Chicago Color Purple reviews? Edit: Now with article

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 8:44pm

Has anyone seen the touring cast in Chicago yet?

Updated On: 4/25/07 at 08:44 PM

[kyle.]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 8:52pm

Same load of crap.

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 8:58pm

Wow!
What a stunningly articulate and wonderfully specific review!


kmc

[KJisgroovy]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 8:58pm

OOPS

Updated On: 4/25/07 at 08:58 PM

[kyle.]

Posted: 4/24/07 at 11:41pm

It honestly does not deserve a better one.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 8:44pm

*bump* anyone???????

Here's an article about Michelle Williams being in the show: http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/stage/chi-0704180561apr20,1,4313882.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

[jg4892]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 8:49pm

Can you copy paste it? You need an account.

[chinkie azn jai]

Posted: 4/25/07 at 8:56pm

Williams adds star power to 'Purple'

By Nina Metz
Special to the Tribune
Published April 20, 2007


This story contains corrected material, published April 21, 2007.

On a Saturday morning not long ago, the cast of "The Color Purple" gathered in a rehearsal room at the Civic Opera House. Sporting yoga pants, T-shirts and ponytails, the actors were ready for the workaday demands of readying the touring show's North American debut for its May 3 opening at the Cadillac Palace (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).

One person -- just a girl from Rockford -- added a bit of glamor to the proceedings. There stood 27-year-old Michelle Williams, formerly of the pop group Destiny's Child, preparing to play the role of Shug Avery, a sultry blues singer who impacts the life and sexual awakening of the story's central character, Celie (played in Chicago by Jeannette Bayardelle).

Makeup-free, long hair flowing, Williams is Hollywood thin -- and apparently immune to caloric concerns as she swallowed bites of a cheese danish. The message on her T-shirt: "Warning: Hanging around me will damage your reputation," hasn't been true heretofore.

Oprah Winfrey may be the marquee name as one of the show's producers, but Williams is one you'll see on stage (previews began earlier this week), and there is no doubt that among certain theater-goers -- namely, a generation intimately familiar with the career of Destiny's Child, a trio that included members Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland -- Williams is a major draw.

And as a child, Williams watched the video time and again. But then, she didn't really get it.

"It wasn't until I really started to study 'The Color Purple' for my role, when I saw it played on the stage, I was like: 'Wow, there is some Celie in everybody.' I have some Celie in me, you know? How strong she is. Being rejected. Being mistreated. But you find a way to turn that around and make it work for you. Celie finds her niche. Her talent."

Adapted from Alice Walker's 1982 novel (and familiar to moviegoers as the 1985 Steven Spielberg film, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey), the musical traces the intertwined lives of African-Americans in rural Georgia during the early 20th Century. Celie, abused by her father, is forced into a loveless marriage where she is treated no better than a servant.

Over the course of several years, she creates an independent life and comes to terms with the tragedies of her past.

Celie's trajectory is not entirely alien to Williams. Rejection is the name of the game when you have celebrity-size ambitions.

How she got from the concert stage to the theater stage is not that large of a leap. In 2003, she made her theatrical (and Broadway) debut as the title character in "Aida," the Elton John-Tim Rice musical. "The Color Purple" is Williams' sophomore outing.

Not bad for a girl from Rockford.

Gary Griffin, the Chicago-based director of both the Broadway and touring productions, is also a Rockford native, as is the show's musical supervisor, Kevin Stites.

"It's been kind of hilarious on a personal level," Griffin says, "just every other day we'll start talking about some obscure but Rockford-specific experience."

"The thing is, coming up in Rockford, I didn't know anybody that made it," said Williams, "except for Cheap Trick and Ann Nesby from [the gospel choir] Sounds of Blackness."

Williams' second year in college, a quick audition for a tour with the r&b singer Monica led to a gig. And suddenly everything changed for the girl known to her family and friends as Tenitra. (Tenitra is her first name; Michelle her middle name.) One of Monica's dancers became the choreographer for Destiny's Child, and networking led to Williams' eventual addition to the group -- just two weeks before the "Say My Name" video shoot. She had to get up to speed fast. Learning to dance in high heels was no easy task.

Destiny's Child disbanded in 2005, which has allowed Williams to make a yearlong commitment to the show. She also has a solo album scheduled to come out in October. Both Knowles and Rowland, she says, have promised to come see the musical.

"We're always constantly on this BlackBerry," she says.

"The other day I told them I was looking in the mirror -- and I don't care telling the Chicago Tribune; this is hilarious -- and I said: 'You guys, I think I need Botox.' And they were like: 'Girl, shut up and go get a facial!'"

Those are not the words of a diva.

- - -

Scoring Tickets

A few tickets are still available for previews; theater-goers should aim for dates after the show's May 3 opening. If a good seat is paramount and you want to go soon, you'll have better luck if you pick a Tuesday-Thursday performance. According to Broadway in Chicago, July is the earliest you can count on getting good seats for a weekend performance.

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[LOVETHEPURPLE]

Posted: 4/27/07 at 3:45pm

The Chicago cast of the Color Purple is so talented. Latoya London really embodies the role of Nettie, and Stu James as Harpo is amazing. Even the juke joint scene between Sofia and Squeak which I easily forgot on Broadway was so memorable. Rufus Bonds, Jr. as Mister is brilliant. This production is leaps and bounds better than the one on Broadway.

[ashbash1990]

Posted: 4/27/07 at 7:13pm

On a related note, does onyone know of any planned rush tickets for this show? was there wednesday... no rush, no hottix, and the show was most definatly NOT sold out...