The Color Purple

It was only a matter of time until Oprah attempted Broadway, and so in 2005 she produced an adaptation of Alice Walker's violent, controversial novel, The Color Purple (or, perhaps more accurately, an adaptation of the 1985 film adaptation of the book, which starred Oprah herself). The musical is considerably lighter than the previous versions of the story, defanging the book's teeth and focusing instead on big, crowd-pleasing musical magic. Now a touring production, it begins its month-long run at the Marcus Center tonight with a 7:30 p.m. performance.