How Diddy Do?
A night the New York theatre community had been anticipating since announcement of the play’s mounting was made months ago, occurred on Monday, April 26, when Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun returned to Broadway. The first ever dramatic revival of the 1959 play (a musical version was staged in 1975) officially opened at the Royale Theatre on West 45th Streeet, but the usual opening night buzz was fueled even more by the stage debut of rapper/hip hop mogul/fashion label entrepreneur Sean Combs in the lead role.
Tongues had wagged since his casting in the part of Walter Lee Younger, the frustrated chauffeur and aspiring business owner who is the lone adult male in a struggling household on Chicago’s Southside. Director Kenny Leon and show producers said Combs impressed them in auditions, despite having never stepped on a theatrical stage before. The acting community was less impressed with the decision, feeling that such an iconic role in an important piece of Black theatre like Raisin deserved to go to a performer of proven talent and range. The casting of a “rapper” was seen as nothing more than a publicity stunt designed to sell tickets and lure a new audience to the theatre.
Well, if the reaction from the New York theatre critics is any indication, despite Combs’ shortcomings, this show is a success.
Reviews from the four major dailies, the New York Times, Daily News, NY Post and Newsday, as well as WNBC Newschannel4 and Broadway.com, found that while most acknowledged his limitations, they were not sufficient to destroy the play.
Ben Brantley of the Times was the most critical, determining that the important statements the play makes deserved a more worthy Walter Lee. His character must go through a transformation physically and emotionally, and Combs was unable to pull it off. “Mr. Comb’s Walter evokes a man who in his 30’s is still marooned in early adolescence.” 
Giving praise to co-stars Phylica Rashad (Mama Lena Younger) and three time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald (wife Ruth), he blames Combs’ performance for making the show “a lopsided and ultimately dreary affair.”
Eric Grode of Broadway.com took a similar tack in commenting on the significance of the struggle for dignity and respect that Hansberry’s play tells but also found fault. “…with the exception of one central piece of miscasting (and I do mean central), Kenny Leon’s empathic, vibrant direction gives rich voice to the play’s stirring vision.” He adds Combs is “not as good as you may have hoped and not as bad as you may have feared.”
A general willingness to see this production for what it was, an earnest re-staging of a memorable play that originally had a legendary cast of Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands and Claudia McNeil (later made into a movie with much the same cast), led the other reviewers to be much kinder to Combs.
The Daily News, Post, Newsday and WNBC seemed to all recognize that Combs’ image coming into the play would serve as a sort of shorthand to the non-traditional theatre-goers unfamiliar with the play or the theatre experience. In a sense “Puffy” as hungry, aspiring go-getter may make for a believable Walter Lee to the hip hop ticket buyers, with tv and music video attention spans, and that it’s all good in the end.
Ultimately this is what producers wanted. A play that will first, make money, and second, bring in a new audience, one not typically interested in live dramatic entertainment. When this play eventually closes, will they come out for other shows, or will it take 50 Cent doing Othello or Jay-Z as Willy Loman to lure them back?
Posted by bernie at April 27, 2004 12:09 PMTrackBack