The Color Purple The Musical At The Mayflower Theatre Review

Reviewed by Jane Warwick

Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel published in 1982, The Color Purple tells the story of a poor, African American girl in the deep south of America over a period of almost 40 years. It contains many harrowing themes including rape, incest, and domestic violence but it is essentially a coming-of-age story which celebrates the power of the human spirit in overcoming adversity. It contains many topical themes, and its celebration of female emancipation clearly resonates with modern audiences as demonstrated by the enthusiastic standing ovation given by the audience at The Mayflower last night.

Me’sha Bryan is a tour-de-force as the lead character, Celie, and is on stage for almost all the production. She expertly develops her character from the young, down-trodden child to the strong, confidant woman both in the way she looks, dresses, moves and in the way she sings- culminating in the life-affirming ‘I’m Here’. She is ably supported by a strong female cast which had a number of changes from the advertised actors. Her sister Nettie was played convincingly by Aaliyah Zhane and Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah played a spirited Shug Avery. Anelisa Lamola was excellent as the strong willed Sofia.. Due to an unforeseen occurrence, the role of Squeak was played by Jimand Allotey in Act 1 and Monifa James in Act 2. Such an unplanned change part way through a performance is not easy but it is a testament to the professionalism of the cast that it was handled so smoothly.

The casting of the male roles is more problematic as the key characters including Celie’s father, her husband (Mister) and Mister’s son Harpo are deeply unpleasant rapists and wife beaters. Nevertheless, their roles were played well and Ako Mitchell (Mister) helped us understand how his behaviour had been learnt from his father and the actions of all those around him.

The whole ensemble deserves a mention for their lively energetic dancing and the overall standard of choreography by Mark Smith was of the highest standard.

The storyline is told through its songs and there are 30 of these in a variety of styles including Gospel, Grassroots, Blues and Soul. As the songs are so important to the understanding of the narrative of the musical, it is essential that they are clearly heard and understood and this was a problem for this reviewer. Unfortunately, without prior knowledge of the script, many of the songs were not fully appreciated and this detracted from a complete understanding of the nuances of the storyline.

Alex Lowde’s set design was excellent. It was very simple and sparse but combined with the use of skilful lighting it enabled both the passage of time (almost 40 years) and a wide variety of venues including a church, store, home, nightclub and African village. I particularly liked the fact you knew you were in the general store by the awning outside the window with the words General Store seen from the back, “erotS lareneG”!

This powerful musical with book by Marsha Norman and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray and co-production by Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome. is showing at The Mayflower until October 29TH.

Rating: 3.5/5

Tickets range from £19.50 to £44.50

Color Purple the musical is showing at The Mayflower, Southampton from now until October 29th.
For more information or to go to book tickets visit https://www.mayflower.org.uk/whats-on/color-purple-2022/ or call the box office on 02380 711811.

Address of the theatre: 22-26 Commercial Rd, Southampton SO15 1GE