A Soldier's Play, starring David Alan Grier & Blair Underwood, begins performances on Broadway

Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway premiere of A Soldier's Play is set for an official opening at the American Airlines Theatre on January 21, 2020.

Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway premiere of Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama A Soldier's Play, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, begins preview performances at the American Airlines Theatre tonight. An official opening is set for January 21 with the limited engagement running through March 15, 2020.

Synopsis: "1944. A Louisiana Army base. A sergeant is murdered—and the crime, with its masterfully unfolded investigation, triggers a gripping barrage of questions about sacrifice, service, and identity in America."

The Broadway cast is led by three-time Tony Award nominee David Alan Grier (as Sergeant Vernon C. Waters), two-time Golden Globe nominee Blair Underwood (as Captain Richard Davenport), Nnamdi Asomugha (as Private First Class Melvin Peterson) and Jerry O'Connell (as Captain Charles Taylor), alongside McKinley Belcher III (as Private Louis Henson), Rob Demery (as Corporal Bernard Cobb), Jared Grimes (as Private Tony Smalls), Billy Eugene Jones (as Private James Wilkie), Nate Mann (as Lieutenant Byrd), Warner Miller (as Corporal Ellis), J. Alphonse Nicholson (as Private C. J. Memphis), and Lee Aaron Rosen (as Captain Wilcox).

The creative team behind A Soldier's Play features scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Allen Lee Hughes, and sound design by Dan Moses Schreier.

A Soldier's Play originally premiered Off-Broadway in 1981 at the Negro Ensemble Company with a cast that included Adolph Caesar, Denzel Washington, Larry B. Riley, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Friedman and Charles Brown. It would go on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, alongside Obie Awards and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for "Best Play". Charles Fuller also adapted A Soldier's Play for the 1981 film "A Soldier's Story," earning Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for "Best Film" and "Best Screenplay."

David Alan Grier assumed the role of Private C.J. Memphis in the Negro Ensemble Company production in the early 1980s and also went on to play Corporal Cobb in the film adaptation. He has earned Tony Award nominations for his performances in The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess in 2012, Race in 2010, and for his Broadway debut in The First in1982. He has also appeared in the 1996 Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and the 1981 premiere of Dreamgirls, and his many screen credits include "Jumanji," Fox's "In Living Color," and the role of The Cowardly Lion in NBC's "The Wiz Live!"

Blair Underwood previously made his Broadway debut as Stanley Kowalski in the 2012 revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. He has earned Golden Globe nominations for "In Treatment" and "L.A. Law" and his most notable screen credits include "Deep Impact," "Gattaca," "Rules of Engagement," "Just Cause," Netflix's "Dear White People," Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.," and ABC's "Quantico."

A Soldier's Play Tickets are available now for performances through March 15, 2020.

^{(Photo by Marc Franklin)}