EXCLUSIVE Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss and husband/executive producer Todd Tucker have joined the producing team of Broadway’s upcoming The Piano Lesson revival starring Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington and Danielle Brooks.
Burruss and Tucker were co-producers of Broadway’s Thoughts of a Colored Man earlier this season. They join the Piano Lesson producing team of Brian Anthony Moreland, Sonia Friedman and Tom Kirdahy. LaTanya Richardson Jackson will direct.
The Piano Lesson begins performances on Monday, September 19, at the St. James Theatre.
“We couldn’t be more honored and excited to join the producing team of August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson,” said Burruss and Tucker in a statement. “As we continue to push to diversify the Broadway audience, this all-star team and cast is a dream come true for our next venture on Broadway.”
Also in the cast are Trai Byers, Ray Fisher, April Matthis and Michael Potts. The design team includes Beowolf Boritt (Set Design), Toni-Leslie James (Costume Design), Japhy Weideman (Lighting Design), Scott Lehrer (Sound Design), and Cookie Jordan (Wig Design).
In addition to Real Housewives, Burruss appeared in the Showtime drama The Chi, the Fox competition series The Masked Singer, and CBS’ Celebrity Big Brother. She and Tucker exec-produced Kandi & the Gang and Kandi Koated Nights, among other series and specials.
August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning The Piano Lesson is the fourth play in the playwright’s American Century Cycle, and is set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District in 1936, where a brother and sister are locked in a war over the fate of a family heirloom: a piano carved with the faces of their ancestors.