It’s been said that all good stories are about a transformation. And what’s happened to Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, “The Color Purple,” is indeed a very interesting transformation.
This Pulitzer- and National Book Award-winning novel with a rare narrator’s voice — its story is told in letters written in Black rural southern vernacular — seemed unlikely to be adapted into a film. Until director Steven Spielberg did just that in 1985.
But even those who only knew “The Color Purple” from the film might have been confounded by the notion of adapting it into a stage musical. A tale of a teenage girl who becomes pregnant by her father, has her children taken from her and is forced into an abusive marriage isn’t your typical fodder for a musical. Nevertheless, songsmiths Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray made a Broadway hit of it in 2005, finding similar success when it was revived in 2015.
Yet it’s hard to imagine a more exhilarating take on “The Color Purple” than what Theater Latte Da is currently presenting at Northeast Minneapolis’ Ritz Theater. Under the direction of Daniel J. Bryant, it deftly delivers what has become Latte Da’s trademark: Musical theater made intimate, taking pieces built to be belted to the back of big Broadway theaters and presenting them in a 233-seat house, providing insight and attention to detail that the big halls can’t bring you.
And you can consider this the consummate triumph of the many transformations undergone by “The Color Purple,” for it’s a simply excellent production, each character carefully crafted, every song presented with passion and impeccable vocal artistry. Add the spirit with which music director Sanford Moore and a five-piece band suffuse the score, and the imagination brought to Heather Beal’s choreography, Eli Sherlock’s set and Jarrod Barnes’ costumes, and this staging emerges as triumphant as its against-all-odds protagonist.
That would be Celie, the aforementioned victim of incest and abuse who undergoes one of the most exhilarating transformations in modern musical theater. And what a memorable character she becomes in the hands of Nubia Monks. Fresh from stealing the show in Penumbra Theatre’s “Wine in the Wilderness,” Monks offers a tour de force performance in this production. She not only underlines her expert acting skills but proves a virtual virtuoso in the vocal department, whether breaking hearts with the tender “Somebody Gonna Love You” or raising the roof with the power ballad of self-realization, “I’m Here.”
She’s complemented quite well by Angela Wildflower as Shug Avery, a barroom blues belter who becomes Celie’s first love and one of her role models for assertiveness. Their duet on “What About Love?” is lovely. Also providing inspiring pushback in a show that could fall victim to, well, too much victimhood is Carnetha Anthony as the strong-willed Sofia who joins Celie’s family, paired well with Ronnie Allen as her overmatched but sweet-voiced husband.
The villainous Mister is brought to daunting life by David L. Murray Jr., while a trio of church ladies acts as something of a gospel-infused Greek chorus, Lynnea Doublette a standout among them with her soaring high notes and comedic skills.
But everyone in the cast of 13 is worthy of praise, and the chemistry among them is as inspiring as the story they present.
If you go
What: Theater Latte Da’s ‘The Color Purple’
When: Through May 5
Where: Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Mpls.
Tickets: $75-$15, available at 612-339-3003 or latteda.org
Capsule: Inspiring and expertly executed.
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