Color Purple Tour Scene Changes
Color Purple Tour Scene Changes
Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#1
Posted: 3/22/08 at 1:22am
Does it look bulky or challenging now that there's no turntable? It just seems so weird to think of not having it there. I mean, when the whole dinner table just revolved out of site, how do they do things like that without the revolve?
And how's Michelle Williams doing as Shug? It seems so weird to think of her playing the saucy woman after seeing her performance in Aida.
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#2
Posted: 3/22/08 at 1:36amIt's the "State Fair" musical here in Dallas - in October. I haven't even decided if I want to SEE it or not. Seriously - even Broadway TOURS (in Texas!) are about $80 for GOOD seats. No, ACTUALLY ther never ARE any "good" seats - those have already been taken by Season Ticket holders (and they're WELCOME to them - they have to sit through CATS for the umpteenth time). Should I? By the time SINGLE tickets go on sale I'll do GOOD to get right balcony for 50 bucks. Honestly - with the discounts (and SMALLER theatres) it's well more WORTH it to see a show on Broadway! (Of course you've got to GET there first!) LOL
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#2
Posted: 3/22/08 at 1:41amI'll be seeing it tonight (saturday) at ASU. I'm looking forward to it as i saw the obc in 06.
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#3
Posted: 3/22/08 at 1:44amWell hey, let me know how it is and what it looks like!
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#4
Posted: 3/22/08 at 3:49amMichelle is really good as Shug. Her "Push the Button" is very strong. Jeannette Bayardelle is AMAZING as Celie. Seriously. She blows every other Celie out of the water. Her "I'm Here!" is just out of this world. I saw the show twice when it was in San Francisco and loved it. Just amazing!
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#5
Posted: 3/22/08 at 8:07am
Saw it in LA and totally agree about Jeanette Bayardelle. Wow!!!
Michelle was out when I saw it but the rest of the cast was very strong. Turntable? Never missed it.
Understudy Joined: 2/27/08
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#6
Posted: 3/23/08 at 3:03amWell I kind of have mixed reviews of the show. We got the the understudy for Celie tonigh (Latoya Holmes), who I thought was SPECTACULAR, she hit it right on! Next Felicia P. Fields as Sophia was hilarious. Michelle Williams was pretty damn good too. My only real complaint is about the book. Marsha Norman it seems can not write a linear story. I had the same problem with The Secret Garden, the book was just all over the place, trying to tell like 20 different stories at the same time. The other thing I though was not so good was that it seems they just put in songs wherever, with no real lead up to them. That isn't to say that I didn't like the music in The Color Purple, because I thought it was amazing (being this is the first time I heard it). Overall the show was good if anything to see the leads...
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#7
Posted: 3/23/08 at 3:38amThere was a turntable in the Broadway production?
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/8/05
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#8
Posted: 3/23/08 at 4:23amwhen celie and shug come on after the juke joint fight, and also towards the end when shug is sitting in the chase and she is turn tabled off during I'm HERE
Broadway Star Joined: 10/19/05
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#9
Posted: 3/23/08 at 1:33pm
Chason, even in a big barn of a theater, I think that The Color Purple is worth seeing. It is a flawed, but extremely enjoyable show. This production is worth catching just to get a chance to see the original Sofia, Felicia Fields (she was fantastic on Broadway). If you can get a decent ticket, definitely go see it!
Updated On: 3/23/08 at 01:33 PM
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#10
Posted: 3/24/08 at 3:36pm
The performance on the 22nd was quite interesting, mostly because of the audience.
First of all, everyone thought they could come and go as they please at anytime during the show. The show already started about 10 minutes late, and half of the audience was still arriving about 15 minutes after that. As the show was going on there were about 5 people standing behind me having a full on loud conversation about which seat to sit in, until a bunch of people told them to be quiet. There happened to be a few empty seats next to us a few minutes into the production, and my boyfriend really wanted to move over, even though I told him that I knew those people were going to show up, which they did about 10 minutes later. So, we moved one seat back over. Finally, it seemed like everything began to settle, until a bunch of people around us began laughing at inappropriate times. When Nettie was taken away, they laughed. It just seemed like there were people giggling at times they really weren't supposed to. People would be talking during the show, until something they thought was funny happened, then the reaction would be CRAZY. I still will never understand why people go crazy when they hear a recognizable line spoken in a theatre, so they all had to say it together. Sometimes they would scream so loud that it was hard to hear what was going on in the show. On top of that somehow they let a woman in with a baby (yes, a baby...not even 1 year old). So, there was a baby crying. Three...yes THREE cell phones rang. Plus, the random person taking about 5 flash photos during "I'm Here." On top of that the little girl next to me kept asking her mother, "what did she say?" "what's happening?" Then, the scene between Celie and Shug....the second they started to kiss the mom says, "cover your eyes!" and precedes to hold the playbill over her daughters face for an extended period of time. These are not racial stereotypes, because it's not only one type of people who act like this in the theatre, and after all my boyfriend is black, and they annoyed the hell out of him, too. I just don't understand why it's not possible for people to sit still and close their mouths for 2 and a half hours of their life. You can talk, bitch, and move around all you want before the show...after the show, or even at intermission, but show some respect while the show is going on. Oh and I just have to mention this because I think it's funny...there were more people wearing wigs in the audience than onstage!
THE PERFORMANCE
Okay, so for some reason the understudies listed on the board in the lobby and the understudies announced in the theatre didn't match. But, two things I knew for sure was that LaTonya Holmes was on for Celie and Jenna Ford Jackson was on for Shug. I was lucky enough to see the obc, and LaTonya seemed to be channeling LaChanze. Sometimes I forgot that LaChanze wasn't the one performing. This wasn't a bad thing, as her acting was phenomenal, and her performance overall was spectacular. Jenna Ford Jackson had a spark about her that definitely made her shine. I would say her "What About Love?" was the highlight, though her "Push da Button" didn't impress me too much. It seemed to lack the oomph (haha oomph) that I had seen with the original cast. But overall, her voice has a very rich quality to it that I enjoyed. As for the set, the absence of the turntable really made no difference. Everything came straight on from the wings along the track, which worked well. Overall, the performance was wonderful, minus the audience. I'm glad we made the 5 hour drive, especially since I have family down there and also have never spent any time around ASU, which is really pretty. It was nice to revisit this beautiful piece of theatre I hadn't seen for two years.
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/04
re: Color Purple Tour Scene Changes#11
Posted: 3/24/08 at 4:00pm
The turntable was not missed at all here in LA.
I thought the show was fine. It was't the big, eye balling fest I was lead to believe it was.
I thought some the dirstion was weak, and a few folks were walking through thier roles.
I thought Michelle looked very uncomfortable on stage and couldn't feel her OR Celie falling in love. And poor Felicia was obviously having some vocal problems the night I saw her.
I guess I saw the first show after they cut a bunch more of the set beofe the tour for two weekers.
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