Tony & Grammy Award winner and Academy & Emmy Award nominee Leslie Odom, Jr. will star in a new Broadway production of the classic American comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch by the legendary Ossie Davis. Purlie Victorious will be staged by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon who directed the critically acclaimed productions of Ohio State Murders by Adrienne Kennedy and Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog earlier this season. This play, scheduled to begin in late summer 2023, will mark Odom’s return to Broadway after winning the Tony for his iconic performance as “Aaron Burr” in Hamilton.
The parts, though, do rise above the whole, including Derek McLane’s rather stunning set, which slides in, windowpanes locking into place, to transform the wood-framed walls for each scene before metamorphosizing in a final transition that offers the play’s most emotionally transcendent moment. And in a final sermon, Purlie erupts into gorgeous, empowering poetry: “I find, in being Black, a thing of beauty…Be loyal to yourselves: your skin; your hair; your lips, your southern speech, your laughing kindness—are Negro kingdoms, vast as any other.” If Purlie Victorious never completely conquers in cohering its disparate ambitions, its last moments offer an unexpected, quiet triumph.
Along with the revival of The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window earlier this year, this second-ever Broadway production of Purlie Victorious makes you wonder how many other vital works by Black playwrights are sitting somewhere, underused and underseen, waiting to be brought up under the bright lights where they belong.
Digital Lottery:
Price: $40
Where: rush.telecharge.com
When: The lottery will open at 12 AM on the day before the performance closing at 3 PM the day before the performance. Winners are drawn at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM
Limit: Two per customer
Information: Winners will be notified by email shortly after each drawing and have six hours to claim and purchase tickets online. Tickets will be emailed. Seats may be located in any section of the theater. While every effort will be made to seat pairs together with a full view, there is a chance that pairs may be split up and that your seat may have a partial view of the stage. Subject to daily availability.
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