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."
Genuine showstoppers rarely happen in the musical theater, especially in the middle of an act. But when they do, something happens -- maybe to the air pressure in the lungs of theatergoers -- which seems to buoy whole groups of disparate audiences to their feet. It happened at a recent preview of 'The Color Purple' and, chances are, it's happening every night. Edging toward the finale of the show, Cynthia Erivo, a British actress in her thrilling Broadway debut, lays into a song...full of defiant realization for her character Celie after a lifetime of insult, drudgery and self-sacrifice...Director John Doyle's passionate, scaled-down, streamlined, low-frills revival of the 2005 musical adaptation of Alice Walker's 1982 Pulitzer-winning novel is not priming us for big musical-theater gestures. And Erivo, who also played Celie in Doyle's hit London reduction, exquisitely paces the understated character through 40 tumultuous years of male-dominated, post-slavery African-American culture.
The limited staging (a major difference from the original Broadway production a decade ago) puts the focus on the score, by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray...A trio of supremely talented women all making their Broadway debuts do most of the singing. Cynthia Erivo is outstanding as Celie...Hudson gives us a steamy and satisfying Shug...The 'Dreamgirls' Oscar winner gets out of the way of the story and the other actors, in what is truly a supporting performance...Brooks...and Kyle Scatliffe, as on-again, off-again lovers Sofia and Harpo, deliver particularly strong performances. Their second act duet, 'Any Little Thing,' is a grinding, groovy delight...This production, as buoyant and vital as can be, premiered at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in 2013...Broadway's latest incarnation focuses almost entirely on song, but it's still the same joyous and uplifting journey.
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