In November of 1981 a play opened off-Broadway that introduced the world to Denzel Washington. It also earned a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Three years later it was made into a feature film (with Washington) that earned 3 Academy Award nominations. Yet it has never appeared on Broadway…until now with this week’s official opening of Charles Fuller’s A Soldier’s Play at the American Airlines Theatre.
The setting is Louisiana during the second World War. When a black sergeant is murdered an investigation is triggered. Overseeing the investigation is a black lawyer. Because this is part of a segregated regiment, it is assumed that the KKK was behind the murder. It is 1944, this is in the Jim Crow South.
Starring in this production are David Alan Grier (who appeared in the play during its first production), Blair Underwood and Jerry O’Connell. Nnamdi Asomugha takes on the role originally played by Washington.
Directing this production of A Soldier’s Play is Tony Award-winner Kenny Leon (A Raisin in the Sun – 2014).
When I interviewed actor Steven Anthony Jones, currently on tour in August Wilson’s Jitney, I asked him about A Soldier’s Play. He was in the original cast. This is what he had to say:
“The play has stood the test of time and will continue to stand the test of time because it is a period piece and a murder mystery. It deals with issues of race and color, but those are not the driving things within the plot. It will stand the test of time because it is such a good tight drama. Audiences will be as thrilled by it as they were the first time.”
A Soldier’s Play runs 1 hour and 50 minutes including a 15-minute intermission.
For tickets go here.
Photo: Jerry O’Connell and Blair Underwood in A Soldier’s Play (Photo by Joan Marcus/Courtesy of Polk PR)