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Joe Morton, Deborah Allen, and company.
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RAISIN [Musical/Family/Race/Romance] B: Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg; M: Judd Woldin; LY: Robert Brittan; SC: Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun; D/CH: Donald McKayle; S: Robert U. Taylor; C: Bernard Johnson; L: William Mintzer; P: Robert Nemiroff; T: Forty-ninth Street Theatre; 10/18/73-12/7/75 (847)
After debuting at Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage, this
musicalization of A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry’s epochal success of 1959, was brought to
Broadway where it enjoyed a considerably long run. Like its original, it
focused on the story of the Youngers, a Chicago Black family struggling to move
up and out of its confinement in the ghetto into the promise of a middle-class
life represented by a home in the white suburbs. The move precipitates
unexpected racial tensions in the uptight new community, leading the Youngers
to reassess their situation.
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| Virginia Capers, Joe Morton, Ernestine Jackson. |
The critical reception was varied, though largely
favorable. Clive Barnes declared the book an improvement over Hansberry’s script,
found the score lacking in “any considerable power and originality,” and was carried
away by the direction, choreography, performances, and design. “The dance
numbers rank among the best in years,” he claimed. Robert U. Taylor’s set was
described by Barnes as “a tenement townscape that serves equally well as a
background for ghetto, bar, chapel or house.”
Walter Kerr loved the way the
show had developed into a fluidly designed, composed, and staged adaptation of
inventive and clever dimensions, but had his doubts about the lack of variety
in the melodic line. He pointed to the effectiveness with which the intelligent
staging made use of mimed props on a set devoid even of doors and windows.
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Deborah Allen, Robert Jackson.
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Harold Clurman sensed a weakening of the Hansberry play’s
dramatic force. He also was cool to the undistinguished score and, in contrast
to Barnes, considered dance numbers “not in the least remarkable.”
Nor was he moved by the total effect of dressing up the play in the adornments
of the musical form. He nonetheless admitted that he was never bored, noting
that there was more here than afforded by the usual Broadway musical. John
Simon likewise thought the snow unexceptional, finding little to rave about in
its production facets while, like most others, being overwhelmed by the
performers.
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| Ralph Carter. |
Standouts were Virginia Capers as Lena Younger, the
full-bodied Mama, who “was tremendous in just about every sense you can use the
word,” wrote Barnes. Joe Morton as Walter Lee Younger provided “a splendid
singing actor, supply shuttling between comedy and drama,” observed Simon.
Ernestine Jackson scored as Ruth Younger, Simon noting that “Miss Jackson sings
and acts exquisitely. . . . I have seldom seen such abidingly involved, highly
concentrated yet unhistrionic humanity exuded so simply on stage, or anywhere else.”
Ralph Carter, as the 10-year-old Travis, who stopped the show with one of his
songs, was considered Broadway’s leading child star at the time. Deborah Allen
as Beneatha, Robert Jackson as Joseph, and Helen Martin as a stereotyped
neighbor, Mrs. Johnson, all made indelible impressions.
Among the 15 musical numbers were "Man Say," "Whose Little Angry Man," "Rnnnin' to Meet the Man," "Booze," "African Dance," "He Come Down This Morning," "It's a Deal," and "Measure the Valleys."
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| Loretta Abbott, Al Perryman. |
Awards and nominations were abundant. Raisin won the Tony for Best Musical. Tony nominations went to
Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg for Best Book; Judd Woldin and Robert
Brittan for Best Score; Donald McKayle for Best Director, Musical, and Best Choreographer;
Ralph Carter for Best Supporting Actor, Musical; Ernestine Jackson for Best
Supporting Actress, Musical; Virginia Capers for Best Actress, Musical; and Joe
Morton for Best Actor, Musical. In addition, Morton, Jackson, and Carter nabbed
Theatre World Awards.
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| Ralph Carter, Deborah Allen, Virginia Capers, Ernestine Jackson. |
