This will surprise those who know how many movies I see, but I have never seen the movie, The Color Purple. I know, right? (But to be fair, that was a great movie long before I sought out great movies. And now that I know more about the story, I can admit that I missed out.) I have not even read the book. But I love theater and musicals and especially local productions, so when a friend asked me to join her at this local production, I was happy to go and to finally learn about this story.
We saw this play, a musical, as produced by our local Stage Aurora Theatrical Company. The cast has so much great talent. Some of the voices boom and carry and fill the space. Unfortunately, the company desperately needs a new venue. (support local arts, folks!) The seating set-up, in this nearly-empty former shopping mall, meant that I couldn’t see a lot, almost all seats on one level, that being the same level as the stage. And the actors did not always face toward the audience when delivering lines or numbers, meaning sometimes lines were lost. But the story came through. And I was entertained. And I was moved by the tale. More so, I was moved by the genuine warmth that shined in the performances.
My companion and I discussed the oddities of taking a serious subject and making it a musical. Here, we had who we dubbed the church ladies who offered comic relief, but even so, songs framed around issues of child rape and domestic violence do seem odd. But when you add some dance numbers displaying beautiful athleticism and grace, a cast that clearly cared about what they were doing, and a SOLD OUT packed house, packed to the capacity that crew members grabbed chairs from back stage and added them to the back of the room, well, you get a production that warms you on the inside, making those less-than-positive issues fade behind the illumination of the joy of the actors and of the audience, an audience that said those one-liner lines right along with those on stage.
If you’re local, do check out Stage Aurora. Granted, arrive early when you go if you want a good seat. But go. The more we support ’em, the sooner they’ll get that new space, yes?