Erykah Badu is set to appear in the forthcoming Netflix adaptation of the August Wilson play The Piano Lesson, performing music in a small role. The film stars Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington, reprising their roles from the play’s recent Broadway revival.
The story is set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1936, and follows the lives of the Charles family, which possesses a family heirloom—the titular piano—adorned with carvings made by an enslaved ancestor documenting the family’s history. The Piano Lesson is part of Wilson’s 10-play “American Century Cycle,” which includes Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, which Netflix adapted in 2020 (starring Chadwick Boseman in his final role), and Fences, adapted by (and starring) Washington’s father Denzel in 2016.
Badu recently announced she would embark on The Unfollow Me Tour next month with Yasiin Bey. Late last year she shared a collaboration with BTS’ RM for the K-pop vocalist’s solo album Indigo.
