Theater News

Diahann Carroll Withdraws From Denzel Washington-Led Broadway Revival of A Raisin in the Sun

LaTanya Richardson Jackson assumes the role in the production directed by Kenny Leon.

LaTanya Richardson Jackson wiil assume the role of Lena Younger in the upcoming Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Diahann Carroll has withdrawn from the production.
LaTanya Richardson Jackson will play Lena Younger in the upcoming Broadway revival of A Raisin in the Sun. Diahann Carroll has withdrawn from the production.
(© Tristan Fuge)

Diahann Carroll has withdrawn from the upcoming Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. LaTanya Richardson Jackson will assume the role in the production directed by Kenny Leon. Tony winner Denzel Washington (Fences) is set to star as Walter Lee Younger in the production, with Tony winner Anika Noni Rose (Caroline, or Change) as Beneatha Younger and Sophie Okonedo as Ruth Younger.

LaTanya Richardson Jackson appeared on Broadway in the 2009 Lincoln Center Theater revival of August Wilson’s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. Off-Broadway credits include Love, Loss and What I Wore, Casanova, For Colored Girls…, Spell #7, Unfinished Woman, and Elliot Loves. She has been seen in the films Mothers and Daughters, Bolden!, Blackout, Freedomland, and Malcolm X. TV credits include 100 Centre Street, Law & Order, Boston Public, and NYPD Blue.

A Raisin in the Sun was most recently seen on Broadway in 2004, in a production also directed by Kenny Leon. Phylicia Rashad played Lena Younger in that production opposite Sean Combs as Walter Lee Younger. Rashad won a Tony Award for her performance. Audra McDonald also won the Tony for her turn as Ruth Younger in that revival. Sanaa Lathan played Beneatha Younger.

A Raisin in the Sun will begin performances March 8 at the Barrymore Theatre with an opening night scheduled for April 3. The production will play a 14-week limited engagement through June 15.

For more information and tickets to A Raisin in the Sun, click here.

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