowess, too. I mean, I think like the show is great and I want everyone to see Hell's Kitchen. But, you know, Alicia's impact really speaks volumes as to to why the show has been so successful and and why people want to see it and want to see it again and want to keep coming back and experience it.

And I'm I'm I'm bracing myself for who we'll see in these last couple of weeks because I feel like it'll be a push of like, oh, I haven’t seen this yet or I want to see it one more time. My goodness, I would be before I joined. I would have passed away, I think, if I had performed for or been in the same building as Cynthia Erivo. Like that wouldn't have been right. I would have been like, all right, I got to bury me in a pine box. I'm good, everybody. I think I think I'm quite this one correctly, but I believe Lynn said when he did Hamilton that he missed one show was when Beyonce and Jay-Z went. So he lived in a continual fear that the one show you call out is when that happens. So not that I'm saying don't call out, but don't call out.

[50:17] Kelsee Kimmel: No, that's a that's a relatable experience. I that is something that I think about and I and I mean, knock on wood, I am able to do the show consistently and I do for the most part do eight show weeks. But, you know, if I ever reach the point of like, oh, I'm a little bit fatigued, I think my body could use a break. Or, you know, if I reach that point and I'm kind of having that conversation with myself of like, what does what does today look like? Realistically, what does the week look like? And I'm like, but what if that's the day that Bruce Springsteen comes? You know what I mean? I think of my my own idols and the music that I grew up on and, you know, who are the moguls who I would just absolutely I actually it's funny that you say that about Lennon and and Beyonce and Jay-Z, because I actually took a show off last May when when Cowboy Carter was playing at in the greater New York area in New Jersey.

I took a show off to go see Cowboy Carter with my mom. That was the night that Michelle Obama came to the show. Would you believe that? It's like, guess who's never putting in a personal day to go to a concert ever again? Kelsey Kimmel, because I didn't actually get to meet Michelle Obama.

[51:23] William J Connolly: You did trade one queen for another, though. So I feel like that's kind of a good choice.

[51:26] Kelsee Kimmel: And that was the thing. I was like, I understand that I'm with Beyonce tonight. Like, I do. I do understand that. But what do you what? This has been the stariest name droppiest episode of this podcast ever. And I've interviewed Patti LuPone. She knows everyone. It has been just like names. So bless you. You are absolutely my sort of person. I am right in saying if my memory, which hasn't lost me just yet, that your first, as you said, that when you didn't have your equity card, didn't have your representation, your first national tour, the first professional paid gig in the scale of what we call the Broadway and tours was Kinky Boots, right?

[52:03] Kelsee Kimmel: Yes, that is correct.

[52:04] William J Connolly: So you think about the experience that you spoke about where you were at personally, professionally with your gifts and how you felt the industry was treating you after those pretty rough three and a half years of I've got to make this happen for me. What do you think the Kelsey back then that was trying so desperately to find her place in this world, in this industry and all of the stories and the people you've mentioned and the levels of success that you have rightfully earned for yourself and have come to for the right reasons? What do you think she would think of the person that's currently in a principal role in this smash hit Broadway show? What would she think of you sat here now?

[52:35] Kelsee Kimmel: That's the thing that I that I think I kind of meant to hit on more deeply earlier when I when we were talking about, you know, deserving to be somewhere and why it's so emotional, because I'm getting choked up right now. But it's just my biggest dream come true. And to know to let that person know that it was going to happen, that it is habits in the process of happening, and that her efforts are not, you know, going to be lost. I don't know. I don't know what she would feel. I don't know what she would say. I think there could still be a level of, you know, disbelief. But I think there would also be a level of, you know, right, right. I mean, I'm here to do this thing. I'm here to make this thing happen.

And it just it can be so exhausting. The audition burnout can be so exhausting, because I remember feeling through those years, like, I maintained, like an insane level of happiness, I was so happy to be living in New York City and to be chasing that, like, that was enough for me at the time, I must say it wasn't like it was all treachery. But it was just so frustrating to feel like I had to go into open calls or go into auditions and beg for people's time and attention, to share myself with them to share a piece of myself that I knew was worth sharing that I that I believed, like, hey, you're gonna want to pay attention to this, I, I really think I have something to offer you. And, you know, once I started experiencing those first little tidbits of commercial success, like you're saying, you know, like kinky boots was my first big, you know, commercial theater job, and then, you know, moving on to rent and, and, you know, eventually to six into Hell's Kitchen and everything.

It's just like, there's a big part of me that that feels that I always possessed this, I've always been this person. And it was really, really interesting to feel the shift when people did start to pay attention. Because I was this, I felt like the same person walking into the same rooms with the same casting directors. And, you know, I'm sure we all have these experiences. But there are there are certain industry professionals, who I can, you know, pinpoint exactly in my mind when their tune to me kind of started to shift. And that's such an icky truth of, of, you know, the, the clout chasing kind of, you know, industry and world in which we live. But just kind of like, yeah, you know, before it before I had this credit, you didn't look up from your paper on the desk when I came in to sing my 32 bar cut.

But now you're out in the hallway with me trying to facilitate the best possible audition experience, because you know who I am now. And you know what credits I have, you know, that's like an icky truth. But to know for that person to know who is going through all those things of like, I am who I am. And I know that I have something that's worth giving to this industry and to your project to know that it would all come true. And I walk into the theater every day. And I just I truly think like, Oh my god, like we did it like I'm I am a principal on Broadway. It's so it's just so emotional. I feel like I keep using the same words over and over again. But yeah, I think I think about her all the time.

I think about, you know, 2016 2017 2018 Kelsey all the time. And I just want to send a little ghost back in time send a send a carrier pigeon back in time to say, Hey, honey, like, keep keep keep it up. Keep going. It's gonna it's gonna matter and it's gonna be worth it. You've got it. And even when you're sort of not feeling 100% or the the doubt has come in or the the haters come into your mind. I always try to remember, keep your foot on those bitches necks, keep your foot on those bitches necks and sing high and loud. Yes. The theater and belt go to the bedroom and bet you know when this show closes, okay, catch me giving concerts in my living room. The neighbors are about to hate me.

[56:28] William J Connolly: Oh my gosh, this has been such a pleasure. Thank you so much for taking such a huge chunk of your time out to talk to me today. I genuinely really appreciate it. And most importantly, it's my pleasure. Congratulations on all of the glory that you're getting. And rightfully so. I'm so glad that we got the opportunity to do this and that Broadway gets to see you shine and good luck with the closing four weeks. I know it never feels like long enough, but just enjoy every single moment and all of those crazy people that are going to come and ask for a picture with you because you deserve that.

[57:02] Kelsee Kimmel: I will. Yeah, yeah. When Beyonce and Jay-Z come in and ask for a picture with me, I'll be like I manifested this on a podcast and Lin-Manuel Miranda was in there too. And Michelle Obama.

[57:09] William J Connolly: Oh yeah, and Michelle Obama. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Michelle. We love you too.

[57:14] Kelsee Kimmel: We love you, Michelle. Thank you so much. This was a blast. I appreciate it so much. You've been listening to Eleven, the official theatre podcast. Find out more about Eleven at elevenpodcast.com or via the Broadway Podcast Network.