Purlie
Tickets and Information
SHOW INFORMATION
CURRENTLY CLOSED
Opened Mar 31, 2005
Closed Apr 3, 2005
Opened Mar 31, 2005
Closed Apr 3, 2005
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WHAT IS IT ABOUT?
Encores! presents Purlie, featuring music by Gary Geld and lyrics Peter Udell. Book by Peter Udell, Ossie Davis, and Philip Rose.
Purlie won both Tony and Grammy awards when it debuted on Broadway in 1970. In the musical based on Ossie Davis' 1961 play, Purlie Victorious, Purlie tells the story of Cap'n Cothcipee who owned everyone in town where slavery and racism were rife. A young idealistic preacher named Purlie Victorious decides to bring freedom to the townsfolk by inventing an elaborate, ingenious and hilarious scheme to reclaim the people's rights. the musical includes such popular songs as "I Got Love," "Walk Him Up The Stairs" and "Down Home."
THEATER/VENUE INFORMATION:
New York City Center
130 W 55th St
New York, NY 10019
One of New Yorks Grande Dames of the theater district, City Center is home to Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Encore! series of Lost Musicals and The Manhattan Theater Club's Stage 1. Newly renovated and very comfortable, the theater seats 2684 patro [...] Read More
130 W 55th St
New York, NY 10019
One of New Yorks Grande Dames of the theater district, City Center is home to Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Encore! series of Lost Musicals and The Manhattan Theater Club's Stage 1. Newly renovated and very comfortable, the theater seats 2684 patro [...] Read More
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recommend, approve and/or guarantee such events, or any facts, views, advice and/or information contained therein.
©1999-2012 TheaterMania.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use & Privacy Policy
"The purpose of Purlie is to point a mocking finger at racial segregation and laugh it out of existence." This quote by the recently deceased Ossie Davis is included in the program for the current City Center Encores! presentation of the 1970 Broadway musical Purlie. It presumably refers not specifically to the musical but to its source material, Purlie Victorious, a play that Davis wrote and starred in on Broadway in 1961. Still, as a program note by Encores! artistic director Jack Viertel informs us, "much of Davis' dialogue was retained for the book of the [musical], and he was credited as a co-author even though he wasn't an active participant."
Davis described the play as a satire, and[...]