Sean
"Diddy" Combs is transferring his Broadway experience to the small screen
in a new television movie adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the
Sun.Production
recently started on the three-hour feature in Toronto, Canada. The feature will
air on ABC during the 2007 season.Combs,
who received critical acclaim for his portrayal of Walter Lee Jr. in the theatrical
version of the drama, will reunite with fellow castmates Phylicia Rashad, Audra
McDonald and Sanaa Lathan. John
Stamos for the TV reworking.Set
in the 1950s, A Raisin in the Sun follows a family living and struggling
on Chicago’s South Side, in a moving portrait of people whose hopes and dreams
are constantly deferred.
It was the first play written by an African-American woman to be produced on Broadway.
The
play’s original cast included Sidney Poitier, Claudia McNeil, Diana Sands, Ruby
Dee and Louis Gossett Jr. when it premiered in 1959. A Columbia Pictures feature
version of the production with the same cast followed in 1961.The
drama’s latest Broadway run resulted in a Best Actress Tony Award for Rashad,
a Best Featured Actress Tony Award for McDonald and a Best Featured Actress Tony
nomination for Lathan.The
ABC film will be produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the pair that executive
produced the Oscar-winning film, Chicago. Sean
Combs’ Bad Boy World Wide Entertainment Group and Sony Pictures Television will
also serve as executive producers.Kenny
Leon, who received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Director for his staging
of the play on Broadway, will be make his film debut with the movieThe
drama’s TV adaptation is the latest acting achievement for Combs, who made his
acting debut in the film Made and appeared in Monster’s Ball, which
starred Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton.