Less is more in ‘The Color Purple’
John Doyle does not consider himself a minimalist.
“I never use that word about myself,” he said. “It’s just I try to get to that element that I think is essential. So if you want to call me an ‘essentialist,’ I don’t mind that, really.”
A stage director of renown on Broadway and London’s West End, Mr. Doyle most recently was celebrated for his work in the 2015-16 revival of “The Color Purple” in New York. Pittsburgh audiences will be treated to his vision when the national touring company arrives at the Benedum Center Tuesday for performances through Sunday. It’s part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series.
The Tony winner (for “Sweeney Todd”) also created the set design, where a series of 15 chairs is taken down from the back wall to serve as both scenery and metaphor.
“So that’s the language of it, really,” Mr. Doyle said. “You could call it minimalism, but that’s not the intention, actually.”
Earlier in his career, he revived Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” and “Company” in even more “essentialist” fashion, with the small cast carrying and playing their own instruments. Patti LuPone playing the tuba was an unlikely delight.
Happy to “mix it up” in a career that includes serving as artistic director for the Classic Stage Company in New York City, he’s preparing to stage Terrence McNally’s new play, “Fire and Air” — a focus on the relationship between Ballets Russes founder Sergei Diaghilev and dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. He also teaches at Princeton University.
“The Color Purple” embodies Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about three women —
Celie (Adrianna Hicks), Shug (Carla R. Stewart) and Sofia (Carrie Compere) — who strive to rise above the conflicts in their lives.
In a Tony Awards year that saw “Hamilton” win almost ever major award, British actress Cynthia Erivo as Celie took home best actress in a musical and the production, best revival. Mr. Doyle was nominated for his direction, and won the Drama Desk award as well.
The first time this “The Color Purple” revival was staged, it was by London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, in a 180-seat theater.
“Then we went to Broadway and it became a bigger event, because you’re talking about filling a bigger stage. Now on tour, of course, the stages are even bigger,” he said.
The imagery remains the same, however, and Mr. Doyle has proven he is nothing if not adaptive. The backdrop and costume palette are muted ochers, subtle, until they aren’t. The three female leads lend a sense of continuity from the Broadway production, where they were all understudies or replacements for the leads.
“The Color Purple” should have no problem filling the vast Benedum Center stage. It’s a big story about what sustains people under trying circumstances. The setting is rural Georgia in the early 1900s, where Celie, 14, has been unspeakably abused. Celie has born one child by her father, and is carrying another. She writes letters to God, praying to find a way out.
Years before he decided to go into theater, Mr. Doyle considered entering the clergy. At first blush he might not have seemed the obvious choice — a white, middle-aged Scotsman — to reboot an African-American classic.
But there were many connections made: “I am interested in finding stories that are about humanity and man’s inhumanity to man, as well as man’s humanity to man. I’m interested in the bigger stories, spiritually and emotionally.
“There’s no doubt about the fact that when you see ‘The Color Purple,’ I often tell people it’s a bit like going to church.”
The show begins with such a scene, although, “it’s very gospel in style and that’s certainly not the kind of church I went to when I was young. In the highlands of Scotland, you’re not going to find a gospel church of that ilk,” Mr. Doyle said.
That sense of spirituality helps draw in the audience, who might well see Celie and her lonely struggles as a Southern Garden of Gesthemane. Later, there’s even a resurrection of sorts.
With a book by Marsha Norman and songs by Stephen Bray, Brenda Russell and Allee Willis, “The Color Purple” promises bold storytelling, jazz, gospel and ragtime music, laced with genuine emotion. Sometimes that, and chairs, are more than enough.