Word: beas
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Purlie Victorious Judson (Lance LaVergne), an idealistic young Black preacher who dreams of buying and then integrating a church, brings Lutiebelle Gussie Mae Jenkins (Wendy Jamerson), a simpleminded kitchen maid, to town to masquerade as his college-educated cousin Bea. In that guise, Purlie hopes, she can collect from Cap'n Cotchipee the $500 he has held in trust for the real Bea's dead mother. Purlie wants the money to found his church, but when he falls in love with Lutiebelle he runs into a snag. So does the production...
Until the first climatic moments, the brisk plot and dialogue at least carry the audience along. But a swift downhill progression ensues, virtually eliminating all dramatic tension. When the ignorant Lutiebelle, having passed herself off as Cousin Bea, mistakenly signs a receipt for the $500 with her own name instead of Bea's--a costly gaffe to Purlie's dreams--the actors don't play the moment wrong; they simply don't play it at all. Charron glances at the check, looks at his son, and says, "Charlie get the sheriff" without so much as blinking...
...Bea McCormack Patterson Corpus Christi, Texas...
...from the sticks goes on for a disabled star, saves a big musical, finds love and becomes a star herself. The little girl, this time around, is a whirligig newcomer named Wanda Richert; the laid-up star is Tammy Grimes, who puts over a song like a hybrid of Bea Lillie and Sergeant Bilko; and the hardbitten, long-suffering director is Jerry Orbach, who brings not only freshness but some unexpected bite into the show's title tune...
...Paratrooper hits the ground and rolls into a proper landing fall. It is a good jump, a good landing. He looks up at the dense cloud of green parachutes, and he explodes with joy. "You are bea-u-ti-ful!" he screams. "Bea...