Customer Reviews

Purlie (1970 Original Broadway Cast)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ask someone about the great musicals of the 60s and 70s, and invariably you get "Hair," "Godspell," "Bye Bye Birdie," "Grease," and maybe "Jesus Christ Superstar." And maybe for pure popularity, that about covers it - but for the best music and singing, nobody outdid Cleavon Little and Melba Moore in the highly underrated and shamefully now-lesser-known "Purlie."

You might not get away with a revival of this musical in the 21st century; even though historically accurate, the musical's depiction of black sharecroppers in the early 20th century South is a little bit stereotyped and unflattering. But showcasing the typical conflicts for southern blacks in that time and place also makes for some amazingly great songs; "Down Home" lets Purlie and his sister argue about the benefits of living up north where it's "free" vs. south where it's familiar, and "First Thing Monday Morning" depicts in grand, beautiful spiritual style how it's easy to have dreams, but sometimes even easier to put them off until tomorrow.

The gospel-tinged music isn't just spiritually moving, it's darn fun as well. And while Sherman Hemsley (later of "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons" comes close to stealing the show with "Skin a Cat," the real gem here is a young Melba Moore, who rips into her songs like her life depends on it, and really makes you believe she's in love with Purlie.

It's tragic that there aren't more revivals of this show, and that so few fans of musical theatre don't know it better. If you arrived at this page because you're surfing through musicals in general, here's your chance to fill a serious gap. It should be an essential part of a true Broadway fan's collection.

Purlie, the musical based on the play "Purlie Victorious" written by Ozzie Davis, is a wonderful adaptation. The music is moving, thought- provoking, funny and just plain enjoyable. The story opens with the spirit-filled "Walk Him Up" being performed at the funeral of Old Captain, the local plantation owner. We then go back a few weeks to see the arrival of Purlie Victorious, a young black man who had left a few years earlier after being whipped by Old Captain. He has come back, not for revenge, but simply to sort-of con Old Captain out of some money, an inheritence, left in his care. Purlie's intention is to buy the local church building, affectionately called Big Bethel, and become a "New-Fangled Preacher Man". He has brought along a young girl named Lutibell Jenkins, who is the one they are hoping to pass off as a long lost relative who can claim the money Old Captain is holding. Lutibell, however, is only going along with it because, as she tells in the title song, "Spring don't spring to charm the bees/the flowers flower just for Purlie/Purlie my Purlie/ You just thrill me through and through/ Purlie you're to good to be true/ Purlie I'm in love with you". She's got it bad. Purlie's cousin, Gitlow, has his own ideas about how to handle Old Captain, which he describes in the aptly named "Skinnin' A Cat". Meanwhile, throughout all of this, Charlie, Old Captain's son, is trying to write a folk song ("Barrels of War" and "The Unborn Love") and understand why his dad still treats blacks the way he does. Old Captain tries to explain in "Big Fish, Litle Fish", but Charlie just won't get it. He's too nice a kid. The showstopper tune is sung by Lutibell as she's sitting waiting for Purlie to take her to Old Captain's house to get the inheritence. "I've Got Love" is incredible as only Melba Moore could do it. Next, the farm hands are dreaming about how they're gonna change their lives in "First Thing Monday Morning", if they get around to it. Charlie tries another folk song, and Gitlow has the other workers serenade Old Captain, telling him he's been elected "Great White Father of the Year". ("We know your whippings are with love/kisses in your mind/If it's love you want then don't be shy/ Come kiss our black behinds!" I love it!) Lutibell makes a mess of trying to sign the legal paperwork to claim the inheritence and is left alone with Old Captain who tries to kiss her. When she goes home and tells Purlie, Purlie charges up the hill to challenge Old Captain, leaving Lutibell and Missy, Gitlow's wife, to sing about how a woman can support her man in "He Can Do It". This song is my fave ! When Purlie gets to Old Captain, Old Captain gloats about how Purlie will never get the money or the church because he has sent Charlie to buy it. Charlie comes back with the deed and when Old Captain finds that Charlie has put Purlie's name in the title, he drops dead "standing up". Charlie finally hits it big with "The World Is coming To A Start", and the play ends with a reprise of "Walk Him Up". This play was revived in the early 1980's and aired on Great Performances in 1985 with Robert Guillaume playing Purlie. It was such a treat to finally see the action to go along with the music I had been listening to for years. The story behind Purlie has the ability to not be preachy about the conditions of life in the South. It uses the wonderful feel of the spiritual to draw you into the story and keep you there, wrapped up in the happenings, and the songs, of the characters. The story, the music, the actors... it all adds up to a big 10!

This was the first Broadway Show that I had every seen, now I am singing and have been off-broadway. The singing was great and I wish I could find this on VHS. I still have the original Albam and have just ordered the CD. I studyed "I Got Love" in voice class and use it sometimes for auditions. I GOT LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, FOR THIS PLAY AND IT'S MUSIC.

I own over 100 different compact discs of various musical theatre shows. It's taken me almost 10 years of browsing and searching for that one musical that I can call my favorite. "Purlie" is it. Everything I like about American musical theatre is in "Purlie." I won't write much more than to say I never write Amazon reviews, but if you're waffling on whether to buy this one or not -- it's 70s Broadway at its best.

What an obscure show. It should not be though. The first thing you hear is "Walk Him up the Stairs". The music and the lyrics combined make you wnt to get up and dance along with the characters. "A New Fangled Preacher" man is one of the catchiest songs ever made. "I got Love " should have been a Pop standard instead of "Jesus Christ Superstar". The cast gives stellar performances. They should have performed in more shows. A great buy for the serious broadway collecter, or anyone who likes good music.

I saw the musical PURLIE in the early 70s. It is wonderful music and a terrific plot. the CD is the original Broadway cast and it makes me dance every time I hear it. The cast is almost entirely black, with 2 whites: the plantation owner and his son, Charlie.
Charlie understands the black point of view, well not quite, but pretty well. The main thing is the music. Beautiful and dynamic. I wish it would hit Broadway again.

Every selection takes you back in time to the original Broadway musical. You'll listen to it repeatedly and find yourself singing the lyrics out loud!

My father took our family to see this play in 1970 when I was 11-years-old. It was my first broadway show and I've been hooked ever since. This will always be my favorite and I'm so grateful to my parents for exposing us to black theatre. We had the original album, but of course, with time and moving, it was lost. So, I recently bought the CD and with it I now have the memory of that family outing back to cherish.

With Broadway turning to revivals in place of the current poor excuses for new musicals, it is a pleasure to listen to one of the classic African-American musicals of the 1970's. Cleavon Little and Melba Moore were spectacular in this musical production. It is great to go back to musicals whose lyrics you could understand and which did not have four letter words throughout!

I have not done homework on Purlie and won't speculate on what this 1970 music was about, although looking at the cover and the fact that it was 1970, I have a few cloudy ideas.

But as music I like it. Purlie the music score is a mix of old and new, minstrel and funk. The singing has that collective, late 1960s vocal approach used so effectively in Hair, which also featured Melba Moore--a main reason for my buying this.

Wish I had been there in 1970 to see Purlie . Then again, born in 1969, maybe I did and just forgot. Was too busy going "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa."


I guess digging the Purlie scene was not my bag.