The Color Purple (1985), Steven Spielberg's hit adaptation of the 1982 bestseller by Alice Walker lives in Oscar infamy as one of its two greatest losers with 11 nominations that produced zero wins. Here's a lesser known piece of trivia: The Color Purple, the stage musical adaptation of the same novel, narrowly avoided repeating that exact same trick at the Tony Awards in 2006. It was nominated for 11 Tony Awards but LaChanze won the Best Actress prize that eluded Whoopi Goldberg in the 80s for interpreting the mousy but resilient Celie.
Despite the original production closing only 8 years ago, The Color Purple is back on Broadway in a revival that's been winning raves; it's aiming for a bigger trophy haul this time. [More...]
Jennifer Hudson as Shug, Cynthia Erivo as Celie, and Danielle Brooks as Sophia
I did not see the original production as the reviews were lukewarm but the revival, which has been called "stripped down" (indicating a much less fussy production - there's just one set) is a winner. The story races along so quickly that it has the same effect as a sudden memory from long past after which you realize how much older you are now ("Where did all that time go?!") Celie's life in this production is a fluid lived thing, each year or key moment just bleeding into the next with nary a noticeable scene change. It works.
I myself prefer stripped down productions to stage shows with abundant scene changes. Since Broadway has been adapting so many films for the past couple of decades the fussier approach is popular and it's undone a great many productions. Trying to replicate a medium that thrives on short disparate jolts strung together rather than the experiental accumulation of watching long scenes on a stage is a losing game. They're different mediums! But thankfully The Color Purple isn't trying to replicate the film but do the book and its stories of defiant black women proud. As such there's a greater emphasis on Celie's sexuality (famously shoved into the closet in the Spielberg film) and a welcome absence of white characters entirely. This is laser focused on Celie's life, even though she's so reluctant about taking control of it. Though I liked the stripped down approach and seeing an adaptation that wasn't beholden to a previous adaptation I did miss the Oscar nominated song "Miss Celie's Blues" -- which is naturally not part of this new score -- and it's also hard not to miss the rich cinematography of the film adaptation or wish that this production had placed a slightly greater emphasis on lighting and color filters given the title and its sentiment. That said, one of the best scenes is Nettie's letter from Africa where we're emotionally transported to another continent with simple colored fabrics and light changes.
Though it'd be a stretch to call the score memorable (I'm humming nothing a day later) the voices sure do elevate it. We all knew that Jennifer Hudson can sang (her acting remains merely adequate. sigh) but the delicious surprise of this revival in terms of voices is that hers isn't even the standout though she's the one playing the famous singer ("Shug Avery," Margaret Avery's role in the film version). Everyone in the cast has killer pipes and "mutant lungs" as Burlesque might say. And much credit has to go to Cynthia Erivo's leading work. She's so mousy in the first act that you worry she'll just fade into the wood backdrops but when she finally comes alive in the second it's hard not to jump to your feet to welcome the metamorphosis. Finally, I'm enormously pleased to report that Danielle Brooks, who every sensible person already knew as one of the very strongest actors on Orange is the New Black (and that's truly high praise) has an aggressively robust instrument. She's amazingly funny, commits entirely to Sofia's larger than life physicality, and her voice shakes and moves you. If she's not up for the Featured Actress Tony (she's in the Oprah "Sofia" role) ...well, to quote one of her big numbers
Hellllllll NO."
P.S.: The Color Purple is now nominated for several Tony Awards including Danielle Brooks as Featured Actress