Review: A Raisin in the Sun

What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
Like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore–
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over–
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?

~ Langston Hughes

In 1959, A Raisin in the Sun debuted on Broadway. The play is currently being performed by the Virginia Stage Company, the professional resident theater company in Norfolk whose home is the magnificent Wells Theater. I attended the show about a week ago.

It’s been a long time since I saw the black and white film version starring Sidney Portier, who originated the lead role of Walter Lee Younger on Broadway, and Claudia McNeil, who originated the role of family matriarch Lena Younger. I was surprised at how much I remembered as the performance progressed. There was an intensity in the characters on film that seemed difficult to match on the stage. For example, I recall McNeil slapping her daughter, Ruth, played by Ruby Dee, and making her repeat “In my mother’s house, there is still God.” There was a steeliness in her voice and in her carriage that makes me cringe to this day.

Nevertheless, the performances by Wendell B. Franklin as Walter Lee, Elaine Graham as Lena, Lisa Renee Pitts as Ruth, and Nicole Gant as Walter Lee’s wife, Beneatha, were good. This was not a performance where there was a lot of moving parts; the entire story takes place on a single set – a living room and a kitchen – with doors providing the illusion of other spaces. Of course, one does not need a lot of scenery when the story is so compelling. Insurance proceeds from the death of Mr. Younger provide a financial opportunity for the family. The question is how that money will be used.

Do yourself a favor and catch this show. It runs through April 18.