The Piano Lesson

The Charles family of Pittsburgh has a precious heirloom that sits quietly in the middle of their home: a piano. In its wooden frame are carefully chiselled carvings of the faces of their great-grandparents during a time when they were enslaved.

It’s 1936, and Boy Willie (John David Washington) wants to sell the piano to buy the land his ancestors were enslaved upon. His sister Berniece (Danielle Deadwyler) is fiercely protective of it, even though she never plays it. Their uncle Doaker (Samuel L. Jackson) tries to keep the peace as The Piano Lesson finds levity in this sibling confrontation before the family is troubled by a more serious shadow that hangs over their heads. A ghost descends on their home and Boy Willie gives Berniece an ultimatum that she is too scared to face.

In his auspicious feature directorial debut, Malcolm Washington brings August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning play to the screen, adapted from a 2022 Broadway revival and carrying over many of the same cast members. Deadwyler gives an exceptional performance that captures the strength it takes to pull apart your family’s history. The Piano Lesson joins other works by Wilson that have been successfully adapted, including Fences and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, stories about the African American legacy, and how we can best make use of the things that are left to us.

JANE SCHOETTLE

Content advisory: frightening scenes