Over the last three out of four weekends, I have been fortunate enough to have tickets to three musicals. Here is my response to each of them.
The Color Purple- I can't lie. I saw this show because I love Jennifer Hudson to the infinite power. I love the story of the Color Purple, but I saw the touring company of the original production several years ago and found it to be a big mess. While Jennifer Hudson was what got me in the door, I left with many reasons to rave about it. This revival is a vast improvement from the original musical. Lots of editing was done, the sets are more sparse, and there is just less. And in this case that lets the performers and the songs shine. Jennifer Hudson is well suited vocally and personality wise to play Shug Avery, and she pulls it off, especially vocally. Danielle Brooks from Orange is the New Black is well cast as is the rest of the cast, but ultimately the show is a "star is born" moment for unknown actress Cynthia Erivo as Celie. In the way that Whoopi Goldberg made one of the all time great debuts in the movie version, Erivo shines and steals in a theatrical experience that I was so pleased to witness. If there is any justice, Erivo will continue to do great acting work in the future, and I will be able to say "Remember when...." I have seen many plays and musicals, but this is the first time that I had seen an actor get a standing ovation in the middle of the show. Jennifer Hudson is leaving the production soon so if you want to see her, hurry up! But ultimately Cynthia Erivo is who you should be there to see!
Assassins- I have seen a lot of Stephen Sondheim over the past couple of years, and Assassins is a departure from what people in the know view as typical Somdheim. It is a musical telling of the stories of all of the people in the USA who have either attempted to assassinate a President or actually were able to follow through with the assassination. The play does a good job at making the characters human without making them entirely sympathetic for what they did. It is not the kind of musical that has tons of stand alone sing a long songs, but I did like the Ballad of Booth, The Gun Song, and the unlikely love song Unworthy of Your Love which is about two of the character's dark obsessions with Jodie Foster and Charles Manson. Assassins is not always a smooth ride, and it is easy to see why it has more of a cult following than actually being a huge hit, but I admire the creativity in it and the drive to do something original in musical theater. In that regard it overwhelmingly succeeds.
Ragtime- This one has been at the top of my musical bucket list for years, and I am glad I was able to catch a performance of it. Ragtime begins with characters pursuing or living the American Dream. In the first song, characters are lit up in red, white and blue depending on their lot in life. The white middle to upper class who are already succeeding in the dream are lit up in white, the African Americans already living in the USA are lit up in red and the immigrants coming to Ellis Island are lit up in blue. Their paths take them to different places, some to success, some paths diverge and some don't ever succeed in the American Dream. It was amazing to me how a story that takes place at the beginning of the 20th century had so many storylines around race and immigrants could be so very relevant in 2016. As in the original production Coalhouse, Sarah and Mother are the standout characters with the best songs and because I had listened to the Original Cast Recording I had a hard time not imagining the original actors as these characters. (Audra McDonald won one of her six Tony's playing Sarah in the original version). But the actors who played these characters in this touring version were also excellent. This isn't a show that tours much so if you ever get the chance to see Ragtime, you must take advantage of it.
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