The Color Purple (#7)

This post is a two-fer... a "book" post and a "musical theater" post... how exciting, huh?!   Given the special circumstances, you'll also have to forgive me for jumping my book queue... I still owe you book #6, but we'll get back it... I promise!  (Are those cheers or groans I am hearing off in the distance!)

I decided to read (actually re-read, but since I originally read it in the 1980s it pretty much doesn't count) Alice Walker's The Color Purple in preparation of seeing the musical again.  We had seen it on Broadway while in NYC last June and the show is currently in the middle of a two-week stint here in AZ.

I won't spend too much time talking about the book.  If you haven't read it, I am sure many folks are familiar with the film version... but I would certainly rank it as a contemporary classic.  I think published in 1982 and "in my lifetime" qualifies as contemporary.  It is a quick and easy read as the story is told via prayers to God or letters between protagonist Celie and her sister Nettie.  While the film and stage versions do their best to bring this aspect of the novel into their medium... one of the things that makes the book great is this method, which can only be achieved through reading... or perhaps even listening to the audio book (I assume there is one).   

Onto the musical... which we saw again this past Friday night.  We loved it on Broadway, so was curious to see how it would stand up on a second viewing and without the reason we saw it the first time... the "born to play the role" Fantasia as Celie. 

I am happy to report it stood up just fine as it was quite a good cast... often with these touring productions we get C-listers at best... but not so here... as Celie, Jeannette Bayardelle understudied the role on Broadway.... the original Broadway Sofia, Felicia Fields was quite the crowd pleaser... and the show boasted two household-ish names... LaToya London as Nettie (one of my faves from Season 3 of American Idol) and Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child as Shug Avery.  For us, Bayardelle was in an impossibly tough position of the night... there was little (or I should say... nothing) she could do in our eyes to eclipse Fantasia... but she took the role/songs in different directions and did quite a good job... but it's a pretty darn good role for anyone... even the original (pre-Fantasia) Broadway Celie, LaChanze, won the lead actress in a musical Tony.

So simply put... read the book... see the show if it comes through your town (it recently ended its Broadway run)... and if the rumored movie musical comes to be, make sure to catch that as well!

2008 1-2-3-4-5 Reading Challenge: + 287 Pages (Total: 2,560 pages - Finished: 3/10/2008)
91 pages ahead of pace (-85 change in pace since last book).