Did you ever wonder whether Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I Have a Dream†speech could have been improved by a few well-placed F-bombs? You might be in luck. According to the Post’s Michael Riedel, Samuel L. Jackson is in New York this week for a reading of Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, a new play about the civil-rights leader set to open on Broadway this fall with Kenny Leon (Fences, A Raisin in the Sun) directing. Jackson, who was actually an usher at King’s funeral in 1968, would be paid $50,000 per week for the gig, and we assume he’ll do it because when was the last time he turned down a paycheck?
Here’s Mountaintop’s synopsis:
Set in King’s Memphis motel room the day before he was assassinated, “The Mountaintop†sets up an imaginary exchange between King and a chambermaid. King arrives in the room, exhausted after delivering his famous “I’ve been to the mountaintop†speech. He orders a cup of coffee, and when the maid arrives, he flirts with her. But as the evening wears on, he realizes she’s no ordinary hotel worker, and the play shifts from the realistic to the heavenly.
So this would basically be the Lost finale of Samuel L. Jackson–starring Martin Luther King Jr. plays. When can we buy tickets?