The premiere production of The Piano Lesson on Broadway was in 1987 at Yale Repertory Theatre, with a younger Jackson playing Boy Willie alongside Carl Gordon as Doaker and Starletta DuPois as Berneice. LaTanya Richardson Jackson directs the 2022 production, which is the play's first Broadway revival. As an older family member, he possesses the most knowledge of the piano's - and the family's - storied history, which his niece and nephew are not always quick to share. The siblings' living uncle, Doaker (Jackson), is on hand throughout the play as the storyteller. The already difficult decision gets further complicated when it appears that familial ghosts appear to haunt the Charles household.

But Willie (Washington), a sharecropper, wants to sell the piano and use the money to buy the land where their ancestors worked as slaves, believing the best way to honor them is to take back the land that their ancestors couldn't own in their own lifetime. Berneice (Brooks) insists on keeping the piano as a reminder of her ancestors and their hardships. It's 1936, and the two adult siblings of the Charles family cannot agree on what to do with a family heirloom: a piano that is hand-carved with the faces of their enslaved ancestors. The Piano Lesson is a play about family history and heritage, and how best to honor that heritage. Get The Piano Lesson tickets on New York Theatre Guide now. Jackson, John David Washington, and Danielle Brooks lead the cast of The Piano Lesson, playing at the Barrymore Theatre for 17 weeks only. August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson is being revived on Broadway with a star-studded cast in 2022. Samuel L.

The piano lesson piano