PREACHER MAN
The New Yorker|October 09, 2023
Leslie Odom, Jr., stars in "Purlie Victorious."
VINSON CUNNINGHAM
PREACHER MAN

The Reverend Purlie Victorious Judson (Leslie Odom, Jr.), the hero of Ossie Davis's 1961 comedy, "Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch"-revived on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre, directed by Kenny Leon-is, above all else, a hustler. You might know somebody like this: He blusters onto the stage of your life, pouring out plans before he's properly introduced himself, energized toward some vista that only he can see. He puts an arm over your shoulder and tries to convince you that you're on your way there together, as partners, but in his mind's eye, you can tell, he's up in the pulpit and you're down in the seats. Half of what he says sounds cockamamie, but something about him-his personal history, perhaps, or a kind of animal endurance in his bearing-persuades you that, somehow, he'll get what he wants.

In the case of this show, most of what Purlie wants is a fair shake for Black people. He's an itinerant minister who has come back to the postbellum Georgia plantation where he grew up. He wants to rally the people there-who now work as sharecroppers for Ol' Cap'n Cotchipee (the intensely funny Jay O. Sanders) to take back their local church, Big Bethel. He cooks up a scheme that will, with one stroke, get them the deed to the church and free his family from their impossible debts to Ol' Cap'n.

Denne historien er fra October 09, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra October 09, 2023-utgaven av The New Yorker.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA THE NEW YORKERSe alt
GET IT TOGETHER
The New Yorker

GET IT TOGETHER

In the beginning was the mob, and the mob was bad. In Gibbon’s 1776 “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” the Roman mob makes regular appearances, usually at the instigation of a demagogue, loudly demanding to be placated with free food and entertainment (“bread and circuses”), and, though they don’t get to rule, they sometimes get to choose who will.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
GAINING CONTROL
The New Yorker

GAINING CONTROL

The frenemies who fought to bring contraception to this country.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
REBELS WITH A CAUSE
The New Yorker

REBELS WITH A CAUSE

In the new FX/Hulu series “Say Nothing,” life as an armed revolutionary during the Troubles has—at least at first—an air of glamour.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 25, 2024
AGAINST THE CURRENT
The New Yorker

AGAINST THE CURRENT

\"Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!,\" at Soho Rep, and \"Gatz,\" at the Public.

time-read
5 mins  |
November 25, 2024
METAMORPHOSIS
The New Yorker

METAMORPHOSIS

The director Marielle Heller explores the feral side of child rearing.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
THE BIG SPIN
The New Yorker

THE BIG SPIN

A district attorney's office investigates how its prosecutors picked death-penalty juries.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
THIS ELECTION JUST PROVES WHAT I ALREADY BELIEVED
The New Yorker

THIS ELECTION JUST PROVES WHAT I ALREADY BELIEVED

I hate to say I told you so, but here we are. Kamala Harris’s loss will go down in history as a catastrophe that could have easily been avoided if more people had thought whatever I happen to think.

time-read
2 mins  |
November 25, 2024
HOLD YOUR TONGUE
The New Yorker

HOLD YOUR TONGUE

Can the world's most populous country protect its languages?

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
A LONG WAY HOME
The New Yorker

A LONG WAY HOME

Ordinarily, I hate staying at someone's house, but when Hugh and I visited his friend Mary in Maine we had no other choice.

time-read
10+ mins  |
November 25, 2024
YULE RULES
The New Yorker

YULE RULES

“Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point.”

time-read
6 mins  |
November 18, 2024