My heart has suddenly grown fonder for “The Color Purple,” the musical that ended its first Broadway run in 2008. That’s just seven years ago.
So the spike in appreciation for the show — produced, like last time, by Oprah Winfrey — isn’t about absence. The shift from “Who cares?” to “Holy mackerel!” is partly due to a canny staging that squarely puts the focus on the rich score by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. Read more…