INTERVIEW: ‘Raisin’ opens in NJ, with Eric R. Williams as Walter Lee Younger
Photo: Raisin features Eric R. Williams and Gia Ware. Photo courtesy of John Posada / Provided by Axelrod with permission.
Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun continues to be a powerful play that is often revived on Broadway, off-Broadway and in regional theaters around the country. The Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey, honors Hansberry’s original vision with its new production of Raisin, the musical based on the play, featuring music by Judd Woldin, lyrics by Robert Brittan, and a book by Robert Nemiroff and Charlotte Zaltzberg. Billed as a “lost gem of a musical,” Raisin tells the story of the Youngers, a Black family living in Chicago who struggle over what to do with a $10,000 insurance check. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the musical adaptation.
The play and musical both deal with serious themes of racism, housing discrimination, privilege and Langston Hughes’ idea of what happens to a “dream deferred.” At the center of the narrative is Walter Lee Younger, played by Eric R. Williams in the Axelrod production, which is directed by Evelyn Collins and continues through March 12 at the Jersey Shore theater.
“Fun fact: I did this show my junior year of high school, and I was Joseph Asagai,” Williams said in a recent phone interview. “And it’s been imprinted on my memory ever since, so I was very familiar with it. When it came my way, I was like absolutely. I had to work some quick things out in my schedule to make it fit, but I was glad I was able to.”
Joining Williams on the Axelrod stage are Fredi Walker-Browne as Lena Younger, Alexandria Reese as Beneatha Younger, Gia Ware as Ruth Younger, Ethan Joseph as Travis Younger, MOZIAH as Asagai and Burt Conrad as Karl Linder.
“What I like about the musical is that it takes the poignant moments in the play, and it does that magic that we’re so used to seeing in the musical theater, where we take a moment and we just expand it and display a character’s sense of emotion, of desire, where they want to go,” said Williams, who is a native of Atlanta and first fell in love with the arts at age 6. “And that’s what I feel like is a big draw for those who not only enjoy the play, but for those who may not even enjoy musical theater so much. There’s something different about the way Raisin is constructed, to me. … It opens that door in a very wonderful way.”
Williams said that Walter is a man with large dreams and ambitious desires. He has a set plan on what to do with the family’s insurance money, but that doesn’t align with the other family members’ vision for the money.
“When it comes to him having a family that he has to provide for, and balancing that against these dreams of what he wants, but also holding the roots of that in terms of him wanting to move his family with those dreams, it becomes a very difficult dance,” Williams said about the difficulties of portraying Walter. “He is able to come into his own in a way that he had not previously been able to, via his mother, his wife, and seeing the legacy that’s before him, and his son. … I wanted to play this part back in high school, and now here it is. So I’m getting to do just that.”
Williams, who is a graduate of Howard University, was able to collaborate with Phylicia Rashad on student shows at Howard. Fittingly, this Raisin production features Rashad as a production consultant. Since his days in college, Williams has gone on to some illustrious roles, including Passing Strange at the Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., and the Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park production of Into the Woods. For Raisin, the conversations he’s having on stage and backstage are important, and prove that Hansberry’s vision still needs to be showcased in a theater.
“It’s definitely still relevant, in my opinion,” Williams said. “As humans we want things, whether it’s to serve ourselves or others. There’s always going to be that cresting and the falling, the highs and the lows. … In this one, we’re looking at it through the lens of this Black family in Chicago and seeing what it is that they go through to get to where it is that they have needed to in the end, and as that relates to Walter Lee, going back to what I said earlier, it’s all in his journey — and those along the way that are helping him get there, whether he realizes it or not. And eventually he does.”
Williams added: “I am being stretched in ways I had not been previously in other professional situations I’ve had. This is something I’m definitely looking forward to, but even amongst our creative team and my other castmates, this story doesn’t have a choice but to move its energy through everyone involved because everyone plays a very important piece to the overall construction of it. And I feel like that’s what elevates it for us on stage, which will then transfer over into the audience and allow them to receive it, regardless of where they come from, what their background might be, what they believe and all of that, and just allow for the concept of humanity to be received. You take away from that what you take away from it, depending on where you are in your life and what it is you’re experiencing and going through and what you’re hoping to get to.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Raisin, featuring Eric R. Williams, continues through March 12 at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center in Deal Park, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
