The Piano Lesson - Let's keep this August Wilson ball rolling!
Thursday, March 11, 2021 at 11:00AM by Nathaniel R
Netflix announced yesterday that the next adaptation from August Wilson's Century Cycle will be his second Pulitzer winner The Piano Lesson. For those who thought Ma Rainey was way too stagey... well, you're not in luck! It's way too early to know how this will pan out given the pandemic and Broadway having been closed so long but this one is sticking even closer to the stage in a sense. The current plan is for Samuel L Jackson, Danielle Brooks (yay!!!) and John David Washington to play the central roles (and uncle and his niece and nephew) in the Broadway revival in 2022 and then go directly into filming the movie version when they're done. Having seen Danielle Brooks on stage in The Color Purple trust that Orange is the New Black barely scratched the surface of what she can do so this is exciting news for her fans.
The play, which centers on the theme of family legacies, is about a brother and sister in conflict over what to do about a family heirloom which has been connected to the family since the days when their great grandparents were slaves...
Alfre Woodard in the 1995 telefilm.
The Piano Lesson is, I believe, the only Wilson play that had been filmed prior to Fences. It was made into a TV movie by Hallmark back in 1995 with Alfre Woodard and Charles S Dutton Emmy-nominated in the roles that will now be played by Brooks and Washington. Woodard is of course still working (and just BAFTA nominated!) but Dutton (also a fabulous actor) appears to have retired since he hasn't made anything since playing Ma Rainey's husband in the Queen Latifah movie Bessie some years ago now. (I too was shocked to learn that Ma Rainey was married but they were separated by the time of the fictional events of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom)
For those who are unfamiliar with the Century Cycle, though I don't claim to be a Wilson expert (far from it), I can share the general overview. It consists of ten plays, each focusing on a decade of the 20th century and the African American experience. The plays were not written in chronological order and are also not arriving in the order they take place or were first staged. We've long since known that Denzel Washington plans to produce all ten. Perhaps it's smart to start with the most famous ones because if you start with the most famous and oft revived, people will feel familliar with the concept and eager for the ones that don't have as much name-recognition. If they continue with this "most famous first" tactic, Joe Turner's Come and Gone is obviously next and then maybe Jitney? I'm most curious about how they'll approach the casting of Seven Guitars and King Hedley II though since they share characters but not time frames.
If you took them in chronological order of the time periods they focus on they go like so:
- 1900s Gem of the Ocean
- 1910s Joe Turner's Come and Gone (Drama Critics Circle winner)
- 1920s Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
- 1930s The Piano Lesson (Pulitzer, Drama Desk, and Drama Critics Circle winner)
- 1940s Seven Guitars (Drama Critics Circle winner)
- 1950s Fences (Pulitzer, Tony, and Drama Desk winner)
- 1960s Two Trains Running (American Theatre Critics winner)
- 1970s Jitney (Olivier, Tony, and Drama Critics Circle winner)
- 1980s King Hedley II
- 1990s Radio Golf
All of the plays were nominated for Best Play at the Tonys with the exception of Jitney which received a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play when it finally made it to Broadway. For non-theater geeks, how it works is you can compete for Revival even if its a show that's never been on Broadway before so long as the play itself is considered famous. Otherwise it tends to be considered a "new" play even if it has some years on it.
Are you familiar with The Piano Lesson? If so what do you make of the casting?
Reader Comments (19)
I've been excited since Washington announced his plans to get all plays on screen. I remember it first being to get them filmed for television but now all going to cinemas is such an exciting thing to have being done. I am slightly familiar with the plans from knowing what each is about.
I just hope the lazy complaint about these feels not being cinematic enough dies quite quickly. A film can still be cinematic even if only set in one location and dialogue heavy. I have found the first two filmed plays excellent.
When reading into what actors got their starts with Wilson plays there are so many of our great senior black actors (i.e. Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Courtney B. Vance, etc.) who starred in them. I hope that many of these actors like Jackson get to return to roles in the plays.
SO EXCITED FOR THESE PLAYS TO BE FILMED AND REACH A BROADER AUDIENCE. There's a terrific documentary about Wilson on Amazon, btw. Nothing remarkable in the filmmaking department, but it's a solid overview of Wilson's life and work. So sad he died so young.
This is good news for Jackson, who has been stuck in a Marvel/Action and Tarentino rut for a few years. Hopefully, this allows him a chance to stretch himself.
Danielle Brooks was excellent in the color purple, so it will be interesting to see her in this sort of role - it's really something she hasn't played before.
I don't think very much of the complaints that the past two films were too theatrical. That's true, because Wilson very much was a playwright who focused much of his attention on words. I think with the right actors (like Chadwick, Denzel, and Viola), and the right director, they'll be able to really make movie magic. I thought Denzel did a better job opening up Fences than Wolfe, but I'd love to see Regina King direct given what she was able to accomplish with One Night in Miami.
Hee-hee, you know inclusion is slowly happening when the same black actors are cast for everything. It's not just white actors anymore!
I'm mostly jesting, of course, but I'm a member of "What's the Big Deal About John David Washington?" Club, so this reads pretty 'blah' to me.
That vanity project he did for Netflix, Malcolm & Marie, was a ginormous bore, and he was a good chunk of the reason why.
Danielle Brooks in "Clemency" was evidence of what she can do. In just one scene she created a full-blooded human being. She's just so talented and versatile as evidenced by her roles in "Orange is the New Black," "The Color Purple" and 'Clemency." Future Oscar winner!
I'm still not sold on JDW as an actor. "BlacKKKlansman" was good in spite of him. He seemed lost in "Tenet" and outright bad in "Malcom & Marie." I haven't found him charismatic as an actor, but he keeps getting cast in big projects so there must be something there that I'm impervious to.
While I get the criticisms of the films being too stage-y, I don't really mind because I love hearing the words and I've really enjoyed seeing what these actors do with them. While Viola David can elevate anything, I would always much rather watch her sink her teeth into material that is up to her level, and I loved seeing her in both Fences and Ma Rainey, and I also think Fences was Denzel's best performance of the past decade (the only self-directed performance of his I've liked so far, though I think it helped this time that he had been directed by other people in playing this same role).
Phylicia Rashad needs to come back as Aunt Ester for Gem of the Ocean (and King Hedley II and Two Trains Running) and I would love to see Courtney B Vance and Angela Bassett in King Hedley II. Maybe have Jenifer Lewis and Laurence Fishburne play Ruby and Elmore. Anika Noni Rose as Ruby in Seven Guitars.
Wow what a dream team! I LOVE Danielle Brookes, she was so amazing on Orange. If the film really takes off, critically, can we finally have a GIVE SAMUEL L JACKSON AN OSCAR campaign? I still think Christoph Waltz stole it from him.
Hollywood is littered with second-generation success stories, always has been...
This is a nightmare. Wilson is so dull.
Wonderful news! I got the entire Century Cycle a few months ago, but have yet to dig into it. Very excited for Danielle Brooks, but I also like John David Washington and it's always great to see Sam Jackson do something beyond the paycheck roles.
Very excited for Danielle Brooks. Hoping this can be a breakthrough for her, she’s amazing.
Rumour I heard is that Barry Jenkins is looking to direct. If anyone can make it cinematic, it’s him.
I saw Malcolm and Marie and I could't take another movie where John David shouts at me for 2 hrs.
Bahahaha!
It just hit me that JDW is Denzel Washington's son.
Clearly I'm not invested in the personal biographies of these people but even that seems like an uffda to commit.
Whoopsie.
John David Washington doesn't strike me as a stage actor; like many of you, I've found him to be very one-note in few performances of his I've seen (he was the weakest link in both Black Klansmam and Tenet); hopefully he can prove me wrong.
LaTonya Richardson Jackson is directing the revival. Maybe she'll be allowed to direct the film version too since Barry Jenkins is too busy chasing Disney $$$? SMDH.
Far better black talent out there than JDH for the lead role, but if Hollywood nepotism can work for white actors since the beginning of time, I won't be too bothered by it benefiting Denzel's son.
All here for SLJ & Danielle Brooks collecting their things! It's time.
But I want these NOW, not after a Broadway run whenever that may actually happen...
Piano Lesson is my favorite of the Wilson plays I'm familiar with. And the film version you mentioned is solid. That cast set a *high* bar. I'm guessing that Jackson would play Doaker? Or Wining Boy? Hopefully the latter. I think Delroy Lindo would be great as Doaker. Danielle Brooks might blow JDW off the stage, but we'll see. I loved her work in Much Ado About Nothing. Also there may be a Fences-like benefit to the cast working it out onstage first, then transferring that work to film.
Here's to August Wilson, hoping that someday one of his plays becomes an actually good film.