The Broadway musical will be staged Tuesday and Wednesday nights in Amherst.
"The Color Purple" will be staged at the UMass Fine Arts Center in Amherst on Tuesday and Wednesday.Performing in “The Color Purple” has been a dream Deidra Grace has had her mind set on from the first time she saw the play on Broadway.
“It’s something I’ve been auditioning for now for about two years. I have seen the play at least six times on Broadway. It’s such a beautiful story and the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen on stage, and I just wanted to be a part of it so badly,” said Grace, who performs as Sofia in the national tour of “The Color Purple” which comes to the UMass Fine Arts Center on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
This week’s production of “The Color Purple,” produced by Phoenix Entertainment - Joyful Noisemakers LLC, is the next phase in the life of the ground-breaking Broadway hit musical produced by Scott Sanders. The original Broadway musical was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and the score was nominated for a GRAMMY. Based on the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the moving film by Steven Spielberg, “The Color Purple” is about hope and the healing power of love.
Deidra GraceThe play tells the story of Celie, who by her early teens has already had two children by the man she knows as her father. He sends them away, inferring they are dead. She is given to a man who marries her, beats her and treats her like scum. He also hides the unread letters sent to Celie from her beloved sister, denying her that love and relationship. It paints a bleak picture of Celie’s life. But, it’s also the story of triumph as she gathers the strength to become her own person and leave the men who abuse her.
Grace said she believes it is the strength of the play that has endured it to so many audiences.
“On a personal level, as an artist, I find the strength of the body of work to be so beautiful. Each of the characters in the play has these traumatic life situations happening to them. And what is beautiful about the play is that each of them manages to come out these situations they are in…..they learn how to be strong and fight back,” said the actress.
The outspoken and independent Sofia is one of the plays strong characters.
“I think Sofia is a gentle giant, she is hardcore and won’t take it from anybody. Her objective is never to walk into a room and start a fight, but she’ll get involved and end one,” said Grace, noting you only see her character weak once in the play.
“Sofia gets beaten pretty badly by the mayor’s men and is taken off to jail unable to talk and blind in one eye, but eventually returns to her old self…..Sofia is not one to take anything lying down,” she added.
“The Color Purple” hit the Great White Way in 2005, and was considered a gutsy move by some to risk transforming Walker’s novel into a musical. But, it worked thanks to Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman who wrote the book for the play, and a trio of Grammy Award®-winning pop-music writers including Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, who infused the music with blues, jazz, gospel and plenty of soul.
The play is directed by Gary Griffin with choreography by Donald Byrd. Rounding out the creative team are Tony Award-winning set designed John Lee Beatty, costumer Paul Tazewell, Tony Award-winning lighting director Brian MacDevitt, sound designer Craig Cassidy, and musical director Jasper Grant with orchestrations and arrangements by Steven M. Bishop.
“The Color Purple” played on Broadway for a little more than two years followed by a three- year first national tour. The show’s Amherst appearance is the only one of three in New England, the other two planned for Connecticut and Maine.
A native of Miami, Florida, Grace is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.
“My mother never wanted me to go to the big city, but unknown to her, my father helped me to get there to audition for the school,” said Grace.
A high school student at the time she applied to the academy, Grace traveled to her audition in New York City accompanied by the daughter of her high school drama teacher.
“I was very shy and had a lot of issues just walking into a room and being comfortable. But when I got into high school and took theater with Charlette Seward, she taught us that we could be whatever and whoever we wanted to be on stage. And, I was drawn to the fact that I didn’t have to be myself, that I could get out of my head and be whoever I wanted to be,” said Grace.
It was while in the 10th grade that Grace’s love of the theater was cemented.
“We went on a field trip to New York City, and that’s when I saw my first Broadway play. We saw “All Shook Up,” and that’s when I knew that I wanted to do theater for the rest of my life,” said Grace.
“The Color Purple” is Grace’s second national tour following “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
What’s next for the star in the making?
“Broadway, that’s what I want, to be on Broadway,” said Grace.