See it on Broadway through January 8th only. The Color Purple is the 2016 Tony Award winner for Best Musical Revival. Best Actress Tony Award winner CYNTHIA ERIVO ("an incandescent new star" says The New York Times) leads a powerhouse cast in this epic story of a young woman’s journey to love and joy in the American South. Joining her is Tony and Grammy-winning Broadway legend JENNIFER HOLLIDAY (Dreamgirls). Tony winner JOHN DOYLE directs.
Don't miss two of Broadway's most powerful performers together on one stage in this Tony-winning triumph that New York Magazine calls "one of the greatest revivals ever."
Experience the exhilarating power of this Tony-winning triumph that New York Magazine calls "one of the greatest revivals ever."
Give thanks this morning, children of Broadway, and throw in a hearty hallelujah. 'The Color Purple' has been born again, and its conversion is a glory to behold...The current version is a slim, fleet-footed beauty, simply attired and beguilingly modest. Don't be deceived, though, by its air of humility. There's a deep wealth of power within its restraint...it allows audiences to zero in on a show's musical and emotional essence, while seeming to place narrative control directly in the hands of the performers...Ms. Hudson radiates a lush, supple stage presence that is echoed by her velvet voice...But the greatest joy of all, at least for longtime believers in theater mythology, is the ascendancy of Ms. Erivo...Celie undergoes a drastic metamorphosis from battered, invisible wife to determined, self-reliant businesswoman. Ms. Erivo escorts us through these transformations with a subtle but tensile performance that parallels her character's evolution. Like the rest of the show, she never oversells herself; she asks us politely but compellingly to listen...
For once, the word 'revival' is apt: Doyle's intervention amounts to a kind of theatrical CPR, restarting the heart of a show that, in its original production, seemed to die before your eyes...Of course it takes actors who have the subtlety to work at this level...The paradoxical result is a far greater range; the show is not constantly hitting the ceiling. Erivo...proves especially masterful at calibrating the gradations of Celie's emergence, from a kind of dull curiosity when she meets Shug Avery, to the suppressed rage of her nascent rebellion against Mister, to the exquisite shy smile that breaks across her face when she allows herself to believe she is beautiful, to the full sunburst of pleasure that success (as a seamstress) finally affords her. By the time she gets to her 11 o'clock number...you may feel you have seen as great and full a transformation as any previously put on the musical stage.
2004 | New York |
Reading New York |
2004 |
World Premiere |
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2005 | New York |
Workshop New York |
2005 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2007 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
2015 | Broadway |
Broadway Revival Production Broadway |
2017 | US Tour |
Revival National Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Cynthia Erivo |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | John Doyle |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Danielle Brooks |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design for a Musical | Jane Cox |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Catherine Jayes |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Joseph Joubert |
2016 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical | The Color Purple |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Cynthia Erivo |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Jennifer Hudson |
2016 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical | The Color Purple |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Cynthia Erivo |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Danielle Brooks |
2016 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Revival of a Musical (Broadway or off-Broadway) | The Color Purple |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | John Doyle |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Danielle Brooks |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Cynthia Erivo |
2016 | Tony Awards | Best Revival of a Musical | The Color Purple |
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