The Color Purple review – Jennifer Hudson and Cynthia Erivo star in stripped-down musical
6 / 10
You won't find much actual purple in The Color Purple, John Doyle's simplified restaging of the formerly florid Broadway musical. At one point the nightclub singer Shug (Jennifer Hudson, making her Broadway debut) steps onstage in a periwinkle suit, but that's the closest the production comes to flamboyance. A restrained expansion of the production Doyle debuted at theMenier Chocolate Factory in London in 2013; this version is streamlined and stripped down. Doyle's strategy allows the fine performances, particularlyCynthia Erivo as the downtrodden Celie, to brighten it up.

