It’s hard to believe that Alicia Keys’ Songs in A Minor debuted 25 years ago. I was a sophomore, riding to Montbello High School in a beat-up Astro Van, with her songs like Fallin’ and Never Felt This Way on repeat.
The emotional places those melodies carried me to still feel like yesterday. As a young romantic, I was navigating heartbreak, the natural tension between teenage girls and their mothers, and the high standards I placed on myself to make it out of a community so often written off as “ghetto.” At 15, I was chasing dreams of becoming a BET news anchor and making millions while doing it. Oh, to be young again.
Like many teenagers, adulthood couldn’t come fast enough. But looking back, I was still finding my place and had some growing up to do.
That deep longing for love, identity, and escape isn’t far from what JonAvery Worrell shared with me about Knuck, the dream-chasing, adolescent creative he portrays in HELL’S KITCHEN, Alicia Keys’ new musical coming to the Denver Center for the Performing Arts from April 14 to 26.
The production promises a walk down memory lane, with Keys’ biggest hits reimagined to tell the coming-of-age story of Ali, a 17-year-old girl growing up in New York City whose experiences don’t feel too far removed from my own. From FUBU jerseys and Timberland boots to a deeply soulful soundtrack, audiences can expect to be transported back to a time when life felt simpler and somehow more complicated at the same time.
Worrell, a New York native who spent much of his childhood in Atlanta, credits the church as his first stage. Growing up the son of a pastor who is also a singer at heart, he was “voluntold” by his mother to join the youth praise team at World Changers Church International. Yes, it’s the same church led by Creflo Dollar. Worrell also joined the drama ministry, taking on lead roles in Easter and Christmas productions and performing in front of thousands of people.
Those early experiences helped shape not only his creative instincts, but also the discipline and resilience required to navigate rejection, criticism, and the realities of the industry he now calls home.
“Church has been a breeding ground for crafting my gift and letting God take over,” Worrell shared.
His mother pushed him to pursue excellence – not perfection, making sure he was always prepared and off-book. Today, he carries those lessons into both his work onstage and in the classroom, where he teaches aspiring performers at AGI Entertainment.
In a full-circle moment, AGI is the same place where he was first bitten by the acting bug at just 8 years old. Even earlier, he and his brother would spend hours creating imaginary worlds, leaning fully into storytelling and playing pretend. His family members remain a constant in his journey – serving as both his biggest cheerleaders and his most honest critics. From his sister helping him run lines to his mother offering the kind of feedback that keeps him sharp, that foundation continues to ground him.
And don’t let his age fool you. At just 24, Worrell is an actor, vocalist, dancer, and thoughtful creative who dropped more than a few gems during our conversation, reminding me to stay grounded and not allow the work to define our worth.
Like many artists, he’s no stranger to rejection. He recalled learning he’d booked the role of Knuck. This moment came one year after what he describes as one of the worst auditions of his career, for a different role in the same room, in front of many of the same people.
To finally hear “yes” went exactly as you’d imagine. Marked by an “ugly cry,” Worrell said he was most excited to share the news with his family and reassure them that the years of sacrifice, time, and money they poured into him had not been in vain.
“There is no way I could ever quit knowing they invested so much in my dreams, my gifts, my happiness,” he said. “Continuing despite the rejection was my way of saying ‘thank you’ and honoring their sacrifices.”
For Worrell, playing Knuck is more than a role – it’s a mirror.
Drawing from his own experiences, as well as those of his father, he brings depth to a character navigating manhood, romance, and survival – realities that many Black boys know all too well. From encounters with police to the looming pressure of simply trying to “make it out alive,” Worrell hopes young men see themselves reflected on stage.
More importantly, he wants them to believe that their creative passions are valid and viable. It’s a message that resonates far beyond the stage.
So many of us get wrapped up in titles, status, and how others perceive us. But he pushes back against that mindset.
“I preach to my students all the time that you cannot identify with what you do,” he said. “You can love what you do, be excellent at what you do, but you can’t identify with it. Because then your self-worth gets tied to the rejection and the no’s.”
And maybe that’s what makes both his story and HELL’S KITCHEN so powerful.
It’s not just about the music that you’ll surely sing along to. It’s about the journey of becoming who we were always destined to be and the journey we take to get there.
Worrell says audiences can expect the talent in HELL’S KITCHEN, personally blessed by 17-time Grammy Award-winner Alicia Keys, to leave them in awe. You can catch him and the rest of the cast this April. Visit denvercenter.org for tickets.
