‘PURPOSE’: (left to right) LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Glenn Davis, Kara Young & Jon Michael Hill. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

PURPOSE
By Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
Directed by Phylicia Rashad
Through August 31, 2025
The Helen Hayes Theater
240 W 44th St.
https://purposeonbroadway.com/

By Scott Harrah

Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play last year with the hit dysfunctional-family drama Appropriate. Now, he’s scored with another engrossing blockbuster about a toxic family, Purpose.

The story focuses on the famous Jaspers, an influential, affluent African-American family in Chicago. The Jaspers are renowned for their political influence and religion. Patriarch Solomon “Sonny” Jasper (Harry Lennix) is a former Civil Rights leader who now works as a pastor and beekeeper. He and his affable but tough-as-nails wife Claudine (LaTanya Richardson Jackson) have both helped the Jasper family make a good name for themselves, and they will do anything to maintain their respectable image. Claudine has a law degree, but she doesn’t really practice law and instead works as a socialite for human rights and various Black causes.

Meet the Jasper family

Purpose unfolds with narrator Nazareth or “Naz” Jasper (Jon Michael Hill) as he just returned home from New York with uninvited friend Aziza (Kara Young).  Naz is the youngest son and has dropped out of divinity school. He explains the family’s many shortcomings and the conflicts that ultimately result when everyone gets together for a reunion.

The play has ongoing themes of social prominence, social and racial justice, identity and faith. The story is not exactly anything new or original, but it rings with veracity and reality regardless.

Highbrow soap opera

The story unfurls like a highbrow soap opera as we meet the many troubled and flawed family members.

First, there’s Junior (Glenn Davis), the older son and politician who has just been released from prison after being convicted of mismanaging campaign funds. His fashionable wife Morgan (Alana Arenas) is in trouble and will soon do time behind bars for helping her husband with his crime.

The other character, Aziza, is not a family member. She’s the high-spirited, earthbound outsider from Harlem and is initially impressed by meeting the famous Jasper clan, but she soon learns the family is not as glamorous as they seem.

Dysfunctional dinner

Sparks fly when everyone sits down to dinner and Junior starts talking about incarceration reform. Sonny is not pleased that his oldest son has little interest in carrying on his legacy. The father is also unhappy that Naz has decided to become a nature photographer instead of a pastor.

When questions about Naz’s sexuality are raised, Aziza reveals that she is hoping to have a child with him, but marriage is not in the plans because she only wants Naz as a sperm donor. It would be unfair to reveal anymore because what’s most enjoyable about Purpose is hearing all the juicy secrets the family members reveal though arguing, complete with razor-sharp dialogue that is crisp, biting and often hilarious in a dark way.

Lies & deceit

The story is about the lies and deceit famous families spin, all to keep up appearances and maintain good PR in the media. The Jaspers could be the African-American Kennedys, and Sonny is a composite of the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Dr. King’s portrait hangs prominently in the Jaspers’ living room) and countless other Civil Rights leaders.

Seamless direction & great cast

The show has so many good elements, from the outstanding scenic design of Todd Rosenthal to Phylicia Rashad’s seamless direction. Ms. Rashad gets great performance from everyone in the gifted cast.

Harry Lennix is perfect as Solomon, with his imposing voice and command of the stage. LaTanya Richardson Jackson is equally powerful as his scheming and manipulative wife, Claudine.

Jon Michael Hill is best known for his roles on the network TV shows “Elementary,” “Detroit 1-8-7,” “Law and Order: SVU” and the HBO series “Eastbound and Down.” As a stage actor, he is first-rate, acting as both narrator and the youngest member of the Jasper family. His scenes between his father Solomon and with older brother Junior are consistently convincing and sublime.

Superb supporting cast

Supporting cast members are all excellent as well. Glenn Davis is always riveting as the failed politician Junior. As long-suffering wife Morgan, Alana Arenas gives a knockout performance. Her shouting match at the dinner table is one of the show’s highlights, and she commands instant respect—and fear—when she has a meltdown.

Tony Award winner Kara Young (who won Best Actress for a Featured Role in a Play for Purlie last year) proves she’s a rising star to keep watching on Broadway. Ms. Young manages to make her character Aziza one of the only sane people in the show. She also has some of the best lines and dialogue, delivering them with aplomb and getting many laughs from the audience.

The play was originally produced by Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, and Purpose deserves a decent run on Broadway. It’s an insightful, sometimes over-the-top but never dull evening of family drama at its best.

Published March 24, 2025
Reviewed at press performance on March 20, 2025

‘PURPOSE’: Jon Michael Hill & Harry Lennix. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: Jon Michael Hill & Glenn Davis. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: Kara Young. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: Jon Michael Hill. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: LaTanya Richardson Jackson. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: Alana Arenas & Kara Young. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: Harry Lennix. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: Jon Michael Hill, Kara Young & Harry Lennix. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

‘PURPOSE’: Glenn Davis & LaTanya Richardson. Photo: Marc J. Franklin.

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‘THE PIANO LESSON’: Samuel L. Jackson. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

THE PIANO LESSON
Written by August Wilson
Through January 29, 2023
Directed by LaTanya Richardson Jackson
Ethel Barrymore Theatre
243 West 47th Street
(212-239-6200), wwwPianoLessonPlay.com

By David NouNou

Of the 10 plays that August Wilson wrote that make up “The American Century Cycle”, The Piano Lesson is the fourth installment. Each cycle, as his bio states, “explores the experiences of the descendants of Africans brought to North America as slaves, decade by decade, over the course of the 20^th century.” Each cycle takes place in a certain decade. The Piano Lesson is set in 1936 Pittsburgh. In this amazing revival, the stellar performances lift the material up and make it shine.

I’ve always considered The Piano Lesson  the most complex and intricate of Mr. Wilson’s works. It deals with two principles: Is the item you possess worth more if you sell it and use the proceeds to put it to good use; or is the item you possess worth more for the history and the legacy of the spilled blood of its ancestors that it leaves behind? In the mix is thrown religious complexities and an exorcism.

Boy Willie (John David Washington) and Lymon (Ray Fisher) have come up from Mississippi in a broken-down stolen truck loaded with watermelons to sell in Pittsburgh. He has come up to visit his sister Berniece (Danielle Brooks) and their uncle, Doaker Charles (Samuel L. Jackson). Doaker and Berniece live together with Berniece’s daughter, Maretha (Jurnee Swan). Willie Boy hasn’t seen his sister in three years because he was in prison and has come up North for a specific reason. Now the conflict begins.

Willie Boy wants to sell the watermelons and the family piano that sits in Doaker’s living room, so he can buy his former boss Sutter’s property. This property is where he, his father and grandfather and other relatives had been slaves. Now that Sutter is dead, he wants to buy the property and own the land that enslaved his ancestors.

Berniece will have none of this and refuses to sell the piano and wants Willie Boy to get out of her house, contending that he has done enough harm to the family with his reckless, destructive behavior. Doaker tells Lymon the story behind the piano and the multiple carvings on it that has the faces and history of Berniece’s ancestors etched on it that belonged to Sutter’s grandfather, and how Boy Willie’s father and others stole the piano, and Boy Willie’s father was killed for it.

Berniece is being pursued by Reverend Avery (Trai Byers), who wants to marry her and make her lead singer in his choir. Wining Boy, Doaker’s brother (Michael Potts), comes on the scene and also tries to dissuade Willie Boy from trying to move and sell the piano. Berniece needs Avery to come the next day to bless the house and expel Sutter’s ghost which she has seen. She needs to exorcise all the demons that are in the house.

As I stated earlier, this is the most complex of Mr. Wilson’s plays and the story does get convoluted. Bringing this epic family history to life is LaTanya Richardson Jackson’s impeccable direction and the blistering performances she brings out from her brilliant cast.

For any theatergoer, the most memorable aspect of any show is witnessing outstanding performances. Starting with John David Washington, I’ve been a fan of his since seeing him in Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman; his Broadway debut is phenomenal. His presence on stage is as magnificent as when I first saw his father, Denzel Washington, in the 2010 revival of August Wilson’s Fences.

Danielle Brooks’ Berniece is both shattering and beautiful. Playing sister, mother and a widow who could use some loving, she delivers a heartbreaking performance. Samuel L. Jackson when given a substantive role and delivers another powerhouse performance. This man just ages beautifully as vintage wine.

Included with the three top stars are three thrilling supporting actors, all of whom I’m sure may earn a nomination come Tony Award time. Ray Fisher, as the hapless Lymon, is outstanding as Willie Boy’s friend and ardent pursuer of women. His scene with Ms. Brooks is a joy to behold. Michael Potts as Wining Boy, Doaker’s brother, imbues so much heart and soul into the part that he is irresistible. Third but not least is Trai Byers as Reverend Avery. Mr. Byers is converting and healing souls nightly in each performance.

For an evening of outstanding, perfectly directed and fine-tuned performances, The Piano Lesson is a must-see.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published November 7, 2022
Reviewed at November 6, 2022 performance.

‘THE PIANO LESSON’: Samuel L. Jackson & John David Washington. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE PIANO LESSON’: Danielle Brooks. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE PIANO LESSON’: Samuel L. Jackson. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE PIANO LESSON’: Michael Potts. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE PIANO LESSON’: April Matthis & John David Washington. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE PIANO LESSON’: Trai Byers. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

‘THE PIANO LESSON’: The cast. Photo: Julieta Cervantes.

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‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’: Jeff Daniels. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD
By Aaron Sorkin
Based on Harper Lee’s novel
Directed by Bartlett Sher
Shubert Theatre
225 West 44th Street
(212-239-6200), https://tokillamockingbirdbroadway.com/

By David NouNou

Everyone who has read the 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird or seen the 1962 movie version with Gregory Peck in his Oscar-winning role as Atticus Finch is going to have an opinion of this stage adaptation; and anyone who has done neither is not going to know the difference.

To Kill a Mockingbird as a play carries a heavy burden. Since the book’s release, Harper Lee’s story has come to symbolize the “Great American” novel. It has been a “must read” in almost every school’s curriculum since its inception. Aaron Sorkin, a famous and popular dramatist, TV and screenwriter, writes scripts that focus on today’s issues, whether it is the presidency (“The West Wing” or “The American President”), the media (“The Newsroom”) or American lust for power and money (Steve Jobs or Molly’s Game). Mr. Sorkin always writes about issues with a contemporary standpoint that translate to the masses. This time he has taken it upon himself to transform this masterpiece into a meandering and rambling theatrical epic.

Mr. Sorkin has kept the principal players and setting intact; it is still 1936, Maycomb, Alabama. Atticus is here but with a much saintlier glow. The three children: Tomboyish Jean Louise “Scout” Finch (Celia Keenan-Bolger), who in the book is anywhere from six to eight; her older brother, Jeremy “Jem” Finch (Will Pullen), and Dill Harris (Gideon Glick), a diminutive child who sees the world from an innocent standpoint as an outsider. He is staying with his aunt Rachel, their next-door neighbor, this particular summer. The children in the book are now played by adults and that is perfectly fine, because the parts are so complex and children that young would not comprehend the gravity of the situation on a nightly basis.

Also the crux of the story here is Tom Robinson (Gbenga Akinnagbe), a black man being accused by Bob Ewell (Frederick Weller), a white man claiming Tom raped his daughter, Mayella. Another major character is Calpurnia, the devoted Finch housekeeper who for decades was retained by Atticus’ wife’s family, and has now taken care of Jem and Scott since their mother died when the kids were young.

The play remains a Southern Gothic classic and a tale of children coming of age. It is still in the South where the Ku Klux Klan is rampant and lawlessness runs amok, especially in the black section of town and nothing can prove the innocence of a black man, in an all-white jury, even when all the evidence is there. What has changed, however, is the dialogue and Atticus Finch.

Atticus’ saintliness borders on the psychotic; he always has to prove that everyone has a good side and try to understand what leads a person to where they are today, especially in the case of Bob Ewell, a drunkard, bully and bigot. This comes in the wake of his children not coming to terms with their father’s stubbornness and trying to be a savior. This also comes in direct conflict with Calpurnia, the family caregiver, who feels betrayed by Atticus.

The dialogue is another issue. In a scene where Atticus confronts Calpurnia “why are you mad at me, what did I do wrong?” she uses the terms “passive-aggressive” and “transparent.” I really don’t think those terms were used in the rural South in 1936.

Bartlett Sher, the director, hasn’t so much directed the play and given it any focus as put the characters and scenes handed to him into motion. A lot could have been edited from certain scenes, some scenes eliminated completely, and some scenes kept intact as the novel intended.

Being that Jeff Daniels has worked with Aaron Sorkin in the TV series “The Newsroom,” he was likely Mr. Sorkin’s first choice to play Atticus Finch. Mr. Daniels is stalwart and saintly. Will Pullen as Jem is serviceable, Celia Keenan-Bolger as Scout is a perfect choice; she imbues the characteristics of a tomboyish girl full of curiosity and is effective in most of her scenes. The real treasure here is Gideon Glick as Dill. A couple of years ago he did a great turn in Significant Other. As the guileless Dill, Mr. Glick heartbreakingly conveys every nuance of an abandoned child who lives in his own rose-colored world that ultimately shatters in the face of death and bigotry.

Additionally, Gbenga Akinnagbe, as the convicted Tom Robinson, delivers a powerful performance that envelops the stage and of course there is LaTanya Richardson Jackson as Calpurnia; she is an anchor and mother courage.

Of course my take is not the definitive view; for years to come there will be the controversy of whether this novel needed to be made into a play or is it a worthy piece that lives up to the novel? Unlike most plays or musicals where reviews help or hinder a show, this play will definitely have its defenders and detractors regardless of what critics say. You the audience/viewer will ultimately be the definitive critics.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 13, 2018
Reviewed at preview performance.

‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’: LaTanya Richardson Jackson & Jeff Daniels. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

‘TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD’: Jeff Daniels & Obenga Akinnagbe. Photo: Julieta Cervantes

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