Monday, December 15, 2008

'Cause somebody gonna love you....Oh, I'm always gonna love you

So this past friday my friends and I headed to Spokane to see "the Color Purple" at the opera house. This has always been one of my favorite books, and along with "to kill a mockingbird" was always my "go-to" book for a report in any english class, so when I heard they had made it into a musical I was seriously stoked. Then a couple years ago I saw Fantasia's performance of "I'm here" on the Tony awards and I was desperate to see it the first chance I got. The music is so fantastic from it with "I'm here", "somebody gonna love you", "what about love", and "to beautiful for words" being my ultimate favorites.


Me and the gang got to Spokane, got a bite to eat, then headed to the theater.



It was so awesome to get a chance to see this musical, I was fortunate enough to get Michelle's parents to watch Qiana and give me an opportunity to hang out with my friends and see a wonderfully awesome musical. I do have to admit that it was really weird being without Qiana and I was ready to get home and snuggle with my baby once the show was done.

although the musical was cool in some respects it didn't quite live up to hype I had created in my head. for instance...
1. The lady playing, in this production, the role of Shug Avery just did NOT have a voice powerful enough to move me like the original cast member.
2. Some of the acting, especially from "Mister" was kind of pathetic in some scenes.

and lastly but most importantly...
3. Of all the times, I read the book, the theme of (how shall I put this) massive "women to women love" never stood out to me. I remembered that shug and celie had kissed and that celie "loved" shug, but to me it was always more about celie finally feeling capable of being loved then actually having a lesbian love relationship with shug. But the musical version...well I don't know if they were trying to appeal to a certain gay broadway-loving audience but they sure played up THAT theme..which was a little weird. Especially since my favorite song "what about love" is apparently the lesbian love theme of the show.

Overall though I quite enjoyed it, and pretty much felt like i had been transported to the black, gospel lovin south for 2 1/2 hours on a cold friday night in Spokane, washington.

So let's add this to my

list of broadway shows I have seen:

annie (2 times)
phantom of the opera (2 times)
Les miserables (3 times)
brigadoon
sayonara
cats
joseph and the amazing technicolor dreamcoat
west side story
lion king
hairspray (2 times)
wicked
dirty rotten scoundrels
jersey boys
spamalot
avenue q
color purple

4 comments:

Kim said...

Yes, I'm jealous. I haven't seen a play in quite a while. I need to get to know the music from this one. I know what you mean about it feeling weird being out without qiana. Sounds like a fun night. love ya.

::lindsay said...

I'm glad you were able to go and have a fun time. It's always fun to go do something like that with girlfriends.

What's the next Broadway show you plan to see?

Colleen said...

What a fun mommy getaway! I hear it is a great show and you obviously loved it too, minus a few notable moments.

lysh said...

What a fun night! I love going to see shows with friends! I wish I could remember the list of shows I have seen...I have such a horrible memory.