Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch
Last night I was watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. One of his guests was Ruby Bridges. She was the first African American to attend an all-white Louisiana elementary school in 1960 during the desegregation crisis. U.S. Marshalls had to escort her in. No one would sit in class with her so she studied alone with a white teacher imported from Boston. A year later in 1961 Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch premiered on Broadway. A tale of two cities, indeed.
Ms. Bridges became even more famous when depicted in a Norman Rockwell painting entitled The Problem We All Live With. Sixty years later and the problem is still here. Some progress has been made of course but backward motion is getting traction. As it does again and again. We are still fighting the Civil War and current conservative leadership is hell bent on restoring the doctrine of white supremacy. In this environment, Purlie has been superbly revived and remains a vital piece of theatrical genius.
Ossie Davis wrote and starred in this broad satire of the Jim Crow south set in “the recent past”. The plot centers around the titular character who returns home to the cotton planting country. His Aunt Bee passed away and there is a $500 inheritance. Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee (Jay O’ Sanders) has held onto the funds. Purlie Victorious Judson (Leslie Odom, Jr., excellent) wants the cash to buy the community church and preach freedom to the cotton pickers.
Purlie is nothing if not filled with wild notions whether factually sound or fictionally embellished. He returns home with Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a devout admirer of his. She agrees to impersonate the deceased Aunt Bee to collect the cash from Master. Forced to act high above her station, she awkwardly approaches the task. Kara Young’s scene is one of the funniest likely to seen on Broadway this year.
Purlie’s brother Gitlow (Billy Eugene Jones, especially first-rate) and sister-in-law Missy (Heather Alicia Simms) are on board to help. Gitlow is the character navigating the white agenda while working with his clan to accomplish the mission. As in all brash comedies things go awry and the fallout leads to crises.
What makes Ossie Davis’ play so remarkable is that the humor never flags. The subject matter includes all the racial strife prevalent in America, a brandishing bull whip and local police with dubious interpretations of the law. My first trip to Louisiana was in the late 1980’s auditing a jeans factory. The good ol’ boys would sit in their office drinking beer all afternoon while the factory workers (primarily black) toiled away. When I saw these southern lawmen onstage I immediately recalled the dimwits I encountered all those years ago.
Charlie Cotchipee is the young son of his entitled landowning racist father. Mr. Davis wisely gives him the moral ability to see right and wrong. He plays a crucial role in the plot and Noah Robbins nicely inhabits the nervous yet determined and intelligent boy. Trivia buffs may want to know Alan Alda was the original Charlie on Broadway.
There are memorable lines and monologues throughout. The cast is as terrific across the board as one would hope. The creative team, notably Derek McLane’s pitch perfect set design, makes this story come to life but never lets realism overwhelm the satire.
Director Kenny Leon has staged this play with pedal to the metal. A three act play has been reformed into a single act. As a result, we hop on the speeding train and let the brilliantly subversive tone wash over us. I guffawed and howled. Underneath, however, the darkness defiantly insists on its due and, from my seat, hit some nerves.
Is Purlie victorious after all this time? I’d have to say not really despite being turned into a 1970 hit musical . The play successfully ran on Broadway for 261 performances and was never revived until now. Perhaps the Jim Crow entertainment industry (and its safe craving consuming public) is to blame. For everyone else, this production breaks open a phenomenal time capsule unearthed from a galvanizing historical decade in American history. Go and laugh you ass off.
Purlie Victorious is running at The Music Box until February 4, 2023. I’ve added Gone With the Days! to my movie watch list. This 1963 filming of the play includes performances from many of the original cast members including Ossie Davis and his wife Ruby Dee.