Color Purple Tour

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 1:17am

I'm going to see the tour of The Color Purple on Tuesday in Buffalo, and was wondering if anyone has heard anything about the tour? I haven't heard anything about it really, and was wondering how the quality of it is. Thanks everyone.

[gypsy4]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 2:14am

The Tour is fantastic and the cast is powerful and amazing you'll truly enjoy it.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 2:16am

I've heard nothing but wonderful things about Kenita as Celie. Im going on Saturday in Buffalo and I cant wait. :)

[provocation]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 5:15am

The show itself is amazing and it is really hard to mess it up. You're seeing a lovely cast if they've remained true to how the tour began.

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 5/31/09 at 1:16pm

Thanks everyone for the replies - I've been really excited to see it since I got tickets in December. I'll post a review on Wednesday :)

[Queen of the Night]

Posted: 6/1/09 at 7:36pm

We just had it recently here in Columbus, OH and it was a very entertaining show. Kenita was awesome as Celie. The church ladies are hilarious and so is Sofia (she's my favorite character--I loved her "Hell, NO!"). It's pretty faithful to the movie as I recall. You should enjoy it.

[The Boy From Ohio]

Posted: 6/1/09 at 8:31pm

I also just saw this in Col. and thought it was great. I saw it a year or so ago in Cincy, and it was better than I remembered. Have Fun!

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 6/4/09 at 7:48pm

Hey everyone - just a couple of thoughts.

This won't be much of a review - but I saw the tour here in Buffalo on it's opening night on Tuesday. I thought that it was simply amazing. The cast is phenomenal. There were a couple of lighting cues that were wrong - some were being adjusted during the show, others they just completely turned off. The spotlighters were still getting used to the show also. The sound was sometimes a problem, as I missed a lot of words in the first act, but it seemed to be fixed the 2nd act. The pit sounded great but loud.

But again, the show was simply amazing. Kenita Miller was perfect, acting and singing. Fabulous. Her "I'm Here" was out of the park. I also loved Lynette DuPree as Sofia. She really carried a lot of the humor throughout the show, and she didn't miss a chance to make the audience laugh. I really didn't care for Rufus Bonds as Mister - there was just something about his acting that had me annoyed. His end of second act Mister was great though.

I noticed that the set had been downsized again though. I've seen pictures of the tour set compared to the Broadway set, and I thought that it still worked. But some of the tour set was missing on Tuesday. I noticed that there was a track going straight down center stage from upstage to downstage, but no scenery ever used it. In a video I saw, there was a unit used for the shop scene in act 1, when Mister comes to Pa saying he wants to marry Nettie - this shop wasn't even there. There was a desk that Pa stood behind, and then the wheelbarrow that Celie and Nettie used. Maybe there was a problem with it, or it was cut. I didn't notice until I saw the video.

But other than that - the show was great and I really recommend it to everyone. The house was completely full, which was nice to see on a Tuesday night. Usually when I go to weekday shows in Buffalo, there are vacant seats on the sides of the theatre, but not this time. Glad to see a show bring people together again.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/4/09 at 7:53pm

Jake, great to see your review after the abysmal review the moron from the Buffalo News gave the show. I've heard nothing but great things. Thanks for sharing.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 6/4/09 at 8:11pm

I wanted to see this so bad, but the only night the tour was in town and I could go, I had a date. And since nothing came of it I really wish I would have gone to see Purple instead.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/6/09 at 5:42pm

KENITA MILLER IS DIVINE!!!! She was perfection from beginning to end. Her Celie is heartbreaking and triumphant. I cant believe they are taking her out so Tasia can call in sick and scream all over the place. Kenita had me sobbing. She is a wonder. The supporting cast are all divine too. Lynette DuPree is a force of nature as Sophia and Angela Robinson is a sultry Shug. This tour soars!

Unfortunately, as it did during Patti LuPone, Shea's soundsystem produced static, hissed, and popped over dialogue and songs and they were handing out photocopied Playbills. Thats sad. They need to work some things out.

I didnt even get a Playbill at WICKED. They ran out.

They need to work some things out.

[jejr]

Posted: 6/6/09 at 11:44pm

Which performance of WICKED did you see and not get a program? I saw a Sunday matinee near the end of the run and there were pleanty of programs.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/6/09 at 11:56pm

I was there on the last day and no programs...

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 6/7/09 at 1:01am

I've noticed that Shea's sound system is getting worse and worse. The family I was with thought that maybe because it was opening night, they hadn't worked out all the kinks with the sound. But seeing you went 4 days after me and they're still having a problem, it's obvious Shea's needs to step it up.

I wonder what is going on with the playbills. I haven't gotten a photocopied one ever, but I find it so strange that they didn't prepare to have enough.

Bettyboy72 - I'm so glad you enjoyed Kenita as much as I did! I'm so glad we got to see her before Fantasia was put back in because Kenita was phenomenal, and people need to see her.

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 6/7/09 at 1:14am

Jake, did you get a real program for Color Purple or a photocopy?

[ohjustjake]

Posted: 6/7/09 at 9:54am

A real one.

[matty159]

Posted: 11/11/09 at 9:45am

Has anyone seen the tour recently? If so, how is the present cast?

It is rolling through Norfolk, VA this week, and although I am dying to see it, I am not sure I want to spend the money if the production isn't great.

Also...if anyone knows of any discount codes for this engagement and wants to share, I would be most appreciative!