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Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Arts / News The Color Purple's in town
Posted By Cheris Hodges on Wed, May 20, 2009 at 11:01 AM
Alice Walker's The Color Purple made a cultural impact that can't be denied. The book was iconic. When Steven Spielberg directed the movie version of the book, Oprah Winfrey became a star. Then in 2005, Oprah, Quincy Jones and others turned The Color Purple into a musical.
Last night, Charlotte got a chance to see the stage production. The set was beautiful; you could feel yourself transported to the backwoods of Georgia in the 1930s. The actors poured their soul into the material and the music was funny and moving.
Now, back to the material. If you've read the book and seen the movie, you think you know what to expect. But the musical takes elements from the book and the movie to make what's on stage new for the audience. And you can see Oprah's hand print on the musical because Sofia, the character that Oprah played in 1986, takes over every scene she's in. I found myself wanting to see more of Sofia than Celie.
The musical didn't really live up to the hype for me. Parts of the musical seemed too comical and minstrel-ish, like the annoying church ladies who did nothing but state the obvious in song (I get the whole Greek chorus . While some may compare the three church ladies to the three witches in Macbeth, to me they were three big stereotypes.
One thing I enjoyed about the musical was the exploration of the relationship between Shug Avery and Celie. Love comes in many forms and despite the fact that Shug wanted Celie's husband/jailer, the women found that they needed each other--at least for a time.
If you can score a ticket to the musical, it is worth seeing. But don't expect to feel the emotions that the movie produced.
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