Saturday, November 3, 2007

The Color Purple


Paul and I went out with our friend Richard and his close friend Katrina to see a live performance of “The Color Purple.” It was recently on Broadway and was brought to life by Oprah Winfrey. The movie came out in 1985 and I saw it when I was twelve years old. It was the first movie I had ever seen that made me cry…really cry. It was so touching and moving that ‘till this day I still cry when I watch the film. The stage version is was quite moving and the cast was phenomenal!! Jeannette Bayardelle played the role of Celie and she blew me away! She by far has the best voice I have ever heard by anyone..forget Celine and Streisand this woman is the real deal. The role of Sophia was brought to life by Felicia P. Fields and she brought the house down. Very impressive. Michelle Williams from the group Destiny’s Child was the biggest celebrity on the stage but she was not suited to play the role of Shug Avery. She was too stiff and not sexy enough for what the role required. Latoya London fourth runner up on season four of American Idol played the role of Nettie and she was fantastic. All in all it was one of the best live shows I had ever seen. I highly recommend it if it comes to a city near you.

Above: Richard and Katrina!

The story of “The Color Purple” is so moving that I cannot imagine anyone watching the film and not getting anything out of it or disliking it. I often joke with many of my friends that I was an African American woman in a past life. I honestly feel I relate to black women so well. Possibly because I am gay and I can relate to men and have had my share of heartache and pain in the past. Gay men are a minority in this country and have to be strong to survive. Life is about surviving and treating people the way you want people to treat you. There are SO many people in this world that are miserable and have meaningless lives and try to drag others down to their misery..sometimes that works BUT if you have lived through “real shit” and have overcome it…you will never be brought back to “that” place by anyone every again. So to all the miserable people out there, the mean people, the online drama queens, the haters’…..I have two words for you…”HELL NO!” Amen!


5 comments:

Patrick Lentz Photography said...

Did they say the line...

"You sho' is ugly!" ?

Menky said...

Hush ya ole fool! Pass me dem peas! LOL I love the lines in this film!

Anonymous said...

LOL

I remember laughing my ass off as you and Jamie (after more than a few drinks) recited just about every line of dialouge at the at Friz when u were home for a visit in August.

Menky said...

Oh yes, how fun was that. I was channeling my inner black woman! LOL

Anonymous said...

To quote Zora Neale Hurston, "(black women) are the mules of society".

You cannot even BEGIN to compare the homosexual struggle to that of being a black woman. People judge us by the color of our skin before we have a chance to speak. At least you have a chance.