Scrawled in child-like handwriting across the curtain of the Broadway Theater, where the new musical 'The Color Purple' opened last night, were the words, "Dear God, I am fourteen years old. I have always been a good girl. Maybe you can give me a sign letting me know what is happening to me."
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Oprah Winfrey and the Broadway cast of 'The Color Purple.'
And, indeed, over the course of two and half exhilarating hours, Celie, the abused heroine, does get that sign, from the very unlikely and very human Sophia and Shug Avery, two of the most memorable female characters to strut, fight and seduce their way onto a New York stage in a very long time.
Played to the hilt by Felicia P. Fields and Elisabeth Withers-Mendes respectively and well directed by Gary Griffin, they lighten Celie's travails, proving light exists along with darkness, and that together, women may or may not be able to conquer the world, but that they'll certainly have a lot of good laughs and good sex along the way. Celie, movingly portrayed on Tuesday night by the rich voiced Kenita R. Miller who substituted for the actor LaChanze, who was sick, far more than receives their ministrations, finding her own strengths over the course of the play.
Corny, funny, sad and ultimately deeply moving, the warm-hearted show puts the lie to all the nay-sayers who warned that the story would be too depressing for a Broadway now filled with lightweight fare, like 'The Producers' and 'Hairspray.' Especially a show, based on a famous African-American novel and with an entire cast of African Americans, most of them new to Broadway.
If the joyous response from the remarkably mixed audience Wednesday night is any indication of what the future will bring, the story's characters, the sweet and rambunctious ladies and monstrous and occasionally tender gentlemen, should become icons like Jelly Roll Morton and his cohorts, as depicted in director George C. Wolfe's brilliant 1992 hit 'Jelly's Last Jam' and the unforgettable heroes of August Wilson's plays.
The librettist, playwright Marsha Norman, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her play 'night, Mother,' stays true to the serious nature of Alice Walker's 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning book and the memorable Steven Spielberg 1985 screen adaptation, which starred Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg and an unknown Oprah Winfrey in a breakout performance.
The story still follows Celie from a childhood, during which she is raped by her stepfather and forcibly separated from her children and beloved sister Nettie, through her terrible marriage, sexual awakening in the capable hands of Shug, her husband's adored mistress, and eventual independence.
But Norman also understood the need for balance, adding a hefty and welcome dose of humor, by expanding on the roles of Sophia, Shug, and Harpo, Celie's brutal husband's gentle son, and introducing a trio of gossips, refined in their Sunday hats and flowered frocks, who hilariously comment on the action, more than once embarrassing their too frequently pregnant sisters with the unanswerable question, "Who's the Daddy?"
Some transitions need smoothing out, however, and the score by talented Grammy-award winning composers/lyricists Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, which combines various styles of music, gospel, pop, R&B, jazz and blues, occasionally jars because of its inconsistency. But then, they did write the exquisitely romantic ballads, 'Too Beautiful for Words' and 'The Color Purple,' and the divinely raunchy, 'Any Little Thing,' sung by the horny and loving Harpo and Sofia, who can't get enough of each other.
The African sequence, when Celie reunites with her sister, is intrinsically problematic, as it incongruously takes her on an imaginary (or real?) visit to the African country where Nettie has become a missionary. Still, while choreographer Donald Byrd does a terrific job with the jazzy numbers, giving the cast deliciously naughty and clever moves, the African section looks like it was choreographed in 1950 for a Las Vegas show, full as it is stereotypical, almost naked warriors running around and gyrating with spears.
The vivid set almost saves the scene, with its charming bright green backdrop showing trees and villages. Working hand in hand with lighting designer Brian MacDevitt, scenic designer John Lee Beatty, in fact, does a fantastic job throughout the play, among other things, conjuring up a picturesque, albeit ramshackle house, a juke joint, and a dressmaker's shop.
But these are minor quibbles about a musical that deserves a long run on the aptly named Great White Way, which, as always, needs to do a better job of representing the African-American experience. One can only hope that with Oprah's embracing the project -- she also donated $1 million to the $11 million budget -- that it will take its place alongside 'The Lion King,' as a show where one can count on seeing some of the best actors of color in their full glory.
