More PURLIE casting
More PURLIE casting
#0More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:20pm
Sorry if this has been posted before, I've been really sick for a few days and I haven't been paying too much attention. I looked around a bit, but I didn't see it.
Anyway, in yesterday's Times it says that Blair Underwood is the title role, and he'll be joined by Anika Noni Rose (which I think we already knew), Lillias White and Doug E. Doug (who I remember from that movie Cool Runnings.... but can he sing?).
Anyway, yay. I'm excited. 
wildcat
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/04
#1re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:22pmIf it's the Sherman Hemsley part, he doesn't really need to.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#3re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:24pm
Blair Underwood is all man.
#4re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:25pm
Sorry, typo! Told you I was sick; my eyes are killing me and I can't read. I'll fix it. 
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#5re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:29pm
Emcee - I just thought you knew something we didn't, my dear
#6re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:30pmNope, it's just the delirium. *collapses*
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#7re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:33pmMake way for a newfangled preacher man, indeed!
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#9re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:47pm
We discussed this a few days ago. You forgot to mention that John Cullum is also part of the cast:
http://www.broadwayworld.com/board/readmessage.cfm?boardname=bway&thread=787700#817174
#10re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:50pm
Sorry, didn't see that. The thing I just read in the paper didn't mention John Cullum; strange.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#11re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:51pm
Here's the link to the original article on Playbill.com:
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/91347.html
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#12re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:54pmIsn't it great to have Cullum still doing musical theatre? He started with Camelot 45 YEARS ago. Amazing. And I expect that he'll be in full Oscar Jaffe/Caldwell B. Cladwell mode as Ol' Cap'n in Purlie.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#13re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 12:57pm
Did anyone see John and his son JD in The Dresser? We get to see JD a lot out here, and I really like him. I was a little uneasy with a father/son duo in those roles, though - as it is somewhat of a love story. I guess it just gave a little undercurrent of 'daddy' to the proceedings
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#14re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 1:03pmCullum is PERFECT casting in this and yes, it's great that such a legend is still working so often. He and Hearn and a few others are the last of a breed.
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#15re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 1:07pmDGrant...I always enjoy your posts and maybe I'll run into you and your partner at one of the L.A. theater events we've been attending. T'would be fun. Thanks for the update on Purlie casting. Very exciting!!! After seeing Miss Jones in C, or C three times, I'm really looking forward to her being in this starring role. I've listened to the OBC recording of Purlie, and can't wait to hear Anika sing "I've Got Love." This is one summer event to look forward to. Besides subscribing to the Playhouse, this is one I'll probably be seeing twice thanks to goldstarevents.com. (I've had better 1/2 price Playhouse tickets through them than with my subscription!) (BTW, is that your high school prom picture or something from that era?)
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#16re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 1:34pm
Doug E. Doug is well known from the recent Cosby series (the one with Madeline Kahn)and I believe stared out as a rapper (didn't most young African-American actors these days?).
Stil no casting of Charlie - "the other white part"! It would be fun to use an actual guitar playing folk singer type, as oopsed to some chorus boy.
Marquise
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/1/04
#17re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 2/26/05 at 2:25pm
No Jon most African American actors today did not start out as rappers:
Taye Diggs
Morris Chestnut
Nicole Ari Parker
Boris Kodjoe
Vanessa Williams
Nia Long
Sanaa Lathan
Omar Epps
Mekhi Phifer
Terence Howard
Donald Faison
Gabrielle Union
Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Regina King
Take your narrow minded, ignorant racial comment and shove it, why don't you.
gherbert
Leading Actor Joined: 11/1/03
#18re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 3/1/05 at 3:55pm
Jon, Doug E. Doug began his career at 17 as a stand-up comic, then made his mark on television and the movies with his hilarious presence.
He will do wonderfully with "Skinnin' a Cat."
The cast on the whole seems absolutely terrific. The one question mark for me is Blair Underwood, whose work I am not familiar with. But I always trust Encores! They've never gotten it wrong with casting!
Anika will blow the roof off of that place with "I Got Love." SOO much talent in that girl's body!
I remember I saw her show the day before she accepted her Theater World Award. She was so nice and dear at the Stagedoor when I congratulated her on her award and told her that I'd be at the ceremony the next day.
Her speech was so wonderfully beautiful and she cried when she got her award! After the show, imagine my shock when she came up to me and gave me a warm hug and told me she was so glad that I could come!
So I was uniformly thrilled to see her accept the Tony! Lutiebelle is a perfect role for her and she will not disappoint!
Lillias White and John Cullum are perfect for their roles as well!
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#19re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 3/1/05 at 4:05pmFrom watching him on LA LAW for several years, I know that Underwood is a solid actor -- not sure about his comedic skills or his singing, but he'll be just fine as Purlie.
#21re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 3/1/05 at 4:09pmI am very much looking forward to Blair as Purlie, but I still wish that Norm Lewis was available.
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#22re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 3/1/05 at 8:06pmMarquise, I don't think it was fair of you to say that Jon's comments were narrow-minded, ignorant, or racial. I myself read an article recently in which it was stated that many "legitimate" African American actors are finding it difficult to be cast (Omar Epps was one) because so many roles are being given to rapper-turned-actors. I don't believe that Jon intended to do anything but state what seems to be a recent trend, in films and on stage.
eslgr8
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/04
#23re: More PURLIE casting
Posted: 3/1/05 at 8:08pmI've only now realized that this post is about the upcoming Encores presentation, and not the apparently Broadway-bound production at the Pasadena Playhouse, opening this summer. Wonder who'll be cast in that one.
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