Raisin
Original Cast Recording
Music	Judd Woldin
Lyrics	Robert Brittan
Book	Robert B. Nemiroff Charlotte Zaltzberg
Basis	A Raisin in the Sun byLorraine Hansberry
Productions	1973Broadway 1975 First National Tour
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical

Raisin is a musical with music byJudd Woldin, lyrics by Robert Brittan, and a book byRobert Nemiroff andCharlotte Zaltzberg. It is an adaptation of theLorraine Hansberry playA Raisin in the Sun; the musical's book was co-written by Hansberry's husband, Robert Nemiroff.

The story concerns anAfrican-American family in Chicago in 1951. The musical was nominated for nineTony Awards, winning two, includingBest Musical, and theBroadway production ran for 847 performances.

In Chicago in 1951, anAfrican-American family – Ruth Younger, her husband Walter Lee Younger, their son Travis, and Walter's mother Mama Lena – are living in a cramped apartment. Walter is a chauffeur but thinks that his father's life insurance policy proceeds will buy a way to a better life. He plans on buying a liquor store, but his mother is against the selling of liquor. Tensions arise as Walter tries to convince Mama Lena to forget her dream of buying the family its own small house ("A Whole Lotta Sunlight").

Walter decides to make the deal for the liquor store and signs the papers with his partners Bobo Jones and Willie Harris. Beneatha, Walter's sister, is in college and is romantically involved with an African exchange student, Asagai. When Walter comes home drunk he joins Beneatha in a celebratory dance, picturing himself as a chieftain ("African Dance"). Ruth and Walter fight about their future but they reconcile ("Sweet Time"). Mama arrives to announce that she has bought a house in the white neighborhood of Clybourne Park, and Walter leaves in anger ("You Done Right").

Walter has not returned home and Mama finds him in a bar. She apologizes and gives him an envelope filled with money. She asks him to deposit $3,000 for Beneatha's college education, and tells him the rest is for him. As the family packs to move, a representative of Clybourne Park, Karl Lindner, arrives and offers to buy back the house. Walter, Ruth and Beneatha mockingly tell Mama of the enlightened attitude of their new neighbors. Just then Bobo arrives to tell the family the bad news that Willie has run off with the money. This forces Walter to contact Lindner and accept the offer to buy back the house. Although Beneatha berates her brother for not standing up for principles, Mama shows compassion and understanding ("Measure the Valleys").

When Lindner arrives, Walter announces that the family will, after all, move to the new house.

The musical began a pre-Broadway tryout on May 30, 1973 at theArena Stage inWashington, D.C.^[1] It premiered on Broadway at the46th Street Theatre on October 18, 1973, transferred to theLunt-Fontanne Theatre on January 13, 1975, and closed on December 8, 1975 after 847 performances.Donald McKayle was the director and choreographer, and the cast featuredVirginia Capers as Lena,Joe Morton as Walter, Ernestine Jackson as Ruth,Debbie Allen as Beneatha,Ralph Carter as Travis,Helen Martin as Mrs. Johnson, andTed Ross as Bobo. Capers later starred in the national tour. The production won theTony Award for Best Musical and Virginia Capers won aTony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical.^[2]

The International City Theatre inLong Beach, California presented the musical in February and March 2003.

The Court Theatre inChicago staged the musical from September 14 through October 22, 2006. The cast included Ernestine Jackson, who formerly had played Ruth, in the role of Lena Younger.^[3]

In reviewing a performance in Washington (Arena Stage),Clive Barnes ofThe New York Times called it "a warm and loving work."^[1] In his review of the Broadway production, Barnes noted that the book of the musical "is perhaps even better than the play... 'Raisin' is one of those unusual musicals that should not only delight people who love musicals, but might also well delight people who don't".^[4]

After the Broadway opening,Walter Kerr ofThe New York Times wrote, "The strength ofRaisin lies in the keen intelligence and restless invention of a musical underscoring that has simply invaded Lorraine Hansbury's once tightly-knit, four-walled, close-quartered play,A Raisin in the Sun, plucking the walls away, spilling the action onto the streets with a jittery down-flight of strings, mocking and matching realistic speech with frog-throated sass from the heavy-breathing viols."^[5]The New York Times also reported that there are "ovations every night at the 46th Street Theatre for 'Raisin'. But they are for the cast, not individual performers. There are no stars... It was at the Arena Theater in Washington, where the play first opened this spring, that Mr. McKayle said he started evolving the ensemble-acting concept."^[6]

• ​Raisin​ at theInternet Broadway Database
• Raisin synopsis, production information at guidetomusicaltheatre.com
• 'Raisin' published script
• New York Times obituary, Nemiroff, July 19, 1991

• African-American musicals
• All-Black cast Broadway shows
• 1973 musicals
• Broadway musicals
• Tony Award for Best Musical
• Tony Award–winning musicals
• Musicals set in Chicago

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata