He was able to banish the actor from his mind when he started to explore what Sorkin had written. Initially, Harris admits, he worried about taking on a part that Peck had made so iconic. He’s also not Gregory Peck, who portrayed Atticus in the film version as a stentorian voice of righteousness, winning an Oscar in the process. He has a certain belief system that is being challenged incredibly during the course of the play.” However, he’s also not as progressive as one might hope and struggles to accept that the judicial system may be stacked against Jim Robinson, the man he is tasked with defending against Ewell’s allegations. In Sorkin’s telling, he’s a country lawyer with little track record of success, one who is willing to challenge the prevailing prejudices of his hometown, an Alabama community governed by Jim Crow laws. In the book and the 1962 film, he’s virtuous and an unyielding example of moral courage. “If it was just an out-and-out telling of the book, there would be certain things that would feel dated, and this modernizes it in all the right ways,” she says.Īs part of that modernization, Atticus has been given more nuance. Scanlen, who is making her Broadway debut as Mayella Ewell, a white woman who falsely accuses a black man of rape, agrees that Lee’s original story needed to be tweaked. And it really isn’t, and so he said, ‘Well, we’ll just make it that way and invite, you know, 18,000 kids.’” “ was hoping that the audience would be more diverse. And then by giving Calpurnia a voice, a real conflict occurs.” And I think what Aaron did is he sifted through that material, to see what specific conversations he really wanted us to have. It’s the white man saving the - ideally, trying to save the black guy, the poor black guy. “If this play were done 10 years ago, I think people would have been offended by it and not really wanted to see it.
“I don’t think it would have been as successful if it weren’t for Aaron’s interpretation,” says Hamilton.
Atticus believes that people really are good at heart a lifetime enduring racist abuse and harassment has left Calpurnia with a different perspective. He expanded the role of Calpurnia, the Finch family’s black housekeeper, having her serve as an important counterpoint to Atticus’ naive worldview. Aaron Sorkin, notable for writing “A Few Good Men” and “The Social Network,” took significant liberties in adapting the novel, which was published in 1960, to the stage. Yet, this isn’t the “To Kill a Mockingbird” that readers remember. It shattered records in large part because millions of people studied Lee’s book in middle school or high school, and it has remained an immovable cultural touchstone for so many. Since it opened in 2018, “To Kill a Mockingbird” has been a commercial phenomenon, becoming the highest-grossing American play in history while launching a national tour and a London production. And I think it’s been most fun watching how it’s different, and how everyone brought their own take to it.” “It was a thrill to watch the old cast do it, and know that we were going to be able to get to tell that story soon. “I wanted to have enough time to see what they had done, and then kind of forget about it and try and do my own thing,” says Robinson. Robinson, Hamilton and Scanlen all went to the theater at various points in rehearsal to get an idea of how their predecessors approached the material.
Just wanted to approach it from a wide open, fresh point of view.” “I didn’t want to have it in my head, you know. “I didn’t want to know what Jeff was doing,” says Harris.
#Original cast of to kill a mockingbird broadway full#
Though they had the luxury of seeing “To Kill a Mockingbird” performed in full by another cast, not everyone chose to do so before taking over their roles. They assumed their roles in December, and despite the shift, the play continues to be a box office hit. The original cast, which included Jeff Daniels as Atticus, has been ushered out for a company led by Harris, Nick Robinson (“Love, Simon”), LisaGay Hamilton (“The Practice”) and Eliza Scanlen (“Little Women”). The Madison Square Garden event isn’t the only major change for “To Kill a Mockingbird” as it enters its second year. “And it really isn’t, and so he said, ‘Well, we’ll just make it that way and invite, you know, 18,000 kids.’” “He was hoping that the audience would be more diverse,” says Harris.
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