Stage Review: Broadway stars sizzle in 'Color Purple'
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Angela Robinson, left, and Jeannette Bayardelle, who played Shug and Celie in "The Color Purple" on Broadway, are part of the national tour now at the Benedum Center for Pittsburgh CLO.
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The musical of "The Color Purple" movingly captures the spirit, both human and divine, of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and Steven Spielberg's popular film. It's the story of Celie's journey, not just as she finds her own voice and self-worth, but of her desertion of and return to God. Walker tracks that journey in a series of letters Celie writes to God. The musical, with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, begins with Celie's prayer for understanding and ends with a resounding "Amen."
Fans of the book may find some things missing, especially from the first act. The musical, limited somewhat by its form, never develops character relationships in depth. The poverty of Celie's life, physical and emotional, is never fully evoked, although scenic designer John Lee Beatty's sets and lighting designer Brian MacDevitt's luminous skies give a sense of the expansiveness and sometimes loneliness of Celie's Southern home.
Yet we still root wholeheartedly for Celie. When she finally stands up for herself at Easter dinner and when she sings her show-stopping self-affirmation "I'm Here," she's unquestionably Walker's beloved heroine.
The strength of this transformation rests a large part with Jeannette Bayardelle, who joins the national tour after starring as Celie on Broadway. Bayardelle brings a genuine good-heartedness and quiet determination to Celie's early hardships. When she finally releases Celie's joy in song and dance, it's a delightful, rousing and uplifting surprise.
- Where: Pittsburgh CLO at the Benedum Center.
- When: Through June 15. 8 p.m. Tues.-Fri.; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
- Tickets: $29.50-$70; 412-456-6666 or www.clopittsburgh.org
Two other members from the Broadway cast are part of the tour. Felicia P. Fields is Sophia, the role famously played by Oprah Winfrey in the movie. There's a more comic element to Sophia in the musical and Fields embraces that wholeheartedly. She has a rollicking good time bowling over everyone in her way. Her Sophia is gutsy, lusty and pretty darn sexy when she jives with husband Harpo, played with winsome appeal by Stu James.
Angela Robinson brings her sizzling shimmy from Broadway as the sultry juke joint singer, Shug Avery. Robinson connects warmly with Bayardelle, so Shug's and Celie's bond grows naturally, if not quite as explicitly as in the novel or film.
As Celie's nasty husband, Mister, Rufus Bonds Jr. has the difficult task of playing an unlikable character and, worse, one who's not terribly fleshed out. Still, Bonds brings about Mister's collapse and renewal with dramatic conviction.
Because "The Color Purple" has so much narrative ground to cover, we're helped out by a sort of Greek chorus, three Church Ladies who comment on the action and gossip about events that happen off stage. Played by Lynette DuPree, Kimberly Ann Harris and Virginia Ann Woodruff (a Pittsburgh native and Point Park graduate), they add a lot of humor and some rocking gospel vocals.
"The Color Purple" is subtitled "The Musical About Love" and it does have that feel-good, some would say sappy, sense about it. But sappy can work and this does.
First Published June 5, 2008 12:00 am
