Samuel L. Jackson returning to Broadway in revival of "The Piano Lesson," directed by wife LaTanya Richardson Jackson
NEW YORK -- Movie star Samuel L. Jackson is returning to Broadway, being directed by his wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson.
He's starring in "The Piano Lesson," written by the late Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson.
"Because I've been with [Jackson] for 53 years, it becomes a sort of coded situation to talk to him," Richardson Jackson said.
She and her husband are taking on new roles.
"When I'm playing a character in an August Wilson play, I can live it ... I've done 'Piano Lesson,' 'Fences,' and 'Two Trains.' I was the original Wolf in 'Two Trains Running,' also," Jackson told CBS2's Dana Tyler on Wednesday.
"To be able to interpret or helm, to amplify what August Wilson's incredible work does is, for me, the answer to a dream," Richardson Jackson said.
"The Piano Lesson," first on Broadway in 1990, is one of Wilson's 10 plays written about African Americans. The play focuses on brother and sister Boy Willie and Berniece as they argue over whether to sell or keep their family's heirloom piano.
In the role of Boy Willie is Broadway newcomer John David Washington, who starred in the film "BlacKkKlansman."
"None of this is easy, but it is a nice feeling to be able to try anything, to fail in this process right now and just go for it," he said.
Danielle Brooks is Berniece, the sister who doesn't want to part with the piano.
"There's a lot that she's trying to control and put a lid on and not show, and she can't," Brooks said.
Actor Trai Byers, from the TV show "Empire," plays a minister.
"Along comes this piece of paper that has August Wilson's words on it, and I mean, I'd known the play because, you know, obviously we know that play, but I knew it a little bit more intimately because of grad school," he said.
August Wilson's widow, Constanza Romero Wilson, is passionate about preserving her late husband's legacy.
"I think that he would just be, like, completely delighted that a whole new generation of actors has taken on this play," she said.
"The Piano Lesson" is set in the 1930s. The team bringing it back to Broadway says Wilson's words about the Black family experience, legacy and racism still deeply resonate today.
"You cannot underestimate how important and how powerful his voice is. You do not hear this," actor Michael Potts said.
"The characters are genuine and real in a way that's honest for us as a race," Jackson said.
"Everyone will be able to come and see what August's work really how it still lives and lives now," Richardson Jackson said.
The connections to Wilson's work run deep for Jackson, Richardson Jackson and Washington.
Jackson starred as Boy Willie in 1987 when "The Piano Lesson" premiered at Yale, and he understudied the Broadway role in 1990.
Richardson Jackson, meanwhile, was in another Wilson play in 2009, and she co-starred with Denzel Washington in another Broadway play in 2014.
John David Washington's dad is Denzel Washington, who starred in another Wilson play, "Fences," in 2010.
The Washingtons and the Jacksons have been close friends since their kids were little.
Jackson says to work with John David in his first Broadway role, the same one Jackson had 35 years ago, is "gigantic" and so special for both families.
Previews for "The Piano Lesson" start on Sept. 19 at the Barrymore Theatre. Opening night is Oct. 13.
