Set on Chicago's South Side, A Raisin In The Sun revolves around the divergent dreams and conflicts within three generations of the Younger family: son Walter Lee (Denzel Washington), his wife Ruth (Sophie Okonedo), his sister Beneatha (Anika Noni Rose), his son Travis (Bryce Clyde Jenkins) and matriarch Lena, called Mama (LaTanya Richardson Jackson). When her deceased husband's money comes through, Mama dreams of moving to a new home and a better neighborhood in Chicago. Walter Lee, a chauffeur, has other plans: buying a liquor store and being his own man. Beneatha dreams of medical school. The tensions and prejudice they face form this seminal American drama.
Originally produced in 1959, Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun was the first play written by an African American woman to be produced on Broadway, where it won the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Play. The Washington Post has called it "one of a handful of great American dramas. A Raisin in the Sun belongs in the inner circle, along with Death of a Salesman and Long Day's Journey into Night." The New York Times has hailed it as "the play that changed American theatre forever".
It's too bad Denzel Washington didn't play Walter Lee, the dissatisfied 35-year-old protagonist of Lorraine Hansberry's monumental 1959 African-American family drama 'A Raisin in the Sun,' 25 years ago. Now at age 59, there is no escaping the reality that Washington is simply too old to convincingly play the role, resulting in a fundamental imbalance and lack of credibility to the new Broadway revival...In addition to the age issue, Washington overplays Walter Lee's moodiness and often adds an inappropriately jocular and hammy tone, encouraging the audience to laugh during some of the play's most heartbreaking moments. Rose, who sparkles in scene after scene, ends up stealing the show. As Walter Lee's wife Ruth, Sophie Okonedo comes off as one-dimensionally plain and stern. Jackson too is disappointing. David Cromer, best known as a director, is out of place as the community representative who tries to bribe the family to not move to a white suburb.
After a lukewarm stab at 'A Raisin in the Sun' a decade ago, director Kenny Leon has returned to Lorraine Hansberry's definitive story of African-American aspiration with a potent new Broadway revival starring Denzel Washington and Anika Noni Rose that reaffirms its place in the pantheon of great American drama. In his second crack at Hansberry's 1959 masterwork...Leon in concert with his cast finds the driving rhythm of bitterness that suffuses the work and in particular, the character of Walter Lee Younger. Washington is, in fact, older than Younger by a couple of decades. Nevertheless, the actor gives a sterling account of Walter Lee's careless sourness, an aura of self-defeat that renders utterly credible the decision he makes that all but scuttles the family's rise to middle class security.
1959 | Broadway |
Broadway |
1986 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2004 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2014 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Broadway |
2022 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater Off-Broadway Revival Off-Broadway |
West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Play | Denzel Washington |
2014 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Sophie Okonedo |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | LaTanya Richardson Jackson |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Denzel Washington |
2014 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play | A Raisin in the Sun |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Sophie Okonedo |
2014 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play | Anika Noni Rose |
2014 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | Sophie Okonedo |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Kenny Leon |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Sophie Okonedo |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play | Anika Noni Rose |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play | LaTanya Richardson Jackson |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | John Johnson |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | S.D. Wagner |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Joey Parnes |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Jhett Tolentino |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Joan Raffe |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Daryl Roth |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Heni Koenigsberg |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | The Araca Group |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Tulchin Bartner Productions |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Sonia Friedman |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Ruth Hendel |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Stephanie P. McClelland |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Roy Furman |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Scott M. Delman |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Jon B. Platt |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Eli Bush |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Roger Berlind |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Scott Rudin |
2014 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | A Raisin in the Sun |
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