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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize winning classic, A Soldier's Play, has made it to Broadway for the first time in director Kenny Leon's riveting production for Roundabout Theatre Company
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And it features a stellar cast led by David Alan Greer and Blair Underwood
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And we caught up with the company on opening night. You put in so much work and so much time and you have great directors like Kenny Leon, but it feels good to kind of even get over this hump
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You know, opening night, you know, so much build up to the opening night. So it's gratifying to have gotten to this point, but also the piece itself
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You know, the reason I wanted to do it was because we get to speak these words that Charles Fuller wrote
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We get to mine and uncover these different themes of racism and identity and love of country and hatred of self and all of those things
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And that's not even half of it. But to be able to do that in such an incredible play that has won the Pulitzer for good reason, it's just exciting every night
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It was a really great show. Tonight was really, the pace was on, the emotion, the journey was great
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So I feel like we gave a great show tonight, which is always satisfying
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But beyond that, Charles Fuller was there, Douglas Turner Ward, the emotional ride of the characters
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So I'm weepy almost anyway. But my daughter, my whole family's here
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I lost half my guests, but I hope to see them at the party. But just a big night
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I mean, this is probably the best role. I mean, it is incredible
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And I am so grateful and gracious and taking my time to savor every moment I really don go to my dressing room
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I sit offstage, behindstage when I'm not onstage and try to stay in that state in this play
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And it's just, that's where I'm at, man. I mean, I don't want to waste a minute
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Having our playwright Charles Fuller on stage there tonight was, it was pretty emo for all of us
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You know, it's just such a powerful play to just have him there
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I mean, he wrote these words four decades ago, and they're maybe more relevant today than they were then
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So it's a really special night. You know, Kenny Leon said when we started this journey
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he said this is going to be the most important thing you've ever worked on, and he was absolutely right. It's the most important thing I've ever worked on
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It's just been a big learning experience for me. I've grown so much as an actor, as a person, and I just have so much respect for this business and this craft, this art form
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To be around guys that have been in plays for their entire lives and to be learning from them has impacted me in a pretty big way
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It's been a great journey. I had an idea before we started, but once we got into the rehearsal room, I refined it
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I knew that movement and music would play a big part in it
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I didn't know the range of the actors in terms of their singing and movement and found that to be an asset
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And so, you know, we grew from day one. But I always knew, for instance, that I was going to end the play with a huge American flag
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I knew that was going to happen because this is a play really about love of country and love of community
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even though it deals with a lot of self-hatred and just the implications of racism and what that has on us
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But ultimately, I knew that, you know, so I did not feel it in the blanks
