Leslie Odom Jr. heads 'Purlie Victorious' on Broadway

 

Just before the start of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, the revival of Ossie Davis’ 1961 play now at the Music Box Theatre, director Kenny Leon addresses the audience in a recorded message.  He says it’s taken 62 years for another commercial production and that “somewhere between rage and hope” it transformed from a satirical drama to a comedy.

I wish I had seen the original as a basis of comparison because as a broad comedy this production has way too much silliness for my liking.  Set in 1961 on a Georgia cotton plantation, the play presents an engaging Leslie Odom Jr. as the Rev. Purlie Victorious Judson who grew up on the plantation and has returned to lift his family out of their role as sharecroppers and get his recently deceased relative’s $500 inheritance out of the hands of the cruel white plantation owner, Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee (Jay O. Sanders).  His intention is to buy and restore the church where his grandfather used to preach and open it as an integrated church in the segregated town.

He brings along Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (Kara Young)  who he has coached to portray the relative.  (In the original she was played by Ruby Dee, Davis’ wife.) 

“Some of the best pretending in the world is done in front of white folks,” Purlie says.

Not that this always goes smoothly.  I laughed at the scene when Lutiebelle messes up every description of the deceased about whom she’s making the claim.  The more subtle humor is that white men in the South couldn’t distinguish one Black woman from another.

Odom, who won a Tony for his portrayal of Aaron Burr in Hamilton, has said that this is the first time he is speaking the words of an African American writer on Broadway.  Davis, who originated the role of Purlie, would undoubted be pleased.  Others in standout roles are Billy Eugene Jones as his brother, Gitlow; Heather Alicia Simms as Gitlow’s wife, Missy; Vanessa Bell Calloway as Cotchipee’s cook, Idella Landy; and Noah Robbins as Cotchipee’s son, Charlie, who was played by Alan Alda in the original.  

Derek McLane has created simple, easily movable sets.  Designer Emilio Sosa shines, especially with the women’s costumes.  I loved Lutiebelle’s colorful dresses on Young’s model-thin body and the churchgoing ladies’ costumes at the end.

I wonder how Davis would react now to seeing the play he wrote to spotlight racism.  The early 60s were the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement and much progress was made as the decade progressed, including overturning laws supporting the kind of segregation Purlie wanted to overcome.  Davis couldn’t have envisioned how strongly racism would surface and be fueled by the Internet.  We don’t usually wish a play would seem dated or just a part of history.  That’s not a problem here.  With the undisguised hatred thriving in our day it’s unlikely this play will be dated any time soon.