The Color Purple

Critiqued by Holly Bartges

January 13, 2009

I read the book. I saw the movie. There wasn’t much to laugh about in either. When did the Color Purple become a comedy?

THE COLOR PURPLE / First National Tour "Shug Avery Comin to Town" Photo: Paul Kolnik.

Oprah Winfrey’s The Color Purple opened at the Buell Theatre a week ago, and it was looked forward to with great expectations. Within minutes into the production I was horrified and appalled at the comedic routines following quickly on the heels of comedic routines. One laugh barely died down when another broke out with a roar. My heart settled uncomfortably on the floor, and my stomach flipped every time a sniggle broke out.

For the most part, individual performances came off stunningly, but I was horrified over the comedic emphasis on Negro stereotypes.  Adding acid to burned fingers. The comedy pointed toward the “Aren’t I funny? Syndrome?” The answer to that is always a resounding “No”. A good part of the production played directly to the audience instead of characters interacting with characters. When an actor acknowledges appreciated laughter to the audience, characterizations shatter revealing an actor saying thank you, and the “could be” funny turns sour. In The Color Purple, the original story, there is no room for “Could be Funny”.

This production of The Color Purple put the Civil Rights Movement back a hundred years.   Adding insult to injury, Opening Night featured three Understudies for three of the top leading roles. Consequently the press saw a production that undoubtedly no one else saw or will see.

Phyre Hawkins stepped in for Jeannette Bayardelle in the role of Celie. Anika Ellis stepped in for Angela Robinson for the role of Shug Avery, and LaTrisa A. Harper stepped in to cover LaToya London for the role of Nettie.  No question these are talented actors, but Understudies are Understudies no matter how it is calculated. Yes, there are times when an Understudy can and does outshine the prime actor. Not knowing the truth is most difficult.

I cannot, no matter how hard I try, wrap my mind around the fact that everyone who had anything whatsoever to do with this production would have anything to do with this production if they knew the story, the way it was originally written by Alice Walker. What on earth did they do to Walker to convince her the way to go was through comedy? Did the producers, and director think no one could take the brutality of the story? Ragtime isn’t a Sunday afternoon walk in the park, throwing bread to the ducks, and it’s still grabbing attention. Brutality prances across our television programs every day of the year either through the News broadcasts or shows, as well as computer games. Some scream about the brutality, but it still goes on because the ratings beg for it. I read somewhere some thought the movie wasn’t a success because it only garnered 11 Oscar nominations, but no wins. That’s a pretty sad commentary. 11 Oscar nominations is nothing to sneeze at. Yes, Danny Glover made us shiver in our seats, but what a powerful film about a part of our culture most of us never knew existed. And the stage production becomes a comedy? It doesn’t matter how grand the actors are, how strong the orchestra is, how memorable some moments may be, how stunning the direction, out of place comedy over rides everything.

In this production Mister played by Rufus Bond, Jr. comes across as a relatively nice man. Yes, a little gruff around the edges in Act I expecting his young wife, Celie to be a glorified maid, always reminding her how ugly she is, but in Georgia during the years 1909-1949, most negro men didn’t know there was another way to behave. Without any sense of transformation taking place, Mister becomes a nice guy, a really nice guy, vying as a heroic lifesaver in Act II.

Although Act I sported one laugh after another, and Act II turned slightly more serious, it came across as sickly sweet. Celie warms to Mister far too quickly. The first encounter she ignores him. The second she begins talking to him as though nothing ever happened. Oh, yes, she lets him have it because of his insidious bullying behavior in hiding Nettie’s letters from her, but by then the timing, the comedy, the show had been already ruined.

THE COLOR PURPLE / First National Tour: Push Da Button featuring Rufus Bonds, Jr. (Mister) and Angela Robinson (Shug Avery) Photo: Paul Kolnik.

After several years of marriage, in conversation with Mister’s harlot, Shug, Celie learns his first name is Albert, and the audience practically laughed themselves silly. That’s funny because? Strange to us, in our time, place, and climate, but commonplace then, speaking to the place of women, which is no laughing matter. Not then. Not now considering the amount of domestic abuse that goes on and the number of Safe Houses that have to exist because of it.  Some things just don’t change very quickly. Writing some things off with a laugh certainly doesn’t help matters.

There were moments that indeed slid into this production that touched the heart. The difference between Shug’s first meeting with Celie and the compassion that grew between the two. I hand it to Ellis for a strong performance. The cohesiveness between her and Hawkins sealed honest cohesiveness between Shug and Celie. However, the expectation of “show-off comedy” that fell over itself during Act I had laid too much groundwork to allow much caring for these characters.

Felicia P. Fields proved herself to be a stunning actor in Sophia’s persona. She runs the gambit from strong, flippant, dazzling, and compassionate.  Daring any man to take her on because of her size, working through the brokenness of jail and beatings. Fields had some great moments, but turning the drinking of a glass of water into a comedic enterprise, was completely out of focus. No small feat bending over backwards while drinking a glass of water without stopping, but inappropriate for this story, inappropriate to turn to the audience for recognition for the laughter, inappropriate to stop the show breaking the momentum.

It was obvious the show was in trouble when the Church Soloist and Church Ladies, Carol Dennis, Kimberly Ann Harris as Doris, Virginia Ann Woodruff as Darlene, and Lynette Dupree as Jarene went overboard with their song Mysterious Ways making a mockery of Church Ladies. The Sound system didn’t do them any favors with resounding squeaks and squawks singing in a key not “listener friendly”.

For the most part the set designed by John Lee Beatty serves the show well. Nothing spectacular, but it does move the scenes along, except for the trees, big black trees that looked like oversized copies of black French lace stood out like a seriously hammered thumb. Black lace trees didn’t belong in Alabama in the early 1900’s and completely out of character for the set.

The Color Purple follows two sisters, Celie and Nettie from the time they are small into adult life. Life was cruel to them in the beginning. Consequently, a strong bond created a deep friendship. Nettie the pretty one, Celie the ugly one, but this didn’t affect their relationship. Their Pa (Quenton Earl Darrington) played rough with them, but not so rough without soliciting some laugh-out-loud moments on his own. It did come across Celie and Nettie had no one but each other, and when circumstances separated them, and Mister hid Nettie’s letters from Celie, there was time for heartbreak, not laughter.

In Act II, the African sequence with dance and song African Homeland would be cause enough for Africa to resign from the United Nations. It could have been spectacular wedding the two distinct cultures with African drums and dance in the reuniting of Celie and Nettie. Instead, with atrocious gaudy costumes and comedic moves classified as dance, made me itch to write to Africa, apologizing for the insensitive-making-fun-of-appalling apparition.

Is this what theatre goers see on Broadway? If individuals haven’t read the book or experienced the gripping movie, and know nothing about the story except the play is being raved and raved about, perhaps I can understand the laughter, but for those in the know, for those perpetuating the comedy, for those perpetuating long ago stamped out stereotypical caricatures, I am simply horrified and appalled, especially on the heels of the perfected production of Jersey Boys.  There isn’t much left to say. I can but hope those who never read the book or witnessed the movie will take the time to visit the library check out the book and rent the DVD. You’ll shudder. You’ll cry, but you’ll understand why comedy, no matter how well executed, doesn’t belong in this exceptionally important slice of history that flourished in our Country in the early 1900’s. We pride ourselves on Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, but it didn’t happen overnight as proven by the need for the Civil Rights Act, as proven by the prejudice that still exists, under cover, but it exists.

The Color Purple
By: Novel by Alice Walker; Libretto by Marsha Norman: Music/Lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray; Choreography by Donald Byrd; Directed by Gary Griffin