A revival of Ossie Davis’ 1961 original production, Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch opened at the Music Box Theatre in September 2023. The original production, which told the story of a traveling Black preacher trying to save his local church and reclaim his inheritance, ran for 261 performances on Broadway and starred Davis and his wife, Ruby Dee, as the lead characters. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. attended the play’s 100th showing and celebrated the impressive milestone with Davis, Dee, and the other cast members, which included Alan Alda and Godfrey Cambridge.
Below is a look at the cast for the 2023 Kenny Leon-directed revival on Broadway.
Leslie Odom Jr.
Tony and Grammy Award-winning performer Leslie Odom Jr. is playing the lead role of Purlie Victorious Judson. It is his first time acting on a Broadway stage since his breakout performance as Aaron Burr in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Odom Jr. received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical and Grammy Award for his efforts as principal soloist on the Hamilton cast recording. A talented singer, he has released several full-length albums and performed a solo jazz concert at Lincoln Center filmed for PBS’ Emmy Award-winning Live from Lincoln Center.
In addition to Hamilton, Odom Jr. appeared in the 2014 Encores! production of Jonathan Larson’s Tick, Tick…Boom!. He made his Broadway debut by playing multiple roles in Rent in 1996. Odom Jr. has also starred in several films, including the Harriet Tubman biopic Harriet, The Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark, and One Night in Miami…, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actor. His other film and TV projects including Murder on the Orient Express, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, and the Apple TV+ animated comedy series Central Park.
“Ossie Davis gave the American theater an American hero in Purlie Judson,” said Odom Jr. “I am thrilled beyond measure to be part of this revival company. Mr. Davis’ pages are full of joy and rhythm, laughter and hope.”
Kara Young
A rising star on the stage and screen, Kara Young is playing Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins, a character originally played by Dee who helps Purlie attempt to gain back his inheritance from the oppressive plantation boss Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Young has won an Obie Award, AUDELCO Award, Theatre World Award, and was the first recipient of Black Women on Broadway’s Florence Mills Rising Star Award.
Young debuted on Broadway in Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s (2021) and received both a Tony and Drama Desk nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role. The following year, she starred in and received Tony and Drama Desk nominations for her performance in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Cost of Living. She has also performed in stage productions such as All The Natalie Portmans, The New Englanders, and The Revolving Cycles Truly and Steadily Roll’d. Her TV credits include Netflix’s The Punisher and HBO’s The Staircase and Random Acts of Flyness.
Jay O. Sanders
Actor and playwright Jay O. Sanders plays the villainous Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Sanders has more than four decades of acting experience across theater, film, and TV. He has performed with New York’s Shakespeare in the Park and has acted in several original and classic plays in the U.S. and Europe. His theater credits include Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Buried Child, Conor McPherson’s Girl From The North Country, and Uncle Vanya, for which he won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play. He wrote Unexplored Interior, which was the first production of the Mosaic Theater in Washington, D.C.
Sanders’ film and TV credits include True Detective, The Sinner, JFK, The Day After Tomorrow, and Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths.
Heather Alicia Simms
A veteran actress with multiple Broadway and Off-Broadway credits, Heather Alicia Simms is playing Missy Judson, a role originally played by Helen Martin. Simms most recently portrayed Queen Elizabeth in the 2022 Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III. In 2019, she received an Obie Award for her performances in By the Way, Meet Vera Stark and Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine, both at the Signature Theatre. She has appeared on Broadway in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Raisin in the Sun. Her film and TV credits include Luke Cage, The Nanny Diaries, and The Good Wife.
Billy Eugene Jones
Billy Eugene Jones, playing Gitlow Judson, is also an Obie Award-winning performer whose Broadway credits include A Soldier’s Play, The Book of Mormon, Fat Ham, and Gem of the Ocean. A graduate of Yale School of Drama, he has also appeared in many regional productions, including Othello, Death of a Salesman, and Stick Fly.
Noah Robbins
Known for roles in Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Amazon’s Forever, and Hulu’s UP HERE, Noah Robbins plays Charlie Cotchipee, the son of Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee. Robbins has also appeared in the films The Assistant and The Trial of the Chicago 7. He made his Broadway debut in Brighton Beach Memoirs and earned an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination. His other stage credits include To Kill A Mockingbird, Arcadia, and Punk Rock.