Two decades ago, Suzan-Lori Parks exploded into the theater stratosphere with her breakout play “Topdog/Underdog,” a two-hander about a pair of brothers grappling with the troubled, precarious state of being African American men in an unnamed city that affords them no advantages. The drama, which drew memorable performances from Jeffrey Wright and Yasiin Bey (then known as Mos Def), became a genuine phenomenon that earned Parks a Pulitzer Prize.
Now the show is back on Broadway, opening Thursday at the Golden Theatre, where director Kenny Leon has orchestrated two riveting performances from young stars best known for their onscreen work: Corey Hawkins (“Straight Outta Compton”) plays the older brother, Lincoln, a former street hustler with a demeaning and dead-end job as an Abe Lincoln impersonator in whiteface; while Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (“Watchmen”) is younger brother Booth, an unemployed man who gets by shoplifting his basic needs while yearning for his brother’s abandoned skills at three-card monte to make some real money.