Up next in 10
Video: Inside Opening Night of THE PIANO LESSON on Broadway
2K views
Oct 23, 2022
The best of Broadway was at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where The Piano Lesson, directed by Tony Award nominee LaTanya Richardson Jackson and starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, and Danielle Brooks, opened on Broadway. BroadwayWorld was on hand for the big night and and we are taking you behind the scenes in this video!
View Video Transcript
0:00
I'm ready to get this show on the road. I'm ready to get on that stage and lay it down
0:08
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World, August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece
0:13
The Piano Lesson, is back on Broadway. Under the direction of Latanya Richardson-Jackson
0:18
it stars a stellar cast, including Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, and Danielle
0:23
Brooks. And we caught up with the company on opening night just minutes before their opening
0:28
night curtain went up. I'm ecstatic. It's just beautiful time to be here. Wonderful time in New
0:38
York City and we're continuing a legacy. I couldn't be more happy. I feel excited. I feel relieved
0:47
All the feels. All the feels. It's great to be here. It's been a lot of work getting here
0:52
Listen, I'm excited. Every time there's an opening night, I'm excited. But this particular group of
0:56
people, this family, I can't wait for them to have this moment. Opening nights are electric
1:02
They're spontaneous. They're unusual. I'm just very excited about this group to have their
1:08
anointing today. I feel overwhelmed. I am trying to stay in the moment, but I, you know, I'm ready
1:17
to get this show on the road and tell this story, and I'm very grateful that I get to tell this story
1:22
up until January, you know, mid-January. It's been a very overwhelming experience
1:29
And the more I talk about it, the more emotional I get. So I'm going to have to stop. It feels so exciting and so momentous
1:37
And I have to pinch myself because the cast, there's not a weak link among them
1:45
And they are all so prepared. And all the forces of the universe came together for this show
1:52
tonight and we are celebrating the opening. You know, we've got everybody stepping up to the plate
1:57
It feels like we're playing the best game of volleyball one could ever hope for
2:01
We're all keeping it up in the air for each other. We've got each other's backs no matter what ends up happening on stage
2:06
And it nice to know that you got the net of really just grounded and giving actors to be able to help you through whatever it is that comes across Oh my God I feel great I feel awesome
2:20
I am very blessed and honored to be at this moment, in this time, walking this carpet
2:26
seeing this play and being a part of an understudy in the play. Oh, I feel so great. It's so good to finally be here
2:32
We have been in rooms together. We've opened up to the audience and changed things and been in it
2:37
And now we're just, we get to play and be free and see how this play unfolds in front of a full audience
2:43
It's really exciting. I feel so overjoyed, simply overjoyed. I feel honored
2:48
It's a privilege. August Wilson, the Jacksons, the Washingtons. Later this evening, you're going to meet Trey Byers
2:56
You're going to meet Ray Fisher, April Mathis, Michael Potts. These people have come together and built a community, a family
3:04
August Wilson would be proud today. I feel great. I'm very happy that we finally made it to this point
3:11
It's been great developing this piece really quickly and having as many previews as we did to kind of feel it out with an audience
3:19
and learn the rhythms of how to tell this story in a way that keeps the momentum going
3:25
and to carry it with buoyancy and lightness and deftness and fun
3:31
So I'm really happy with where we are in the show. and I just, my family's here, so I'm really happy
3:39
Woo, I must say, like, I'm excited. It's a lot of emotions, but I'm not going to let it faze me
3:45
because at the end of the day, I got a performance to put on. I got to keep my head in the game
3:50
I got to focus, but, like, I can't let all these lights, it's just, like, light, cameras, action
3:56
It's amazing. It's really wonderful to be working with this cast. They're really, like, family to each other
4:02
And we have this vision that we're trying to accomplish, to put through
4:08
and this meaning behind the story that's amazing. The fact that this was the first August Wilson play that I discovered at around 15, 16
4:17
to then use the Bernice monologue at 17 to get into Juilliard
4:21
to now however many years later to be getting to play Bernice in totality with Sam Jackson Miss Latanya directing and J Washington and the entire cast I very humbled by my journey
4:35
All of the actors I pretty much knew going into this, and they allowed me to try to bring a vision to August's work
4:46
with the intention clear about what I think he was saying and what we could reimagine
4:52
And to have my husband to be along for that ride is more than anything I could have imagined
5:00
And to have my little children like John David. These were kids that I have held and diapered
5:07
So for me, this is just a full circle moment. She had a revolutionary vision for what this play was
5:15
I've seen this play a lot. Never seen it this way. I'm so proud to be a part of it and to be able to make this thing come to life the way she's made it come to life
5:24
Or as you said, an exciting night in the theater. It makes me happy that I'm back on stage doing something that I think people really enjoy
5:34
The sharing of that energy between us and the audience is amazing
5:39
And I hope it only gets better as we continue to do it. Well, I'm a Wilsonian from way back
5:46
I've done all ten of the plays. This is my fifth production of piano lesson. It's big fun
5:49
I love the words. I love the rehearsal. I love the process. It's big, big fun
5:55
He's our Shakespeare. He's the black Shakespeare. He is not even qualifying it
6:00
He is one of America's greatest writers. So listening to some of these monologues that JD has and that Sam has just as they unfold
6:08
and unspool and creating these images for us, it's beautiful. And every night you hear something just a little different
6:15
Living in the words of August Wilson, it's like being able to stand on the shoulders of giants
6:20
His words mean so much to a lot of people. There's a musicality to the words
6:25
Being able to live in the rhythm of the premier playwright who has understood the black experience
6:30
in a way that no other playwright that I've seen has been able to put down on paper
6:36
It feels like a rite of passage in a really big way. I hear August Personally I do 34 years ago this is how I met August I was the costume designer for this show at Yale Repertory Theater
6:52
And so for me, I hear little private jokes throughout the play that August told me about
7:00
And little stories, snippets of stories that he told me about how he came up with all of the ideas
7:06
So, for me, definitely it's a walk through memory, but it's also, I feel so proud to be able to share it with everybody
7:15
August's nephew, Paul Ellis, he started the August Wilson House in Pittsburgh
7:20
It was an incredible experience, a very long journey to contribute to the national artistic scene
7:28
both in terms of African American cultural assets and in terms of August Wilson's legacy
7:32
It was just a win-win for everybody. The residents of the city of Pittsburgh loved it
7:37
The neighborhood that August Wilson grew up in, which was the Hill District, they loved it
7:43
It will never be the same. It's not going to be the same neighborhood. It's an arts center, and what would it have meant to August when it was there? Invaluable
7:54
My uncle spent his entire career opening up doors for other artists and artistic professionals
7:59
so the goal was not to make it a museum, but to make sure that there was an active art space
8:04
a way for people to come and learn and grow, get technical support, showcase their work, things like that, opening up doors
8:10
So it turned into be an economic anchor, community revitalization, and, of course, a National Historic Landmark
8:17
So it's just a win for everybody, and we're very, very proud of it. Theater is my first love
8:21
So even, you know, I was talking to my dad, and we were talking, and I was telling him, I'm nervous
8:27
Sometimes I get about all the people that's coming. He was like, just stay focused on the person who's never seen an August Wilson
8:33
and he's so right. That's why I got into this when I first saw The Color Purple
8:38
So to now have this chance to introduce a lot of new people
8:42
to August Wilson is a big deal
#Broadway & Musical Theater
#Events & Listings