Stage Review: 'Color Purple' is powerful play

Scott Suchman

The musical "The Color Purple" spans a 40-year period in the life of Celie, a young woman who yearns for happiness.

If "Les Miserables" is an epic musical in the sense that its tightly woven plot of individual stories spans almost a lifetime and ultimately leads to redemption, then the musical "The Color Purple" certainly fits the category of an epic.

The latter may not have the same striking visual appeal, or a score laden with catchy hooks, as do other big Broadway shows. (I'm struggling to remember even one melody after Tuesday night's tour opening at the Orpheum theater.)

Scott Suchman

The musical "The Color Purple" spans a 40-year period in the life of Celie, a young woman who yearns for happiness.

But the 2005 musical, adapted from Alice Walker's novel, reminds us that every community has its monumental narratives. And as writers such as Walker, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston and Maya Angelou have proven in their classic books, the domestic struggles of African-American women in the 20th century might one day be viewed as the quintessential American epic, every bit as intense and powerful as armed uprisings in the streets of Paris.

For the dynamic and talented actress Dayna Jarae Dantzler, taking the stage each night must feel like picking up a suitcase full of woe and going on a 10-mile hike while singing. She plays Celie, a young woman who is raped by her father, then sent off like a slave to an abusive husband to care for his children. Bearing all of this with humility and quiet strength, Celie becomes the bedrock of her rural community. Her beauty is in her constant and quiet toil. Though she's given up on God, she hasn't stopped believing that one day she'll see her beloved younger sister again.

Dantzler's yearning for happiness carries her, and the audience, over a 40-year period (from 1909 to 1949) in which Celie finds solidarity with women who have learned various survival skills in a male-dominated society.

The first is Sofia, a woman grand in size and voice. When her husband, Harpo, takes some bad advice and tries to beat her into submission, he's the one who gets knocked out. Actress Pam Trotter has the audience in stitches too, after belting out Sofia's signature song, "Hell No!"

Next is Shug Avery, the sensuous singer whose charm and beauty helps her get what she wants. Celie herself falls in love with the powerfully seductive woman, and the duets between Dantzler and Taprena Augustine (as Avery) are some of the show's most rapturous music.

Celie eventually finds strength in herself and her own talent. But not without a lifetime of learning. To paraphrase a line from the show, God sometimes takes his time getting around to helping good people.

With a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman, "The Color Purple" is at turns hilarious and tragic. A trio of hennish gossips in church dresses sporadically pop in to comment on the action. The beautiful gospel arrangements soar in the choral numbers.

With the exception of an irrelevant dance number set in Africa at the top of the second act, the story is intimate and emotionally complex.

Like Alice Walker's book, the musical "The Color Purple" shows that redemption doesn't happen overnight. It sometimes takes a lifetime, and spreads itself over an entire community. But when it happens, the result is a joyful noise unto the Lord.

"The Color Purple"

The play continues at 8 p.m. today, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday at the Orpheum, 203 S. Main. Tickets are $25-$80. Call 525-3000.

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