Opening Night: Kenny Leon’s The Mountaintopby Wilson Morales
October 14, 2011
Last night at the Bernard B Jacobs Theatre, Blackfilm.com was at the opening night for the Broadway premiere of ‘The Mountaintop,’ starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett.
Directed by Kenny Leon (‘Fences,’ ‘A Raisin in the Sun’) and taking place on April 3, 1968, The Mountaintop is a gripping reimagining of events the night before the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jackson). After delivering his legendary “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech, an exhausted Dr. King retires to his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis while a storm rages outside. When a mysterious young woman (Bassett) delivers room service, King is forced to confront his past, as well as his legacy to his people.
The play was written by Katori Hall, who won the best new play award at the Laurence Olivier Awards in March 2010 when it premiered in London. The win made her the first black woman in history to win the Olivier Award for Best New Play.
After the play was over, most headed to the afterparty, which was held at Espace.
It was a star-studded affair as many celebrities were in attendance, including the play’s producers Jean Doumanian, Sonia Friedman and composer Branford Marsalis, Alicia Keys and her husband Swizz Beatz , Spike Lee, Gayle King, Magic Johnson and his wife Cookie, Gabourey Sidibe, Yelling to the Sky’s director Victoria Mahoney, Elsa Davis, Colman Domingo, Anthony Mackie, Al Roker and his wife Deborah Roberts, Debbie Allen, Vy Higginsen, playwright and Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, Phylicia Rashad, Cicely Tyson, Ruby Dee, Courtney B. Vance, Tisha Campbell, Star Jones, S. Epatha Merkerson, Julius ‘Dr. J’ Erving and his wife Dorys, retired NFL player Curtis Martin and his wife Carolina, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Pauletta Washington, Ahmad Rashad and his daughter, actress Condola Rashad, Ben Vereen, Lily Rabe, Julian Bond, Tracy Reese, Lori Stokes, Christina Macy, Taylor Branch, Giancarlo Esposito, Dick Cavett, Harry Belafonte and his wife Pamela, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, actress Ros Coleman and her husband Craig T. Williams, Hamish Linklater, Sam Rockwell, Justin Long, publicist Marvet Britto, The Shubert Organization’s Director of Real Estate & Special Projects Julio Peterson and his wife Michelle, NBA Commisser David Stern, Tasha Smith, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Adriane Lenox, Anna Marie Horsford, Yaya DaCosta, George C. Wolfe, Mary Alice, and former NYC Mayor David Dinkins and his wife Joyce.
Red Carpet Arrivals and Afterparty Pics
