Appendix C: Reviews and Criticism of Raisin in the Sun
Critics Corner: Raisin gained huge success although the producer, Phil Rose never produced a play. Large investors were not interested in the play; therefore the production was taken out of New York and played in New Haven, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Audiences loved the play in all venues, eventually it opened at Ethel Barrymore Theater in New York March 11, 1959. It ran for 530 performances to harsh criticism from both black and white audiences.
Awards
In 1973, Neminoff (Hansberry's former husband) and Charlotte Zaltberg adapted Hansberry's first play into a musical, entitled "Raisin", Music was composed by Judd Woldin and won the Tony Award for best musical and ran on Broadway for nearly three years. Raisin was also revived in 1981 when Claudia McNeil, Lena in the original 1959 production recreated the role in the musical adaptation. The royal theater hosted a 5-day run of the play in 2004 which featured Tony Award winning performances from Phylicia Rashad and Audra McDonald. A Tony Award nomination performance from Sanaa Lathan, and the well publicized Broadway acting debut of Sean "Diddy" Combs as Walter Younger. Rashad is the first African American to win the category of Best Lead Actress in a Play. This show recouped quickly and became the second highest grossing play in Broadway history.
In 1989 the movie was adapted into a made for TV movie starring Danny Glover as "Walter Lee", Ester Rolle as "Mama", Starletta DuPois as "Ruth" and Kim Yancey as "Beneatha." Bill Duke directed this production which received three Emmy Award nominations.
Critics
"... in order for a person to bear his life, he needs a valid re-creation of that life, which is why, as Ray Charles might put it, blacks chose to sing the blues. This is why Raisin in the Sun meant so much to black people - on the stage: the film is another matter. In the theater, a current flowed back and forth between the audience and the actors, flesh and blood corroborating flesh and blood - as we say, testifying... The root argument of the play is really far more subtle than either its detractors or the bulk of its admirers were able to see. James Baldwin (1976)
Sidney Poitier stated in his autobiography "The Measure of a Man" (2000) that he has trouble with the author in the 1959 production. Poitier criticized Hansberry's idea that the play should evolve from the mother's point of view and wished that his character of Walter Lee was stronger. Sidney Poitier, 2000
The New York Times: A Raisin in the Sun and Caroline, or Change present an unusual moment: a moment when political and theatrical interests mesh, producing something that is artistically satisfying and politically inspiring. Seen together, these works — one set partly in the basement of a middle-class Jewish household near a swamp in Louisiana in 1963, the other in a rundown apartment on the South Side of Chicago in the 1950's — offer a new and refreshing lens on our history and on the theater's potential...
New York Post" Let's cut to the chase: Sean Combs is damn good! Audra McDonald is glorious, Phylicia Rashad is brilliant and Sanaa Lathan is Magnificent. Here is an American document of time, place and relevance." — Clive Barnes, New York Post
Daily News "Few plays have crystallized American history as pungently as 'A Raisin in the Sun.' And Kenny Leon's production captures Lorraine Hansberry's vision powerfully. Sean Combs exudes charm. Phylicia Rashad brings galvanizing strength and dignity to her role. Audra McDonald is rousing. Sanaa Lathan has joyful exuberance and sassiness. Alexander Mitchell could not be better. Teagle F. Bougere gives a marvelous performance. Bill Nunn has deep poignancy. And David Aaron Baker is splendid. As solid a piece of theater as has ever been written." — Howard Kissel, Daily News
Time "The revival of 'A Raisin in the Sun' that opened last week on Broadway is groundbreaking. Nearly every detail seems exactly right in Kenny Leon's finely wrought production. Audra McDonald is startling. Sean Combs has an easy naturalism. Sanaa Lathan is winning and funny. Phylicia Rashad creates an unsentimental portrait of moral strength. It remains a tough and truthful drama." — Richard Zoglin, Time
A RAISIN IN THE SUN, 1959 - film 1961, dir. by Daniel Petrie, starring Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Ivan Dixon, John Fiedler, Louis Gossett. "The filmed play, which is all, alas, that Raisin is on film, simply stayed up there, on that screen. The unimaginative rigidity of the film locked the audience out of it. Furthermore, the people in Raisin are not the people one goes to the movies to see." (James Baldwin in the Devil Finds Work) - Remade for TV in 1991.
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