Maya Drake as Ali and the company of the North American Tour of Alicia Keys’ “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Marc J Franklin
Maya Drake performs in the Children’s Musical Theatre of San Jose performance of “Anything Goes.”
Children’s Musical Theatre of San Jose
Maya Drake performs in the Children’s Musical Theatre of San Jose performance of “Mean Girls.”
Camille Rose
Maya Drake performs in the Children’s Musical Theatre performance of “Cinderella.”
Camille Rose
In 2018, San Jose’s Maya Drake was just another “Hamilton”-obsessed 11-year-old when her parents surprised her with tickets to see Lin-Manuel Miranda’s epic musical at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco.
Now, Drake will take the Orpheum stage herself in the lead role of “Hell’s Kitchen,” the Tony Award-winning smash based on Alicia Keys’ songbook beginning performances Wednesday, May 6.
“Hell’s Kitchen”: Book by Kristoffer Diaz. Music and lyrics by Alicia Keys. Directed by Michael Greif. Performances begin Wednesday, May 6. Through May 24. $69-$274. Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market St., S.F. 888-746-1799. https://hellskitchen.com/tour/tickets
Speaking to the Chronicle by phone from a Denver “Hell’s Kitchen” tour stop, the 19-year-old recognized the full-circle moment.
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“It’s insane that I’ll be getting to perform at that same theater that sparked my interest for the theater as a profession,” she said.
In “Hell’s Kitchen,” Drake plays Ali, a teen from New York’s Manhattan Square neighborhood who’s trying to make sense of herself, her relationships and her dreams. It’s a fictionalized tale based on Keys’ life and features many of the Grammy winner’s hits including “Fallin’,” “You Don’t Know My Name,” “Empire State of Mind,” “Girl on Fire” and “No One,” as well as new Keys songs (“Kaleidoscope”) made for the production.
Maya Drake as Ali and the company of the North American Tour of Alicia Keys’ “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Marc J Franklin
After a successful two-year Broadway run that resulted in a pair of Tony Awards, a touring company was formed to take the musical nationwide. Drake, a Branham High School graduate and Children’s Musical Theater San Jose standout, earned the role through a grueling audition process that the producers dubbed “Ali Camp.”
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Aspiring cast members spent weeks learning, rehearsing and performing numbers from the show in front of the production’s choreographers and directors to build up a solid roster of leads, swings and understudies. But Drake said Ali Camp felt more like a supportive, collaborative space than a cutthroat audition.
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“I was very lucky that a lot of the nerves were eased due to the care and consideration of the associate director and the director making us feel comfortable,” she said, referring to Rebecca Aparicio and Michael Greif, respectively. “This was a space where we could play around with the scenes and sort of build the character in our own way.”
Maya Drake as Ali, left, and Roz White as Miss Liza Jane in the North American Tour of Alicia Keys’ “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Marc J Franklin
Yet for someone who grew up in the comfy San Jose suburbs, far away from the New York streets, Drake knew she had to up her game. She soaked up the ’90s-inspired dance choreography and worked on her New York accent to win over the creative team and Keys, a native New Yorker.
“There was some intimidation because I’m not from New York, and I definitely wanted to get the culture and mannerisms right,” she said. “But I do feel lucky that I was given a bit of freedom to bring myself to this role.
“The fact that I am so close in age to this character, I’m able to just bring a lot of that teenage fun and innocence to it,” she continued. “I bring my own humor and other characteristics to it. Sometimes when I’m on stage, I feel like I’m just acting as myself.”
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Drake said CMTSJ was pivotal to her growth and confidence. She is only the latest CMTSJ alumnus to break through to Broadway, following Saratoga’s Alex Brightman (“Shmigadoon!”) and San Jose’s Isabella Esler (“Beetlejuice,” “Heathers”).
“Maya is everything that our organization represents: true artistic excellence,” CMTSJ Artistic Director Kikau Alvaro said. “When we found out that she would be joining the touring company of ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ we were absolutely celebrating and in complete bliss.”
Keys also holds high praise for Drake, pointing out her ability to adapt quickly and immerse herself in the role.
“She’s so special, so committed and so open,” said Keys. “She’s connected to her feelings and her emotions, and she truly gets it.”
Alicia Keys embraces Maya Drake, who will play the lead role of Ali, during rehearsals for the North American Tour of “Hell’s Kitchen.”
Courtesy of Hell’s Kitchen
Drake has been on the road with “Hell’s Kitchen” since October 2025, performing up to nine shows a week. She’s like a Swiss Army knife, or what musical theater people might call a quadruple threat. She sings, dances, plays piano and acts in the lead role, in addition to serving as the narrator.
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“It is a little scary trying to keep track of everything you have to do,” Drake admitted, adding that her confidence and muscle memory grew with each performance. “In the previews and opening when it’s so new and exciting, you definitely are trying super-hard to make everything perfect. But you do get to a point where it sort of settles into you.”
Alvaro explained that CMTSJ encourages and prepares its students to be versatile and expand their repertoire beyond singing, dancing and acting, whether it be circus acts (“Pippin”), stage combat (“Finding Neverland”) or puppetry (“Frozen”).
Maya Drake performs in the Children’s Musical Theatre of San Jose performance of “Pippin.”
Camille Rose
“We find that our trainees are more confident and ready when they’re auditioning for New York or when New York is knocking on our door,” he said. “There’s confidence in all of these areas. They’re walking out with all these cool things they can do.”
Drake’s training and commitment are paying off. She remembered her first “Hell’s Kitchen” curtain call from the tour’s debut in Cleveland in October 2025. The crowd of 3,200 was the largest she’d performed in front of so far, and it included her parents, vocal coach and lifelong friends.
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“Hearing them cheer for me when I bowed was honestly surreal,” Drake said. “I feel like I go through such a journey with the audience during the show. When I bow, it just feels like an acknowledgment of each other in that moment.”
The gratitude goes both ways, she explained. “I feel like I’m thanking them for going on this journey with me.”
Todd Inoue is a freelance writer.