Theater News

Broadway Revival of Purlie Victorious, Starring Leslie Odom Jr., Announces Casting and Theater

Tony winner Kenny Leon directs the production, which is slated to begin previews in September.

Tony nominee Kara Young will appear in the Broadway revival of Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch.
(© Tricia Baron)

Complete casting has been announced for the first Broadway revival of Ossie Davis’s Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch, which is set to begin preview at the Music Box Theatre on September 7. An official opening night has not been revealed.

As previously announced, Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr. will play the title role, Purlie Victorious Judson, a traveling preacher who returns to his Georgia hometown in an effort to save the community church and emancipate the enslaved people on the nearby plantation. He will also produce alongside a team led by Jeffrey Richards, Hunter Arnold, Irene Gandy, Jacob Soroken Porter, and Kayla Greenspan.

The complete cast includes Vanessa Bell Calloway (Dreamgirls) as Idella Landy, Billy Eugene Jones (Fat Hamas Gitlow Judson, Noah Pyzik (Addy & Uno) as Deputy,  Noah Robbins (To Kill a Mockingbird) as Charlie Cotchipee, Jay O. Sanders (Primary Trust) as Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, Heather Alicia Simms (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Missy Judson,  Bill Timoney (Network) as Sheriff, and Tony Award nominee Kara Young (Cost of LivingClyde’s) as Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins.

Tony Award winner Kenny Leon directs the production, which will feature scenic design by Tony Award winner Derek McLane (Moulin Rouge, MJ), costume design by Tony Award nominee Emilio Sosa (Trouble in Mind, A Beautiful Noise), lighting design by Drama Desk Award nominee Adam Honoré (Ain’t No Mo’, Chicken & Biscuits) and sound design by Peter Fitzgerald (American Son, KPOP).

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