The Color Purple — Photo: Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
Blitz Bazawule’s vibrant movie musical The Color Purple often succeeds as a thoughtful fusion of two other adaptations of Alice Walker’s landmark novel that still confidently hums its own tune.
In shakier moments, though, confidence gives way to nostalgia, when the film hammers home its reinterpretations of quotable scenes and dialogue from the Quincy Jones-produced, Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 adaptation with an insistence that borders on flashing “Hey, remember this?” in bold type onscreen.
Creating and saying something new with such proven material, while also purposely coaxing audience sentiment for a beloved original, surely posed a formidable challenge for Bazawule and company. And having Jones, Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey — the big guns and big breakout from the 1985 film — onboard as producers must have eased and complicated the gig in unfathomable ways.
Oprah and Jones also had a hand in the original Broadway musical adaptation, which has spun off its own lore and legacy, and adds another meta layer of pop-lit gloss to what this film aims to freshly reinterpret.
The stage musical — with a book by Marsha Norman, and lyrics and music by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray — has amassed its own roster of breakout stars, including American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, who made her 2007 Broadway debut stepping into the lead role of Celie, and Orange Is the New Black‘s Danielle Brooks, Tony-nominated for playing Sofia opposite Cynthia Erivo in the 2015 Broadway revival.
Barrino and Brooks reprise their respective roles here with a lived-in grace and fortitude that does freshly illuminate Walker’s moving narrative, the lifeblood that courses through every iteration. That story, the epic tale of Celie, a Black woman in the early 1900s South beaten down by the evil around her, and saved by the sisterly bonds she forges with other persevering women, remains powerfully compelling.
Walker’s sprawling, proudly melodramatic series of farewells and reunions seemingly can withstand whatever bells and whistles its interpreters want to throw at it. In her favor, Fantasia’s got the smoky, Southern brass of her one-of-a-kind voice to balance the innate humility she brings to Celie. Brooks wields a knowing smile, eyes that spit fire, and a command of her body, voice, and aura that captures every dimension of a character who rocks between delightful comedy and heartbreaking tragedy.
As boozy blues singer Shug Avery, the third pillar in the movie’s main trio of strong, striving women, Taraji P. Henson supplies requisite star power paired with the unlikely warmth and sensitivity she shows Celie, as friend and lover.
In scenes pairing Barrino with Brooks, or Barrino and Henson, the performers complement each other beautifully, leading a starry cast that gels around Bazawule’s pointed portrayal of enterprising rural Black folks.
He and screenwriter Marcus Gardley switch up some of the emphasis by weighting more of the opening act towards establishing the bond between young Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and her smart-as-a-whip sister Nettie (Halle Bailey) before the girls’ heartless Pa (an excellent Deon Cole) tears them apart. But, not only does Celie’s love for Nettie sustain her, she also has a tiny flame of worldly ambition burning inside.
The Color Purple: Colman Domingo — Photo: Eli Ade
This Celie appears always destined to be a businesswoman, if she can just endure her struggles. And even her no-good, abusing husband Mister, painted in fascinating shades of dark and light by Colman Domingo, reveals sweet dreams that lay broken beneath his cruelty and abuse.
Mister eventually attempts to atone for a lifetime of hurting people in a redemptive turn that feels not as convincing as his cruelty. A dramatic reconciliation for Shug and her disapproving preacher daddy Reverend Avery (David Alan Grier) similarly feels unearned, but just perfunctorily included to pluck the heartstrings of viewers with fond memories of “Maybe God Is Trying to Tell You Something,” a major musical highlight of the Spielberg film.
A rousing full-cast gospel number in that film, the song is deployed as a quietly tender duet here — an admirable revision that’s nowhere near as stirring. That assessment applies broadly to the musical numbers, though Henson really burns the house down grinding her way through slinky, sexy “Push the Button,” and Danielle Brooks simply can’t miss putting across Sofia’s defiant mission statement, “Hell No!”
The music sounds spirited throughout, supported by brilliant costumes, persuasive period design, and Fatima Robinson’s energetic choreography. The overall result is entertaining and emotionally satisfying, though perhaps too rosy in tone, too pretty and plucked to be as penetrating as Walker’s book, or the Spielberg movie, or even Signature Theatre’s superb 2022 stage production. But Celie’s indelible journey towards empowerment and success is still here, beautifully alive and singing.
The Color Purple (★★★☆☆) opens in theaters nationwide on Christmas Day. Visit www.fandango.com.
Let me start with a nitpick: Marty Supreme is not, as commonly reported, Josh Safdie's solo directorial debut. That would be The Pleasure of Being Robbed, a modest, mumblecore-era gem released in 2008, long before Josh and brother Benny became known for directing white-knuckle crime thrillers like Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019). Made on a shoestring budget with a cast of unknowns, Pleasure followed the misadventures of a young kleptomaniac (Eleonore Hendricks) in Bloomberg-era New York. Few saw it in 2008, but those who did sensed a budding talent.
Not since Hedwig and the Angry Inch have I so enjoyed a one-person musical about an internationally ignored female artist overshadowed by her famous male partner as much as I enjoyed Rebecca Simmonds and Jack Miles' enchanting In Clay.
Making its American premiere at Signature Theatre, following sellout runs in London, the jazz-infused portrait of early-20th-century French ceramicist and painter Marie-Berthe Cazin doesn't have too much else in common with hard-rocking Hedwig. Except that both shows are powered by a knockout batch of songs, and the galvanizing force of a woman reclaiming her time, her art, and her story.
Putting aside the curious question of why the Shakespeare Theatre Company has taken to staging musical theater -- this season it's Guys and Dolls -- the happy news is that director Francesca Zambello doesn't need to keep her day job (although let's hope she does).
She may be the artistic director of the Washington National Opera, but she's clearly got the eye, ear, and vision for a whole different kind of crowd. This is no-holds-barred Golden Age rom-com song-and-dance magic brought fully to life with some serious spectacle. From scenic designer Walt Spangler's mind-blowing industrial shop space, with all its peeling paint and careworn shop décor, to a live orchestra conducted with complete and utter flair by James Lowe, it's something to behold.
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