The Color Purple Reviews- Page 2

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 9:57pm

It's only a matter of time until Adam Guettel gives us something we can call the next Sunday in the Park. I can almost guarantee it will be either Guettel or possibly La Chiusa or Tesori who give us something so new and unique we will sing their praises from on high. I'm going on the record and saying Guettel.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:06pm

Wow, where are all these reviews?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:07pm

Well, I personally think Caroline or Change was the greatest score written since SITPWG, so for me Tesori is the head of the class in the terms of the "new" composers. Guettel is brilliant though and LaChiusa has potential.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:12pm

The AP is Mixed-to-Positive:

At the beginning of "The Color Purple," two young girls sit in a giant, gnarled tree that dominates the stage of the vast Broadway Theatre.

It's a sweet-tempered image of sisterhood that haunts this respectful, occasionally roof-raising musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of female empowerment.


The show, which opened Thursday, remains surprisingly faithful to Walker's story of triumph over adversity set in rural Georgia. It is sometimes too faithful, as its adapters attempt to cram a lot of plot into this careful stage version, meticulously directed by Gary Griffin
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The score by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, is a melting pot of melodies and lyrics. Eclectic to the extreme, it ranges from the blues to gospel to soul and more traditional Broadway sounds. There's even one pop power ballad, "What About Love?" This number, sung in the show by LaChanze and Withers-Mendes, closes the first act, and is destined for major airplay.


Fans of Walker's novel most likely will not be disappointed in this reverent stage retelling and will embrace it heartily as a live souvenir of the original. Others may crave a little more theatrical excitement.
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=114&sid=637547

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:14pm

I want to see LaChiusa write in something other than pastiche or jazz. As brilliant as Tesori's score is (and Margo you know I'm a self admitted Caroline basket case) I think if it were to be separated from Kushners lyrics it would suffer.

Guettel is creating a unique voice for himself, bringing in elements of other musical forms but incorporating, for the majority, his own sound. A sound which never imitates.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:18pm

I feel like if this show recieve solid mixed to positive (with a few rave) reviews, it will win the Tony this season.

It has JERSEY BOYS to compete with (which while it got good reviews is still a jukebox musical with no original songs and will probably just walk away with a nod), THE WOMAN IN WHITE (recieved negative to mixed reviews mostly), TARZAN (ehh...I doubt this will be well recieved), THE WEDDING SINGER (possibly TCPs toughest competition), MARY POPPINS (I expect mixed reviews), and I think that's about it. I really feel like TCP will do well at this years Tonys. From what Ive heard about it from others and from listening to clips and song samples etc, I feel like TCP is the front runner for the Tony for BEST MUSICAL at this point(it will be a huge hit), for BEST ACTRESS, SCORE, SETS, LIGHTING, CHOREOGRAPHY, and we'll see what else. I believe that JERSEY BOYS will be a large step forward for Jukebox musicals and take home a Tony for it's book and not much else. It may only be one award, but its the Tony voters saying "hey lisen not all jukebox musicals suck...if properly put together, they CAN be Tony-worthy).


And, yes, Tesoris score for CoC was brilliant but lets not forget her others. MILLIE was a mediocre score at best. I believe Guettel (while hes really only written one score) is a phenomenal talent that will continue to dole out amazing scores in the future. Updated On: 12/1/05 at 10:18 PM

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:25pm

Brantley's review is up...very mixed; raves for Withers-Mendes and Fields; respectful to LaChanze.

I'm having trouble copying, so if somebody else could provide the link, that would be great.

[The8re phan]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:25pm

I find it very doubtful that the Color Purple will win best actress......... it's going to Patti Lupone for Sweeney Todd

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 10:25 PM

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:26pm

Roma Torre on NY1 was very positive.
http://www.ny1.com/ny1/Living/theater_reviews.jsp

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:33pm

I was about to post that. Its a very positive review if not pretty close to a rave.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:34pm

I don't see the full Brantley review up, but here's the excerpt:

"Time doesn't just fly in the exhaustingly eventful world of "The Color Purple," the musical adaptation of the Alice Walker novel and film of the same title that opened last night at the Broadway Theater. It threatens to break the sound barrier. In faithfully adapting Ms. Walker's incident-crammed 1982 Pulitzer Prizewinner about Southern black women finding their inner warriors, the show's creators have fashioned a bright, shiny and muscular storytelling machine that is above all built for speed. This show isn't stiff and anemic like its chief musical competition this season, "The Woman in White." But it never slows down long enough for you to embrace it. Directed by Gary Griffin - with a book by Marsha Norman and songs by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray - this show is blessed with a surfeit of performing talent. Thanks to the cast's spirited way with a song, "Purple" strikes some sparks during its long and winding journey. But it takes a concentration and leisure the show lacks to fan sparks into a steady flame. Would that "The Color Purple" did take time to stop and smell the lilacs."

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:35pm

im glad for the positive reviews it got, yes Margo strongly agreed that Caroline or Change was one of the greatest scores written since SITPWG, Tesori is brilliant

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:38pm

There is a link to the full Brantley review on ATC.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:45pm

Best Actress is going to be hard to predict. Lupone is always a contender, but Maria Friedman is going get a LOT of votes for her courage in the face of her cancer scare (as well as her brilliant critically acclaimed performance). And once you start splitting the vote like that, then LaChanze, Sutton Foster etc.... all have a shot (as we learned not long ago in the close contest between Menzel, Murphy, Pinkins, Chenoweth......).

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 10:45 PM

[Mamie]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:47pm

See if this works:
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/12/02/theater/reviews/02purp.html

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:49pm

The Times is Mixed-to-Positive:

"TIME doesn't just fly in the exhaustingly eventful world of "The Color Purple," the musical adaptation of the Alice Walker novel and film of the same title that opened last night at the Broadway Theater. It threatens to break the sound barrier. In faithfully adapting Ms. Walker's incident-crammed 1982 Pulitzer Prizewinner about Southern black women finding their inner warriors, the show's creators have fashioned a bright, shiny and muscular storytelling machine that is above all built for speed.

So much plot, so many years, so many characters to cover in less than three hours. Or, as one of the many vibrant heroines sings, prettily papering over a gap of eight years, "So many winters gray and summers blue." From the brass-warmed opening bars of its eclectic overture, this musical has an on-your-mark, get-set quality that promises that pages will be flying off the calendar as if in a tornado.

Watching this beat-the-clock production summons the frustrations of riding through a picturesque stretch of country in a supertrain like the TGV. The landscape looks seductively lush and varied; the local populace seems lively and inviting, like people you might want to know; you can even hear tantalizing snatches of folks singing in an intriguing idiom as they go about their work. But it all passes by in a watercolor blur. This show isn't stiff and anemic like its chief musical competition this season, "The Woman in White" (another plot-crammed adaptation of a novel). But it never slows down long enough for you to embrace it.

Would that "The Color Purple" did take time to stop and smell the lilacs. Directed by Gary Griffin - with a book by Marsha Norman and songs by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray - this show is blessed with a surfeit of performing talent. There's not a clinker among the major cast members, led by LaChanze as the downtrodden, man-mangled Celie, whose sexual and social awakening over four decades gives the story its shape."
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Thanks to the cast's spirited way with a song, "Purple" strikes some sparks during its long and winding journey. But it takes a concentration and leisure the show lacks to fan sparks into a steady flame.

The overwhelming breathlessness of this production is probably unavoidable, given its determination to hew as close as possible to its source. Ms. Norman is an eminent playwright whose " 'night, Mother" won the Pulitzer for drama the same year that Ms. Walker's novel did for fiction. And Ms. Norman brings a refreshing if dogged writerly respect to Ms. Walker's work.
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Mr. Griffin, acclaimed for his ingeniously miniature productions of big-scale works like "Pacific Overtures" and "My Fair Lady," emerges mostly as a skillful traffic conductor here. He keeps things moving at a jaunty clip, even when the events are as ugly as rape, domestic abuse and racial violence. This discrepancy would probably be jolting if you had time to think about it.

Amid the whirlwind of story lines, LaChanze holds admirably steady in what is a rather thankless part. Since Celie spends much of the show being scared and downtrodden, LaChanze must hide her considerable natural light under a bushel of homeliness and self-effacement. And her long-delayed survivor's anthem, for which she is allowed to pump up the volume, is unfortunately a generic power song. (Sofia's truncated "Hell No!" and Celie's top-40-ready duet with Shug, "What About Love?," are better.)




http://theater2.nytimes.com/2005/12/02/theater/reviews/02purp.html

Updated On: 12/1/05 at 10:49 PM

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:55pm

What will Sutton Foster be appearing this year that she will be a contender for Best Actress?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 10:57pm

Newsday is Positive:

"'The Color Purple," which opened last night at the Broadway Theatre with Oprah Winfrey's approving brand on the marquee, is a big, beautifully cast and produced, middle-of-the-road musical adaptation of Alice Walker's 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

It also is awfully nicey-nice for an epic about racism and black-on-black sexual abuse in Georgia in the first half of the 20th century. The show loses its way in the second act and, ultimately, leaves no cliche unturned. But this is not merely the first new old-fashioned American musical of the season. It may well be built to last.

For all its familiar story and sensibility, this is surely the first mainstream musical to make a first-act curtain number from a lesbian kiss and love ballad - something Steven Spielberg hardly dared to touch in his 1985 movie. And for all the obvious expense of this handsome production, Gary Griffin's direction and Donald Byrd's exuberantly lyrical choreography seldom feel hard-sell.

For much of the evening, director Griffin - a Sondheim specialist from Chicago making his impressive Broadway debut - locates the perilous balance between the vitality and oppression that drove Walker's haunting story about the male-dominated, post-slavery African-American culture. When a series of upbeat, unmotivated songs breaks the momentum in the last half, however, the pressures of the happy-face mentality make for palpable strain.
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While Walker told Celie's journey through her letters to God, Marsha Norman's book smoothly moves us through the adventure's many chapters without skimping on the development of the multiple major supporting characters. The blues, gospel, swing, African and gutbucket work songs by pop veterans Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray are open, accessible songs that are simply structured but not simpleminded.

Byrd's choreography thrusts them through the splendid dancers with the earth-rooted, taffy-torsoed effectiveness of an early ballet by Alvin Ailey. For the first time in too long, Broadway has a real dancing chorus again.

This all happens on a gorgeous John Lee Beatty set of wooden slats, leafy woods and magnificent skies (lit by Brian MacDevitt). Paul Tazewell's costumes are as character-driven as they are flattering.
http://www.nynewsday.com/entertainment/stage/ny-ledesing4533756dec02,0,6465200.story?coll=nyc-ent-topheadlines-left

[theatreguy]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:00pm

adamgreer, it's rumored that THE DROWSY CHAPERONE may come in to the Music Box (assuming IN MY LIFE closes soon). Though I have heard that Sutton's role is more of a supporting one.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:02pm

There's talk of "Drowsy Chaperone" transferring to Broadway this season after the raves out of town. If so, even though apparently Foster's role is more Featured than Lead, given her stature etc...... she may end up being pushed into the Lead category.

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:17pm

These are very respectable reviews. The quotable folk aren't nasty. Back-door compliments abound, and I smell a moderate hit. It has the audience-identifiable title. The Oprah connection. The promise of uplift (previously known as a happy ending). And even accessible moral lessons married to both American history and a contemporary literary pedigree - a show written by a respected author that can entertain the masses. Hey, maybe it ain't being called the new SOUTH PACIFIC, but this is clearly a mostly positive reception.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:23pm

Im so happy for these reviews. :)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:24pm

Agreed. This is a very nice slate of reviews (regardless of what the remaining ones look like). There are plenty of nice pull quotes from every review so far for the marketing people. There have been a few raves and even the couple of lukewarm notices have had more positive things to say about the show than negative things.

This should bode well for the show at the box office and come award time.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:27pm

I wonder what munk's gonna say when he sees these reviews...

[ShuQ]

Posted: 12/1/05 at 11:28pm

I'm pleasantly surprised to see these reviews. I wasn't expecting great things based on some BWW users' first impressions, but hopefully the show has cleaned up its act. And Margo is definitely right about this paving the way for the big T.