Intense ‘A Soldier’s Play’ makes Broadway debut

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: (left to right) Warren Miller, Nnamdi Asomugha & Blair Underwood. Photo: Joan Marcus

A SOLDIER’S PLAY
Written by Charles Fuller
Directed by Kenny Leon
Through March 15, 2020
American Airlines Theatre
227 West 42nd Street
(212-719-1300), www.RoundaboutTheatre.org

By David NouNou

Originally opening Off Broadway in 1981 and winning the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1982, it is hard to imagine that it has taken almost 40 years for A Soldier’s Play to finally have a Broadway production. However, I must caution that at times the play might seem a bit dated —through no fault of playwright Charles Fuller, but due to Kenny Leon’s heavy-handed direction.

Set in Fort Neal, Louisiana in a segregated U.S. Army barrack in 1944, Captain Richard Davenport (Blair Underwood) has come to the base to investigate the unusual circumstances of the murder of company Sergeant Vernon C. Waters (David Alan Grier). Davenport is there to find out the truth but is met with hostility by not only the white base commander, Captain Charles Taylor (Jerry O’Connell), who would want to make it seem like the Ku Klux Klansmen did it, but also by the black serviceman who served under Waters.

By examining each person in the barracks, Davenport tries to unravel the tangled lives of the men vis-à-vis Waters. First, he has to find out why Waters, who was drunk on the evening of his death, was shot twice and his body found by the river to give credence that the Klansmen would have done this heinous crime. As each soldier presents his story in connection to the murder, Davenport unveils bigotry, self-loathing, death, guilt, and a life of a man who was always trying to obey the law even at the cost of incriminating his own people.

A Soldier’s Play is beautifully written and its framework stands like an Agatha Christie murder whodunit. This is one hell of a powerful play and its themes resonate to this day. It is further aided by the perfect and riveting performances of the entire company, especially by David Alan Grier, who gives a sterling performance as the tormented Waters. Blair Underwood is dauntless and perfectly chiseled (you’ll see in Act II) as the defiant and determined Davenport.

Although most of the men are making their Broadway debuts—Nnamdi Asomugha as Private First Class Melvin Peterson, Billy Eugene Jones as Private James Wilkie, J. Alphonse Nicholson as C.J. Memphis, Jared Grimes as Private Tony Smalls, and McKinley Belcher III as Private Louis Henson— they form a strong, tight-knit ensemble that raises the bar for acting.

Kudos to the Roundabout for having the vision to bring this gem of a play back for its long overdue Broadway debut.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published January 24, 2020
Reviewed at January 23, 2020 press performance.

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: David Alan Grier. Photo: Joan Marcus.

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: (left to right) Rob Demery, J. Alphonse Nicholson & McKinley Belcher III. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: The company. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: David Alan Grier, Blair Underwood & Billy Eugene Jones. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘A SOLDIER’S PLAY’: Jerry O’Connell & Blair Underwood. Photo: Joan Marcus.