At Ease! David Alan Grier, Blair Underwood & More Bow at Opening Night of A Soldier's Play on Broadway

A Soldier’s Play, Charles Fuller’s 1981 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama that never came to Broadway, has finally received its due. The Kenny Leon-helmed production made its opening night Broadway bow at the American Airlines Theatre on January 21. Starring David Alan Grier (who was a replacement cast member in the original production) and Emmy nominee Blair Underwood, A Soldier’s Play takes a look at the psychology of internalized racism, following the mysterious murder of a black army sergeant in charge of a segregated military unit in the Second World War. Stars like Cicely Tyson, LaTanya Richardson-Jackson, Kate Walsh, and Phylicia Rashad lined up to see the show. Then at curtain call, playwright Fuller and Douglas Turner Ward, who directed the original off-Broadway production of A Soldier's Play, bowed with the cast. 

"It's very humbling to be a part of this production because it won the Pulitzer 35 years ago, because it’s never been on Broadway," Underwood told Broadway.com on the red carpet after he took his bow. "Everybody’s firing on all cylinders."

Leon said time hasn't made the play any less prescient. "I just think that all great plays prove if they’re relevant or not, and this play proves it’s relevant," he remarked. "To stand on the stage with Douglas Turner Ward and Charles Fuller, that was a tremendous honor for me. It was a special night on the Broadway stage."

See photos of the star-studded opening night below, and click through to see more, and watch the video of the cast at the after-party.