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☆ The Music in Black American English - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-09 | by ( John Mcwhorter | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Broadway, as always, is giving us lessons on language and its connection to music. The stellar new production of “Purlie Victorious,” not seen on Broadway since 1961, is Exhibit A. If the production discomfited me in any way it was that every 15 minutes I was waiting for someone to start singing. To impersonate the cousin, Purlie enlists an awkward young woman, Lutiebelle, who in the process falls in love with him. The play was written by Ossie Davis, who played the lead in the original production alongside his wife, Ruby Dee, as Lutiebelle.

Persons: “, ”, —, who’s miring, Purlie, Lutiebelle, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Leslie Odom Jr, Aaron Burr, “ Hamilton Organizations: Broadway Locations: Spain, Georgia, American

☆ Joey Evans Is Back. This Time He’s a Struggling Artist.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-28 | by ( Brian Seibert | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Those ancestors appear in the form of extraordinary tap dancers, including Dormeshia and Glover. And they keep reappearing throughout the show to remind Joey of his authentic self. This Joey, played by Ephraim Sykes, has a soul, and that soul expresses itself in the deeply rooted sound of Savion Glover’s tap dancing. Frank Sinatra played Joey for the sanitized 1957 film. Revivals at City Center in the 1960s starred Bob Fosse, years before he directed shows like “Chicago” that made Joey’s sleaze into a dominant style.

Persons: Joey, Ephraim Sykes, ” Beaty, Ossie Davis, Sidney Poitier, Harry Belafonte, Ruby Dee, ’ ” Glover, Jimmy Slyde, Lon Chaney, Chuck Green, Buster Brown, ”, ‘, Glover, Henry LeTang, “, Slyde, Chaney, ” Glover, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bob Fosse Organizations: Dormeshia, Hollywood, City Center Locations: Glover, ‘ Da

☆ ‘Purlie Victorious’: Ossie Davis’s ‘Gospel to Humanity’ Returns to Broadway
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Salamishah Tillet | More About Salamishah Tillet | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But I also spent time with Ossie and Ruby when they came to the rehearsals for my first Broadway show, “A Raisin in the Sun” [in 2004]. When Jeffrey approached me about possibly doing this on Broadway, I said, “I’m your guy,” because I love Ossie Davis. I found out that he always loved the play, so to have him want to be in it and produce it with Jeffrey Richards made it a reality. KARA YOUNG I was really surprised that Ossie Davis wrote a play like this. [Dee starred in the original 1959 Broadway production with Davis joining the cast later that year.]

Persons: KENNY LEON, Jeffrey Richards, Helen Stern Richards, Ossie, Ruby, Jeffrey, “, Ossie Davis, LESLIE ODOM, LEON, Leslie, KARA, Sun ”, Dee, Davis, LEON I don’t, shortchange Ossie Organizations: Fox Theater, Freedom, Sun Locations: Atlanta, Philly, America, American

☆ Wendell Pierce, LaTanya Richardson Jackson among honorees set for AAFCA's inaugural Salute to Broadway
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

“Death of a Salesman” actor Wendell Pierce, “The Piano Lesson” director LaTanya Richardson Jackson and “Till” star John Douglas Thompson are among the honorees set for the inaugural Salute to Broadway presented by the African American Film Critics Association. The event is set for Oct. 17 at The Lambs Club in the heart of Midtown’s theater district. “It’s no secret that some of our greatest actors have come from the stage or have tested their chops on it,” said Gil Robertson, co-founder of AAFCA. Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer-winning “Topdog/Underdog” — which starred Corey Hawkins and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and was directed by Kenny Leon in its first Broadway revival — is slated for the Spotlight Award. The production, which began previews Sept. 19 and opens Oct. 13 at Ethel Barrymore Theatre, makes Richardson Jackson the first woman to direct a Wilson play on the Main Stem.

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