A Raisin in the Sun Headed to TV with Broadway Cast Intact

Variety reports this morning that the dynamic producing duo of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are bringing another show to the small screen - A Raisin in the Sun, which will go before the cameras in December for a 2007 airing on ABC featuring the leads of the Broadway revival - Sean "Diddy" Coms, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald and Sanaa Lathan. The film will be directed by Broadway director Kenny Leon, with a script by Paris Qualles.

The show's 2004 Broadway run garnered 4 Tony noms, with wins for Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald. The Zadan / Meron team's previous TV work including Gypsy, Me and My Shadow: Life with Judy Garland, and Cinderella have earned them 11 Emmy Awards.

The powerhouse cast includes Grammy winning superstar Sean Combs (acclaimed for his work in the film Monster's Ball), four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald (Ragtime, Master Class, Carousel, A Raisin in the Sun), celebrated stage and television actress Phylicia Rashad (The Cosby Show) and film star Sanaa Lathan (Out of Time, Love & Basketball).

A RAISIN IN THE SUN tells the story of a family living and struggling on Chicago's South Side in the 1950s. It is a fiercely moving portrait of people whose hopes and dreams are constantly deferred. The Washington Post hails it as "one of a handful of great American plays – it belongs in the inner circle, along with Death of a Salesman, Long Day's Journey Into Night and The Glass Menagerie."

A RAISIN IN THE SUN was the first play written by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway. It premiered in 1959, with Lloyd Richards directing a cast that included Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ruby Dee, Louis Gossett, Ivan Dixon, Glynn Turman, John Fielder, Lonne Elder III, Ed Hall and Douglas Turner Ward. The show ran for 530 performances and won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play.

Prior to the Broadway revival, Lorraine Hansberry's beloved drama had not been seen on Broadway since its legendary original production.