‘Color Purple’ echoes today’s human experience
Watching a star musical performance can sometimes make one wonder if a singer leaves behind a bit of his soul each night.
All the aphorisms and clichés have already been written in an attempt to describe a great emotional performance — leaving her heart onstage, giving it his all, diving into the role. But well-worn phrases can’t capture what it’s like to be sitting in the same room as a performer who appears to be engaging in an act so raw it seems self-sacrificial, draining not just her voice but something more than mere physicality.
That’s the kind of task demanded by the lead role in
the touring Broadway revival of “The Color Purple.” The muchpraised 2015 production of the musical, based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, focuses on the struggles of Celie, a young black mother living in 1930s America. Last year, Cynthia Erivo gave the role everything asked of her and more, earning a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.
Now, Adrianna Hicks, a California-raised, University of Oklahomatrained singer, is aiming to do the same.
“I always tell myself, before coming into this, ‘Adrianna, you must be honest. You must be you,’ ” she says. “That’s something I stick with 100 percent. It can be taxing.”
The role of Celie, explains Hicks, demands both technical and emotional mastery. In other words, playing her well goes beyond singing, dancing and acting. You can learn the part and be brilliant singing it, but the focus of “The Color Purple” is human emotion, and a lead needs to help make that apparent to the audience. It requires a nightly transformation.
“It’s not just about the notes or singing your face off. You have to go through all of the feelings every single night. It’s experiencing every single feeling in two-and-a-half hours,” she says. “Learning how to navigate that has been a ride. It’s helped me discover more things about myself and how we think as people.”
That’s no exaggeration. Hicks says she isn’t the only person who leaves the night feeling transformed. Just look at what seeing Celie’s story can do to others. When the audience is involved, the effect can be downright political.
“It’s so needed right now. The story covers everything that we are dealing with today. It’s amazing to me. The element of female black empowerment in a show going around during a time such as this. … What!” Hicks says. “When you see an upperclass white male walk away in tears, then we’ve done our job.”
Besides the obvious career implications, starring in “The Color Purple” holds personal significance for Hicks. Raised on gospel music in the church, Hicks didn’t know much about musical theater growing up — nor did its mostly white canon speak to her personal experience. While in college as a musical theater major at the University of Okhlahoma, being cast meant relying on producers keen enough to be open to colorblind casting. So Hicks played roles such as Mrs. Harcourt in “Anything Goes,” in otherwise allwhite casts that were a far cry from black female empowerment.
But now, “I have a sense of pride,” Hicks says, noting “The Color Purple” is her first time in an all-black cast.
So Celie, to Hicks, isn’t just a job or a role but a way to channel ideals relating to art, inclusion and empathy. This is a big deal, she says.
On the other hand, she doesn’t always think of her role in such grandiose terms.
“I realized that it’s so not about me, that I’m telling someone else’s story,” she says. “Thinking about leaving the essence of the story for other people to take from it what they take from it, that brings me more joy than having to worry about crying or being happy every night. Knowing it’s bigger than me helps me do my job.”