Interview: Arielle Crosby of THE COLOR PURPLE at The Garden Theatre

When she was studying vocal performance with an emphasis on operatic singing at Kentucky State University, Arielle Crosby discovered opera was not the only thing she could do well.

Crosby, who plays Celie in Short North Stage’s upcoming performance of THE COLOR PURPLE, showed her vocal coach she could belt with the best of them.

“I grew up singing in the church, so it wasn’t like I was a stranger to belting and singing like that,” she said. “I was singing something from RAGTIME, and I just shocked him. He said, ‘I didn’t know you could sing like that.’ He started incorporating techniques for healthy belting without completely forsaking my classical training.

 “At that moment, I felt like my classical singing and my gospel worlds married each other and that lends itself very well for musical theater.”

Crosby will be using both of those worlds in THE COLOR PURPLE at the Garden Theatre (1187 N. High Street in downtown Columbus). The show will finally take to the stage on Jan. 25, after being delayed a week by a COVID outbreak, and runs through Feb. 18.

THE COLOR PURPLE is the story of an African American woman who overcomes a series of abusive relationships, trials and tribulation while growing up in the South.

“Just about everything that can go wrong has gone wrong for her and so she becomes a shell of herself,” Crosby said. “This is a story of her overcoming all of these things and finding strength in herself and in her sisterhood.”

For the show, Crosby, a Detroit native, has been reunited with Vasthy Mompoint, who is directing the show with choreographer Lisa Glover. The two worked together in HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD for the Transcendence Theater in Sonoma, Ca.

“Once she announced she was directing this particular show, I was like, ‘I really want to work with her again,’” she said. “I reached out to see if this was a possibility and then I contacted the Short North Stage. The rest is history.”

Crosby joins a talented cast that includes Sean Walton (Mister), Bessie Smith (Shug Avery), Shaq Hester (Harpo), Alloria Frayser (Nettie), Tirzah Washington (Sofia), and Laura Overby (Squeak). Marshawn Clodfelter, Darius Fincher, Larry Jackson, Sydnie Liggins, Deaun Parker, Winnoa Raddrey, Melissa Victor, Ariyah Wallace, and Nicholas Wilson make up the ensemble.

Celie ages over 40 years in the span of the musical’s two acts. That creates a two-part challenge for Crosby, conveying the physical changes as well as the emotional toll her hardships have taken on her.

Crosby said she’s never had to portray a character who changes so much in a single show.

“She’s very observant,” she said. “She likes to sit, look and take everything in. She has this kind of a hunch backed look. She slouches and her head is down.

“I need to be very cognizant of even though she's had this hard life, she's still 14 (at the beginning of the show) and there's still a levity to her that she's not going to have when she is in her 30s or even her 50s.

“I keep reminding myself, ‘Okay, she’s 20 here,’ so that affects your body and delivery.”

Channeling Celie, who was a victim of sexual abuse, a mother by 14, and repeatedly beaten by her husband, also takes an emotional toll.

“The last weeks of rehearsal were great because we were focused on the technical stuff and running through the show, which does have a happy ending,” Crosby said with a slight laugh. “But it does take me awhile after the show to unwind. There have been nights when I just want to get home and watch ‘Bob’s Burgers’ or something silly like that to bring me back around.”

Like its main character, THE COLOR PURPLE has evolved over the last four decades. The Alice Walker novel was released in 1982 and won the Pulitzer Prize. Two years later, Steven Spielberg turned Walker’s novel into an epic movie that starred such luminaries as Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover, and Laurence Fishburne. Made with a budget of $13 million, THE COLOR PURPLE grossed $98.4 million and is ranked 51st on the American Film Institute’s list of “The Most Inspiring Movies.” The film also became a lynchpin for the accusations of Hollywood racism, when it was nominated for 11 Oscars and failed to win one.

The script was then flipped into a musical in 2006 and LaChanze, who played Celie, won a Tony Award for “Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.” A revival of the musical opened on Broadway in 2015 and earned Tony Awards as a “Best Revival” and “Best Actress in a Musical” (Cynthia Erivo).

In 2023, the musical version of THE COLOR PURPLE was released on film, starring Corey Hawkins as Celie and H.E.R. as Squeak. Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino, Louis Gossett Jr. and David Alan Grier all make appearances in the film.

Crosby said having so much material to study helped her prepare for the role.

“I've been trying to immerse myself in every iteration of this to get a full understanding of as many different interpretations of Celie as I can,” she said. “I’ve been listening to the cast recording, rereading the book, rewatching the old film and watching the new film. I’m watching some bootleg copies of performances on YouTube, even though I am not supposed to. But I’m excited for the challenge.”

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