Siblings & Black Family Legacy in Netflix's 'The Piano Lesson'
Siblings & Black Family Legacy in Netflix's 'The Piano Lesson'
How far would you go to keep it in the family?
I am all too familiar with what it’s like to have a…strained sibling dynamic. It’s actually one of the reasons why I love seeing relationships between siblings being explored in film.
Netflix already had my attention when they dropped the trailer for His Three Daughters—three sisters with relationships at varying degrees of difficulty—but now they have secured it with The Piano Lesson, the feature directorial debut from Malcolm Washington with a stacked cast.
It’s a film adaptation of the August Wilson play of the same name, where two siblings—a brother and a sister—have different views on what to do with a family heirloom, a piano. One wants to sell to increase the family fortune, while the other wants to keep it in the family as an homage to their heritage.
It’s something that I worry about dealing with in the future in my own family, although the legal vibes of it are all set up to prevent it from happening, it’s not a guarantee that someone won’t, well—try it or more, try me.
That stacked cast I was talking about? John David Washington (brother of the director and actor in Netflix’s Malcolm & Marie), Ray Fisher, Michael Potts, Erykah Badu, Danielle Deadwyler, and Samuel L. Jackson are just a few names in the cast.
The play has such fly roots—The first production was in 1987 at Yale Repertory Theatre and featured Carl Gordon as Doaker—who went on to reprise his role in the first film adaptation of the film alongside Alfre Woodard—and Samuel L. Jackson as Boy Willie.
It hit Broadway in 1990 where it was nominated for five Tony awards, including Best Play.
It made its way back to Broadway 32 years later with John David Washington, Danielle Brooks and—the coolest part—Samuel L. Jackson (as Doaker) in its lead roles.
The production nabbed two Tony Nominations—Best Revival of a Play and Best Featured Actor in a Play—and closed in January of 2023.
There are so many dope things to me about this but the ones that stand out? The layered family aspect of it all is my favorite. John gets to work with his brother Malcolm AND his father Denzel (who is a producer and who was in the film Fences, another August Wilson adaptation.)
The next dope thing? We get to see Samuel L. Fucking Jackson as part of a play that’s been in his life for almost 40 years.
Seeing the longevity of a Black actor is nothing short of wildly fly. He’s been in the business for fucking ever and I wonder what it must feel like for him to be part of something so early in his career to now. He gets to track his own growth, his excitement, AND the reactions to The Piano Lesson then and now.
It is a very different world now than it was during Jackson’s original run of The Piano Lesson. With generations of Blackness in between it who grew up in different times with different ideas and feelings about the Black family experience—and all the dynamics that are within it.
I’m excited for this, Netflix has done well with August Wilson plays in my eyes (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and the outward showing of queerness in that) and also with Blackness in general (Rustin was incredible) so I’ve got high hopes for this one.
Watch the trailer for The Piano Lesson below and on Netflix November 22 2024
Extras:
Remember when George C. Wolfe talked about when we met in Martha’s Vineyard and we casually chatted for like 30 minutes in his interview for The New Yorker? I do, I think about it every day.
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