Menier Chocolate Factory production of THE COLOR PURPLE?

Has anyone on here seen this production? Thoughts? I was watching a feature on NYTimes.com, and Patrick Healy mentioned that Doyle and bookwriter Marsha Norman cut something like 30 minutes from the show. Can anyone elaborate on what was cut? He ends the piece by mentioning that the producers are looking at possibly bringing the show to Broadway. Does anyone know any more about a possible transfer? It looks like a pretty stunning production.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/video/2013/08/15/theater/100000002390304/staging-the-color-purple.html

NY Times review: http://tinyurl.com/lpsbbjl

Updated On: 8/18/13 at 11:31 AM

A Broadway revival already? That sounds like a disastrous idea.

I'm going to pretend I didn't just read what could be considered a very racist assessment of the audience THE COLOR PURPLE attracts.

I'm going to pretend I didn't just read what could be considered a very racist assessment of the audience THE COLOR PURPLE attracts.

Not so much a racist statement as much as a true one about Fantasia's fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP122JqapE8

Not so much a racist statement as much as a true one about Fantasia's fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP122JqapE8

"Y'all are some ungrateful bitches.
Who cares if she was talking through this. This is HER video. She was the one that recorded it and its was her CHOICE to put it up and share? it with people.
She didn't have to post it at all. Be thankful that you at least got to see (even if the quality was poor) and hear (most important) this once in a lifetime event. Get over yourselves."

LOL a youtube comment.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't just read what could be considered a very racist assessment of the audience THE COLOR PURPLE attracts.

Not so much a racist statement as much as a true one about Fantasia's fans.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OP122JqapE8

I'm a fan of Fantasia and I've never done this. So how is this a true statement about her fans?"

You know, I've been a member of BroadwayWorld.com for a few years now, and I joined because of my love of theatre and the immense amount of knowledge, experience, and insight many of its members offer. Many of you have deepened my understanding and love of theatre in ways you probably will never know.

However, I feel like there is some unspoken (well, sometimes spoken) general derision towards the black experience in the theatre. It seems to me that some blacks have a vastly different theatergoing experience than white. This, of course, is a generalization, but much of the black experience in America has been centered around the church, which fosters a participatory experience between the congregation and the pastor or choir. Jazz music as well as the blues employ a type of call and response strategy that lessens the distance between the artist and the listener. Theatre, which sometimes blurs the lines between music and religion (for me, some of the most moving theatre has been akin to a religious experience) is no different for many people. And some blacks, when extremely moved emotionally, certainly do "participate" in the theatre experience by verbally responding to the artist on stage. It can be a symbiotic experience, wherein the performer feeds off of this, uses it to deepen their performance, and sends it right back.

To deride this experience is to say that one type of theatre-going experience is better or more valid than another. Why not try sometime to enjoy it for what it is? The next time you're in an audience of predominantly black folk (for many of whom it may be their first time seeing themselves represented on stage) who are employing call and response, why not try to let the experience sink in and appreciate the moment? Even if you end up not enjoying it, it's not the end of the world. If you feel like some are being disrespectful (and, I might add, I've been in predominantly white audiences where many people were very disrespectful as well), then why not lead by example? A gentle word to someone who may not be realizing they are disrupting your experience can go a long way.

But there's no need to pretend that your way of enjoying and appreciate a theatre experience is in any way more valid or right than anyone elses.

Updated On: 8/18/13 at 02:44 PM

"I'm all for it in the appropriate setting; I especially enjoy attending interactive poetry slams. A Broadway show, however, is not one of them."

Says who? Who says this is not the appropriate setting to employ call and response? The history of theatre has roots in participatory elements. Shakespeare's plays (to take a canonical example) were written with participatory elements in mind, and many of the audience routinely shouted their approval, disapproval, awe, fear, or joy. To say that theatre is not the appropriate setting in which to do this is disingenuous. It is EXACTLY the place for many people to do this.

Responses to theatre are fluid and changing. It is an organic creature that can morph depending on those viewing it; that is one of theatre's strengths.

If you suspect a performance of performer is going to draw a crowd you may not enjoy or elicit a response from theatregoers that may disrupt your enjoyment of a show, why not see it at a different time? Or ask for your money back? Do anything but imply those theatergoers don't have a right to be there.

If you suspect a performance of performer is going to draw a crowd you may not enjoy or elicit a response from theatregoers that may disrupt your enjoyment of a show, why not see it at a different time? Or ask for your money back? Do anything but imply those theatergoers don't have a right to be there.

Aww no. I shouldn't have to accommodate my theatre going around people who behave as though a show is a production of Rocky Horror. Cellphones are not allowed because they DISTURB THOSE AROUND YOU AND ON STAGE. Why should you get a free pass if the disruption because the noise is you having a "moment?" It's called grow the F*CK up. You have a 1500+ audience and you are ruinning THEIR experience. I don't care about what church is like, Broadway is not church unless they invite you to participate. The ending of Mamma Mia. Let It Be. etc. The Color Purple is not interactive.

Updated On: 8/18/13 at 03:07 PM

I'm trying to picture Carousel or Evita or Phantom of the Opera with a similar audience reaction.

Granted the reaction in question isn't from ALL audience members, but there is no doubt about a cultural shift in the way audiences behave from one show to the next.

Oh, and remind me never, ever to pay Broadway ticket prices for a "kiddie" show like Mary Poppins again, where kids rattle their plastic candies, talk in full volume to each other and cry like babies even when they're eight years old.

That's a clear cultural shift in a "type of audience as well, and it has nothing to do with race. I don't want that either. In fact, I'll take a Color Purple audience over a Beauty and the Beast audience any day of the week.

And then there's the OMG! Woooohoooo! audiences of Wicked ...

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I mean, I will say "black shows" tend to have a more rowdy audience. I saw August: Osage County with Estelle Parsons and you could hear a pen drop. I saw it again with Phylicia Rashad and people were 'Ooohh" and "ahhh" and talking back to the show. Same with "Trip to Bountiful."

I don't hate it, but to me it lessens the dramatic moments because you'll always have that one person who says something loud and inappropriate during some quiet moment on stage. It gets frustrating. I missed so much of "Trip to Bountiful" because the people around me were talking or yelling back to the stage.

And I realize this is a generalization, but it's also kind of not. I mean, I've seen enough shows to know.


..... back on topic....

This looks great, but I'm surprised they would even think about bringing it to Broadway. Take it to some of the regional houses, maybe.

Thanks, mrkringas. So, can you elaborate a bit on the specifics of what was cut?