The Color Purple Reigns At Hollywood Pantages

By Darlene Donloe

When Alice Walker’s The Color Purple came out in book form, in 1982, it quickly became a best seller. It won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.

When the book became a movie, helmed by Steven Spielberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Adolf Caesar, Danny Glover and Margaret Avery, it was controversial, yet applauded, garnering 11 Academy Award nominations – walking away with none.

When the book and movie were adapted into a Broadway musical, it was heralded once again.

After three decades the play, which is set in Georgia between 1909 and 1949, continues to be an audience favorite with its heartbreaking, emotional – yet triumphant story accompanied by a thumping soundtrack.

The excitement for this production continues with the first North American tour of the 2016 Tony Award®-winning (Best Musical Revival) Broadway revival of The Color Purple, which recently arrived at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

Adapted for the stage by Tony-and Pulitzer-winner Marsha Norman with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, this latest incarnation is full of heart and loaded with talent.  

Three members of the cast of the 2016 Broadway revival, including Adrianna Hicks (Aladdin - Broadway, Sister Act - Germany) as Celie, Carla R. Stewart (Ghost – National Tour, Rent - Regional) as Shug Avery and Carrie Compere (Holler If You Hear Me, Shrek the Musical – National Tour) as Sofia lead the company.

  

Carla R. Stewart as Shug Avery in the touring production of The Color Purple. 

(Matthew Murphy)

The Color Purple, which has a Grammy-nominated score, is a moving, sentimental saga about poor, black women from the Deep South finding their inner strength. One of those women is a teen named Celie who is abused in every imaginable by her husband, Mister, who has a thing for a loose woman named Shug Avery.

When Walker’s book first came out, the domestic tension between Celie and Mister and the perceived lesbian relationship between Celie and Shug Avery was met with some resistance and some controversy.  It was thought the black community and, in particular, the black church would denounce the book and the film. Instead, the book won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the film became a box office hit.

In the beginning, Celie, the play’s central character, is an oppressed 14-year-old girl, whose only bright light in the world is her sister, Nettie. After being subjected to years of abuse and unconscionable servitude, and after losing her sister Nettie, Celie experiences an awakening that allows her to finally unearth her voice.

N’Jameh Camara (Nettie), Bianca Horn (Ensemble/Church Lady), Angela Birchett (Ensemble/Church Lady)
and Brit West (Ensemble/Church Lady) in 'The Color Purple.' (Matthew Murphy)

Celie is played by Adrianna Hicks and Nettie is played by N’Jameh Camara, whose voices soar throughout the theater.

The voices emanating from the supporting cast are all equally impressive.

Shug Avery’s (Carla R Stewart) Push The Button and Sofia’s (Carrie Compere) Hell No!, are show-stopping numbers that gets the audience swinging, swaying and rocking.

By the time the musical is about to end, the audience has been taken on an emotional roller coaster ride. They’ve laughed, they’ve cried and they’ve cheered as they’ve watched Celie become her own woman exhibiting strength internally and externally.

Through songs like Too Beautiful for Words, The Color Purple and I’m Here, Celie walks her solitary journey toward freedom and love, specifically her affection for Shug Avery.

Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray’s music is, indeed, one of the characters.  It moves the story forward. One of those moments is when Sofia (Carrie Compere) and Harpo (J. Daughtry) sing the spicy and naughty Any Little Thing while deciding to rekindle their relationship.

Compere and Daughtry are both a breath of fresh air.  Compere convincingly plays the no-nonsense, ain’t-taken-nuttin-from-no-man Sofia. Daughtry is just the right amount of henpecked.

The set design is creative and sparse. There’s a wall of chairs as a backdrop, propped on a fractured wooden wall.

John Doyle’s direction is intricate, yet fluid and simplistic.  Armed with only chairs as props, the cast is forced to bring the characters to life without the crutch of furniture or actual props.  Doyle has the cast moving chairs, quite frequently to signify a scene change, an emotional change, as well as a change in a moment in time.  It works in many ways – with the actors moving about the stage with precision.

The one thing missing from this incarnation is the lack of guttural, spiritual undertones heard in other Purple productions.

Tony Award®-winning director and scenic designer John Doyle (Sweeney Todd, Company) recreates his award-winning work for the national tour, alongside costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, lighting by Jane Cox, sound by Dan Moses Schreier and wig & hair design by Charles G. LaPointe.

The Color Purple stars Adriana Hicks (Celie), Carla R. Stewart (Shug Avery), Carrie Compere (Sofia), Gavin Gregory (Mister) and N’Jameh Camara (Harpo).  The cast also includes Darnell Abraham (Adam), Amar Atkins (Guard), Kyle E. Baird (Bobby/Buster), Angela Birchett (Church Lady), Jared Dixon (Grady), Erica Durham (Squeak), Bianca Horn (Church Lady), Gabrielle Reid (Olivia), C.E. Smith (Preacher/Ol’ Mister), Clyde Voce (Swing), Nyla Watson (Swing), J.D. Webster (Pa), Brit West (Church Lady), Nikisha Williams (Swing) and Michael Wordly (Swing).

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), The Color Purple gets an O (oh, yeah).

The Color Purple moves down the road to the Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, where it will hold court June 19-24.

The Color Purple, 8 p.m. Tues-Fri, 2 and 8 p.m. Sat, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sun. through June 17; tickets start at $35; Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles; www.HollywoodPantages.com/LoveNeverDies www.Ticketmaster.com, (800) 982 2787.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, June 19-24,

Tickets: Start at $29, Information: (714) 556-2787 or www.SCFTA.org