REVIEW: ‘Color Purple’ paints portrait of sorrow, triumph

CEDAR RAPIDS — “The Color Purple” is perfection.

Revival Theatre Company always stages Broadway-quality performances right here in Cedar Rapids, and the 2015 Tony-winning revision of the 2005 Tony-winning musical is onstage through June 19 at CSPS Hall.

Do not miss your opportunity to see this stellar production, which opened to a full house Friday night. Following our lead, be prepared to laugh, cry, gasp and clap through and through when the women in this show put the abusive men in their place.

You may even whoop and shout amen, so wear your Sunday clothes, because this show will take you to church.

Revival co-founders and directors Brian Glick and Cameron Sullenberger describe this version as a “stripped down” telling of the tale based on Alice Walker’s 1983 Pulitzer Prize-winning book and Steven Spielberg’s 1985 Oscar-nominated film.

That’s “stripped down” in concept only, unless you consider that CSPS will have to repaint the hall after the 15 Black actors with powerhouse voices finish stripping the walls down to the plaster.

The directing duo chose CSPS Hall, which seats 250, to allow audiences to feel closer to the action than in a larger space. And Glick, who wears two hats as artistic director and scenic designer, has envisioned an environment in which coarse, horizontal wood planks envelop the action, leaving gaps that allow Sullenberger’s orchestra sounds to shoot through like sunlight in the darkness of the story.

Treashana Baker has returned to Cedar Rapids from Little Rock, Ark., for the show. She is an absolute treasure in the lead role of Celie, moving her through 40 years of abuse that strips her of love until she finally finds her voice.

And what a voice it is. Baker waxes tender, jubilant, heartbroken, downtrodden, untrusting and triumphant — with equal aplomb. We see it in her posture as surely as we hear it in her voice.

We meet Celie in her youth as she plays a clapping song with her beloved sister, Nettie (Precious Kimbrough). In the next scene Celie’s youth is further stripped away, as at age 14, she gives birth to her second child by her father.

The horror of this moment is tempered by the delightful Church Ladies, flinging advice and judgment that bounce off the rafters throughout the show. They are the Greek chorus saying what everyone else is thinking, letting loose with equal abandon when they get their groove on at the new juke joint in the woods.

Everyone turns in outstanding, memorable performances. The harmonies and glee between Baker and Kimbrough cut straight to the soul.

Frederick Webb plunges Celie’s husband, Mister, to the depths of soul-crushing cruelty, rising to a sincere redemption that helps weave together all the loose threads for a triumphant ending. Alawana Mallory gives Squeak an adorable bounce that makes viewers look forward to her every scene.

Erica Faye, a Memphis native living in Cedar Rapids nearly two decades, is the area’s best-kept secret. She gives a towering performance as Sofia, who grew up fighting all the men in her family, and is now the only one willing to stand up to the men who want to walk all over the women in their world. When her body and soul are shattered in jail, the result is heart-wrenching, and when she’s awakened, everyone cheers.

Alicia Monee, well-known in Cedar Rapids theater and music scenes, including her vocal lead with the FunkDaddies, is nothing short of dynamite as jazz singer Shug Avery. As Mister’s longtime lover, she sings at his son’s juke joint, stirring up everyone — even the Church Ladies — and bringing down the house with the roof-raising “Push Da Button.” She also stirs love all but beaten out of Celie’s heart, showing her the path to finding her power.

With Glick’s masterful direction and Sullenberger’s insightful music direction, a special shoutout goes to Mike Weaver, an award-winning choreographer based in Chicago. Not only can he move the cast superbly through styles ranging from jazz to gospel, he adds exciting visual punch to the way chairs turn from seating to farm tools and menacing obstacles. And when the action moves to Africa, yards of brightly patterned fabric become canopies through which the action weaves.

The opening night audience members leapt to their feet before the action ended, sharing in the glory of Celie’s journey from innocent sister love to soul-crushing heartache and at long last, the declaration of her independence in “I’m Here.”

“The Color Purple” is a story for the ages, extolling lessons in sorrow and redemption coursing through the purest of hearts.

Comments: (319) 368-8508; diana.nollen@thegazette.com