THEATRE + COMEDY

High School for the Performing and Visual Arts (HSPVA) presents PURLIE, a Broadway musical based on the play Purlie Victorious, February 2-5.

PURLIE is a Broadway musical with a book by Ossie Davis, Philip Rose, and Peter Udell, lyrics by Udell, and music by Gary Geld, based on Ossie Davis’ 1961 Broadway play, PURLIE VICTORIOUS. The play was made into a 1963 film titled GONE ARE THE DAYS!

The musical, set just before the civil rights era, celebrates a dynamic traveling preacher, Purlie Victorious, who returns to his rural Georgia home hoping to save his community church, Big Bethel, from an oppressive landlord's machinations, Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee.

The play, film and musical have featured such memorable performers as Ruby Dee, Alan Alda, Cleavon Little, Melba Moore, Beah Richards, Godfrey Cambridge, Sherman Hemsley and Linda Hopkins.

The high-spirited talents of the youthful HSPVA cast underscore this production and infuse exuberant life into the big musical numbers set in the church.