'Raisin' the roof: Musical preserves the spirit of Hansberry's classic play

Lorraine Hansberry's drama A Raisin In The Sun will turn 50 next year. Over the span of its half-decade theatrical crescendo, the play has marked itself with historical achievement.

When it premiered on Broadway in 1959, Hansberry was then the first black woman to have written a play for The Great White Way.

The director of the original run, Lloyd Richards, was Broadway's first black director..

Raisin, the musical offspring of the success of A Raisin In The Sun, was born in 1974. It received nine Tony awards and took home the win that matters most, Best Musical.

The Willis Richardson Players opens Raisin on Friday at Thalian Hall, its first of two productions for 2008.

Gwendolyn Maultsby, who's directing for Willis Richardson, asserts that Hansberry's pioneering voice is honored well with the musical version, her material enhanced by the spiritual and sentimental music.

The song Man Say is the firestarter to the flames of the Younger family's dreams, as Walter (Roger Aiken) sings, "Man say, 'I've got to do something before I get too old.' A woman say, 'My coffee's getting cold.'●"

Walter's dream is opening a liquor store, a dream made feasible by his late father's insurance policy.

Mama Younger (Linda Daye) has a dream as well, to leave the rundown Woodlawn neighborhood her family has lived in for 15 years, and buy a house in Clybourne Park, an all-white neighborhood.

Walter's sister, Beneatha (Tria Brown), meets a Nigerian man, sparking her curiosity about the back-to-Africa ideology.

Each of the three face challenges to their dreams: a con man, a racist homecoming committee and a self-inflicted holier-than-thou syndrome.

The musical composition is an eccentric blend of styles: jazz swing (Booze), blues (A Whole Lotta Sunlight), African-inspired (Runnin' To Meet The Man, Alaiyo), musical theater (You Done Right, It's a Deal) and gospel (He Come Down This Morning).

Measure The Valleys is the song that measures the story's true worth.

"When you start to measure a man, you measure him right," Mama sings, noting that one must consider the hills and valleys he crossed to get to where he is, not only a singular moment of forgiveness for the Youngers, but also a worthy perspective for any audience.