While global audiences are waiting for prolific creators to write brand new content in the areas of motion pictures, streaming and television mediums. Hollywood is busy reviving, recycling and adapting bodies of work conceived some decades ago. The upcoming release on December 25 of “The Color Purple” is a confirmation of that current trend.
This time is the turn of Alice Walker’s 1992 novel, first adapted for film in 1995, then embraced by Marsha Norman who created a Broadway Musical as a result of the film inspiration.
Movie and theater aficionados my wonder: What else is left to do with Walker’s Pulitzer Prize novel? Which angle is left to explore of Celine’s journey from teenager to womanhood? Which psychological take on the protagonist’s trauma was left to unravel that the movie or the musical forgot to delve in?
Apparently there is a need for a merge of a very transited road by the the home of the Tony’s and the mecca of the talkies. Producers Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders and Quincy Jones commended Marcus Gardley with the task of rewriting a screenplay that combined the musical and filming aspects of the adaptation. The result “The Color Purple Musical Film” that is set to be released on Christmas Day, 2023.
The cast is diverse in artistic background, musical experience and accolades. Former 2004 American Idol winner and Grammy Award recipient Fantasia Barrino, will embody Celine Harris-Johnson, the protagonist of the musical set in the 1900’s. Vocal talent is nothing short of extraordinary, in this film when in addition to Ms. Barrino’s singing chops, we count with the presence of the multi grammy award Jon Batiste lending his soul and expertise while young sensation touring artist H.E.R. and R&B darling dip her toes on musical theater film.
Taraji P. Henson will portray Shug Avery, a larger than life singer that is a constant in Celine’s life. This roster alone is enough to secure a solid box office opening weekend, but the studios wanted to ensure the Gen Z attendance recruiting Halle Bailey (“The Little Mermaid”) as young Nettie to close with a golden curtain a film that possessed a string of gifted vocalists aim to move spiritually and consciously the soul of the moviegoers.
