Something Happened on the Way to Bountiful: Everyone Sang Along

THE NEW YORK TIMES
By William Grimes

Cicely Tyson’s rousing “Blessed Assurance” in the Broadway revival of
"The Trip to Bountiful" has Condola Rashad, left, and others joining in.

BROADWAY---Not long after the curtain rises on the second act of “The Trip to Bountiful,” the Broadway revival of the Horton Foote play at the Stephen Sondheim Theater, something unusual happens. Cicely Tyson, as Mrs. Carrie Watts, sits on a bus station bench in a small Texas town. Overcome with emotion, she begins singing an old Protestant hymn, “Blessed Assurance.” From the first note, there’s a palpable stirring among many of the black patrons in the audience, which the play, with its all-black cast, draws in large numbers. The singalong, too, struck black audience members as unremarkable. Thrilling but unexpected. [link]