Angela Wildflower and Bri Woods in The Color Purple (Don Ipock)
“Things hard here. People always makin’ things worse for each other.”
Celie, the central character in The Color Purple, writes that message in a letter to her sister about halfway through the play, and it cuts right to the source of pretty much everyone’s misery. Life is hard enough as it is. But then people feel the need to make things so much worse for one another. As a poor Black girl and then woman, Celie seems to have a special target on her back, as if crushing her spirit and beating her body are the only ways the men in her life know how to make themselves feel bigger.
The musical, based on Alice Walker’s seminal 1982 novel, currently playing at KCRep, spans about 40 years. We meet Celie (Angela Wildflower) and her sister Nettie (Bri Woods) around 1910. At 14, Celie has already given birth twice. Both babies were forcibly taken from her by her father (The Black Repertory Theatre of Kansas City’s Artistic Director, Damron Russel Armstrong), who is also her rapist and the babies’ father. Soon after, Celie is sold to a man she knows only as Mister (Sinclair Freeman), who makes it clear he despises her, and her life of physical, sexual, and emotional violence continues under a different set of hands.
The musical adaptation of The Color Purple doesn’t get as dark or as gritty as Walker’s novel (it also doesn’t fully embrace the book’s deep sexuality), but there is raw anguish laid bare on the stage. The script has some pacing issues that lessen the impact of some of the play’s emotional lows and—perhaps especially—its highs. However, the punches pulled in the script are barely noticeable thanks to the stellar cast, under the direction of Daniel J. Bryant.
Wildflower (who recently portrayed Billie Holliday in KCRep’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill) is a marvel as Celie. The time jumps in the show are not clearly delineated, and Wildflower ages Celie with seamless fluidity. She mines every bit of the character’s pain—her fear, her anger, her despair—as well as her hope and her occasional moments of joy.
Eli Sherlock’s imposing set design brilliantly mirrors everything Celie experiences. Composed of simple platforms and towering wooden slats, we see how small the world makes Celie feel, and how confined. We don’t even realize how drab this world is until an unexpected location change in the second act. When the stage is suddenly flooded with color, it feels like a dam bursting.
The supporting cast is exceptional across the board as well. Algebra Blessett plays Shug Avery, a singer, Mister’s longtime mistress, and a social whirlwind. The relationship that forms between her and Celie is an awakening for the latter, both emotional and sexual. The chemistry between the two is captivating, and while their duet, “What About Love?”, is not the strongest song in the show, it’s pure tenderness—a sensation Celie has been deprived of for her entire life, and the effect is beautiful.
Bree Patterson also deserves a special shout-out among a rock-solid cast for her portrayal of Sofia, wife to Mister’s sensitive son Harpo (Sheridan). Sofia is a force of nature, standing her ground, speaking her mind, and opening Celie’s eyes to degrees of assertiveness she didn’t know were possible for women. Patterson is exceedingly charming and scene-stealingly funny, and when her tragic arc hits, Patterson is downright heartbreaking.
The Color Purple may not have the same weight as Walker’s novel, but it still hits all the big-feeling moments you’d expect from a big Broadway-style musical, and Bryant’s extraordinary cast gives the necessary weight to every one of them.
“The Color Purple” runs at the Kansas City Repertory Theatre (Spencer Theatre, 4949 Cherry St) through September 21. For more information, visit kcrep.org.
