The Piano Lesson review: John David Washington makes electrifying Broadway debut in starry revival

August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Piano Lesson is making beautiful music on Broadway yet again, in a must-see, star-soaked revival now playing at New York City's Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

The 1987 tale, the fourth in Wilson's famed 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle chronicling the evolution of Black America through the 20th century, is back on the boards for the first time in over 30 years in a production packed with an embarrassment of impactful performances led by the electric John David Washington — the former football pro turned actor who approaches the role with the same ferocity and showmanship often inhabited by characters played by his parents, Denzel Washington and Pauletta Washington.

It's a daring Broadway debut and one matched by the incredible company of actors assembled by director LaTanya Richardson Jackson for this revival, including Danielle Brooks, Michael Potts, Ray Fisher, April Matthis, Trai Byers, and Richardson Jackson's husband, Oscar honoree Samuel L. Jackson.

All bring Wilson's haunting masterpiece to life again with stellar emotional depth, making the legendary playwright's poetic words sing like the sound coming out of the treasured piano at the center of the play's conflict.

Julieta Cervantes John David Washington makes his Broadway debut in 'The Piano Lesson.'

Washington — a Golden Globe nominee for his breakout role in BlacKkKlansman who can currently be seen on screen in Amsterdam — plays Boy Willie, a steadfast, boisterous entrepreneur who returns to 1936 Depression-era Pennsylvania to collect the heirloom instrument. He's hopeful that he can sell it and use the money, plus the money he's saved, to buy back the Mississippi farmland previously held by the recently deceased John Sutter, who owned his family during the time of slavery.

Stopping Boy Willie's efforts is his sister Bernice (Brooks), the keeper of the keys who argues the piano should remain in the family, as their father died stealing it from Sutter. Even though she doesn't play it, the piano is a part of their family legacy, Bernice explains, pointing to the carved images of their enslaved ancestors their father hand-crafted into the instrument's wooden frame and reminding her brother of the care their mother took towards preserving the piece after her husband's death.

That fundamental difference — between one trying desperately to hold onto a family legacy, and another, hoping to progress further than his ancestors were ever able to — drives the action throughout The Piano Lesson, Wilson ultimately using the story as a reminder to embrace where you come from before you move forward.

But it also leads to a ghostly, thundering climax in which Washington and Brooks charge their characters forward into an exhilarating face-off.

Brooks, a standout in Orange Is the New Black who was last on Broadway in The Color Purple, is easily delivering the best work of her career as Bernice. She's layered the single mother with equal parts strength and sadness; fear and faithfulness. And just when you think you know where she's going, Brooks takes a turn, finding new moments to explore while leaving the audience hanging on her every word.

Jackson is steady in his performance as Doaker Charles, Boy Willie and Bernice's uncle who does his best to stay neutral while navigating their back-and-forth. The actor has history with the play, having originated the role of Boy Willie when the show first premiered at the Yale Repertory Theatre back in 1987. Now in a more paternal, measured part, Jackson remains the backbone of the production while still creating small, almost cinematic character traits that give wonderful texture to the role.

Julieta Cervantes John David Washington and Samuel L. Jackson in August Wilson's 'The Piano Lesson.'

Other highlights in the cast include Fisher, who embodies the open-hearted dimness of Lymon with alacrity, and Potts — a seasoned character actor and Wilson aficionado who lights up every scene he's in.

If there's one downside to The Piano Lesson, it's that the action in the final moments of the play's climax — intense as it is — is a little too rushed to have the full potential of the impact needed (though Tony-winning set designer Beowulf Boritt's move-in-ready set helps immensely). Still, Richardson Jackson clearly knows how to direct actors and pulls magic out of her cast, creating a production worthy of August Wilson's legacy. Grade: A

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