A Soldier's Play

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It has taken almost 40 years for Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1981 drama about the corrosiveness of racism to reach Broadway, but it is finally here, in previews at Roundabout’s American Airlines Theatre, in a riveting production directed by Kenny Leon (American Son, Raisin in the Sun). Although it is technically a murder mystery, the issue of who is responsible for the death of a black sergeant at a Louisiana army base in 1944 is hardly the main point. Fuller paints a shameful picture of the status of black American troops, particularly in the Deep South, during WWII. The unit we meet is made of former Negro League baseball players, who are tasked with the most menial chores when they are not playing ball for the base’s glory. Their sergeant (David Alan Grier; Dreamgirls, Race, Porgy and Bess), whose duties include coaching the team, is a hard man to please. When he ends up with two bullets in him, the suspects include the local klan, racist white officers and disaffected members of his unit. A black JAG captain (Blair Underwood; A Trip to Bountiful, Paradise Blue) with a law degree is brought in to conduct an investigation of the murder, to the consternation of the unit’s white captain (Jerry O’Connell; “Jerry McGuire,” “ Mission to Mars”), who does not want to make waves. The story is told largely in flashbacks narrated by each man being interrogated. While the play is occasionally creaky, for the vast majority of the time, it is absolutely gripping. The entire ensemble (Nnamdi Asomugha, Good Grief; McKinley Belcher III, The Royale; Rob Demery, Jared Grimes, Billy Eugene Jones, The Jammer; Nate Mann, Warner Miller, By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; J. Alphonse Nicholson, Paradise Blue; Lee Aaron Rosen, Indian Ink) is superb. The performances by Grier and Underwood are sensational; O’Connell’s, not quite as strong. Leon has interpolated moments involving singing and stylized movement, some of which work better than others. Derek McLane’s set, composed mainly of wooden planks, is appropriately stark. If you are uncomfortable with racial epithets, be forewarned that there are plenty. The play’s final moments are quietly devastating. Although circumstances specific to the military have changed a lot since WWII, as a society it is depressing to see how far we have yet to go to overcome racism. Running time: one hour 55 minutes, including intermission.