As the calendar rolls into the festive season of 2023, movie enthusiasts and fans of the original book anticipate the arrival of a cinematic gem – the new movie adaptation of the beloved musical The Color Purple.
The highly anticipated release promises to captivate audiences with its powerful storytelling, exceptional cast, and a vibrant celebration of the human spirit.
The Color Purple started as an incredibly important book, and back in the ’80s, it was turned into an equally-as-meaningful movie. Years later, it found its way to Broadway as a musical (winning a Tony during its revival). Now, the musical version of the story is a movie once again.
Some will be unhappy to see that a large portion of the lesbian love story — which made this tale of particular interest to the LGBTQ community — has been removed from this version, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth seeing. For more of that, check out the other version of The Color Purple.
Before you head to theaters to see the film, let’s delve into everything you need to know.
What Is The Color Purple About?
The Color Purple is a poignant and emotionally charged tale that focuses on the life of Celie, an African American woman in the early twentieth century who has to endure incredible suffering, but who also finds love and happiness in unexpected places and ways.
Adapted from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the story unfolds against a backdrop of racial and gender inequality, chronicling Celie’s journey from oppression to empowerment. With themes of sisterhood, love, and the enduring strength of the human spirit, The Color Purple is a timeless narrative that continues to resonate with audiences worldwide — and even find new people to reach as it continues to be adapted in new ways.
Who Are The Stars Of The Color Purple?
Leading the ensemble is the incomparable Fantasia Barrino, one of the former winners of American Idol. The Grammy-winning singer takes on the main role of Celie, and she does so beautifully. Alongside Barrino, the film also stars Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., and even the Little Mermaid herself, Halle Bailey.
When Is The Color Purple’s Release Date?
The musical film The Color Purple will officially be released to theaters nationwide on Christmas Day — December 25, 2023.
Where Is The Color Purple Streaming?
Since The Color Purple hasn’t even been released to theaters just yet, it doesn’t have a home on any streaming platform. Warner Bros. is the distributor, so chances are good it will land on HBO and Max.
Steven Spielberg’s 1985 movie is currently streaming on Max, and is available for purchase or rental through Vudu, iTunes, Google Play, and Amazon.
Who Worked On The Color Purple?
The Color Purple was directed by the brilliant Blitz Bazawule, a Ghanaian talent who is very much on the rise in Hollywood. He is perhaps best known for directing Beyoncé’s Black Is King, for which he earned a Grammy nomination.
The movie was produced by some of the top heavyweights in the entertainment industry, including Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones — many of whom were involved in the original film as well. The movie’s screenplay was penned by Marcus Gardley.
In 2015, it all seemed to be a novel concept. That's the year Jordan Harrison's Pulitzer Prize-nominated Marjorie Prime premiered Off-Broadway. Certainly, artificial intelligence had been developed, but in the ten years since, its sophistication and abilities have reached levels that are both beneficial and ethically questionable. Now, the piece has returned, this time on Broadway.
The use of AI rests at the center of Harrison's drama about Marjorie (June Squibb), an octogenarian who lives with her daughter, Tess (Cynthia Nixon), and her son-in-law Jon (Danny Burstein). Christopher Lowell rounds out the cast as Walter, a computerized version of Marjorie's deceased husband, known as a "Prime." With short-term memory loss and slight dementia plaguing Marjorie, the robotic form of her late spouse reappears in his thirties and relays information provided to him by Jon and Tess.
Jacob Dickey doesn't have a to-do list of musical roles. But if he did have a to-do list, he says, "I feel like Sky Masterson would definitely be on that to-do list."
Good thing, then, that he's currently starring as Sky Masterson in the Shakespeare Theatre's vibrant new production of Guys and Dolls, directed by the Washington National Opera's Francesca Zambello.
Romping through Runyonland alongside Rob Coletti as fellow gambler Nathan Detroit, Julie Benko as missionary Sarah Brown, and Hayley Podschun as saucy showgirl Miss Adelaide, Dickey cuts a dashing figure in a role he's practically been preparing for since before his voice changed.
Douglas Sills loves to laugh. It's a big laugh, hearty and life-affirming. And it -- along with a warm, impossibly broad smile -- blankets a conversation with him in warmth and comfort. The laugh bursts forth at unexpected moments, such as when the actor, known for stints on Broadway and as French chef (revealed to be a Kansas cook) Monsieur Baudin on HBO's The Gilded Age, is asked if he has ever been part of a play that's gone terribly wrong.
"I don't have a disaster in my head offhand," he grins. "Do I? I don't. Maybe it's because you go to work every day for months and you're pouring your heart and soul into it, you're there for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours, and you're giving up everything to do it, and it's not a high-paying thing. And so you drink the Kool-Aid -- you have to. And so maybe that's why it doesn't feel like a disaster to me." He pauses. "But I've seen some disasters."
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