Broadway Watch - The Color Purple
Fri, 2 Dec 2005, 02:33 pmWalter Plinge1 post in thread
Broadway Watch - The Color Purple
Fri, 2 Dec 2005, 02:33 pmThe Color Purple
Music & Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray
Book by Marsha Norman
Based on the novel by Alice Walker
Directed by Gary Griffin
Opened 1st December 2005
Extracts from various reviewers:
“Like a paint-by-numbers portrait missing its pigment guide, the new musical The Color Purple is a staid outline of a show more notable for what it lacks than what it contains.”
“…despite the layers of high-gloss slathered over everything in sight, not a moment passes in this wayworn adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that you're not keenly aware that everything has been done better before.”
“…the authors of The Color Purple… haven't learned from anyone what's necessary to make this story work. Sadly, that includes Walker, whose work remains but in scant remnants scattered throughout Gary Griffin's production.”
“…Celie (LaChanze) is at best an indomitably spunky young woman who can never repair herself because she never breaks. After losing her children (fathered by her father) at a tender age, entering into a loveless marriage with the nasty Mister (Kingsley Leggs), and losing contact with her beloved sister Nettie (Renée Elise Goldsberry), she determinedly soldiers on. Why? Well, because she's the musical's heroine; this show's authors neither require nor supply any additional reason.”
“…Even the side story of Mister's son Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon) and his steel-spirited wife Sofia (Felicia P. Fields), which amplifies and helps shatter Celie's submissive nature, feels here like little more than an excrescent comic subplot being used to pump laughs into a show for which levity doesn't come naturally.
“To her credit, Fields fulfills her obligations and then some: She ignites her scenes with a fiery comic vigor that's as ideal a stage equivalent to Winfrey's film performance as we could hope for. She makes Sofia's arc from willful to battered and back again a vital cornerstone in the play's drama, but such a towering presence in such a small role only underscores what LaChanze and the writers can't bring to the central Celie. When you find yourself praying that the comic will take over from the dramatic lead, something's desperately amiss.”
“…all are overshadowed by Fields's reigning comedy. (It's impossible to shake the feeling that Winfrey, one of the show's 15 producers and a not-so-silent financial partner, probably doesn't mind.)”
“LaChanze, however, is an unfortunate casualty: She is, as always, irresistible, but never ideally utilized as an average-looking woman robbed of her self-esteem by some emasculating men. But she's still got that proscenium-spanning smile, which gleams so beautifully white that it lights up the theater in ways the material never allows the actress to match. It's a much-needed glimpse of the kind of vibrant color that - Oprah's green notwithstanding - is so absent here that it's enough to make you feel blue, if not see red.”
Talkin’ Broadway – Matthew Murray
“Adversity is difficult but not impossible to overcome. This is the lesson that's ultimately imparted by Alice Walker in her Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Color Purple, which tells the heart-rending tale of Celie, a homely, uneducated African-American girl who endures paternal rape, marriage to a brutal husband, and a bittersweet lesbian love affair before emerging as a self-employed, self-sufficient, 54-year-old woman.
“It's also the lesson of the musical The Color Purple, which largely overcomes the many obstacles in its own path, including the fact that both the novel and Steven Spielberg's 1985 film version are beloved by so many people… if you have tears in your eyes or a lump in your throat -- and you very well might -- much of the credit goes to a sterling cast led by LaChanze, who gives an extremely moving performance as Celie.”
“On the other hand, you may not feel much during the show's first act, where Marsha Norman's book does a lot of heavy lifting to move us through the first two decades of Celie's life and introduce the myriad characters that comprise her world.”
“…even as the story grows more compelling, one feels frustrated. Why don't the show's talented composer-lyricists, Brenda Russell, Alley Willis, and Stephen Bray, give LaChanze a chance to show what she can do vocally? By 10:15, they've handed an inspiring ballad to Shug (the show's title song, which gets a resounding reprise at the end), a pleasant comic duet to Harpo and Sofia ("Any Little Thing"), and a crowd-pleasing group ditty called "Miss Celie's Pants." They've even given Mister a less-than-necessary number. So where is "Celie's Turn?"
“Intellectually, one can defend the decision to not have the musical's main character deliver a big aria until her feelings are fully formed. Fortunately, the life-affirming 11 o'clock number "I'm Here" does the trick nicely.”
“I suspect that many facets of The Color Purple -- not just LaChanze's performance -- will be remembered at Tony Awards time. I'd put my money on the charismatic Fields, who's making a marvelous Broadway debut, and Paul Tazewell's consistently terrific costumes… As for the show itself, it's too early in the season to tell if it will take home the blue ribbon. But all those involved -- and that includes you, Oprah! -- should consider themselves winners for bringing Walker's work to the stage so smartly.”
Theater Mania – Brian Scott Lipton
“…the new musical the ColorP urple reminds us what Broadway's for, and all that Broadway can be: big-hearted, broad-stroked storytelling, with the epic emotional sweep only music can conjure.”
“We should also save some hallelujahs for what it represents: another alive-and-kicking incarnation of that seemingly endangered species, the straightfacedly serious book musical. A breed born with Show Boat, nurtured to adulthood by Rodgers & Hammerstein, and most recently invoked by Ragtime and Caroline, or Change, it has miraculously survived generations of deconstruction, mockery and, worst of all, indifference.”
“…you'd have to have ice water in your veins not to be stirred by this unabashed paean to human resilience, and impressed by a production as masterfully executed as it is soulfully intended.”
“Make no mistake: It's a "serious" musical but not a dour one. Indeed, by compressing the book's early chapters, Norman has emphasized the positive life lessons learned by Celie… a poor, reticent girl in the sharecropper South, rather than dwelling on her numerous defeats and humiliations… But the everyday sense of Celie's bleak, slavish lot in life, which makes her openly long for a merciful death, is taken for granted rather than hammered home. This Celie smiles--with bursting hope, with shy flirtation, with the joy of being alive--more than she cries or rages at the God she thinks has abandoned her.”
“Stealing every moment they get are the bickering couple Sofia (Felicia P. Fields) and Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon), who nail a playfully randy duet, "Any Little Thing," late in the show.
“It's so late in the show, in fact, that we can only marvel at the supreme storytelling confidence of this adaptation. After hurtling forward decades, encompassing huge character turns, and taking a somewhat risible side trip to a fancifully decorative Africa, The Color Purple settles into a sweet, autumnal rhythm as it builds to its unabashedly life-affirming climax. And, miracle of miracles, we don't feel any of this as second-act slack; we hang on every word.
“If that's not musical theater magic, I don't know what is. Can I get an amen?”
Broadway.Com – Rob Kendt
Next Broadway Musical opening – Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life – 11th December
Music & Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray
Book by Marsha Norman
Based on the novel by Alice Walker
Directed by Gary Griffin
Opened 1st December 2005
Extracts from various reviewers:
“Like a paint-by-numbers portrait missing its pigment guide, the new musical The Color Purple is a staid outline of a show more notable for what it lacks than what it contains.”
“…despite the layers of high-gloss slathered over everything in sight, not a moment passes in this wayworn adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that you're not keenly aware that everything has been done better before.”
“…the authors of The Color Purple… haven't learned from anyone what's necessary to make this story work. Sadly, that includes Walker, whose work remains but in scant remnants scattered throughout Gary Griffin's production.”
“…Celie (LaChanze) is at best an indomitably spunky young woman who can never repair herself because she never breaks. After losing her children (fathered by her father) at a tender age, entering into a loveless marriage with the nasty Mister (Kingsley Leggs), and losing contact with her beloved sister Nettie (Renée Elise Goldsberry), she determinedly soldiers on. Why? Well, because she's the musical's heroine; this show's authors neither require nor supply any additional reason.”
“…Even the side story of Mister's son Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon) and his steel-spirited wife Sofia (Felicia P. Fields), which amplifies and helps shatter Celie's submissive nature, feels here like little more than an excrescent comic subplot being used to pump laughs into a show for which levity doesn't come naturally.
“To her credit, Fields fulfills her obligations and then some: She ignites her scenes with a fiery comic vigor that's as ideal a stage equivalent to Winfrey's film performance as we could hope for. She makes Sofia's arc from willful to battered and back again a vital cornerstone in the play's drama, but such a towering presence in such a small role only underscores what LaChanze and the writers can't bring to the central Celie. When you find yourself praying that the comic will take over from the dramatic lead, something's desperately amiss.”
“…all are overshadowed by Fields's reigning comedy. (It's impossible to shake the feeling that Winfrey, one of the show's 15 producers and a not-so-silent financial partner, probably doesn't mind.)”
“LaChanze, however, is an unfortunate casualty: She is, as always, irresistible, but never ideally utilized as an average-looking woman robbed of her self-esteem by some emasculating men. But she's still got that proscenium-spanning smile, which gleams so beautifully white that it lights up the theater in ways the material never allows the actress to match. It's a much-needed glimpse of the kind of vibrant color that - Oprah's green notwithstanding - is so absent here that it's enough to make you feel blue, if not see red.”
Talkin’ Broadway – Matthew Murray
“Adversity is difficult but not impossible to overcome. This is the lesson that's ultimately imparted by Alice Walker in her Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Color Purple, which tells the heart-rending tale of Celie, a homely, uneducated African-American girl who endures paternal rape, marriage to a brutal husband, and a bittersweet lesbian love affair before emerging as a self-employed, self-sufficient, 54-year-old woman.
“It's also the lesson of the musical The Color Purple, which largely overcomes the many obstacles in its own path, including the fact that both the novel and Steven Spielberg's 1985 film version are beloved by so many people… if you have tears in your eyes or a lump in your throat -- and you very well might -- much of the credit goes to a sterling cast led by LaChanze, who gives an extremely moving performance as Celie.”
“On the other hand, you may not feel much during the show's first act, where Marsha Norman's book does a lot of heavy lifting to move us through the first two decades of Celie's life and introduce the myriad characters that comprise her world.”
“…even as the story grows more compelling, one feels frustrated. Why don't the show's talented composer-lyricists, Brenda Russell, Alley Willis, and Stephen Bray, give LaChanze a chance to show what she can do vocally? By 10:15, they've handed an inspiring ballad to Shug (the show's title song, which gets a resounding reprise at the end), a pleasant comic duet to Harpo and Sofia ("Any Little Thing"), and a crowd-pleasing group ditty called "Miss Celie's Pants." They've even given Mister a less-than-necessary number. So where is "Celie's Turn?"
“Intellectually, one can defend the decision to not have the musical's main character deliver a big aria until her feelings are fully formed. Fortunately, the life-affirming 11 o'clock number "I'm Here" does the trick nicely.”
“I suspect that many facets of The Color Purple -- not just LaChanze's performance -- will be remembered at Tony Awards time. I'd put my money on the charismatic Fields, who's making a marvelous Broadway debut, and Paul Tazewell's consistently terrific costumes… As for the show itself, it's too early in the season to tell if it will take home the blue ribbon. But all those involved -- and that includes you, Oprah! -- should consider themselves winners for bringing Walker's work to the stage so smartly.”
Theater Mania – Brian Scott Lipton
“…the new musical the ColorP urple reminds us what Broadway's for, and all that Broadway can be: big-hearted, broad-stroked storytelling, with the epic emotional sweep only music can conjure.”
“We should also save some hallelujahs for what it represents: another alive-and-kicking incarnation of that seemingly endangered species, the straightfacedly serious book musical. A breed born with Show Boat, nurtured to adulthood by Rodgers & Hammerstein, and most recently invoked by Ragtime and Caroline, or Change, it has miraculously survived generations of deconstruction, mockery and, worst of all, indifference.”
“…you'd have to have ice water in your veins not to be stirred by this unabashed paean to human resilience, and impressed by a production as masterfully executed as it is soulfully intended.”
“Make no mistake: It's a "serious" musical but not a dour one. Indeed, by compressing the book's early chapters, Norman has emphasized the positive life lessons learned by Celie… a poor, reticent girl in the sharecropper South, rather than dwelling on her numerous defeats and humiliations… But the everyday sense of Celie's bleak, slavish lot in life, which makes her openly long for a merciful death, is taken for granted rather than hammered home. This Celie smiles--with bursting hope, with shy flirtation, with the joy of being alive--more than she cries or rages at the God she thinks has abandoned her.”
“Stealing every moment they get are the bickering couple Sofia (Felicia P. Fields) and Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon), who nail a playfully randy duet, "Any Little Thing," late in the show.
“It's so late in the show, in fact, that we can only marvel at the supreme storytelling confidence of this adaptation. After hurtling forward decades, encompassing huge character turns, and taking a somewhat risible side trip to a fancifully decorative Africa, The Color Purple settles into a sweet, autumnal rhythm as it builds to its unabashedly life-affirming climax. And, miracle of miracles, we don't feel any of this as second-act slack; we hang on every word.
“If that's not musical theater magic, I don't know what is. Can I get an amen?”
Broadway.Com – Rob Kendt
Next Broadway Musical opening – Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life – 11th December
Walter PlingeFri, 2 Dec 2005, 02:33 pm
The Color Purple
Music & Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray
Book by Marsha Norman
Based on the novel by Alice Walker
Directed by Gary Griffin
Opened 1st December 2005
Extracts from various reviewers:
“Like a paint-by-numbers portrait missing its pigment guide, the new musical The Color Purple is a staid outline of a show more notable for what it lacks than what it contains.”
“…despite the layers of high-gloss slathered over everything in sight, not a moment passes in this wayworn adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that you're not keenly aware that everything has been done better before.”
“…the authors of The Color Purple… haven't learned from anyone what's necessary to make this story work. Sadly, that includes Walker, whose work remains but in scant remnants scattered throughout Gary Griffin's production.”
“…Celie (LaChanze) is at best an indomitably spunky young woman who can never repair herself because she never breaks. After losing her children (fathered by her father) at a tender age, entering into a loveless marriage with the nasty Mister (Kingsley Leggs), and losing contact with her beloved sister Nettie (Renée Elise Goldsberry), she determinedly soldiers on. Why? Well, because she's the musical's heroine; this show's authors neither require nor supply any additional reason.”
“…Even the side story of Mister's son Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon) and his steel-spirited wife Sofia (Felicia P. Fields), which amplifies and helps shatter Celie's submissive nature, feels here like little more than an excrescent comic subplot being used to pump laughs into a show for which levity doesn't come naturally.
“To her credit, Fields fulfills her obligations and then some: She ignites her scenes with a fiery comic vigor that's as ideal a stage equivalent to Winfrey's film performance as we could hope for. She makes Sofia's arc from willful to battered and back again a vital cornerstone in the play's drama, but such a towering presence in such a small role only underscores what LaChanze and the writers can't bring to the central Celie. When you find yourself praying that the comic will take over from the dramatic lead, something's desperately amiss.”
“…all are overshadowed by Fields's reigning comedy. (It's impossible to shake the feeling that Winfrey, one of the show's 15 producers and a not-so-silent financial partner, probably doesn't mind.)”
“LaChanze, however, is an unfortunate casualty: She is, as always, irresistible, but never ideally utilized as an average-looking woman robbed of her self-esteem by some emasculating men. But she's still got that proscenium-spanning smile, which gleams so beautifully white that it lights up the theater in ways the material never allows the actress to match. It's a much-needed glimpse of the kind of vibrant color that - Oprah's green notwithstanding - is so absent here that it's enough to make you feel blue, if not see red.”
Talkin’ Broadway – Matthew Murray
“Adversity is difficult but not impossible to overcome. This is the lesson that's ultimately imparted by Alice Walker in her Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Color Purple, which tells the heart-rending tale of Celie, a homely, uneducated African-American girl who endures paternal rape, marriage to a brutal husband, and a bittersweet lesbian love affair before emerging as a self-employed, self-sufficient, 54-year-old woman.
“It's also the lesson of the musical The Color Purple, which largely overcomes the many obstacles in its own path, including the fact that both the novel and Steven Spielberg's 1985 film version are beloved by so many people… if you have tears in your eyes or a lump in your throat -- and you very well might -- much of the credit goes to a sterling cast led by LaChanze, who gives an extremely moving performance as Celie.”
“On the other hand, you may not feel much during the show's first act, where Marsha Norman's book does a lot of heavy lifting to move us through the first two decades of Celie's life and introduce the myriad characters that comprise her world.”
“…even as the story grows more compelling, one feels frustrated. Why don't the show's talented composer-lyricists, Brenda Russell, Alley Willis, and Stephen Bray, give LaChanze a chance to show what she can do vocally? By 10:15, they've handed an inspiring ballad to Shug (the show's title song, which gets a resounding reprise at the end), a pleasant comic duet to Harpo and Sofia ("Any Little Thing"), and a crowd-pleasing group ditty called "Miss Celie's Pants." They've even given Mister a less-than-necessary number. So where is "Celie's Turn?"
“Intellectually, one can defend the decision to not have the musical's main character deliver a big aria until her feelings are fully formed. Fortunately, the life-affirming 11 o'clock number "I'm Here" does the trick nicely.”
“I suspect that many facets of The Color Purple -- not just LaChanze's performance -- will be remembered at Tony Awards time. I'd put my money on the charismatic Fields, who's making a marvelous Broadway debut, and Paul Tazewell's consistently terrific costumes… As for the show itself, it's too early in the season to tell if it will take home the blue ribbon. But all those involved -- and that includes you, Oprah! -- should consider themselves winners for bringing Walker's work to the stage so smartly.”
Theater Mania – Brian Scott Lipton
“…the new musical the ColorP urple reminds us what Broadway's for, and all that Broadway can be: big-hearted, broad-stroked storytelling, with the epic emotional sweep only music can conjure.”
“We should also save some hallelujahs for what it represents: another alive-and-kicking incarnation of that seemingly endangered species, the straightfacedly serious book musical. A breed born with Show Boat, nurtured to adulthood by Rodgers & Hammerstein, and most recently invoked by Ragtime and Caroline, or Change, it has miraculously survived generations of deconstruction, mockery and, worst of all, indifference.”
“…you'd have to have ice water in your veins not to be stirred by this unabashed paean to human resilience, and impressed by a production as masterfully executed as it is soulfully intended.”
“Make no mistake: It's a "serious" musical but not a dour one. Indeed, by compressing the book's early chapters, Norman has emphasized the positive life lessons learned by Celie… a poor, reticent girl in the sharecropper South, rather than dwelling on her numerous defeats and humiliations… But the everyday sense of Celie's bleak, slavish lot in life, which makes her openly long for a merciful death, is taken for granted rather than hammered home. This Celie smiles--with bursting hope, with shy flirtation, with the joy of being alive--more than she cries or rages at the God she thinks has abandoned her.”
“Stealing every moment they get are the bickering couple Sofia (Felicia P. Fields) and Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon), who nail a playfully randy duet, "Any Little Thing," late in the show.
“It's so late in the show, in fact, that we can only marvel at the supreme storytelling confidence of this adaptation. After hurtling forward decades, encompassing huge character turns, and taking a somewhat risible side trip to a fancifully decorative Africa, The Color Purple settles into a sweet, autumnal rhythm as it builds to its unabashedly life-affirming climax. And, miracle of miracles, we don't feel any of this as second-act slack; we hang on every word.
“If that's not musical theater magic, I don't know what is. Can I get an amen?”
Broadway.Com – Rob Kendt
Next Broadway Musical opening – Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life – 11th December
Music & Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray
Book by Marsha Norman
Based on the novel by Alice Walker
Directed by Gary Griffin
Opened 1st December 2005
Extracts from various reviewers:
“Like a paint-by-numbers portrait missing its pigment guide, the new musical The Color Purple is a staid outline of a show more notable for what it lacks than what it contains.”
“…despite the layers of high-gloss slathered over everything in sight, not a moment passes in this wayworn adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that you're not keenly aware that everything has been done better before.”
“…the authors of The Color Purple… haven't learned from anyone what's necessary to make this story work. Sadly, that includes Walker, whose work remains but in scant remnants scattered throughout Gary Griffin's production.”
“…Celie (LaChanze) is at best an indomitably spunky young woman who can never repair herself because she never breaks. After losing her children (fathered by her father) at a tender age, entering into a loveless marriage with the nasty Mister (Kingsley Leggs), and losing contact with her beloved sister Nettie (Renée Elise Goldsberry), she determinedly soldiers on. Why? Well, because she's the musical's heroine; this show's authors neither require nor supply any additional reason.”
“…Even the side story of Mister's son Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon) and his steel-spirited wife Sofia (Felicia P. Fields), which amplifies and helps shatter Celie's submissive nature, feels here like little more than an excrescent comic subplot being used to pump laughs into a show for which levity doesn't come naturally.
“To her credit, Fields fulfills her obligations and then some: She ignites her scenes with a fiery comic vigor that's as ideal a stage equivalent to Winfrey's film performance as we could hope for. She makes Sofia's arc from willful to battered and back again a vital cornerstone in the play's drama, but such a towering presence in such a small role only underscores what LaChanze and the writers can't bring to the central Celie. When you find yourself praying that the comic will take over from the dramatic lead, something's desperately amiss.”
“…all are overshadowed by Fields's reigning comedy. (It's impossible to shake the feeling that Winfrey, one of the show's 15 producers and a not-so-silent financial partner, probably doesn't mind.)”
“LaChanze, however, is an unfortunate casualty: She is, as always, irresistible, but never ideally utilized as an average-looking woman robbed of her self-esteem by some emasculating men. But she's still got that proscenium-spanning smile, which gleams so beautifully white that it lights up the theater in ways the material never allows the actress to match. It's a much-needed glimpse of the kind of vibrant color that - Oprah's green notwithstanding - is so absent here that it's enough to make you feel blue, if not see red.”
Talkin’ Broadway – Matthew Murray
“Adversity is difficult but not impossible to overcome. This is the lesson that's ultimately imparted by Alice Walker in her Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Color Purple, which tells the heart-rending tale of Celie, a homely, uneducated African-American girl who endures paternal rape, marriage to a brutal husband, and a bittersweet lesbian love affair before emerging as a self-employed, self-sufficient, 54-year-old woman.
“It's also the lesson of the musical The Color Purple, which largely overcomes the many obstacles in its own path, including the fact that both the novel and Steven Spielberg's 1985 film version are beloved by so many people… if you have tears in your eyes or a lump in your throat -- and you very well might -- much of the credit goes to a sterling cast led by LaChanze, who gives an extremely moving performance as Celie.”
“On the other hand, you may not feel much during the show's first act, where Marsha Norman's book does a lot of heavy lifting to move us through the first two decades of Celie's life and introduce the myriad characters that comprise her world.”
“…even as the story grows more compelling, one feels frustrated. Why don't the show's talented composer-lyricists, Brenda Russell, Alley Willis, and Stephen Bray, give LaChanze a chance to show what she can do vocally? By 10:15, they've handed an inspiring ballad to Shug (the show's title song, which gets a resounding reprise at the end), a pleasant comic duet to Harpo and Sofia ("Any Little Thing"), and a crowd-pleasing group ditty called "Miss Celie's Pants." They've even given Mister a less-than-necessary number. So where is "Celie's Turn?"
“Intellectually, one can defend the decision to not have the musical's main character deliver a big aria until her feelings are fully formed. Fortunately, the life-affirming 11 o'clock number "I'm Here" does the trick nicely.”
“I suspect that many facets of The Color Purple -- not just LaChanze's performance -- will be remembered at Tony Awards time. I'd put my money on the charismatic Fields, who's making a marvelous Broadway debut, and Paul Tazewell's consistently terrific costumes… As for the show itself, it's too early in the season to tell if it will take home the blue ribbon. But all those involved -- and that includes you, Oprah! -- should consider themselves winners for bringing Walker's work to the stage so smartly.”
Theater Mania – Brian Scott Lipton
“…the new musical the ColorP urple reminds us what Broadway's for, and all that Broadway can be: big-hearted, broad-stroked storytelling, with the epic emotional sweep only music can conjure.”
“We should also save some hallelujahs for what it represents: another alive-and-kicking incarnation of that seemingly endangered species, the straightfacedly serious book musical. A breed born with Show Boat, nurtured to adulthood by Rodgers & Hammerstein, and most recently invoked by Ragtime and Caroline, or Change, it has miraculously survived generations of deconstruction, mockery and, worst of all, indifference.”
“…you'd have to have ice water in your veins not to be stirred by this unabashed paean to human resilience, and impressed by a production as masterfully executed as it is soulfully intended.”
“Make no mistake: It's a "serious" musical but not a dour one. Indeed, by compressing the book's early chapters, Norman has emphasized the positive life lessons learned by Celie… a poor, reticent girl in the sharecropper South, rather than dwelling on her numerous defeats and humiliations… But the everyday sense of Celie's bleak, slavish lot in life, which makes her openly long for a merciful death, is taken for granted rather than hammered home. This Celie smiles--with bursting hope, with shy flirtation, with the joy of being alive--more than she cries or rages at the God she thinks has abandoned her.”
“Stealing every moment they get are the bickering couple Sofia (Felicia P. Fields) and Harpo (Brandon Victor Dixon), who nail a playfully randy duet, "Any Little Thing," late in the show.
“It's so late in the show, in fact, that we can only marvel at the supreme storytelling confidence of this adaptation. After hurtling forward decades, encompassing huge character turns, and taking a somewhat risible side trip to a fancifully decorative Africa, The Color Purple settles into a sweet, autumnal rhythm as it builds to its unabashedly life-affirming climax. And, miracle of miracles, we don't feel any of this as second-act slack; we hang on every word.
“If that's not musical theater magic, I don't know what is. Can I get an amen?”
Broadway.Com – Rob Kendt
Next Broadway Musical opening – Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life – 11th December