Well…I’ve waited a year for this…tonight The Color Purple began Previews on Broadway.
The show officially opens on December first (they have a month to works the kinks out in front of an audience), but the audience was still star-studded. I walked in just behind the show’s songwriters and producers as well as several Broadway show people, including Billy Porter.
The show was remarkable. It has been changed quite a bit since I saw it in Atlanta (5 times!) but the heart of the show remains strong. There were several things I really missed from the Atlanta production, but I could see why they’d been cut to make the show more concise. There were several new moments in the show that I was glad to see added.
The show is really powerful and it got a strong, positive reaction from the audience. I caught myself studying the show several times…instead of just enjoying it. I feel very close to the novel and film…so it’s hard for me to always embrace the story in another form. This show is really wonderful and I think it has a great chance of being embraced by New York audiences. By the end of the show the audience was on its feet. They were clapping, singing, jumping up and town, crying…the whole building was moved by being witness to the show. There’s nothing else like it on Broadway.
I desperately want to go to the Opening Night performance but tickets are impossible to get. Every seat is by invitation only…that didn’t stop me from writing Oprah herself. I haven’t heard back, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. I don’t mind paying for one…I just got to find one.
Visit: www.colorpuple.com
