Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Basking in Black joy and rage via rip-roaring satire: Ossie Davis’s PURLIE VICTORIOUS returns to Broadway

• By drediman
• October 19, 2023
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Earlier this week at the Music Box Theatre, I had the chance to catch up with the Broadway revival of Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. Since premiering on the Great White Way in 1961 (remarkably, the revival marks the first time the piece has been performed commercially in New York since then), the work went on to inspire the 1970 musical Purlie (speaking of which, we need a revival of that, too) and has since fascinatingly evolved from serious drama to a lively satire.

Set in Georgia during the 1960s, the play tells the story of the titular Purlie Victorious Judson, a traveling preacher who returns to his hometown in hopes of saving – with the help of emancipated cotton pickers – the community’s church. As directed by the ubiquitous and in-demand Kenny Leon, Purlie Victorious has fully leaned in on being an aggressive, rip-roaring satire that uninhibitedly basks in Black joy and rage. The approach has paid off handsomely – the vigorously-paced revival is at once hugely enjoyable and starkly eye-opening. Indeed, Leon and his fine cast handle the play’s double entendres with slicing precision that hits both departments fast and hard.

The production is chock full of fantastic performances. In the title role,  the hugely charismatic Leslie Odom, Jr. is as magnetic and exhilarating as you’d expect from Hamilton Tony-winner. As his less than sophisticated yet adorable love interest, the talented Kara Young — who has been a consistent standout in her recent theatrical turns — is both endearing and hilarious, never once dismissing nor looking down upon the character’s inexperience and disadvantages. Also excellent is Billy Eugene Jones, who nearly steals the show with his uproarious yet deeply unsettling portrayal of an Uncle Tom-like character.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

PURLIE VICTORIOUS: A NON-COFEDERATE ROMP THROUGH THE COTTON PATCH
Broadway, Play
Music Box Theatre
1 hour, 40 minutes (without an intermission)
Through February 4