Co-produced by The Curve and the Birmingham Hippodrome, acclaimed musical The Color Purple is coming to Leicester and Birmingham for a limited run this June-July. The production is directed by Tinuke Craig, winner of the 2014 Genesis Future Directors Award.
The musical is based on Alice Walker’s award-winning novel of the same name. Written in epistolary form, the novel is set in rural Georgia and is told from the perspective of Celie, an impoverished black woman who suffers domestic and sexual abuse at the hands of her father and then the man she is forced the marry (referred to as ‘Mister’). Navigating racism, sexism, and inequality, the novel chronicles Celie’s journey towards self-actualisation. Regarded as a seminal piece of black feminist queer literature, the novel won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction.
The novel (1982) and the Steven Spielberg film adaptation (1985) were both embroiled in controversy upon release. In her article Sifting Through the Controversy: Reading The Color Purple, scholar Jacqueline Bobo notes the perception that the novel and film ‘[presented] a negative portrait… of black men in particular and the black family in general.’ Kimberle Crenshaw – who coined the term ‘intersectionality’ to refer to the uniqueness of the black female experience in dealing with both systemic racism and sexism – argued similarly. Describing the backlash against the film, Crenshaw argued: ‘The struggle against racism seemed to compel the subordination of certain aspects of the black female experience in order to ensure the security of the larger black community.’ The novel was also frequently challenged for its graphic depictions of sexual violence. Yet both the novel and the film (starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey) have had an enduring legacy outlasting the controversy.
The Color Purple was adapted into a musical in 2005, premiering at The Atlanta Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia before transferring to Broadway at The Broadway Theatre. The book was written by Marsha Norman with music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray. The score is a hodgepodge of jazz, blues, gospel and soul with beautiful and soaring melodies. The original production received eleven Tony Award nominations, with LaChanze winning the award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Celie. The storming 2015 Broadway revival adopted minimalist staging and garnered four Tony nominations, catapulting leading lady Cynthia Erivo into stardom. Erivo had already led The Color Purple’s London debut in 2013 for a limited run at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
The cast for the Curve/Hippodrome production will be led by T’Shan Williams (Heathers, Caroline, or Change) as Celie, alongside Joanna Francis (Dusty, Sister Act), Ako Mitchell (Caroline, or Change), Simon-Anthony Rhoden (Kinky Boots), Karen Mavundukure (Dreamgirls), Danielle Fiamanya (Prom Queen), and Delroy Brown (Dreamgirls).
Click here to buy tickets to see the show in Leicester (28th June – 13th July)! Click here to see the show in Birmingham (16th-20th July)!
(Image Copyright: The Curve/Birmingham Hippodrome)
