How Hell’s Kitchen stars Maleah Joi Moon and Kecia Lewis found friendship off-stage

If you were in New York City at any point during the first weeks of September, chances are you were there. open‘s Past Present Future Tour, or at least, you know someone who is in the sweaty audience at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Tony winner Maleah Joi Moon is no exception. “There was a time Have,” Moon spoke via Zoom from her NYC apartment, recounting the night she both danced and sang in a room with her Hell’s kitchen co-star. Tony winner Kecia Lewis arranged everything but couldn’t go because she was on vacation. “I was just texting with AK,” Lewis said. “She asked, ‘Are you guys having fun?’”

For those unfamiliar, “AK” is Alicia Key, the minds behind the 13-time nominated Broadway show Hell’s Kitchen, uses the Grammy Award winner’s music to tell the coming-of-age story of Ali, played by Moon. Lewis plays Ms. Liza Jane, Ali’s neighbor turned mother, who helps Ali realize his passion for music and piano, and ultimately discover himself. Of course, the semi-autobiographical musical is set in the ’90s in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan. There are a lot of baggy jeans, crop tops and jerseys.

Both Moon, 22, and Lewis, 59, won Tony awards for best actress in a musical and best actress in a musical, respectively. Hell’s kitchen marks Moon’s Broadway debut, while Lewis has been in the business for four decades. For both of them, this is their first Tony nomination—And win.

“It’s crazy that I’m talking about that, the juxtaposition between me and Kecia in that moment,” Moon reflected. “Kecia is a vet, a legend, a community staple — especially in the Black Broadway community. And then I became an emerging artist, a black woman who came into this community and was welcomed.”

The relationship that Moon and Lewis describe in Hell’s kitchen led to intimacy offstage. “With this special, we are fortunate to have the majority of the cast making their Broadway debut,” Lewis said. “I love being able to see the magic that we are [create] through fresher eyes, seeing that wonder and awe, because it can feel exhausting when you’ve been doing this for four decades.” For this reason, Lewis became the host. “I like to be guided,” she said. “And thank God because otherwise, this show would have been torture,” Lewis said with a laugh.

Here, Moon and Lewis chat with Vanity fair about their dynamic on and off stage and the only time it’s okay to sleep with your makeup on.

Vanity Fair: To start, how are you both related to each other? Hell’s kitchen?

Maleah Joi Moon: Mom, do you want to start?

Sorry, did you just call Kecia ‘Mama’?

Moon: I did. For everyone below KitchenShe is the matriarch of our cast. We all turn to her when we need grounding, peace, prayer, positivity—everything.