I made it to see The Color Purple while it was on tour last season. I could say it was my Thanksgiving gift to myself. I'm glad I went to see it. After hearing so much about it while it was on Broadway and not being able to make it to New York, I was elated when it finally came on tour.
Having said that, I must admit that, for me, the hype had me so excited that the musical itself was a little of a let down. Let me qualify this by saying that the music was great. The singers were great. I even got to see Latoya London from American Idol playing Nettie and that was very exciting for me. I think what let me down wasn't the music itself, or the acting, but the storyline. The story of The Color Purple has been present in my life through book and movie for almost all of my life. So much so that when the movie comes on TV, I don't even watch it anymore. I avoid that channel at all cost because, while I don't want to see it, if I flip past it, I will stop and recite the lines I know by heart along with the movie. I've read the novel by Alice Walker three times. I think part of me was thinking that the playwrights of the musical would have taken some creative license with the storyline and changed or added some things, like they do in movies. They did add some things for the benefit of fitting in the songs (like the scene for Push the Button) but there was so much that was pretty much exactly like the book or movie that I found myself wanting to fast-forward to the next song. But, that was my issue & my issue only. I went with a friend who absolutely loved it in its entirety. So to each her own. I don't regret seeing it, I still think it was money well spent, I just expected more.
Having said that, I must say that I was exceptionally disappointed in the AUDIENCE! You know how they have the announcement every time before a play or musical stating to "please refrain from taking flash photography during the performance" or "taking pictures during the show is prohibited" and "please silence or turn off your cell phones." Well, leave it to the one musical I go to, with a predominately black (us) audience and a predominately black cast to have folks taking pictures with flash DURING THE SHOW and cell phones ringing in both sections of the show (before and after intermission). You know that part of you that wants to look around in aggravation and exclaim "are you serious?" I spent a good part of the musical suppressing that part because that wouldn't make me any different than them. But it was so disappointing. It was also disappointing to realize how many people have not read the book! I mean, come on! Its an African-American Fiction Classic!!!! You should have heard the audible, loud gasp that went through the crowd when Celie said her baby was her daddy's baby, and then later that her daddy was her step-daddy!!! Come on people!
So anyway, that was that experience. I probably will not go see it again as I have other musicals because, while it is a classic, I have been inundated with The Color Purple all my life....I'm classic-ed out. lol
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