A magnificent cast populates the “The Color Purple”
Alice Walker’s groundbreaking novel The Color Purple has been adapted to many other media, garnering larger audiences with each incarnation. First, in the mid ’80s, it was translated from her Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning text to a Steven Spielberg film featuring Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover and Whoopi Goldberg. Twenty years later, in 2005, it became a Tony Award-winning musical that ran on Broadway for three seasons. Then in 2015, a streamlined version of the show came back to Broadway — cutting out 30 minutes, some of the original songs and several plot points, to focus more on the main character’s journey. This minimalist approach earned another Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
After this long journey of invention and reinvention, the national tour of The Color Purple arrived at Overture Center as part of its Broadway Series. Utilizing an astonishingly talented ensemble cast of 19, the heart-wrenching production is filled with gorgeous jazz, gospel and ragtime music performed with energy and exceptional voices. An epic story of survival, oppression, love, acceptance, and incredible strength from within, it plays in Overture Hall through Feb. 23.
Set in rural Georgia in the 1930s, The Color Purple has a large cast, but only one hero: Celie (a luminous Mariah Lyttle, gifted with a wide open spirit and a spectacular singing voice). She begins the story as a pregnant 14-year-old, the victim of rape and incest, who prays for help but finds solace only in the love of her beautiful sister Nettie (Nashka Desrosiers). Delicate and determined, Nettie turns to education and the church to ultimately escape her miserable life at home. But Celie is labeled as dumb and ugly and discarded by her stepfather, who got her pregnant and gave away her babies. He marries her off to the vile, bull-whip wielding Mister (Andrew Malone) to become his housekeeper and servant, as well as the recipient of his rage and sexual desires.
Over the course of Celie’s difficult journey to overcome physical and mental abuse, there are lines in the musical’s book that still manage to shock, leaping off the stage and striking the opening night audience like an open-handed slap:
“If you take Celie out of this house, you can have that cow for free.”
“Wives is like children. You have to let 'em know who got the upper hand. Nothing can do that better than a good beating.”
"If God ever listened to poor colored women the world would be a different place."
Fortunately, there are many moments of light that buoy Celie on her journey toward self-assuredness and real love. Sofia (a marvelously comedic Chédra Arielle, with a killer voice) is the no-nonsense wife of Mister’s squirrely son Harpo (Brandon A. Wright). She models independence and the courage to reject any man who would mistreat her in her song “Hell No!” She also demonstrates what a celebration sex can be in a loving relationship, in the song “Any Little Thing.”
A sultry — if weary and damaged — traveling chanteuse named Shug Avery (a fascinating Sandie Lee) demonstrates compassionate love to Celie for the first time, calling her “Too Beautiful for Words,” and eventually encouraging her to rediscover her faith in God in “The Color Purple.” When Celie finally overcomes all of her detractors and oppressors, Lyttle brings down the house with her anthem of power “I’m Here.” It was a moment that inspired cheers from the audience.
Costumes by Ann Hould-Ward and lighting effects by Jane Cox begin rooted in shades of muddy brown, dust and old wood. The cast seems to blend in with a dilapidated wall that is the set (design by John Doyle) — weakened by broken and missing boards, but still standing. It is decorated with an array of mismatched wooden chairs that sometimes fill in for other props, and sometimes symbolize empty places where ancestors look down on the proceedings. The flexible, minimalist staging allows scenes to morph quickly from one to another, passing through decades easily. By the end of the story, Celie is manufacturing her own colorful world through her clothing business. The cast and the stage are both enveloped in bright primary colors, emphasizing the main character’s new recognition of both beauty and joy.