City Springs’ ‘The Color Purple’ with Black, LGBTQ Cast Is Too Beautiful For Words
“Folks don’t like nobody being too proud, or too free.”
It’s been 40 years since Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Alice Walker released her magnum opus “The Color Purple,” and since then, the critically acclaimed novel has been adapted for the screen and the Broadway stage, winning the prestigious Tony Award for Best Revival of A Musical in 2016. Now, Walker’s story is being presented to Atlanta audiences in a new production at City Springs Theatre currently running through May 22, that harnesses the brilliance of Walker’s words, the cultural shift propelled by the film, and the unrestricted celebration of the Black and queer experience on stage.
With a soul-stirring score featuring jazz, ragtime, gospel, African music, and blues, “The Color Purple” tells the story of Celie (Felicia Boswell) in early 20th century Georgia as she is subjected to and ultimately triumphs despite physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of both her father and husband, Mister (Gavin Gregory). The all-Black cast and creative team are led by Kamilah Long (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), in a rare appointment as a Black woman director of a show traditionally led by white men.
“As a leader in the room, I lead with love,” Long said in a video captured by City Springs Theatre during the first day of rehearsal. “In leadership, people like to not have professionalism and love [to] be in the same space. I don’t. I believe that empathy is another word for love. Passion is another word for love. So just know that I want to set up a very safe and brave space here for folks to be able to express their ideas,” she said.
“Sometimes you have opportunities to play roles that penetrate your soul and your spirit in such a way that it's hard to let them go. And Celie is one of those characters for me.”
- Felicia Boswell
Broadway actress Felicia Boswell (“Memphis,” “Shuffle Along”), who plays the lead role of Celie, was in the room when Long established the brave collaborative space in which she would allow her actors to soar. Boswell, along with her co-star Gavin Gregory (Porgy & Bess, The Lion King), who plays Mister, are returning to the musical after previously performing their roles regionally and on tour. For Boswell, accepting the role for a second time was an easy decision.
“Sometimes you have opportunities to play roles that penetrate your soul and your spirit in such a way that it's hard to let them go. And Celie is one of those characters for me,” Boswell said.
Despite being a powerhouse singer and actress, Boswell, who starred in the role of Celie in the 2018 Portland Center Stage production and was being considered to replace Jennifer Hudson and Heather Headley in the Broadway revival, tells The Reckoning that it took convincing quite a few people that she was right for the role.
“They basically told me, ‘Nobody's going to take you seriously as Celie. You're not the right look for Celie,’” Boswell recalls, until she read for the role, then she says everything changed.
“I went into my audition for Nettie and Timothy [Douglas] read about three or four lines with me and he said, ‘I'm sorry. You are Celie. I would like you to do a cold read.’ So, I did a cold read, and I booked Celie,” she said.
“I’m a bisexual man and I’m Black. It took me a minute to even recognize that and to come out because of the stigma. You are only doing what you've been taught unless you choose a different path. It helps me humanize Mister because there is a turnaround. I just can’t brush him off as being this evil man.”
- Gavin Gregory
Gregory’s journey with the show began as a member of the ensemble and as an understudy for the role of Harpo in the original Broadway company. He has been a part of two iterations of “The Color Purple,” including the first U.S. national tour where he also played Mister.
“It was just an incredible experience being able to be in two totally different kinds of productions. One with all the bells and whistles, which I thought was beautiful and very much needed for that kind of storytelling. And then to tell the story with just nothing but chairs was excellent too, for me, because you have nothing to hide behind,” he said.
Gregory, who identifies as bisexual, embodies the abusive character on stage famously brought to life on screen by actor Danny Glover. While it can be challenging for audiences to be forgiving of Mister, Gregory says as an actor, his job is not to judge the character.
“There is complexity and nuance to every human being. I’m a bisexual man and I’m Black. It took me a minute to even recognize that and to come out because of the stigma,” Gregory said. “You are only doing what you've been taught unless you choose a different path. It helps me humanize Mister because there is a turnaround. I just can’t brush him off as being this evil man.”
Likewise for Boswell, who says Celie’s growth throughout the story demands vulnerability and transparency from her as an actress.
“I don't concern myself with what I look like when I'm playing her,” she said. “I don't care if I'm doing an ugly cry. I don't care if my voice cracks. I think the only way that I can tell this story is in truth.”
Cast Photo (Ben Rose Photography)
Push Da Button
After decades of analysis, reviews, and outright condemnation, particularly from the Black community following the release of the 1985 film, it can be easily surmised that Walker was more concerned about revealing the truth about life for Black women under patriarchal rule than adhering to cultural respectability politics. One need not look any further than the transformational lesbian relationship between Celie and blues singer Shug Avery, played in this production by actress and LGBTQ+ ally Safiya Fredericks.
Fredericks shares one of the most tender moments ever seen between two Black queer characters on stage with Boswell in the duet “What About Love?.”
“We're just representing people that are knowing and experiencing love,” said Boswell. “And for Celie, knowing and experiencing that kind of love in a different capacity.”
“There is something incredibly liberating about playing a person who's self-possessed and knows who they are and knows what they want, and for whom sex is just a wonderful, beautiful thing that everyone should be having and enjoying.”
- Safiya Fredericks
According to Walker, Shug Avery was the only possible character that could give Celie the love she deserved.
“I looked around at all of the men that she could’ve had a relationship with, and honestly, there was not one that would have been a healing relationship for her because they couldn’t see her,” she said. “All of those incredible beautiful qualities that she had—not a man that I could see in the story could affirm—it would have just been absurd. You wouldn’t have believed it.”
“There is something incredibly liberating about playing a person who's self-possessed and knows who they are and knows what they want, and for whom sex is just a wonderful, beautiful thing that everyone should be having and enjoying,” Fredericks said about her portrayal of the sultry bisexual blues singer Shug Avery.
A Los Angeles-based actress, and niece of blues musician Taj Mahal, Fredericks is new to the role of Shug Avery, but not to the history that serves as the inspiration for her character.
“It’s so refreshing to look back at Bessie Smith and Big Mama Thornton and all these blue singers of our heritage and our history and go, these were also liberated women who were talking about all kinds of things, who were on the road, who had lots of abusive experiences and were carving out their own path,” Fredericks said. “Shug isn’t an exception to the rule. She has counterparts.”
“This ensemble has been a gift in supporting me in retelling Alice’s story. I couldn’t ask for more.”
- Kamilah Long, Director
Frederick's casting in “The Color Purple” marks her first time in Atlanta and her first time performing with an all-Black cast. She tells The Reckoning that she’s become accustomed to being the only Black person, or one of two, in a room.
“It is so beautiful to be with folks who all have a shared culture,” she said. “The spirit in this cast. We all like each other, we all love each other. We all want to support each other and lift each other up.”
Long echoed Frederick's statement.
“This ensemble has been a gift in supporting me in retelling Alice’s story. I couldn’t ask for more,” she said.
“I'm excited to be on this ride with these people,” Fredericks said. “Because I know I'm held. I know that I'm okay.”
“The Color Purple” runs at The City Springs Theatre on The Byers Stage through May 22. The production contains adult themes and is recommended for mature audiences. Tickets can be purchased here.
