Heather Headley as Shug Run Don't Walk
Heather Headley as Shug Run Don't Walk
Up In One
Broadway Star Joined: 5/27/04
#1Heather Headley as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/21/16 at 6:57am
Took friends back to see The Color Purple and didn't realize Jennifer Hudson had left the show. OMG! Heather Headley was a revelation in the role of Shug Avery. Her performance took what was a great production and threw it out into stratosphere. I cried in more places than just the end this time around. I don't think I have ever seen a musical with such strong performances from three leading ladies. If the Tony voters waited till now to see the show The Color Purple will have the award in the bag. Too bad Headley didn't open the show - they would have gotten three acting nods. I need to go back for a third round - other than Hamilton, Kinky Boots and Curious - not many shows are worth re-visiting these days.
Up In One
Updated On: 5/21/16 at 06:57 AM
rebeccmam31
Featured Actor Joined: 10/21/15
#2Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/21/16 at 7:03am
Up In One said: "Tookk friends back to see The Color Purple and didn't realize Jennifer Hudson had left the show. OMG! Heather Headley was a revelation in the role of Shug Avery. Her performance took what was a great production and threw it out into stratosphere. I cried in more places than just the end this time around. I don't think I have ever seen a musical with such strong performances from three leading ladies. If the Tony voters waited till now to see the show The Color Purple will have the award in the bag. Too bad Headley didn't open the show - they would have gotten three acting bids. I need to go back for a third round - other than Hamilton, Kinky Boots and Curious - not many shows are worth re-visiting these days."
So glad to read this! I just bought tickets yesterday for June 8. I saw the show in January but wanted to take my daughter and her best friend. I'm glad I decided to pull the trigger!
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#3Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/22/16 at 9:08pm
100% agree. Heather acted/sang the hell out of the role. I didn't see Jennifer Hudson so can't comment. Absolutely loved this show. Ironically, I didn't care for the original. Loved, loved it.
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#4Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/22/16 at 9:08pm
double post
Updated On: 5/22/16 at 09:08 PM
#5Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/22/16 at 9:16pm
Never knew Heather is so eloquent and articulate until the talkback in the Tuesday performance hosted by Micheal Riedle! She is divine as an actress on stage singing her heart out like Marin Mazzie, whose Anna hits me on a level that O'Hara never manages to reach, despite O'Hara's portray being award-worthy. Heather is also approachable and lovely as a person! I agree that she'd've been a strong contender in the feature actress category if she originated the role.
pushdabutton
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/2/05
#6Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/22/16 at 9:26pm
I saw Heather Headly in Aida and The Lion King and loved her in both. I was curious how she is doing in The Color Purple and was very happy to read this post. I wanted to see the show with Jennifer Hudson and never made it before she left. Sounds like I will be just as pleased with Heather in the show. Thanks for posting!
rebeccmam31
Featured Actor Joined: 10/21/15
#7Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/23/16 at 6:19am
ArtMan said: "100% agree. Heather acted/sang the hell out of the role. I didn't see Jennifer Hudson so can't comment. Absolutely loved this show. Ironically, I didn't care for the original. Loved, loved it."
Like you, I did not like the original. At all. A friend really wanted to see this revival, and I was able to get free tickets through Audience Rewards, so I went. Man, did I love it. Just beautiful. I was so moved by it that I decided I really needed to take my 14-year-old daughter and her best friend. It will be interesting to see how Ms. Headley plays the role compared to what Jennifer Hudson did, but I mostly just want to watch Cynthia Erivo sing I'm Here again! 
ArtMan
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/10/08
#8Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/23/16 at 7:01am
rebeccmam31 said: "ArtMan said: "100% agree. Heather acted/sang the hell out of the role. I didn't see Jennifer Hudson so can't comment. Absolutely loved this show. Ironically, I didn't care for the original. Loved, loved it."
Like you, I did not like the original. At all. A friend really wanted to see this revival, and I was able to get free tickets through Audience Rewards, so I went. Man, did I love it. Just beautiful. I was so moved by it that I decided I really needed to take my 14-year-old daughter and her best friend. It will be interesting to see how Ms. Headley plays the role compared to what Jennifer Hudson did, but I mostly just want to watch Cynthia Erivo sing I'm Here again!
"
Rebeccmam31 report back when you see it again with Heather. I am curious to know how it differs. I just can't see Jennifer acting method to be in the same league as Heather's for this production.
rebeccmam31
Featured Actor Joined: 10/21/15
#9Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/23/16 at 7:41am
Rebeccmam31 report back when you see it again with Heather. I am curious to know how it differs. I just can't see Jennifer acting method to be in the same league as Heather's for this production."
I will gladly do so. I thought Jennifer did a fine job--considerably better than I was expecting, to be honest. But I'm REALLY excited to see Heather take on this role!
#10Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/23/16 at 8:14am
Ben Brantley gushes over Headley (and Marin Mazzie) in a column on replacements in long-running revivals:
“Push the Button,” the honky-tonk number in which Shug demonstrates the art of pleasing a partner in bed, is now the raging showstopper it should be. Yet Ms. Headley’s Shug is also fiercely vulnerable, on prickly guard against those who might discover her soft spots.
When she finds herself unexpectedly falling for the plain and work-worn Celie, her long body morphs from sharp angles into melting curves. And her resplendent voice matches her mercurial character’s every emotional shift. As important, it also blends beautifully with Ms. Erivo’s, and their climactic first-act duet becomes a tender, erotic intermingling of kindred spirits.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/theater/how-to-keep-a-musical-great-call-heather-headley-and-marin-mazzie.html
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#11Heather Headly as Shug Run Don't Walk
Posted: 5/25/16 at 10:50am
I saw Heather last night and she is remarkable. Of course her voice is amazing, but she is acting the hell out of this role. She is absolutely fierce, in the truest sense of the word. She is dangerous, sexy, thrilling, aware, and very intelligent. So glad I went back for her. She was better than I could have imagined.
