A 'Raisin in the Sun' of many moons past

There would be no reason to assume Combs couldn't act simply because of his day job. It does, however, take a certain bravado, or a lack of sense, for an amateur to step into what is not only a difficult part to pull off, but also one that was originated by Sidney Poitier (onstage and in the 1961 film, for which Hansberry wrote the screenplay). That is running before you can walk.

Combs does a fair enough job hitting his marks, and he has successfully made himself into a working-class man of the middle 20th century; there is no trace of his own fabulous life in his portrayal of Walter Lee, but there are no overtones in his performance, no intermediate shades -- it's all primary colors. It's impossible not to notice that he works at a lower skill level than his costars, who support but also eclipse him. He seems merely petulant in a role that requires us to feel him half-mad and twisted up inside -- "You're damn right I'm bitter," he says, "I'm a volcano, I'm a giant, a giant surrounded by ants" -- and the weight of the play shifts to the women who put up with him, each of whom he resents for one thing or another -- not supporting him sufficiently well or, in the case of his sister, who wants to be a doctor, getting the support he feels he deserves.

Leon's film tends to lose momentum when he opens it up; you miss the small apartment where the many Youngers live on top of one another. The added dialogue is serviceable but clearly cut from a different cloth than Hansberry's, and new scenes in which Lena is ill-treated by a grocer or Walter Lee is harassed by a policeman are no less obvious for being historically accurate. And a musical score that creeps in under key speeches and tells you what to feel about them does no service to the complexities of Hansberry's text.

The play, and the production, might have been better served by rolling a few cameras into the theater, but I know that isn't how people like to do these things.

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robert.lloyd@latimes.com

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'A Raisin in the Sun'

Where: ABC

When: 8 to 11 tonight

Rating: TV-14 L (may be unsuitable for children under the age of 14, with an advisory for coarse language)