After I saw the UK debut of The
Color Purple in
London’s Menier Chocolate Factory in
the Summer of 2013, where it was justifiably selling out, I wrote this:
“Director John
Doyle has re-imagined, and with the
authors, somewhat rethought and restructured the musical, to transform
something that, [in its original Broadway production], struck me as decent
enough (but not better than that), to something truly extraordinary. The epic
story of a young girl’s coming of age and triumphing from a background of abuse
and despair has bridged the gap between efficient to elegant, in a
staging—surrounded by the audience on three sides of a small, intimate
theatre—that newly particularizes the characters and strips away almost
everything physical, save for costumes, which are explicit (if economical) and
a number of bleached wood chairs that travel from the back wall, where they are
hung, to the stage for use, and back again. The stage and back wall are
bleached wood too. And with minor exception, props are pantomimed. Add an
across-the-board exemplary cast, brisk new orchestrations for a small band and
an energy generated in the audience that has Brits responding with the
shameless abandon of…well, Yanks…and you have one of the Summer’s most
unexpected treasures.”
I’m
happy to report that it has lost absolutely nothing in the transfer, not in its
design being reconfigured from a thrust-stage in a small theatre to a
proscenium Broadway house, nor in the near-total recasting of all roles except
the lead (Cynthia Ervio). It’s an
outstanding production, a cathartic experience and a serious object-lesson in
the transformatuions that can be made when material connects to a director who
has exactly the right sensibility to bring it all the way home.
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