Check out new portraits of the company of the upcoming Broadway revival of Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch taking in the city views on a skyscraper-surrounded New York rooftop.
Ossie Davis' play is set to return to Broadway for the first time since its original production in 1962. Kenny Leon is at the helm. The production will open September 27 at the Music Box Theatre following previews that begin September 7. Leslie Odom Jr. will star in the play, which marks his first role on Broadway since his Tony-winning performance in Hamilton.
Joining Odom will be Vanessa Bell Calloway (Dreamgirls) as Idella Landy, Billy Eugene Jones (Fat Ham) as Gitlow Judson, Noah Pyzik as Deputy, Noah Robbins (To Kill a Mockingbird) as Charlie Cotchipee, Jay O. Sanders as Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, Heather Alicia Simms as Missy Judson, Bill Timoney as Sheriff, and 2023 Tony Award nominee Kara Young (Cost of Living) as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins.
See the portraits of Odom Jr. and the company in the gallery below.
Leslie Odom Jr.
Billy Eugene Jones
Alicia Simms
Kara Young
Kenny Leon
Vanessa Bell Calloway
Bill Timoney
Noah Pyzik
Noah Robbins
Jay O. Sanders
The work follows a traveling preacher, Purlie, who returns to his Georgia hometown to save the local church and the cotton pickers working on Ol' Cap'n Cotchiepee's plantation. Davis both wrote and starred in the 1961 original Broadway production, appearing alongside his wife, Ruby Dee. Davis and Dee would go on to reprise their performances in a 1963 film adaptation titled Gone Are the Days! A musical adaptation premiered on Broadway in 1970, making Melba Moore a star (and a Tony winner) for her performance as Lutiebelle, famously singing the Gary Geld-Peter Udell score's most enduring hit, "I Got Love." The upcoming revival of Davis' original play will be its first on the Main Stem.
Leon has assembled a creative team that includes scenic designer Derek McLane, costume designer Emilio Sosa, lighting designer Adam Honoré, and sound designer Peter Fitzgerald.
The revival is produced by Jeffrey Richards, Hunter Arnold, Irene Gandy, Willette and Manny Klausner, Kayla Greenspan, and Odom, the latter in his Broadway producing debut.
Visit PurlieVictorious.com.
