Photo: Julieta Cervantes
Samuel L. Jacksonis back on Broadway!
The Academy Award nominee, 73, celebrates his star-studded opening night in the revival of August Wilson’sThe Piano LessonThursday at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. His wife,LaTanya Richardson Jackson, directs.
Julieta Cervantes
He now plays patriarch Doaker Charles in the Wilson classic, which received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
“I had the opportunity to create Boy Willie at Yale and became very attached to it, probably a little too much,” Samuel said last month at a press conference ahead of the Broadway revival’s first performance.
PHOTO: Julieta CervantesPHOTO: Julieta CervantesPHOTO: Julieta Cervantes
“So it’s kind of interesting to come back in this way and to be Doaker and to listen to John David create Boy Willie,” he added. “I’m looking forward to audiences being there.”
TheDjango Unchainedactor is working with his wife ofover 42 yearson the play.
The Tony Award-nominated actress said that directingThe Piano Lessonhas always been a “life dream,” and because she and Samuel have been married forover four decades, they can work very well together when in rehearsals.
“Because I’ve been with him for 53 years, it becomes a sort of coded situation to talk to him,” she said at the time, adding that Samuel is a “different story” than the rest of the cast members and is “very determined about what he knows.”
“I must agree, he knows a lot — not more than me,” she joked. “So I’m just trying to let him be, but allow me to sort of usher him, in a certain way, along. And he’s been very good about that —vocal, but at least he’ll do it.”
Grammy winner andReal Housewives of AtlantastarKandi Burrussand her husband,Todd Tucker, both serve asproducerson the show, which also stars former football pro Washington (who is also the son ofDenzel Washington) andThe Color PurplestarDanielle Brooks.
Trai Byers, Ray Fisher, April Matthis and Michael Potts are also among the cast.
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up to date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
John makes his Broadway debut inThe Piano Lesson. His father, Denzel, won a Tony Award 12 years ago for his work in another of Wilson’s plays:Fences.
Denzel went on to direct and star in a 2016 film version ofFences, earning an Oscar nomination for his performance.
“Am I nervous when [my father is] watching me on stage? I don’t know yet. Maybe. I might not even be thinking about it because I’m thinking about the notes from my director,” John said last month. “I don’t know if I have time to be nervous about what he thinks.”
However, John does think about how the 67-year-old film star influenced him as an actor.
When asked what he has learned from Denzel, theBallersalum replied: “The freedom to fail, to find out, flourish in that failure. In that being uncomfortable, you’ll find the greatest parts of yourself as an artist.”
For more information and tickets, visitPianoLessonPlay.com.
source: people.com
