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Last Updated: May 24th, 2006 - 09:47:39 |
New York—Like the original novel and subsequent film released more than 20 years ago, Alice Walker’s compelling narrative-turned-musical, “The Color Purple,” has drawn its share of well-wishers, supporters, critics, and fans. For survivors of sexual abuse and incest, it also served as a lightening rod for renewed focus on the novel, which delved into issues of female abuse and empowerment in the Black community.
Directed by Gary Griffin with a libretto by Marsha Norman, “The Color Purple: The Musical” actually made its world premiere at Atlanta’s Alliance Theater in the fall of 2004. It was there that producer Todd Johnson and the cast received a host of positive reviews and garnered a Suzi Bass Award, an Atlanta professional theater award, for Outstanding Production.
On Broadway, “The Color Purple” is also enhanced by its tightly woven, well-rehearsed and solid cast, which includes LaChanze in the role of Celie, Felicia P. Fields in the role of Sophia and Elisabeth Withers-Mendes playing Shug Avery. These poignant and unforgettable performances bring alive the characters in Walker’s deeply personal narrative about hope and redemption.
Donald Byrd’s inspiring choreography, Paul Tazewell’s beautiful period costumes, and John Lee Beatty’s impressive scenic design perfectly complement the musical direction of Linda Twine. In addition, the contagious, rhythmic lyrics and finger poppin’ tunes (arranged by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray) are cause enough to make anyone long for the musical score on CD.
The Color Purple is set in a deeply spiritual Southern Black community, where the church ladies, played by Kimberly Ann Harris, Virginia Ann Woodruff, and Maia Nkenge Wilson, remind audience members that “it takes a whole village to raise a child.” The story centers primarily on the life of Celie, an incest survivor whose low self-esteem and triple oppression of gender, race, and class discrimination, threatens to impede her journey to self-realization.
It is with the help of strong Black women in her community, such as Sophia and Shug, that Celie learns to resist marginalization and self-annihilation. As we hear Sophia sing “Hell No” or Shug sing “Push Da Button” (as well as other memorable songs, including “Too Beautiful for Words” and “The Color Purple”), Celie eventually learns to love the skin that she is in. She is empowered to love herself, to embrace her beautiful smile and to feel comfortable with her new-found spirituality and liberated sexuality.
No longer viewing herself as an “ugly” victim, who feared whether someone else would love her, Celie realizes that the true love she is seeking is deep inside.
Beverly Guy Sheftall, Director of the Women's Research & Resource Center at Spelman College, said she was “thrilled to be in the audience of the Broadway production of The Color Purple, especially after having seen its debut in Atlanta, Georgia.” She added that Celie's “triumphant journey toward wholeness” and Mister's redemption “are refreshing in a world that many of us today find insufferable.”
Like many of those in attendance at the Broadway production, Sheftall, who co-authored Gender Talk: The Struggle for Women’s Equality in African American Communities (Ballantine 2003), left the theater with “a renewed commitment to engage in the struggle to bring about a more humane planet for all of us.”
Aneesha Toliver, a survivor of incest who remains on the Dean’s List at Howard University, traveled all the way from Washington, D.C. to see the Broadway production of The Color Purple. Toliver said that she relates to Celie’s struggle with learning to love herself unconditionally. “I am still so far from being the spiritual Black woman I am destined to be,” she said. “But the messages that I received from The Color Purple reminded me that I am still beautiful and full of love.”
She believes that Celie’s story of triumph can help to heal other African American women who not only “see themselves in Celie,” but who are equally empowered “to confront their own past, to release the negativity that it has inflicted upon us.
“Only through confrontation can we grow beyond the pain,” she added.
Clarence Cooper, general manager of Sylvia’s (Soul Food) Restaurant in Harlem for more than twenty years, believes Walker’s universal story of hope and redemption is empowering for all genders. Cooper remembers when some men protested the film version of Walker’s novel. Cooper, who never involved himself in the protests, claims that some men protested largely because of misunderstanding and because once taboo subjects, such as childhood sexual abuse and violence against women in the African American community, was “now in front of them, in color, on the big screen.”
“We were ashamed,” said Cooper. “We closed our eyes because we didn’t want to see.” Cooper realized, however, that healing and progress cannot be made with avoidance of topics that are central to the lives of members in all of our communities.
“Taboo subjects have always been there,” says Cooper. “It’s here now, and it will probably continue to be here unless we embrace it and say, ‘We must do something about it. We must change.”
Carole Beaubien Gregory, professor of English at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, agrees that Walker’s womanist narrative, which focuses on the development and empowerment of both African American women and men) can serve as a necessary, healing ingredient for the entire world.
“I would say, ‘Teach the truth,’” said Gregory. “Teach tolerance of each other. Teach revolutionary concepts for the liberation of African-American people." Certainly, when any individual learns to love self unconditionally in the face of insurmountable oppression, this, in itself, is a revolutionary act.
“The African American woman has stood her ground,” said Cooper. “She has established her perimeter and contributed a great deal. For women to embrace this . . . about themselves . . . [about surviving childhood sexual abuse] . . . it's a huge step. Not just for the African American society, but for all societies. The big step,” Cooper added, “is that women are coming forth and saying, ‘I was a victim, but I’m going on about my life.’ And that’s a beautiful thing.”
A beautiful thing indeed, especially for survivors like Celie who, despite her hardship or economic situation, lives to tell her story—in her own words. During the era in which Celie lived (and even during the time that Walker published her third narrative), there were few resources available to Black women who were survivors of rape, childhood sexual abuse, or domestic violence. Oprah Winfrey, supervising producer and major promoter of The Color Purple, who originated the role of “Sophia” in the landmark film, testified to this fact on her top-rated television show. Winfrey, a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, fell in love with Walker’s narrative when she first read it in 1982.
“Twenty years later,” says Winfrey, “I’m blessed to be a part of the team presenting The Color Purple on the Broadway stage—it’s a full circle moment in my life. It makes me so very proud to know that it will reach a whole new generation and an even wider audience.”
With the publication of novels like Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (and even a long list of slave narratives published before these noteworthy poets and authors), readers have been provided with real life snapshots of their own history; mirrors of themselves—not only on the printed page, but also on the world stage. Stories like those featured in Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple” remind us that we are each part of a fierce legacy of struggle and culture of resistance.
Jamie Walker, Ph.D., is a freelance journalist whose first book, 101 Ways Black Women Can Learn to Love Themselves (Xlibris 2002), was inspired by Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple. She can be reached at jamiedwalker@yahoo.com or through her website www.jamiewalker.org
© Copyright 2006 SeeingBlack.com
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