"A Raisin in the Sun" TV adaptation of 2004 Revival at 8PM on ABC — Page 3

Riviting.

Spectacular even.

Audra and Phylicia were to amazing for words. But come on. We all knew they would be

Sean wasn't bad, it was just... the women acted circles around him and made his perfromance seem... dull? Not really the right word. He stuck out like a sore thumb, but not really in a bad way. If he is serious about acting, he needs to do more and do it now while this is fresh. And none of those type-cast movies, either.

Wish I had been able to see this live and in person on Broadway Tried to get a ticket and couldn't. At least when I had the opportunity.

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can someone who saw the revival tell me if bernetha cut her hair? the tv movie cut that part of the play and i was wondering if it was changed in the revival too.

Agreed... the entire cast (with the exception of Diddy) was excellent !! Stamos, in a very small part, was very good !

The chemistry between Audra and Diddy was horrible !

Well, the whole film was turned into the Sean Combs show. He got more lingering loving closeups of that terribly inexpressive face than anyone else did. Audra MacDonald's big scene, her joyful reaction to the news about the house, was completely ruined by a bad camera angle and a cutaway to a typically inert closeup of Combs.

Did anyone notice those commercials they ran during the Oscars, the ones that mentioned Sean Combs ad nauseam but never gave the names of anyone else in the cast?

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Combs executive produced both the revival and the film. A shame. Just imagining what Taye Diggs or Jeffrey Wright would have done with the role only makes me sadder about what went down, that a fine American play has been turned into an ego-trip for The Person Formerly Known As Diddy.

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I will throw my questions out there again...did they cut Walter's drunken "rant" in the apartment last night and replace it with him sitting in the bar? And did they cut or "slice up" Rashad's monologue from the second act? Or did I miss something?

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"Which drunken rant? They definitely cut the scene of Walter's play-acting as an African warrior, but I don't remember if that's a drunken rant or not."

That is the drunken rant to which uncage is referring. It was cut, and the scene in the bar was taken from one of the scenes in the original movie with Poitier and McNeil. They added a bar scene in that film as well, although the dialogue was different.

I didn't appreciate the editing of Beneatha's haircut, or of severely cutting Ruth's monologue about how they have to leave the house, after Lena says there is no way it can be done now that the money's gone. In my opinion that's one of the most important moments in the show for her character, and right when it was about to let loose, here comes Diddy.

Having said all that, I still enjoyed it. But in my opinion no film will beat the original. One of my favorite movies. That last scene has never hit me like it does in that film and it gets me everytime, and I've seen 4 different productions on the stage and all the film versions.

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The haircut was in the revival.

Thanks sid. That is what I was thinking of. it has been so long since I have seen it. And I still think they cut down the mother's long monologue.

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The commercial breaks were a pain. And I agree, I was tired of the Tyler Perry commercials. They are all over the place as it is.

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Thanks. I'll do that when I get a chance. I used to love reading plays, but I haven't read any lately.

Asagai mentions to her that by wearing her hair permed she is in essence assimilating into the dominant society because it is not in it's natural state. This is a very jarring revelation for her since she has committed herself to not assimilating and to exhibiting pride in her heritage, yet she is the physical manifestation of assimilation. In order to reconcile her beliefs with her physical statement, she decides to cut her hair in to a short afro, thus returning it to it's natural state. The cutting of her hair is her own personal revolution & evolution as a person. SOO cutting it from the movie removes a large part of who Beneatha is at the end of the play.

(edit: oops you beat me to it!)

Updated On: 2/26/08 at 12:33 PM

Then you must suffer the consequences!