"The excitement is truly incredible surrounding this production," said Kelly Copps, Artistic Director of Second Generation Theatre, a few days before the opening of the musical adaptation of "The Color Purple." She sat with Director Sarah Norat-Phillips of Ujima Theatre Company in the lobby of 710 Main Theatre where the show will be staged through Oct. 1.
Second Generation controlled the rights to the play, Copps explained. But staging it would require partners. Enter Ujima.
"Collaborations can be tenuous, right? You want to try to make sure people feel like equals. And to their (Second Generation's) credit when we approached the project, I said yes we would be willing to collaborate, but we have to maintain creative control," Norat-Phillips said.
A "no-brainer" is how Copps characterized the requirement.
"Because they understood that in order to tell this story, then it had to be led creatively by people of color," Norat-Phillips added.
Shea's 710 Main Theatre then joined the partnership, bringing along marketing expertise and a venue that has over 500 seats. Based on advanced sales, it appears the collaboration may produce a hit in Buffalo.
While some may have read Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "The Color Purple," others may know the story from the 1985 movie by director Steven Spielberg. The musical adaptation has its own history. The initial version came out in 2005.
"They tried to capture, I think, some of the grandeur of the movie on a stage and it didn't ring true to the heart of the story," Copps explained.
"So, what this particular version does is go back to the book. Sarah (Norat-Phillips) and the team have been adamant about that since day one. Staying true to the words Alice Walker put on the paper and a lot of those ring true in the movie, but a lot more of them are brought to the surface in this musical."
According to Norat-Phillips, the stage production features Gospel songs, Blues from the "Juke Joint," and music from Africa. While the music is "intrinsic" to the production, the narrative doesn't stop to allow for a character "standing and doing a number."
Such a complex collaboration is "scary," Copps admits, but Second Generation Theatre "has never done anything that doesn't both excite and scare us a little bit. It's exciting to be stepping into the unknown a little bit."
The size of the production, both acknowledge, could not have been achieved without the partnership. The cast features 18 actors, many of whom are featured regularly at Ujima. All are African-Americans from Buffalo.
In the lead role, Gabriella McKinley provides an "interpretation of Celie that is one of the best I've seen," said Norat-Phillips who has seen four different productions of the musical.
Curtis Lovell plays "Shug," Anika Pace is "Nettie," Curtis Lovell has the role of "Sophia," Geroge Brown is "Mister" and Ujima Theatre Managing Director Brian Brown plays "Harpo."
"It is really a human story. There's something everyone can relate to in one of the four main characters," Copps said.
"We can't wait to share it with the community."
For more information, visit the Shea's 710 website.
