Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple became a massive hit and launched the careers of Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey in 1985. Now, the stage musical is touring the country and will arrive in Orlando and Clearwater this month.
The Tony Award-winning musical tells the story of Celie, Nettie and Shug, but follows the novel’s plot more closely than the film version—including a more detailed look at Celie and Shug’s lesbian relationship.
Still in tact are the moving scenes featuring relationships, racism, sexism and faith in God—all of which should resonate strongly with the LGBT community.
While on a tour stop in Birmingham, Ala., Kenita R. Miller, who plays “Celie” and Angela Robinson, who plays “Shug,” were eager to share their thoughts and feelings on the show and the impact it has had on their lives.
WATERMARK: Did you have any concerns presenting the relationship between these two characters so honestly on stage?
Angela Robinson: No, not at all. I think that the best thing you can ever do is to be true to what an author writes and that was what Alice Walker wrote. She was a woman far before her time because she wrote that book long before it became a movie, long before it even became popular as a novel. That is what she wrote, the relationship, so it didn’t scare me and it wasn’t off-putting to me. I wanted to do justice to what she wrote because I got it, I understood it. These two women saw things in each other that no one else saw and it is a great testament to the friendship that they had and the intimacy they shared.
Kenita R. Miller: I didn’t worry what people would think about me portraying her. People have issues and are always going to find something to have issue with, so I kind of let that go. I was more intrigued about being able to tell this woman’s story and it’s not just one-sided. I was actually very happy that the musical stuck more to the book and showed the fullness of these human beings, these people. People are not one-sided so I think if anything I was just more excited about being able to tell that.
The show deals with civil rights and basic human rights. Some people equate the plight of African-Americans with the push for LGBT equality. How do you feel about that?
AR: I can’t say that I see that similarity but I do see that it is similar in that both groups deserve basic human rights. The basic right to get married—you deserve that right. It’s a civil right so I definitely see that it’s the same fight for civil rights. In my opinion it’s just a little different because it’s the [fight for the] right to get married [today] but the civil rights movement back in the 1960s was the right to just sit on a bus, the right to be able to eat a meal in a restaurant, the right to just be considered an equal human being and to go be educated in the same schools. It was much more involved. All of it is civil rights but it was more involved than just getting married; and I shouldn’t say “just getting married” because that’s an important right and it’s a right that everyone should have.
KRM: The only similarity I see is that it’s a fight and to try to make them equal to each other belittles both fights. Both are a fight for a certain freedom, the freedom of a human being. I think they both stand on their own as being dynamic and important but they are definitely two different extremes.
When did you first become aware of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple?
AR: When I was in college I was auditioning for my first musical. I only wanted to dance at that time and they said, “No, you have to do a monologue, you have to sing a song and you have to dance.” All of that was so foreign to me so I picked up Alice Walker’s book, I read it and I chose a monologue. For my very first audition my monologue was from The Color Purple. I read that book and fell in love with the story from then on.
KRM: When I was really young it was one of those books that I got caught reading (laughs). I was young enough to where my mother was like, “You know you should not be reading that book right now, maybe later but not right now.” I read it and I loved the movie so I have quite a history with this story.
What did you think when you heard that it was going to be made into a Broadway musical?
AR: I thought they were crazy (laughs). I could not see it and I thought, “Why would they ruin such a great story?” Now when I look back on it I say, “Wow, Angela, you weren’t really thinking,” because Alice Walker’s book, her words, they have such rhythm and they really sing. Walker writes in a rhythm and in a sing-song type of way that just makes sense. I think the musical is a little clearer than the movie because there is so much more you can say through song that you really can’t say with words.
KRM: Honestly, the first time that I heard that they were going to turn it into a musical I was like, “How’s that going to work?” (Laughs) Just because it’s such a huge story and it was such a favorite story of mine, you know, it was either going to be hot or cold. I really couldn’t picture Celie singing at first but I get it now. I think that Celie had a song, too, and I guess I kind of matured in my perspective of this character where I don’t think she’s a victim. I think she’s definitely a survivor.
What is your favorite line that you never tire of saying in every show?
AR: My favorite line that I say is, “I think it piss God off if anybody even walk past the color purple in a field and not notice it.”
KRM: “I’m beautiful and I’m here.”
Do you have a favorite song?
AR: My favorite song is the one that comes right after my favorite quote and it is called “The Color Purple” and it is the theme song for the whole play. I sing it as a solo to Celie when I’m encouraging her not to give up on God and not to give up on faith.
KRM: It changes all the time depending on the day (laughs) and what mood. I guess right now I would say out of the songs that Celie sings it’s “I’m Here.” I think that Celie makes me think about myself a lot and in that song she kinds of comes into her own. I can still see areas in my life where I’m really longing to blossom in certain ways.
What: The Color Purple
Where+When: Orlando’s Bob Carr Performing Arts Center, Nov. 3-8
Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Nov. 24-29
Tickets: ColorPurple.com
