Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, a play written by the late, prolific, and legendary actor/writer/director Ossie Davis, hasn’t been performed on Broadway since its original 1961-62 run. The material, about a preacher (also played by Davis) scheming to claim an inheritance and save his hometown church, hasn’t exactly lain dormant in the six decades since then; a film version called Gone Are the Days! (also starring Davis and his wife, Ruby Dee, in their original Broadway roles) came out in 1963, and a musical adaptation called Purlie began a longer run in 1970. It’s the musical, though, that seems to have more frequent revivals in other cities, moreso than the straight-play version. Was the misguided thinking around the original text that it was no longer necessary, either because of the musical’s popularity or the increasing distance from the Jim Crow south setting?
If that was ever the case, a new production of Purlie Victorious feels like a concise rebuke. Almost immediately, it asserts itself as a play that feels contemporary both in its clarity about lingering racism and its willingness to generate big laughs from that very clarity. Original-cast Hamilton standout Leslie Odom Jr plays Purlie Victorious Judson, who in desperation takes a con artist’s approach to a wholesome goal. Hoping to buy and revive his hometown church, Purlie hopes to claim a $500 inheritance that plantation owner “Cap’n” Cotchipee (Jay O Sanders) owes to his late cousin Bee, who has no next of kin. Purlie knows that Cotchipee – who keeps a number of local Black folks in his employ, in his debt, and under his thumb – won’t part with the money easily. So Purlie enlists the starry-eyed (and Purlie-besotted) Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (Kara Young) to pose as Cousin Bee. After all, Cotchipee hasn’t seen Bee since she was young – and, more to the point, Purlie understands how interchangeable Black faces are to white people who still see them as lesser creatures, slaves in all but name.
