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Opined January 13, 2006
The Color Purple - Based on the novel by Alice Walker and the Warner Brothers/Ambli Entertainment motion picture.Book by Marsha Norman; music
and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray; Directed by Gary Griffin
WITH: LaChanze (Celie), Elisabeth Withers-Mendes (Shug Avery), Felicia P. Fields (Sofia), Brandon Victor Dixon (Harpo), Renée Elise Goldsberry
(Nettie), Krisha Marcano (Squeak), Kingsley Leggs (Mister), Francesca Harper, Jamal Story and Stephanie Guiland-Brown.
Choreographed by Donald Byrd; Sets by John Lee Beatty (Rabbit Hole, Defiance, Doubt, Wondrful Town, Naked Girl on the Appian Way) Costumes by
Paul Tazewell; Lighting by Brian MacDevitt; Sound by Jon Weston; hair design by Charles G. LaPointe; Amy Jacobs; music director
Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway, at 53rd Street; (212) 239-6200. Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes.
CALLING ALL RECORD PRODUCERS!!! Run, do not walk to this production and scoop up the three women who play the church Ladies, Kimberly Ann Harris,
Maia Nkenge Wilson, and Virginia Ann Woodruff. Sign, sign, SIGN them up for a record deal and a tour NOW. We are talking three glorious voices that fit
together like a mother of pearl jigsaw puzzle. Makes the hair on your arms stand up. We’re talking Andrews Sisters, Mills Brothers, and Manhattan Transfer. Get
them while they are still gettable.
Unfortunately for this production, these three women are almost the only performers whose parts live up to their talents. There is talent galore on this stage in every
area. The sets, costumes and lighting are sweeping, rich and imaginative. The vocal talents are breathtaking (someone please tell me why we are miking people who
don’t need it?). But there is only so much you can do in a musical when the book is flimsy and the music is anything but engaging.
This is the story of a woman who is a victim of incest and spousal abuse, not to mention poverty and racism. Somehow these facts are glossed over in this
production. In one of the very first scenes, a pregnant Celie declares that her father is the father of her child – it gets a reaction from the audience that is nearly a
laugh. In addition, as in the movie, we do not see her sister Nettie’s trip to Harlem in its glory days, but are whisked to Africa in production numbers that take too
long and mean too little. The love homosexual relationship between Celie and Shug Avery is never connected to rest of the story. Felicia P. Fields is, however, a
standout as Sophia (The Oprah Winfrey part in the movie) She has been given the best written role in this production and she wears it like a luscious coat. Fields
should be making room on her mantle for the Tony Award that is coming. Ditto for the sets and costumes.
But most of this production is neither fish nor fowl. To give credit to Marsha Norman for book for this musical is laughable because there are about 50 spoken lines
in the entire show. This is, for all intents and purposes, an operetta, which makes it all the more regrettable that the music is no more than adequate. Even the title
song is a stretch.
It’s a show that says I want to inspire you! I d, I do. I really do! Unlike its heroine, however, the show never achieves its goal. Instead we walk out humming
Sophia’s theme: “Hell no!”