![\"Alicia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SUT-L-NICO-01.jpg\")
Alicia Keys, center, attends the “Hell’s Kitchen” Off-Broadway opening night at The Public Theater on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, in New York. San Diego native Nico DeJesus is seen in the front row in the green suit. (Andy Kropa\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\nIt isn\u2019t everyday a Broadway performer throws the ceremonial first pitch at a Padres home game, but on July 5, hometown dancer Nico DeJesus did just that.<\/p>\n
DeJesus is a lifelong San Diego Padres fan who also happens to be a performer and dance captain on the Broadway hit \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d and is often spotted in Midtown Manhattan repping Padres gear.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a huge baseball fan,\u201d DeJesus said by phone from New York City. \u201cI was talking about it with my family, and it\u2019s San Diego, that\u2019s our team. When they introduced me as, \u2018From San Diego, Nico DeJesus from Broadway\u2019s \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d\u2018 it was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d was created by 17-time Grammy Award-winner Alicia Keys. The lyrics and songs in the Tony-winning musical were inspired by Keys\u2019 life growing up in New York City.<\/p>\n
Alicia Keys, center, attends the “Hell’s Kitchen” Off-Broadway opening night at The Public Theater on Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023, in New York. San Diego native Nico DeJesus is seen in the front row in the green suit. (Andy Kropa\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n
Directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Greif, who was the artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse in the 1990s, \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on April 20, 2024. Having been attached since the show\u2019s early development workshops, DeJesus was elevated from the ensemble to take on a dance captain position roughly six months into the show\u2019s run.<\/p>\n
The role of dance captain has increased responsibilities in addition to a regular dance track. It requires extra time, dedication and patience to preserve the choreographer\u2019s vision after rehearsals have ended.<\/p>\n
Tony-nominated choreographer Camille A. Brown recognized this skill in DeJesus as a dancer, having worked together on a personal project earlier in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started working with him back in 2016-2017 for a project I was doing with my company, Camille A. Brown & Dancers,\u201d Brown said in an email.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am so thrilled that Nico is an original cast member of \u2018Hell\u2019s Kitchen.\u2019 He is also an amazing dance captain that truly cares for my work,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Unable to make the \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d in-person audition while on a break in San Diego, DeJesus sent a tape and was \u201clucky and blessed enough\u201d to be cast, DeJesus said.<\/p>\n
Dream come true<\/p>\n
He completed two sets of workshops for \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d that ran simultaneously with \u201c& Juliet,\u201d until his contract with the latter ended in 2023. That allowed him to focus primarily on \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was doing \u2018Hell\u2019s Kitchen\u2019 and then running back to go to \u2018& Juliet\u2019 at night, and then running back to \u2018Hell\u2019s Kitchen\u2019 \u2014 it was crazy,\u201d DeJesus said. \u201cAs I was doing that, there was something about \u2018Hell\u2019s Kitchen\u2019 \u2026 I was feeling very creatively fulfilled while I was at rehearsals. It\u2019s kind of what you wish for as an actor, to be running from one huge show to another. It\u2019s true.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last year, DeJesus performed with the company at the 77th annual Tony Awards, where \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d garnered 13 nominations, including a best musical nod for the production and a best choreographer nod for Brown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe dancing is through the roof. You can\u2019t believe it, Camille Brown smashed this. It\u2019s unbelievable,\u201d Alicia Keys said on \u201cGood Morning America\u201d last month while showcasing the show and its newest star, Christopher Jackson.<\/p>\n
The Grammy- and Emmy-winning Jackson is most recognized for his work as George Washington in \u201cHamilton,\u201d for which he was also nominated for a Tony. Marking his return to Broadway in \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen\u201d as Davis, the actor has found a mentee in DeJesus, who says the two have bonded, talking sports and family life.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we have Chris Jackson \u2014 he\u2019s my new best friend over at \u2018Hell\u2019s Kitchen,\u2019\u201d DeJesus said. \u201cWe found that we both really love sports. I was up in his dressing room talking about the Padres, talking about sports, talking about everything. It\u2019s been really nice to ask him questions about life, and he\u2019s been guiding me towards managing the industry and also growing up and being a man in the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Giving back<\/p>\n
DeJesus, 35, recognizes the importance of mentorship and has taken the opportunity to teach dance classes all over the country, from New York to San Diego.<\/p>\n
Before his days on Broadway, DeJesus grew up in Encanto and trained at the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts and credits his teacher, Donald Robinson, for his discipline and training, a passion he hopes to pay forward to younger generations of dancers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI credit a lot of the training that he did for me at a SCPA to the person that I am today,\u201d DeJesus said. \u201cI would be dying in the studio, out of breath, hot, and then he would shut the doors on us and say, \u2018Let\u2019s do that whole dance again.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI do that eight times a week on Broadway. I kill myself on stage eight times a week, but the training that he gave me in San Diego prepared me for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
It takes a village to raise a child destined for Broadway, and support for the arts started early in the DeJesus household. Brenda DeJesus made sure to give her son all the opportunities she could as a young artist. They even built a dance studio in their home in Encanto and included other budding artists from the community, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of times, these talented kids have no rehearsal space after hours,\u201d she said. \u201cSo our house is the house that the kids would go to, whether it was dance or musicians \u2014 that was the place they could go to.\u201d<\/p>\n
After high school in San Diego, DeJesus received his undergraduate degree from UCLA in World Arts and Culture with a dance emphasis. He had his big break when he was cast in the national Broadway tour of Disney\u2019s \u201cNewsies,\u201d as \u201cRomeo\u201d in 2014, before making it to Broadway. He followed that up with stints on and off-Broadway, touring with \u201cPretty Woman: The Musical\u201d before being cast in \u201c& Juliet\u201d in 2020. <\/p>\n
Working multiple shows at once has been a regular part of the career DeJesus has built and a testament to his work ethic and professionalism.<\/p>\n
In a rare opportunity to break from \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen,\u201d DeJesus can be seen in his principal role debut as Graffiti Pete as part of the Broadway at Music Circus production of \u201cIn the Heights.\u201d Presented by the UC Davis Health Pavilion, this theatre in-the-round, limited, special performance will run Aug. 1 to 7. After its final curtain, DeJesus will return once again to Broadway and \u201cHell\u2019s Kitchen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of his upcoming Northern California show, he said: \u201cI\u2019m so excited to perform in that California air again and just pop off for my state. I haven\u2019t done it in a minute, so I\u2019m really going for it when I do it for \u2018In the Heights.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Originally Published: July 27, 2025 at 5:30 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It isn\u2019t everyday a Broadway performer throws the ceremonial first pitch at a Padres home game, but on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":97041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,63756,171,1370,728,50,3549,3550,7264,1148,1072,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-97040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-encanto-neighborhoods","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-local-news","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-san-diego","17":"tag-san-diego-county","18":"tag-sandiego","19":"tag-theater","20":"tag-things-to-do","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114925948502139327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}