THEATER: 'The Color Purple' Lights Up the Stage

Characters make you laugh and cry during the Broadway Across America tour of Oprah Winfrey Presents 'The Color Purple, The Musical About Love' at the Carr Performing Arts Centre last night. The moving musical is based on Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about female African-American life in 1930s rural Georgia, hope and the healing power of love. The book was later adapted into the 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg starring Whoopi Goldberg (Celie), Oprah Winfrey (Sofia) and Danny Glover (Albert).

The production's musical score features jazz, blues, ragtime and gospel numbers. The costuming showcases the classes of society of the time period with women wearing long dresses or skirts and hats into town or when going to church and men wearing their Sunday best while field and farm workers are portrayed as wearing old, hand-me-down-looking attire. The rolling stage sets also feature farm houses and furnishing upgrades and style changes throughout the decades.

The musical is about the trials and tribulations of Celie, a woman who bore two children from her father by the age of 14 and is married off to a mean widower nicknamed Mister or 'Big Dog,' who we later find out his actual name is Albert. Celie continuously prays to God for a better life and questions him from time-to-time throughout the story.

Celie and her younger sister Nettie are very close and become separated after Celie becomes Mister's wife. Mister doesn't allow the sisters to see each other after his advances for Nettie aren't reciprocated. Nettie promises to write but Celie never receives the letters and worries that her sister is dead.

Sofia and the three gossiping church ladies bring comic relief to the production and were a riot, causing the audience to hoot and holler whenever they appeared on stage. Sofia and Mister's son Harpo fall in love and their chemistry, including sexually, is felt throughout the piece. She becomes pregnant and the couple marries. Sofia is renowned for not putting up with bullying men and sticks to her motto, 'Hell, no!' Her and Harpo's marriage becomes rocky and she later leaves for greener pasture.

The musical heats up when sexy, big-city singer Shug Avery returns to town and recuperates from exhaustion at Mister's home. Her and Celie develop a special relationship and become everlasting friends. Shug gets her groove back and puts on a snazzy red and gold dress and red feather hair piece and performs at Harpo's juke joint hidden in the woods before going back on the road.

The production features season three 'American Idol' contestant La Toya London as Nettie. Her limited time on stage shines both in acting and song. Kenita R. Miller portrays Celie and demonstrates the low points in the character's life to the fullest and her heartache is felt even more with her powerful voice. Felicia P. Fields (Sofia) is a real dynamo on stage through the good and bad times of her character's life. Angela Robinson (Shug Avery) and her sex appeal and voice turn heads even into her older years. Rufus Bonds Jr. (Mister) gets under your skin throughout the show but also makes you feel sorry for him. Stu James (Harpo) electrifies the stage with Fields by his side. Miller, Fields and Robinson also performed the same roles in the original Broadway production. 

The cast ate appetizers and sipped wine while hanging out with theater fans following their performance during an after party at 310 Lakeside in downtown Orlando. The crowd cheered and clapped when Miller and London entered the restaurant. The duo chatted and hung out on the outdoor patio before calling it a night. 

Besides the stars, one of the highlights during the cast party was Florida Theatrical Association board member Paula Wayne's birthday celebration. Wayne is a retired Broadway and TV actress and was renowned for performing with Sammy Davis Jr. on Broadway in the 'Golden Boy' in 1964 where she was almost shot one night because of racial prejudice after one of the shows.

'The Color Purple, The Musical About Love' is filled with a lot of heart and features a believable cast that gives their all during the show. Find out for yourself during the musical's run through Sunday November 8 with weeknight and Saturday evening performances at 8 p.m., a Saturday matinee at 2 p.m., a Sunday matinee at 1 p.m. and a Sunday night show at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $38-$73. The cast is also collecting donations following each performance to benefit the St. Bernard Project, an organization dedicated to assisting Hurricane Katrina survivors in New Orleans, La.