African Daisies

The night of the day that we returned home from California, we had theater tickets at the Fabulous Fox. “The Color Purple” was the musical playing. This new show features a score of gospel and rhythm & blues numbers and differs significantly from the Spielberg movie. Its Spartan set features three floor to ceiling wooden panels that resemble the unpainted walls of some dilapidated shanty. Dozens of wooden chairs hang from these panels. The actors sometime take down one of these chairs that serve as the play’s only props.

Minimalist is an apt description of this show. Based on the Alice Walker novel, this musical was first produced on Broadway in 2005. This revival debuted in 2015. “The Color Purple” with its twin themes of racism and sexism resonates in the current political clime. This relatively quiet production served as a departure from the Fox’s usual loud and brassy fare and made a nice interlude. 

Because of our vacation, I had to move our tickets for “The Color Purple”, to a later date. This wasn’t any problem, because our new seats were just as good as our regular ones. We won’t be traveling during the next show in this series. That is because the next show is “Hamilton”, which is all sold out. We have been planning this event for over two years now and have 15th row center seats. So, this is a big deal in Saint Louis and I am not throwing away my shot…