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This article was originally published on April 27, 2023.
But this announcement goes on to do more than ask us to turn off our cell phones.
(The last time New York saw the writer-director-actor-activists play, Ringo hadnt yet joined the Beatles.)
And if we dont, we should keep our mouths shut.
That jokes a golden oldie, but it tends to crop up at the end of fringe shows.
Happily, I have no need to keep my mouth shut aboutPurlie Victorious.
(Conveniently, too, since my job is to run it constantly.)
Both unflinching and generous, its just about as sharp as satire gets.
Freedom, Missy, thats what Big Bethel means, Purlie rhapsodizes in the face of his sister-in-laws hesitation.
For you, me, and Gitlow.
And we can buy it for $500, Missy.
You want it, or dont you?
The ceaseless bravado of both roles isnt just impressive; its radical, and its moving.
Odom and Young leap into their parts with the trust and panache of a couples trapeze act.
Another Lutiebelle might have found herself lost underneath the laugh this line gets.
But not Kara Young.
Her Lutiebelle, fantastically funny and completely rooted, is the kind of performance young actors should study.
(Its as if shes doing Blanche DuBois while trying to carry an invisible pineapple between her knees.)
That Would you be my disciple line?
Always so high and mighty, he launches at Purlie in a moment of defiance.
Dont pay no tention to Gitlow; naw hes a Tom.
Tease him low-rate him laugh at ol Gitlow; he aint nothing but a fool!
A part like Gitlow is explosive material.
Its funny as hell and no laughing matter, and Jones threads that needle with utmost grace.
Theres a bit of singing in his part, and it turns out he also has a gorgeous voice.
hisses Purlie behind her, and she course-corrects with a rictus grin: Smally from large pox?
Good satire also has to sting, and the shows laughter never lets us off the hook.
Its just that, when it comes down to it, the play doesnt worship a god of anger.
What Davis summoned withPurlie,and what Leons revival makes joyously clear, is a different kind of divinity.
He is, just as Lewis Hyde describes in his marvelous studyTrickster Makes This World, opening a door.
Trickster, writes Hyde, isnt a run-of-the-mill liar and thief.
Purlie Victoriousis at the Music Box Theatre.
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