In 1944, a black Sergeant is murdered on a Louisiana Army base, and one tenacious investigator must race against his white leadership to unravel the crime before they unravel him. A hair-raising drama that painfully still reverberates today, the mystery of Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece has finally arrived on Broadway for the first time, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon.
Onstage, though, the loud ticktock of the investigation too often drowns out the emotion - an effect perhaps enhanced by the flattening of the genre brought on by endless 'Law & Order' spinoffs and reruns. In any case, whether 'A Soldier's Play' is a great stage drama regardless of its flaws is something its bumpy but worthy Broadway debut, directed by Kenny Leon for the Roundabout Theater Company, cannot answer. Despite some powerful acting, it is too distracted to make the case.
Still, A Soldier's Play remains as stubbornly earnest and straightforward as its title. At its end, the black soldiers-relegated mostly to playing baseball for the base, never getting to fight Hitler-receive word that they're finally shipping out. And O'Connell's Taylor realizes the error of his early ways. 'I was wrong, Davenport-about the bars-the uniform-about Negroes being in charge,' he says. 'I guess I'll have to get used to it.' It's a play set in the 1940s, written in the 1980s, optimistically looking toward a better time in American race relations. In 2020, that can't help but feel quaint.
1981 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2005 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
2020 | Broadway |
Roundabout Theatre Company's Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2022 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | David Alan Grier |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Fight Choreography | Thomas Schall |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | A Soldier's Play |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Blair Underwood |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | David Alan Grier |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | A Soldier’s Play |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Play | Kenny Leon |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play | David Alan Grier |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Play | A Soldier's Play |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Dede Ayite |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Kenny Leon |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Play | Allen Lee Hughes |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play | David Alan Grier |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play | Blair Underwood |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Play | Charles Fuller |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | Derek McLane |
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