Color Purple on Oprah- Page 3

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 1:21pm

It was originally supposed to end:
"Ah...Memories"

Which I love, but Im not to keen on "amen". I love "Ah Memories" though. It makes me smile when I hear it on the sample track.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 1:29pm

Despite a talented cast selling the hell out of it... these songs are very mediocre and forgettable.

Wow. (snore)

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 3:02pm

Unfortunatly, I have to agree with you! I had high hopes for this show and I was left saying "thats it?!"

[Candleshoe2]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 3:08pm

Is the original ending on a clip somewhere online?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 11/12/05 at 4:06pm

colorpurple.com

Go to SIGHTS AND SOUNDS (I think thats what it is) and click "The Color Purple" song clip.

[DAME]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 11:36am

I wonder what the box office take was after Oprahs show aired. Anyone know?

[willact4food]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 11:49am

I was looking at tickets yesterday and they are sold out till about mid-December according to telecharge.com. and i'm sure it will only get bigger as the holidays get closer.

[JB3some]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 12:00pm

the song has always ended AMEN from the color purple...its the way the book ends. Just an FYI

[442namffug]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 12:00pm

Eh. That's all. "Eh". Nothing even close to superb.

My favorite part though (and what we all looove to hate about Oprah and her show) is how Oprah is now, apparantly, 110% invested in this thing. Not only does she know the words to the songs (ha), and not only is she moved to tears (ha), she is also "tight" with the cast (ha).

The manipulative nature of the media today...

[442namffug]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 12:05pm

P.S. SNL could really use this next week. Maybe it could get them back on track. An Oprah sketch. With tears. With Oprah being ridiculous and fake. With the audience marching to the beat of the Oprah Drum. Can't go wrong. Hysterical.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 3:42pm

Now you don't know how committed Oprah is. You don't know what she was feeling or who she knows. Who's to say that she's not committed now? Did she have to come on board 8 years ago to be committed. If I saw something that meant to me as much as Color Purple means to her onstage, I think I'd be totally committed to it. The fact that she's given plenty of money as a producer alone should be enough to say she's committed. One does not give money to things they don't believe in.

At any rate, I don't think the show's very good. It'll sell because everyone expects a black cast to take it to church...and they did. So people are happy. I don't think many people stopped to listen to the lyrics of the song the Color Purple. They're not complete thoughts and that song lyrically doesn't make sense. It sounds good but I don't get what the song's supposed to be about. I've seen the movie several times and I know the significance of what the title means, but the song doesn't give that impression. I couldn't get it.
Dear God, Dear stars, dear tree, Dear people, dear sky dear everything...God is inside of me and everyone else, I came into this world with God and when i looked inside I found him...I don't think us feel old at all. I think this is the youngest us ever felt, Amen. WHAT?! I know I'm not dense, but am I missing something here?

I also think it's a bad idea to have another actress do the same speech Opera does before Hell no. EVERYONE knows the "YOu told Harpo to beat me..." speech. I think that whoever plays it will be forever compared to Oprah. In a show like that, people shouldn't be quoting it with you. You might as well put "Sister" in the score for all fo that.

[442namffug]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 3:46pm

I wasn't questioning her current presence, per say. I was questioning the authenticity of the emotion and power that seemed to sweep the studio audience, cast, and Oprah in the few minutes that THE COLOR PURPLE was performed (a mediocre song, as you have mentioned).

It seemed very melodramatic and maudlin just for the purpose of selling tickets. It said "this is a powerful and moving piece" rather than actually being powerful and moving. That was my problem.

[musicnmath]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 3:52pm

I DID find it powerful and moving. I watched the clips online before seeing my VCR...so I didn't see much in the way of Oprah or the audience reaction at first viewing. When I saw the whole segment on my tape, I noted Oprah mirrored my own emotions, but I'm quite positive it was 100% honest on her part. I've watched those clips at least 10 times each since then. And I still feel all full and brimming like I do with a really moving piece. Just goes to show yet again that one show is not meant for all people. As for me, I'm looking forward to it.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:16pm

ok good. I've been meaning to ask someone who was moved by it. Can you tell me what the lyrics to the finale mean? I don't mean this as a challenge. Were you moved by what the song had the say or the moment it represented because I really don't know what that says.

[442namffug]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:19pm

Musicnmath. That was my problem precisely with the songs and the performance. The moments were extremely built up and forced.

Why were you moved? The lyrics certainly aren't "clever" by any stretch of the imagination. Plus, since you haven't seen the show, are you just getting "emotional" based on what you already know about the story? The performance was intended to "inspire" people but never really let the audience make up their own minds. It was shoving all of this overthetop "stuff" down our throats at once.

It wasn't inspiring because it really was inspiring. It was TELLING you to be moved, rather than actually BEING moving.
Updated On: 11/13/05 at 04:19 PM

[xoxRogue]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:21pm

I'll be seeing it in Feb. and I have read the book (I'm not exactly happy with the way the book ends...not the ahem part...just that last letter in general). I will be laughing during Push Da Button, just because of discussions we had in class of a certain part of the book....I watched the rehearsal on broadway.com and I'll go and watch the clips now. :)

[musicnmath]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:39pm

This is interesting. I feel like I'm defending myself for liking something that clearly seems likable. But, ok. It may take some back-and-forth to really figure out what I think, but here goes. I should preface by saying that I've never read the book or the movie and don't know anything about this story aside from what was actually shown on Oprah. If that seems bizarre, it's because I didn't grow up in the US.

The Color Purple: I could just feel that this song came at the very end of the show...and I felt like it was the summary of a journey. Something emotional and difficult and beautiful. As yet, I don't know what that journey was, but I felt the resolution and deep breath it allowed. This is what makes me want to see the show -- to experience whatever has been resolved.

Sometimes in my own moment like that, I don't form poetry when I speak...I can literally only form small phrases. I heard the song in those smaller phrases, not as one prose story. The listing of elements that are "all a part of me"...I don't know how to describe it...but I've felt that. It made sense to me on a level other than logical. Which is, quite frankly, not better or worse than the Sondheim intellectual level (which sometimes leaves me stimulated, but cold by comparison). Just different.

Jazzy -- I'll go with experiencing for the moment it apparently represents, but also feeling a connection with the lyrics.

There are 2 lyrical bits I didn't get:
* the old/young reference toward the end, though I'm just assuming it's some plot thing I don't know yet
* To someone else's comment - no, the "color purple" isn't explained here. I assume it has mention elsewhere in the show. If I get all the way to the end and still don't know what it means, we have a problem.

Hell No: I, for one, had never heard "the speech". What can I say, I loved it. Sophia's (?) raw (and conflicting) emotion on the topic was powerful to witness. Contrary to what you've said 442, I was inspired BECAUSE it was inspiring.

Sure, they put two emotional numbers up there. (It is Oprah). So I gather I had more a emotional reaction to them then maybe to other songs...but that's just the songs doing their job. I watched the "Push Da Button" number as well and enjoyed the sensuality there.

442, you've asked me if I reacted the way I did because I knew the story. I don't know it, so obviously that link is out. Do you think there's a risk of it *not* affecting people who *do* know the story - like you?

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 6:57pm

I see the show this Wednesday evening. 5th row. Walked past the theatre this afternoon and there was a bit of a line for tickets. As far as the song the color purple, maybe after seeing the show, the lyrics will make sense.

[musicnmath]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 9:45pm

uncageg - looking forward to your thoughts. Are you already familiar with the book? or the movie?

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 10:45pm

I saw the movie. Never read the book. I will post my thoughts on Thursday!

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 11:55am

From Playbill.com:

"Following an appearance on producer Oprah Winfrey's talk show on Nov. 11, Broadway's new musical The Color Purple ticket sales have reached more than $1 million, with group sales nearing the same, according to Variety.

Production spokespersons would not confirm any numbers, but the trade mag purports that the episode airing Nov. 11 — which previewed two musical numbers and Winfrey's surprise visit to the cast during rehearsals — catapulted sales in the days that followed. Variety now has the advance for the show (which is capitalized at $10 million) at $6 million.

Based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and the Steven Spielberg film of the same name, the new musical began previews at the Broadway Theatre Nov. 1 toward an official opening Dec. 1."

http://www.playbill.com/news/article/96274.html

[sciguy]

Posted: 11/15/05 at 12:19pm

Thanks for everyone's opinions. That's what i like about the Boards and Broadway in general.
This show is generating alot of discussion.
I personaly found the show good but not great.
I'm puzzled by the wide range of opinions on this show.
What did I miss that accounts for some of the rave reviews?

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 11/16/05 at 7:00pm

The cast will be appearing on Letterman tonite, I believe.