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".
Everyone's moaning about Denzel Washington's age...Well, none of that matters. If anything, Washington comes off as no more mature than his character's pre-adolescent son. His Walter has the caught-in-a-trap itchiness of a teenager. He doesn't walk but rolls into a room, his loosey-goosey limbs desperately insinuating a joie de vivre his actual living lacks. (He's a chauffeur.) Washington has always been a very physical actor, locating the essence of a role in his body and in the music of the words, when he could get his mouth around them...Here, in the second Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's classic, he's almost dancing the part, especially in a priceless drunk scene that ends with his burlesquing black minstrelsy and all but singing 'Mammy.' Even without reference to the previous Broadway Walter -- a stuporous Sean Combs -- this is an electric performance; you forget about the actor's age as quickly as you forget, in most plays that are cast color-blind, about race.
For this version, Walter Lee describes himself as 40, and therein lies the problem. Washington is 59, and can get away (almost) with appearing as a man almost 20 years younger than he is, but something is still wrong. Hansberry intends Walter Lee's playing fast and loose with the much needed incoming funds to be attributed to a young man's impetuosity. His behavior in those circumstances is understandable if not excusable. Washington, on the other hand, looks too much like a man who long should have known better...Having established all that, I should add that the manner in which Washington skews Hansberry's purpose probably won't bother the actor's fans. They'll be thrilled again to see him up close and personal. And it isn't as if--aside from the way he's miscast himself (the revival is, of course, his choice)--he doesn't give a committed performance.
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 |
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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