The Color Purple Reviews — Page 4

Marks isn't really that bad. If this is the most negative review the show gets, it'll be doing very well.

Washington Post is Mixed:

"Like a stone sent skipping across a pond, the musical version of "The Color Purple" frenetically skims the surface of Alice Walker's bestseller -- and then sinks under the weight of its own worthiness. Earnest and eager to please, the $10 million show is the latest in a long series of cautious, pricey Broadway adaptations that paint by pallid numbers rather than in arresting new tones.

It's a thankless task, though, making the argument against this musical, which opened last night at the Broadway Theatre. Will audiences care that the score, sung with such unassailable commitment, is all generic gospel, blues and pop? Or that the travails of the Dickensian heroine, played with plucky indefatigability by the actress LaChanze, push the most over-exercised of emotional buttons?

No, my bet is that many people will be content with the comforting glow of familiar sights, sounds and feelings.
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In this case, however, Winfrey's cause is resistible: a plot-heavy show with a relentless pace -- it's as busy as a turnstile at rush hour -- that is at odds with the laconic rhythms of the rural South it evokes. The director, Gary Griffin, appears to have taken on the duties of efficiency expert, his eye forever on a stopwatch. His worry seems to be getting through heaps and heaps of narrative. An audience, as a result, gets little opportunity to live with these characters. When you're not allowed to savor, what happens to the flavor?
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The music and lyrics, by pop-rock songsmiths Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray -- who've written, separately, for the likes of Sting, Madonna and Earth, Wind & Fire -- have the utilitarian quality of committee work.

The actors' collective spirit is an enormous asset. Too bad we never feel as much about the people they play.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/01/AR2005120101782.html

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Hm...I'm kind of excited to see this show now, I might have to see this when I go in March, especially if its a front-runner for Best Musical.

I didn't realize the same person wrote Millie and Caroline or Change, those shows are totally different. Very cool, good to know ppl try and challenge themselves.

Ronin - The role of Celie has a lot of songs...and the amount of songs has nothing to do with the Tony. It's the performance.

Case in point - Natasha Richardson - NOT a singer. Great actress who took on the role perfectly - winning the Tony.

I doubt ALW will win, for the fact that it was panned so much in the reviews. Not hearing the other shows, TCP deserves it a lot.

LaChiusa's show "House of Bernarda Alba" is considered Off-Broadway.

LaChiusa's new show, House of Bernarda Alba is playing at the Mitzi Newhouse off-Broadway and thus will be ineligible for the Tonys (Piazza will remain at the Beaumont at least through July).

And the consensus about ALW's score is that its recycled from his other shows and we've all heard it before. As of right now, look for Color Purple to take home Best Score.

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Newark Star-Ledger is Mixed:

"A new musical faithfully drawn from a Pulitzer- winning novel and its popular movie, "The Color Purple" strives mightily to illuminate tear-jerker fiction with an upbeat, flavorful score.

Anybody who loves Alice Walker's bestseller and its 1985 film surely will appreciate the conscientious effort of the show's makers to tune up this sprawling saga of sisterhood into an inspirational musical. Unfortunately, "Ragtime" it ain't.
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Expertly meshing script and song, Marsha Norman's succinct libretto risks losing the show's potential family audience by centering Celie's romance with another woman as the pivotal episode that awakens her spirit.

Not every original wellspring can be satisfyingly bottled for Broadway consumption and "The Color Purple" is a brackish brew of tears and sporadic humor. Compressing an overabundance of sorrowful events into a two-hour and 40-minute musical format tends to flatten details. The male characters are depicted as monsters or fools, while women are victims, manipulators or saints.

Hard as these soap operatics may be to swallow, the lively score forged by composers/lyricists Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray offers a tasty blending of gospel, blues, funk, period pop and folk music, spiced with idiomatic wordplay.

Ultimately more dutiful than truly dynamic as a serious Broadway musical, "The Color Purple" fails to click over into that higher artistic power that separates a hit from a near miss."

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/ledger/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-0/113350406599830.xml&coll=1

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Updated On: 12/2/05 at 02:14 AM

So glad to see that The Color Purple is getting such great reviews! Congrats to all involved. Although I wanna chime in about my favorite, The Woman in White.
Bsbw2: The Woman in White was by no way panned. It recieved raves from New York Daily News, The New York Post and the Wall Street Journal. As well as many other great qoutes from many of the mixed reviews. There were definitely negative reviews but the worst Ben Brantley could say was that "Its not a terrible show" This doesn't constitute being labeled a panned show, does it? Margo what is your opinion?
Also Margo, have you seen WIW? This score is very different from his usual work. Yes it has that "sugary sweet/syrupy ALW sound" but the melodies are pretty unique to his work.
As for Tony award. I think it will be between La Chanze, Patti Lapone, and Maria Friedman. I really hope it goes to Maria Friedman. She is such an inspiration and her reviews were terrific. But sadly I hear Maria has more cancer and that she will be going back in for surgery. Rumor has it that she will be out starting all over again next week with these procedures. Not to mention the 7 radiation treatments that she mentioned in her TV interveiws. And now possibloy chemo therapy, all while maintaing the "The show must go on" attitude and still turning out stellar performances. My hat is off and my heart heavy for this brillant woman. I wish her all the best. I'm sorry I have hijacked the thread, I just need to get that off of my chest.
Congrats again to Color Purple for a great Opening Night!

Nytheatre.com is a Rave:

"The Color Purple, the exquisite new musical adapted from Alice Walker's novel and Steven Spielberg's film, is glorious. It's joyous and heartbreaking, funny and sad, exhilarating and serious, epic and scarringly intimate. It's a triumphant celebration of how one woman finds her voice by finding faith and power within herself. And it's a show that exults in letting its audience feel, be moved, and become part of its uplifting emotional spirit.
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Decades full of incident—much of it hard and sad, but a lot of it inspiring and joyful—follow until the story reaches its conclusion, some 40 years after its beginning. See the show and live it all: book writer Marsha Norman has found a near-miraculous way to narrate the epic tale with economy and intelligence, and the drama, guided by director Gary Griffin's sure and steady hand, passes speedily and compellingly. Propelling the story are the musical elements, both of which are exemplary and thrilling—Donald Byrd's choreography is dazzlingly raw and authentic and exciting; and the superb score by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray alternately soothes and soars as it gives heart-rending voice to the myriad emotions experienced by the show's characters.
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The show's humanity—its recognition that human nature is both flawed and redeemable—is its most important asset. The sentiment of the title song—that God lives within all of us; so simple yet so profound—is one that we seldom hear sung on a Broadway stage. Maybe we need to hear it more; we certainly need it now.

The show is beautifully produced and designed, with particular kudos to Brian MacDevitt's warm and lovely lighting design and Paul Tazewell's smart, appropriate, and very pretty costumes. The music runs the gamut from gospel-infused spirituals (the opening number, "Mysterious Ways," is put over with soul-stirring power by Carol Dennis) to giddy jazz (Shug leads the company in a first-act show-stopper called "Push DaButton") to the timeless harmonies of swing ("Miss Celie's Pants," my favorite number, features virtuoso improvising by the three Church Ladies that I never wanted to end).

The performances are magnificent: this is as accomplished and committed an ensemble as has ever been assembled in a Broadway musical.

Anchoring the show and turning in the bravura star turn I always knew she had in her is La Chanze, who is radiant as Celie. The Color Purple, effusive and sprawling and full-hearted, is a welcome addition to Broadway. I hope it will stay there for a long, long time.






http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/purple2177.htm

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Updated On: 12/2/05 at 02:37 AM

so, peter marks, theatre critic of the washington post is my professor. i saw the show last sunday, he saw it on monday. you should have been there for the fight we had in class about it on wednesday. you all know how much i loved it, and can now clearly see how much he hated it. that truly was an ill-formed review. he is sneering at this production the whole time. anyway, i feel very vindicated that his is the only true negative review thus far.

and to whoever said lachanze doesn't sing a lot, she does. she sings a ton. yes, the other characters have easier to define musical identities in the show, but that is just the point. and as one reviewer put it:

"This woman only finds her voice late in her difficult life, but when she does she uses it to make—in the words of one of The Color Purple's recurring songs—a joyful noise."

that is when celie is able to really bring it to the table musically, if she did before then it would just not be believable. however she still sings a ton.

also, lachanze's performance is so well-rounded, focusing on much more than her voice, and that will definitely be rewarded come awards season. it has nothing to do with how many numbers are ascribed to her character.

Here's the Hartford Courant. Pretty negative.

"Long ago, when New Haven's Shubert Theatre was still the birthplace of hits, a quantity of flops also passed through en route to short runs or out-of-town shutterings. Too often "The Color Purple," which opened Thursday at the Broadway Theatre, feels like one of those musical misadventures..."



Hartford Courant

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Updated On: 12/2/05 at 04:51 AM

New York Post is mixed for the show, but good for the cast.

"OPRAH Winfrey's favorite new musical — "The Color Purple," the movie of which made her a star — opened last night, blessed by glowing performances from a sisterhood of talent, led by a gut-wrenching LaChanze.

Still, Alice Walker's 1982 epistolary novel of the rural South, made up mostly of Celie's letters to God, remains a strange candidate for Broadway musicalization.

Then again, it was an odd bird upon which to base the 1985 movie, yet Steven Spielberg made it fly to glory. Certainly, throughout the first act, it seems Oprah's abiding faith (and that of her many co-producers) might prove justified — until the second act slowly subsides into a mess of molasses.

Even then, the performances, particularly the singing, continue to pile up points."

New York Post

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Updated On: 12/2/05 at 04:55 AM

WCBS-TV Channel 2 is mixed on the show, good for the cast.

"The Color Purple" spans three decades of Celie's hard life and her sexual and spiritual awakening. But Celie's heart-wrenching tale is often drowned out in this musical, which is overproduced and much too flashy. Still, the cast rises above it, especially LaChanze as the innocent but steely heroine. Listen closely to LaChanze, and there you'll hear the beating of the story's heart."


WCBS Channel 2

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Updated On: 12/2/05 at 05:00 AM

apdarcey - I'm glad you were vindicated too. When I said I hated that 'tone of voice' in Marks' review, I meant that whenever I read any review that comes across as snide, I immediately hear George Sanders voice in my ear. It's as if Addison De Witt had just walked into the room and started waxing poetic on any and every subject - primarily to let me know just how ironically 'witty' he is rather than telling me anything about the show. This has always turned me off.

(Smaxie - did you wait just to gather the negatives?)

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