P.Diddy in Raisin in the Sun
 

By MICHAEL KUCHWARA, AP Drama Writer

NEW YORK - Sean Combs, better known as rap star P. Diddy, will make his Broadway debut this season in a revival of "A Raisin in the Sun," Lorraine Hansbury's landmark drama about a black family moving into an all-white Chicago neighborhood.


"It is an American classic alongside `Streetcar,' `Death of a Salesman' and `The Crucible,'" producer David Binder said Wednesday. "And it has never had a Broadway revival."


The production, to be directed by Kenny Leon, will most likely begin rehearsals in mid-February, with preview performances starting in mid-March and an opening a month later, Binder added. The exact dates, the rest of the casting and the theater will be announced.


"We are approaching very seasoned New York theater actors" to fill out the rest of the cast, the producer said, declining to be more specific. Combs has no stage experience. He has appeared in the movies "Made" and "Monster's Ball."


Binder said he contacted Combs last September after a mutual acquaintance suggested that Combs "was interested in doing serious, challenging work in the theater."


Combs auditioned several times for the producer, the casting director and Leon over the course of the fall. "We were all incredibly impressed — he's focused on the work," said Binder, a producer of such off-Broadway hits as "De La Guarda" and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch."


Binder said he chose Leon, former head of the Alliance Theatre Company in Atlanta, because the director "respects writing. ... He's interested in serving the play."


The original production, which starred Sidney Poitier (news), Claudia MacNeil, Ruby (news - web sites) Dee and Diana Sands, was a success on Broadway in 1959 and later as a 1961 movie with the same lead cast. It was made into a Broadway musical, starring Virginia Capers and Joe Morton, in 1973.


The title comes from a line in a poem by Langston Hughes: "What happens to a dream deferred?/Does it dry up/Like a raisin in the sun?"

I haven't seen "Made" but his performance in Monster's Ball was less to be desired :rolleyes:, actually that entire movie was, but that's another issue.

Glad I'm not the only person who thought Monster's Ball was a hot mess,lol.

I wonder how Sean will prepare for this one. Will he take any acting classes?

Oh boy...
 

I love P. Diddy, but this might be a bit much. I recently saw "Top Dog, Underdog" and I realize (again) that no matter how well written a stage play may be, when performed by mediocre talent, the show falls flat. :(

That lead male role at RITS (I can't recall his name) is an pretty difficult one (most of the roles in the play are pretty demanding because everyone is so stressed and intense). I just am not convinced that this should be the role with which he begins his theater career, but who knows? :confused:

Re: Oh boy...
 

Shelacious, when you saw Top Dog, Underdog, who appeared in it because Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright appeared in the version here and I heard it was excellent, but that was a few years ago.

Re: Re: Oh boy...
 

I just saw it here in the Bay Area last month. I'd heard that it was excellent with Wright (one of my favorite actors) and Mos Def. It's the sort of play that NEEDS to have top notch, completely invested actors. I saw it with that guy from OZ and the Best Man and some actor with whom I was not familar (who was actually the better of the two). It dragged and plodded along.

P Diddy is going to come out on the stage doing the Harlem Shake....Take that, Take that, Take that. LOL .:D

On serious tip, I wish him all the luck on Broadway. The critics are more raw than the movie critics.

P. Diddy actually got good reviews!