Marisha Wallace – Live in London (Westway Music, Center Stage Records). Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Marisha Wallace’s personable, conversational delivery and vocal quality are sublime as ever.
Tag Archives | The Color Purple
A Strange Loop star Kyle Birch dies at the age of 26
It has been announced that performer Kyle Birch (A Strange Loop, The Color Purple, I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire) died on 2 December 2024, aged 26.
Movie Musicals Round-up: Wonka, Means Girls and The Color Purple
This winter season we have been treated to three movie musicals: one that is original (apart from the reprise of a much-loved track) and two original Broadway hits.
Will it be slim-pickings for musical theatre lovers at the Baftas and Oscars?
The recently-announced Oscars nominations suggest it’s going to be a slim-pickings year for musicals lovers. The Color Purple, with its $100 million budget, doesn’t even make the Best Picture list and Danielle Brooks, the film’s only other contender in the main categories who reprises her Broadway role of Sofia, is a big outsider for Supporting Actress honours.
Black British Theatre Awards nominees – Tina: The Tina Turner Musical leads the way
Tina: The Tina Turner Musical leads the way in the nominations for the Black British Theatre Awards (BBTAs). The hit West End show which is currently in its fifth year at the Aldwych Theatre tops the list of nominees for the fifth annual awards with five nominations. Tina’s closest musical theatre rival on the shortlist is Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre with a total of three nominations.
The Color Purple – Birmingham Hippodrome and Touring
The Color Purple was reviewed at Birmingham Hippodrome and continues touring until 5 November 2022. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Color Purple. A heart-pounding story that began as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, transformed into a Steven Spielberg award-winning movie, to then take the Broadway stage by storm, winning Tony Awards […]
Cast for The Color Purple tour
Me’Sha Bryan will lead the cast of Leicester’s Curve Theatre and Birmingham Hippodrome’s hit production of The Color Purple as it hits the road for the first time across England and Wales this autumn. Bryan (Romantics Anonymous, Bristol Old Vic, Caroline, or Change, The Playhouse Theatre) will play Celie alongside Bree Smith (The Wiz, Hope […]
Tour planned for Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome’s The Color Purple
Leicester Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome’s hit production of The Color Purple will visit seven venues across England and Wales this autumn. Directed by Tinuke Craig and originally staged in 2019, the award-winning production which was also re-worked as a concert presentation and successful online event during lockdown will take to the road from 13 September […]
Bursts of brilliance from the year theatre stopped
We could have been born with a love of television or comic books or 1930s radio plays. That wouldn’t have been quite so bad. But no, Dionysus, god of theatre, took one look at us and decreed: “On top of the worldwide suffering and loss from Coronavirus, you are to spend the 2020 pandemic almost […]
Curve to reunite with Birmingham Hippodrome for The Color Purple – At Home
Leicester Curve will follow its critically-acclaimed Sunset Boulevard – at Home by reuniting with Birmingham Hippodrome to stream The Color Purple – at Home, a concert reworking of their hit 2019 production. The concert version of the first co-production between Birmingham Hippodrome and Curve had been due to be part of Curve’s reopening season, but […]
Pandemic fears set to bring the curtain down on Theatreland again
After a few weeks in which theatres had started to reopen or announce imminent plans to kickstart new seasons the curtain looks set to come down on live entertainment once again as the Covid crisis continues. In the wake of a day of frenzied media speculation following a leaked report, the Government was forced to […]
Concert versions of The Color Purple and Sunset Boulevard to feature in Curve’s comeback season
Live theatre will return to Leicester Curve next month for the first time since the venue closed its doors to the public in March with the launch of an autumn season that will feature two re-imagined, socially distanced concert versions of two Made at Curve productions. Launching on 12 November 2020 with an exclusive event […]
Our Top Ten recent Tony Awards performances
Is there a Tony Awards-shaped hole in your heart this month? One so big even a singalong screening of the movie Grease won’t fill it? Here are ten of our favourite Tony performances from recent years to lift your spirits and celebrate Broadway’s finest: 10. 2019 – Frozen Broadway’s first Queen Elsa of Arendelle, Cassie […]
Musicals & Juliet and Come From Away are big winners at the WhatsOnStage Awards
At a ceremony tonight at the Prince of Wales Theatre hosted by Jodie Prenger and Tom Read Wilson, the winners of the 2oth Annual WhatsOnStage Awards were announced – the only major theatre awards decided entirely by the theatregoers themselves. For the first time this year the event was broadcast live on BBC Radio 2 hosted by Elaine Paige and Paddy O’Connell. The […]
Nominees for UK Theatre Awards 2019
Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome’s The Color Purple, Sheffield Theatres’ Standing At The Sky’s Edge and the Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester’s West Side Story will battle it out for the title of Best Musical Production at the UK Theatre Awards next month. The three hit shows were among the list of nominees for the 2019 awards […]
The Color Purple – Leicester Curve
The Color Purple continues at Leicester Curve until 13 July 2019, then 16-20 July at Birmingham Hippodrome. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The Color Purple is a good shade on any audience, and this Leicester Curve gathering is no different. Alice Walker’s landmark tale of abuse, incest, race and sexuality is as relevant […]
T’Shan Williams is cast as Celie in The Color Purple
First images have been released of T’Shan Williams in the pivotal role of Celie in the Leicester Curve and the Birmingham Hippodrome’s major new co-production of the Broadway musical version of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Williams (Heathers The Musical, Theatre Royal, Haymarket/The Other Palace, The Life, Southwark Playhouse) has joined the cast as the […]
Leicester Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome to co-produce The Color Purple
Leicester Curve and the Birmingham Hippodrome have revealed plans for a major new co-production of the Broadway musical version of Alice Walker’s best seller The Color Purple. Directed by award-winning Tinuke Craig (2014 Genesis Future Directors Award), the production which will be the first UK presentation of the award-winning show outside of London, will play Curve […]
Dreamgirls’ Marisha Wallace to play Christmas concerts
Dreamgirl Marisha Wallace will perform two intimate concerts at the Charing Cross Theatre in December just weeks after stepping permanently into the role of Effie White. The singer who had been alternating the demanding role with Karen Mav in support of the show’s launch Effie, Amber Riley, at the Savoy Theatre will follow her full-time […]
British Theatre Academy to stage musical double at the Ambassadors Theatre
The British Theatre Academy is lining up youth productions of Neil Bartram and Brian Hill’s The Adventures of Pinocchio and Jason Robert Brown’s 13 The Musical to play London’s Ambassadors Theatre this summer. Following on from the success of previous BTA summer shows, The Secret Garden at the Ambassadors last year and Annie Jr at the […]
The Color Purple in Concert – Cadogan Hall
The Color Purple in Concert was performed at the Cadogan Hall, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ There are some musicals which grow in stature the more they get stripped back. The Color Purple is one such musical. The recent Broadway revival – a transfer of the Menier Chocolate Factory’s 2013 […]
The Color Purple – all-star cast to perform in one-off concert
An all-star West End cast will perform one night only concert version of The Color Purple at London’s Cadogan Hall on Sunday 21 May. The Color Purple tells the inspiring and unforgettable story of a woman who, through love, finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discover her unique voice in the world. The […]
The Color Purple sets Broadway closing
The Tony Award-winning revival of The Color Purple will join the New Year exodus of Broadway musicals, setting a closing date of 8 January. With its final finale, the Broadway mounting, which opened last December, will have played 33 previews and 449 regular performances. The show was a transplant of director John Doyle’s searing reworking, […]
Jennifer Holliday to join The Color Purple on Broadway
The original Dreamgirls showstopper, Tony Award winner Jennifer Holliday, is heading back to Broadway to join the cast of The Color Purple. Holliday, the actress whose powerhouse performance as Effie White in the original production of Dreamgirls is the stuff of Broadway legend, will step into the role of Shug Avery in the Menier Chocolate Factory production […]
Hamilton dominates the Tony Awards (plus win for Color Purple’s Cynthia Erivo)
It was, as expected, a landslide, though not a record-breaker, for Hamilton, as the Tony Awards were doled out Sunday night in New York, celebrating the 2015/16 Broadway season. The hip-hop history-lesson blockbuster, centring on Alexander Hamilton and his relationships with the other founding fathers of America, captured 11 of the coveted statuettes, climaxed with […]
Cynthia Erivo wins Drama Desk Award for The Color Purple on Broadway
British singer actress Cynthia Erivo has collected a prestigious Drama Desk Award for her performance in the Broadway transfer of The Color Purple. The Londoner first played the role of Celie Harris in the Menier Chocolate Factory production in 2013. Following her Broadway debut in the transfer of the show last year, she has won the […]
Hamilton receives a record-breaking 16 Tony nominations
Why don’t they just call them the Hamiltons? The Tony Award nominations for the 2015-16 Broadway season were announced today (Tuesday) and a record-breaking 16 of them went to the blockbuster Hamilton, which delivers a hip-hop look at Alexander Hamilton and the other founding fathers of the United States. The count beats the previous record […]
The Color Purple – Bernard B Jacobs Theatre, New York
The Color Purple continues at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, New York. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Director John Doyle’s wondrous redo of The Color Purple may be minimalist, but it’s drenched in emotion. At the same time, he has gloriously amped up this Broadway musical’s power as a feminist […]
From Lloyd Webber to Fiddler – what Broadway has to offer during the next season
If yet another production of the ever-beloved Fiddler On the Roof doesn’t exactly set you tingling with anticipation, how about a fresh-off-the-page Andrew Lloyd Webber rockfest? At any rate, such endeavours are both part of the upcoming fall schedule on Broadway, which is brimming over with musical openings, a mix of revivals and brand new […]
Interview – composer Scott Alan reunites with Cynthia Erivo at the London Festival of Cabaret
New York-based composer Scott Alan (Home; Dreaming Wide Awake) and Broadway-bound actress and singer Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple; I Can’t Sing!) will join forces for Home Again, three special concerts (4–6 May) at the St James Studio, London as part of the London Festival of Cabaret 2015 (28 April to 11 May). Audiences can expect to hear Erivo […]
Cynthia Erivo – Hear My Soul – Kings Place, London
Cynthia Erivo performed her show Hear My Soul at Kings Place, London. Star rating: 5 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ If proof were needed that Cynthia Erivo is a major force to be reckoned with (and it’s not needed, as far as I’m concerned), it was delivered in spades at the beautiful – if acoustically a bit dry – […]
