‘Purlie Victorious’ Broadway Review: Leslie Odom Jr. Keeps Ossie Davis’ Groundbreaking Comedy True To Its Title
deadline.comLong before Slave Play, decades before Ain’t No Mo, there was Purlie Victorious, the Ossie Davis comedy masterwork that, like those descendant plays, fused broad comedy, satirical minstrelsy, racial satire and still-relevant social commentary to create a play that is so encompassing in its views of history and legacy, so generous in its humanity and pinpoint sharp in its take on debts long owed and now demanded that Kenny Leon’s revival, opening tonight on Broadway, feels as current and bracing as a folding chair.
More about that folding chair later. Starring a magnificent Leslie Odom, Jr., in the title role, and featuring equally fine performances by an enchanting Kara Young, Billy Eugene Jones, Vanessa Bell Calloway and more, Purlie Victorious – full title (and one of the few signifiers of its 1961-era creation): Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch – has been given an urgent – and, oh yes, very, very funny – revival by Leon and his top-notch creative team.
The first Broadway revival of Davis’ 1961 cause celebre play – the playwright took the lead role, with the magnificent Ruby Dee co-starring and Dr.
Martin Luther King in attendance for its 100th performance – the new Purlie, despite a few signs of age here and there, seems, near-miraculously, as contemporary and vital as the latest news cycle.
Read more on deadline.com
