The Color Purple

I should be writing a paper right now on how the brain relates to juggling. You read that right. Instead, I went to my village, Sitolo, on joinmyvillage.com and unlocked my donation for the day. And now I'm working on this instead.

One of my friends had free tickets for The Color Purple yesterday. When I heard free tickets, I pictured the seats for the opera I went to free: I should have brought binoculars. Or the half price deal for the ballet: Not quite binocular seating, but close.

Then we found our seats yesterday, and I sat there with my mouth open for probably two minutes. They were literally about 7 rows back, and not far from center. It was amazing, as was the whole play.

I went in wondering what Alice Walker would think about making The Color Purple into a musical. Before we go any further, Alice Walker DOES have something to do with Jane Austen. Alice Walker, Jane Austen, Gloria Steinem: these are all members of my personal pantheon of goddesses...I mean, cool women to admire. Yeah, that's it.

Oh, and any mention of John Cusack from here on out is acceptable, too. He stars in my favorite movie, which has not yet been made. It is a Jane Austen modern redux (think Clueless, Bridget Jones) starring John Cusack.

So back to the play. The actor playing Celie could show her character's character with minimal effort, like the awkward swing of a hip when trying to dance. The actor playing Sofia was brilliant, and I would have to say almost larger than life. The comedic and musical elements smoothed some of the more depressing moments I remember from the movie, and there was some mad talent involved in bringing this book/movie to the stage. The who's who in the playbill is a who's who of the dancing and acting world in general.

The only issue I had was the African dance right after intermission. Maybe I was just tired of sitting there for the last 15 minutes, maybe my knees hurt, maybe I needed my afternoon nap. But there was just something off. I know it's simply an interpretation of what an African dance looks like, adapted for the stage. But somehow I doubt that a front handspring by an African male wearing a purple thong is even close to authentic.

Overall, I'm sure Ms. Walker is not disappointed. And it left me looking for my copy of The Color Purple to reread, since it's been years. But I seem to have checked it out when I read it, since there is no copy among all those books cluttering my place. So it's on my reading list. Again.