Leslie Odom, Jr. sets Broadway return in revival of PURLIE VICTORIOUS, directed by Kenny Leon. — Page 3

I actually listened to the OBC CD of PURLIE (the musical) last week. I saw the musical when I was probably too young to fully appreciate it; but it somehow left a mark on me that I can still appreciate. There was a production of the musical taped for A&E many years ago; at least that’s where I saw it. For me, it had no soul. A lot of that could’ve been the lighting and production design…
Do yourself favor and check out the OBC Recording, streaming everywhere…

Updated On: 8/2/23 at 10:06 PM

are you guys even reading the thread where multiple people have said it has nothing to do with the musical? As a theatre lover as all of you are you must know how many stories are both a play and a musical like Pygmalion and My Fair Lady, The Rainmaker and 110 in the Shade, Hello Dolly and The Matchmaker, Dear World and The Madwoman of Chaillot, etc.

Add me to the list of people scratching their heads as to why Leslie Odom, Jr. is doing the play and not the much-more well known musical version.

Also add me to the list of people scratching their heads at that horrific attempt at poster design.

People are going to confuse this for the musical and be severely disappointed.

The poster and key art for the 1972 musical version is iconic. It's a thing of beauty...



Even the City Center Encores production artwork had some flair:

Updated On: 8/3/23 at 11:09 AM

I'm not saying it was a good idea or not, but if I had to speculate about the reason behind the decision:

Even if Purlie (musical) is more well-known and well-liked than the play, it's possible that Jeffrey Richards & Co. felt that difference in broad audience (tourist) appeal was marginal compared to the drastic cost increase of doing a full scale musical over a small-ish play. It's possible that they were wrong, but the logic at least makes sense to me in theory.

And speaking of Jeffrey Richards - most of his projects as lead producer are non-musicals, so maybe he felt it was more in his wheelhouse. And in fact, it's possible that the question of "which version of Purlie Victorious should we do?" never entered his mind, and instead it might've been more like "which play should we take on next?"

As an addendum: Ossie Davis's scenes with his wife the divine Ruby Dee In Spike Lee's also socially relevant classic "Do the Right Thing" are magical. It must have been incredible seeing the two of them in the original Broadway production of Purlie Victorious.

Voter said: "In rehearsals according to Theatrical Index... who's got their tickets?"

Redeemed Audience Rewards points for a preview performance. The lack of advertising for this show is still baffling to me, I've seen almost nothing about it anywhere.

jagman1062 said: "
Redeemed Audience Rewards points for a preview performance. The lack of advertising for this show is still baffling to me, I've seen almost nothing about it anywhere."

I saw that there were several options for getting tickets through AR. I'm curious to which option you took and where your seats are located. I thought the number of points required for this show was rather high. Thanks!.

"

I did the 8,500 for orchestra, which I do agree is high. Seat was Orch center row H, so at least a solid seat. But yes, that is a rather high point amount.

Voter said: "In rehearsals according to Theatrical Index... who's got their tickets?"

That definitely explains how I ended up crossing paths with Billy Eugene Jones in Times Square last week...

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/National-Black-Theatre-Joins-PURLIE-VICTORIOUS-Producing-Team-20230810

If Kenny Leon is at the top of his game, as he was last year with "TopDog/Underdog", and is matched by Leslie Odom, Jr. (this is first time back on Broadway since he won a Tony for "Hamilton" and Kara Young (who was nominated for a Tony two years in a row) this could be a surprise. The play was a runner up for the Pulitzer Prize. If its merit is evident, there's a lack of plays on Broadway in September and October, so it could well find an audience.

That "art" is dreadful on both the website and on the direct mailer that I got the other day. One features Odom looking like he's playing the Leading Player or Billy Flynn, the other is a Getty Images photo of a church. But this is the same team as OHIO STATE MURDERS and PICTURES FROM HOME, which also had miserably bad advertising.

TotallyEffed said: "You said it first. That mailer is so beyond horrendous, I can’t believe shows are paying thousands of dollars to market their shows like this. Tacky, tacky, tacky.

Say what you want about Scott Rudin, but that man had taste. I wish commercial theatre didn’t look so damn embarrassing."


The ad agencies cannot be blamed entirely. The producer is calling the shots and making the decision about which creative is used, driving the edits, approving the copy, etc. The agency's first choice is sometimes not the producer's first choice, or a lot of compromises and frankensteining has to be done.

While we're at it, the attempted "photos within abstract piano keys" of Harmony looks dreadful, too. (A video of its producer sitting next to the designer at the agency dictating the final edits was the ultimate cringe.) And for every good piece of Rudin advertising there was a MOCKINGBIRD.

And it's not just commercial theatre --- don't get me started on 2nd Stage, which is even worse!