By Michael Buckley
10 Feb 2008
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| Sean Combs and Audra McDonald star in "A Raisin in the Sun" |
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| photo by ABC |
This month we talk to the creators of the new film version of "A Raisin in the Sun," plus Lonny Price (director of TV's "Company") and Broadway's Laurie Metcalf and George Wendt.
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A Raisin in the Sun premiered at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, March 11, 1959, making Lorraine Hansberry (1930-65) the first African-American woman to have a play produced on Broadway. It also introduced Broadway's first African-American director, Lloyd Richards. The drama received four Tony nominations, and ran 530 performances. The stars were Sidney Poitier (as Walter Lee Younger), Claudia McNeil (Lena), Ruby Dee (Ruth), and Diana Sands (Beneatha) all of whom appeared in the 1961 film.
Raisin, a 1973 musical based on the play, featured Joe Morton, Virginia Capers, Ernestine Jackson, and Deborah (now Debbie) Allen. Nominated for nine Tonys, it won two: Best Musical and Best Actress (Capers), and ran for 847 performances. A 1989 TV adaptation starred Danny Glover.
Directed by Kenny Leon (Broadway debut), the 2004 revival, received four Tony nominations and won two. It starred Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad (Best Actress), Audra McDonald (Best Featured Actress), and Sanaa Lathan who reprise their roles, under Leon's direction, for the superb new TV movie (Feb. 25, ABC, 8 PM ET). Hansberry's title comes from a Langston Hughes poem, "Harlem": "What happens to a dream deferred?/ Does it dry up/ Like a raisin in the sun?..."
"I couldn't use the Langston Hughes poem on Broadway," says director Kenny Leon, "so it's great having Morgan Freeman speak it in the voiceover, as the film begins." Regarding his first time behind the camera, he states, "I now consider myself a film and stage director."
Leon has a history with Hansberry's drama. "I've played Walter Lee, and have directed four or five productions [in regional theatre]. The most important thing was to open the play up for a new generation to make it cinematic. I wanted to get inside the souls of the people; you can't do that on the stage."
Continues Leon, "In the film, there's a sexual tension between Beneatha [Sanaa Lathan] and Joseph Asagai [David Oyelowo]. I'd always wanted that." Plus, he's pleased that "Oyelowo's dad is Yoruba [from Africa], because Asagai is Yoruba." Leon cast John Stamos against type as the spokesman for the white community where Lena has purchased a house. "I wanted a good-looking guy, around Walter Lee's age. That character is thought of as a racist, and racists don't look any particular way. John does a great job."
Leon's delighted with all the actors. "Working with Audra McDonald is the greatest thing in the world for a director." He praises Phylicia Rashad, whom he's directed five times on the stage. ("You should see her Medea!") According to Leon, "The camera allows Diddy [Sean Combs] to be so honest, so in touch with his heart instead of having to hit the back wall of a theatre. A lot of people will be shocked.
"Together, we tell a story [set in 1950s Chicago] that, I think, is a great tribute to Lorraine Hansberry. Paris Qualles did an incredible job of opening it up, and also honoring Lorraine's poetry."
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Observes screenwriter Paris Qualles, "In some cases, writers hired to do an adaptation feel they have to change [the work]. You don't do that if you can't improve it. There wasn't much I could do to improve Lorraine Hansberry's words. I have a Master's in Theatre, and did her plays in school; my favorite is Les Blancs. She's stood the test of time. She provided such vivid, well-drawn characters that it was just a matter of helping it along, massaging it and not screwing it up."
Qualles (KWAL-less) believes, "Because of his stage experience, Kenny had great instincts [in filmmaking]. There had been varying opinions of Sean's work [on Broadway]. Lorraine never intended the play to be Walter's; Mama [Lena] was the central character. But Sidney Poitier is such a powerful, dynamic actor that he made Walter larger than life. I like to say that he hijacked the play.
"Very slightly, very subtly, I skewed the piece back to Mama, and even to Ruth Audra never gives a bad performance in order to balance it. That took some of the weight off Sean, which made him stronger.
"Whereas Sidney mesmerized, Sean has a quiet intensity. Sean doesn't have Sidney's experience, but he has a life experience that he was able to bring to this. What impressed everyone was how well Sean plays off the energy of the cast. When things get hot and heavy with Ruth, or with Mama, is really when Sean's at his best."
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Producer Neil Meron says, "Ultimately, it was about getting Sean to commit, which took two years [after Broadway]. And we had to deal with the women's schedules; they're always working. I think the network thought: This will never happen."
Producer Craig Zadan adds, "Neil and I never thought that. Finally, we coordinated everybody's schedule. We really wanted to work with Paris Qualles; his screenplay for 'The Tuskegee Airmen' [HBO, 1995] was wonderful. His challenge was to move Raisin out of the realm of a play that takes place in an apartment, and to maintain the poetry of Lorraine Hansberry. We shot in Super 16. It gives a less glossy, more realistic, look. The camera technique that we utilized brought out an intimacy that you usually don't get."
Meron: "Film magnifies what's good, and it's a brilliant cast. Audra is a goddess! She and Phylicia both won Tonys [for the revival], and Sanaa was nominated. Kenny's direction in calibrating their performances to the medium is just perfect. We brought our DP [director of photography] in early to talk to Kenny about how they wanted to shoot the film. That was really the key to everything. We filmed for about 24-25 days at the end of 2006 in Toronto."
Zadan: "We were in Toronto for 'Hairspray.' The last week of shooting coincided with the rehearsals [for 'Raisin']. When you have the right cast, director, cinematographer, and screenwriter as we had with 'A Raisin in the Sun' something magical happens."
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Phylicia Rashad describes preserving on film the role that made her the first African-American woman to win a Tony Award as Best Actress as "joyful!"
She says, "Kenny was such a good director. The fact that we had played three months [on Broadway] was a great help. When we arrived [on the set], we knew who we were, and what the story was."
Did she research the part of Lena? "I did without knowing it. I'd played Aunt Ester [her favorite role] in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean [in L.A., prior to Raisin, and later on Broadway]. Without realizing it, Aunt Ester informed me about Lena.
"That play takes place in 1904, the year that Lena was born. She would have known people who had been in bondage. Lena says, 'In my time, we were worried about how to get to the North, without being lynched.' That's all she says [on that subject], but when you have an understanding of what that means, it's enough. Lena's children don't understand it, because they grew up in Chicago, where things were not ideal, but different."
Mention of Paris Qualles' remark (that he "skewed the piece back to Mama, and even to Ruth") surprises Rashad: "Have you seen the movie!?" Does she have a favorite scene as Lena? "I like the tender times, when she tells [grandson] Travis [Justin Martin] about the house [she's bought], and when they visit her house."
Prior to the revival, had she worked with Audra McDonald? "No. She was a beauty that I had admired from not-too-far a distance. She's a phenomenal talent. Oh, my word! Did you see her in 110 in the Shade? I saw her four times," declares Rashad. "I think she's very special."
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The "very special" four-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald gets to recreate a stage role on film for the first time. She found the experience exciting. "Instead of using your imagination, you see where Ruth goes, where she's been," McDonald says. "It made the emotional connection deeper. When Ruth comes back to the apartment, and talks about having gone to see an abortionist, you've seen it, you've been there."
How does McDonald perceive her character? "Ruth is someone who's deeply religious, deeply devoted to her family. She's very old-fashioned, a lot like me."
What's her take on Paris Qualles saying that he "skewed the piece" back to Mama and Ruth? "If there is a main character, I think that it's the family. You identify with each one, and you're rooting for all of them."
McDonald observes, "The great thing [about the film] is that the actors and director did [the story] before. We had a rapport." Having already worked with producers Zadan and Meron she was Grace Farrell, Daddy Warbucks' secretary, in "Annie" (1999), directed by Rob Marshall McDonald notes, "It was family all around."
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Upcoming: Kenny Leon plans to direct a Broadway production of "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," and is artistic director of the Kennedy Center's festival, August Wilson's 20th Century, a presentation of all of the late playwright's works. Paris Qualles has "some projects waiting until the writers' strike ends." Craig Zadan and Neil Meron are preparing a new movie of "Peter Pan" for ABC. Phylicia Rashad is playing Big Mama in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof on Broadway (opening March 6).
Audra McDonald tells me that she's "getting ready to do a hundred-million concerts, all over the place. Plus, a little TV show." If the WGA reaches a settlement with producers, she starts filming ABC-TV's "Private Practice" in March. More immediate, though, is daughter Zoe's seventh birthday, on Valentine's Day. Explains Mom, "She wants a Pokemon-Lion King-Japanese theme-Little Mermaid birthday party. I don't know how I'm going to get all that on a cake. [Laughs]"
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| Lonny Price |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Lonny Price directed for television, but unlike his previous PBS-TV assignments "Sweeney Todd" (for which he shared a 2001 Emmy), "Candide," and "Passion" Price had never directed a stage version of Company. "I had to learn it very quickly and capture its spirit."
Raul Esparza reprises his starring role from the Tony-winning Broadway revival, taped June 30, 2007 (matinee and evening), a day before closing.
"It was a question of studying [John Doyle's] staging, how many cameras [were needed], and where to put them. We used 10: four in the back and center, two on the side, two roving, a jib [which swoops], and an unmanned locked-down camera, placed against the back wall [for audience shots]. For TV, it's much more detailed. I wrote 1500 camera shots, and cover shots.
"When I was a kid, I saw the original Company. My parents called their ticket broker, trying to get me tickets for Applause, which looked glamorous. The broker said, 'We can't get those, but Company opened this week, and that's supposed to be good for kids.' [Laughs] So, for my 11th birthday, my grandmother, my sister, and I saw Company which was amazing! It changed my life. The score's in my bones; it's sort of DNA to me."
Company creators Sondheim, Furth, and Prince reunited for 1981's Merrily We Roll Along, in which Price played lyricist Charley Kringas "the most thrilling theatrical experience of my performing career. I grew up loving Sondheim's music. To originate a role in a Sondheim show, to have him come to rehearsals with songs somewhat tailored to your talent is quite heady stuff. And I got to work with my mentor, Hal [Prince]. I was his office boy when I was 15, and attending Performing Arts High School. I'm very proud of my work in that show; it was the culmination of my whole childhood. It's dearest to my heart, and means the most to me of anything I've ever done.
"From there, it was downhill [as an actor]. Had I been given material of that quality consistently, I probably would never have stopped performing." Merrily closed after 52 previews and 16 performances. The next day, it was recorded by RCA-Victor. Price considers it "a kind of 'f--k you' album: 'See how great this score is.' In my opinion, it's one of [Sondheim's] best."
Native New Yorker Price made his Off-Broadway debut in Class Enemy, for which he and fellow cast member Maxwell Caulfield earned 1980 Theatre World Awards. As an actor, his many credits include: (films) "The Chosen," "Dirty Dancing"; (Off-Broadway) The Immigrant (Obie Award), Falsettoland; (Broadway) MASTER HAROLD...and the boys, Rags. Among his directing assignments: (Off-Broadway) Juno ("a favorite"), Visiting Mr. Green; (Broadway) Sally Marr...and her escorts (which he also co-wrote), Urban Cowboy.
He's also directed Broadway revivals of MASTER HAROLD..., and (most recently) 110 in the Shade. "I'm so proud of Audra [McDonald]. I think it's her best work [to date]." He has frequently directed Patti LuPone, most often at the Ravinia Festival (Highland Park, IL) in several Sondheim works: Passion, Anyone Can Whistle, et al. "I love Patti. She's extraordinary, silly, bawdy, joyful an amazing actress and a powerful theatre voice."
Returning to the stage in A Class Act (which he also directed and co-wrote), Price played Chorus Line lyricist Ed Kleban, who died before achieving his goal to be recognized as a composer. After nine weeks at Manhattan Theatre Club, Class transferred to Broadway, where it received five Tony nominations, including Best Musical, Book, and Score (for Kleban's lyrics and music).
Price expresses doubt that he'll act again. "My need to be someone else eight times a week doesn't exist anymore. It stopped being fun." Come May, he directs Lerner and Loewe's Camelot, at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall.
"Onstage," explains Price, "you see most of the actors in profile; on television, cross-shooting allows you to see the whole face. You capture the intensity in the face and eyes. The performances [in 'Company'] really come through."
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