‘The Color Purple,’ the musical, comes to Star Theatre on Jan. 22
By Bob Kostanczuk Post-Tribune correspondent January 18, 2012 2:24PM
Dayna Jarae Dantzler stars as Celie in "The Color Purple" at the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville, Ind. | Photo Provided
If you go
What: “The Color Purple”
Where: Star Plaza Theatre, U.S. 30 and Interstate 65, Merrillville
When: 7 p.m. Jan. 22
Tickets: $45
More details: www.starplazatheatre.com
Special note: Additional information
on this musical can be found at
www.colorpurple.com.
Article Extras
Updated: February 21, 2012 8:14AM
From book to movie to musical, “The Color Purple” has delivered a powerful story of heartbreaking struggle and, at the same time, triumph over hardship.
The musical version is coming to the Star Plaza Theatre in Merrillville at 7 p.m. on Jan. 22, courtesy of a national tour that will find 25-year-old James Johnson in the role of Adam.
As Johnson sees it, “The Color Purple” is an important stage production.
“I feel like it has a really good message behind it,” said Johnson, a Chicago resident. “That’s the importance to me — the message that’s behind it of really, like, self-love and finding yourself and faith, hope, trust.”
According to the Star Plaza Theatre’s website, the stage production is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the 1985 movie directed by Steven Spielberg. That film adaptation of “The Color Purple” featured Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Oprah Winfrey.
Johnson, who also dances in “The Color Purple,” feels the production he is touring with is “first and foremost” based on Walker’s book.
Promotional material for the musical describes it as an “inspiring story of a woman named Celie who finds her unique voice in the world.”
Johnson’s role in the production has close ties to the story’s central character.
“Adam is Celie’s second-born child,” related Johnson, who has showed off his dancing prowess with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas.
His current undertaking has roots as a Broadway hit: “The Color Purple” managed to snare 11 Tony Award nominations.
Additionally, “The Color Purple” boasts a Grammy-nominated score. The tale is told with a score utilizing blues, jazz, ragtime and gospel sounds.
The website for the theatrical tour alludes to the observation of author Lise Funderburg that musical theater was tackling a weighty story line when it decided to convert Walker’s rural South-based novel into a Broadway show.
That story arc, according to Funderburg, covered the “issues of infanticide, domestic violence, racial oppression and spiritual crisis.”
Funderburg wrote a companion book for the stage show titled “The Color Purple: A Memory Book of the Broadway Musical.”
It points out the production’s strengths and its journey to a theatrical reality in a loving scrapbook style.
Johnson thinks the musical traipses across “joy, courage, hope, love, faith.”
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