Recently opened import from the West End, ‘The Mountaintop,’ starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, asks the intriguing question “what was Martin Luther King Jr’s last night on Earth like?” It is a fictional account of his stay at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis where he would meet his killer the following afternoon. He had just delivered the speech entitled “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” and had retired to his room to cap off the evening with a late night session of speech writing. Instead he finds himself entangled in conversation with hotel maid Camae. ‘The Mountaintop’ is a revealing look at the man behind the icon – his struggles, his weaknesses, his longings and desires for the future. Through the eyes of this book by Katori Hall, we get this rare glimpse of King ascending the Mountaintop.

The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre is transformed into Dr. King’s motel room the rainy night of April 3, 1968. From the moment King (Samuel L. Jackson) coughs his way through the door to evening’s inevitable close, the audience doesn’t leave this stale room. We see him send his cohort out into the lightning laced monsoon for a pack of Pall Malls as King settles in for an evening of inspired writing. He orders a cup of coffee from room service to hold back the hours till sleep will take him. Hotel maid Camae (Angela Bassett) draws the late night duty and seems quite bewildered that she’s delivering coffee to the Dr. Martin Luther King. He badgers a cigarette off of her and convinces her to light one up to keep him company. So starts this intriguing evening of conversation.

This unlikely exchange peels away the aura of King as an icon, and we see him as a man. The notion of his suggested extramarital affairs quickly surface as he flirts with Camae minutes after talking to his wife on the phone. We see his weakness for cigarettes, his paranoia that the FBI is tracking his every communication and the toll of the stacking death threats that slowly wear on him. Camae plays the Malcom X, Black Panthers supporter clashing with King’s ideals of peaceful protest to exact change. It affords us an interesting look at how he might have locked horns with Malcom and the exchange of ideas that may have peppered from the men’s mouths. It was like being in King’s brain for an evening to sift through the bits of paper, opening the hidden cabinets and fishing up the forgotten memories.

While this play is billed as a drama, I think you can make the strong case for it being a rousing comedy as well. Angela Bassett is razor sharp in her savage wit and through Camae shows that though she is a maid, she holds just as many ideas and hopes for the future for her race as the most recognizable figure of the movement. Bassett is a true asset to this production and a welcomed addition after Halle Berry was forced to exit the role early in production. It’s a shame Bassett hasn’t graced the Broadway stage since 1988s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.” Samuel L. Jackson does Dr. King proud in his portrait of this pivotal man. He finds the complexity of the man and never tries to hide behind King’s considerable mystique.

‘The Mountaintop’ is a great play. It had a few flaws in that it starts somewhat slow and there were a few timeframe bending moments towards the end that were off putting. Outside of these annoyances, this is a great portrayal of an important man. Not enough attention has been paid to knowing the deeper soul of King – what he wanted from the moment, how he saw himself and what his concerns were for the future that he ultimately wouldn’t be a part of. Jackson and Bassett do a wonderful job fleshing out these multifaceted characters that rubbed each other in all the right ways. It has a limited 10-week run at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre so make it a priority if you are interested in seeing it. I have a feeling our leads may be getting some love come nomination season for this year’s Tony Awards.

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