The Piano Lesson
VHS cover
GenreDrama
Based onThe Piano Lesson
by August Wilson
Teleplay byAugust Wilson
Directed byLloyd Richards
Starring
Music byStephen James Taylor
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producers
  • Richard Welsh
  • Craig Anderson
ProducerAugust Wilson
CinematographyPaul Elliott
EditorJim Oliver
Running time95 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkCBS
Release
  • February 5, 1995 (1995-02-05)

The Piano Lesson is a 1995 American drama television film directed by Lloyd Richards and written by August Wilson, based on his 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Charles S. Dutton and Alfre Woodard,[1][2] and relies on most of its cast from the original Broadway production.[3] The film originally aired on CBS on February 5, 1995, as an episode of Hallmark Hall of Fame.

Plot

In 1936, Boy Willie and his friend Lymon travel from Mississippi to Pittsburgh, where he wishes his sister Berniece will give him the family's heirloom piano so that he can sell it to buy land from Mr. Sutter, a descendant of the family that once owned Willie's own ancestors as slaves. The piano itself had at one time belonged to the wife of the original Sutter, the white former owner of their family... and decades earlier, Berniece and Boy Willie's grandfather had, at the slave master's instructions, carved the black family's African tribal history and American slave history into the piano's surface.

When Boy Willie arrives, his Uncle Doaker tells Willie that Berniece won't part with the piano. Berniece's boyfriend Avery and her Uncle Wining Boy also attempt for reasons of their own to get Berniece to sell. As selling the piano would be like turning her back on their people and their past, Berniece continues to refuse.

Cast

Production

Filming took place in Pittsburgh.[4]

Recognition

DVD Verdict wrote that the "excellent writing leaps off the screen." While noting that most TV films seem geared "towards the lowest common Nielsen family demographic", they write that "something crafted, filled with inordinate drama and rich, dimensional characters just blares across the airwaves, filling up your deepest, hungry cinematic aesthetic," and that this recognition is the case for the Hallmark Hall of Fame adaptation of August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize winning play The Piano Lesson. They noted that Wilson has been long known for "profound, deeply moving portraits of African Americans in the United States," and that he "understands the issues facing minorities better than most modern playwrights do." They called the film a "brilliant analog," and a "fable of magic realism."[3]

TV Guide wrote that the film is "a wrenching but flawed cable adaptation of August Wilson's play," and that while the film was another Wilson "folk tale about the legacy of slavery," that "Sadly, this particular production fails to make any psychological or ectoplasmic ghosts come alive for the audience." They noted this was not because the film did not make the playwright's message clear, the problem was in "its obviousness" in that Wilson belabored his points.[2]

Awards and nominations

Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result Ref.
1995
 Peabody Awards CBS and Craig Anderson Productions, Inc.,
in association with Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, Inc.		 Won [5]
Primetime Emmy Awards Outstanding Made for Television Movie Richard Welsh, Craig Anderson, August Wilson,
Robert Huddleston, and Brent Shields		 Nominated [6]
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special Charles S. Dutton Nominated
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special Alfre Woodard Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Directing for a Miniseries or a Special Lloyd Richards Nominated
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries or a Special August Wilson Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Art Direction for a Miniseries or a Special James William Newport, Tim Saternow, and
Diana Stoughton		 Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Costume Design for a Miniseries or a Special Vicki Sánchez Nominated
Outstanding Individual Achievement in Editing for a Miniseries or a Special –
Single Camera Production		 Jim Oliver Nominated
Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Drama Miniseries or a Special Michael C. Moore, David E. Fluhr, John Asman, and
Sam Black		 Nominated
1996
 Cinema Audio Society Awards Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television – Movie of the Week,
Mini-Series or Specials		 Won [7]
Golden Globe Awards Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television Charles S. Dutton Nominated [8]
NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Television Movie or Mini-Series Nominated
Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series Charles S. Dutton Nominated
Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie or Mini-Series Alfre Woodard Won
Screen Actors Guild Awards Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie Won [9]

References

  1. ↑ Bernadette McCallion (2012). "The Piano Lesson (1995)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "The Piano Lesson". TV Guide. Archived from the original on June 4, 2012. Retrieved April 10, 2011.
  3. 1 2 Bill Gibron (February 12, 2003). "review: The Piano Lesson". DVD Verdict. Retrieved April 9, 2011.
  4. ↑ Taylor, Jonathan (January 29, 1995). "The Piano Lesson". Variety. Retrieved December 15, 2023.
  5. ↑ "August Wilson's "The Piano Lesson"". Peabody Awards. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  6. ↑ "The Piano Lesson (Hallmark Hall of Fame)". Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Nominees/Winners". IMDb. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  8. ↑ "The Piano Lesson". Golden Globe Awards. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
  9. ↑ "The 2nd Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards". Screen Actors Guild Awards. Retrieved October 20, 2023.
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