See an Exclusive First Look at Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington in Broadway's The Piano Lesson

Julieta Cervantes

Samuel L. Jackson is back on Broadway!

The Academy Award nominee, 73, celebrates his star-studded opening night in the revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson Thursday at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. His wife, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, directs.

The play, which began preview performances last month, serves as a full-circle moment for Samuel, who originated the role of Boy Willie (now played by John David Washington) when the show premiered in 1987 at the Yale Repertory Theatre. The Pulp Fiction star served as an understudy when the play went to Broadway in 1990.

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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.

"So by the time the play traveled and came back to Broadway, and I was an understudy, I was pretty much devastated that I wasn't going to make my Broadway debut, drowning myself in a drug-fueled kind of craziness and ended up in rehab, which, you know, started a whole other journey for me."

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"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."

The Django Unchained actor is working with his wife of over 42 years on the play.

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The Tony Award-nominated actress said that directing The Piano Lesson has always been a "life dream," and because she and Samuel have been married for over 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."

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"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 and Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss and her husband, Todd Tucker, both serve as producers on the show, which also stars former football pro Washington (who is also the son of Denzel Washington) and The Color Purple star Danielle Brooks.

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Trai Byers, Ray Fisher, April Matthis and Michael Potts are also among the cast.

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John makes his Broadway debut in The 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 of Fences, 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."

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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, the Ballers alum 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, visit PianoLessonPlay.com.