Purlie is a 1970 Broadway musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, music by Gary Geld, and lyrics by Peter Udell, based on Ossie Davis’s play Purlie Victorious. It’s a comedic and energetic show about a charismatic preacher, Purlie Victorious Judson, who returns to his small Georgia town to save the local church and free the sharecroppers on a plantation, using a scheme involving an inheritance and a young woman named Lutiebelle.
The show was a major success, winning Tony Awards for its stars Cleavon Little and Melba Moore, and has had revivals and adaptations, including a 1981 Showtime special. Little also won a Drama Desk Award for his performance. The plot is that Purlie schemes to get money from the oppressive plantation owner, Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, to buy the Big Bethel church and help the field hands, all while falling in love with Lutiebelle, whom he brings to impersonate a long-lost cousin.
The original play, Purlie Victorious, written by Davis, premiered on Broadway starring Davis and his wife Ruby Dee. The play was adapted into the film Gone Are the Days! Purlie the musical ran on Broadway from 70 to 71 with a short revival in 72. The original play was revived in 2023-24 and received multiple Tony nominations. Ossie Davis originally conceived of the play as a serious drama, but decided it would reach more people and have more of an impact as a comedy.
So he mixed in elements of minstrel shows (restructured for Black voices), folk stories, and Yiddish humor (he had stage-managed a Yiddish theatre production and was familiar with the art form). As a play, a film, and a musical, Davis’ concept managed to challenge racism and remains relevant even still. The Sunshine Cathedral is offering a narrated production of selections from the musical Purlie on February 7. Tickets and information are available at sunshinecathedral.org/arts
