A musical isn’t the first form that springs to mind when considering Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Heroine Celie Harris is repeatedly raped by the man she believes to be her father, bears two children, has them taken from her and is forced into marriage with an abusive man who uses her as a household slave. Stick a tune to that… The movie, however, opened in the US with the second biggest Christmas Day take of all time. And, somehow, it all works. Fantasia Barrino plays Celie convincingly throughout her difficult journey but is upstaged by Taraji P Henson as the ferociously sensual Shug Avery and Danielle Brooks as the screen-eating Sofia. Elements missing from Steven Spielberg’s 1985 version, including the love affair between Shug and Celie, are restored, but the romantic demands of the musical form sugar-coat the story a little too much for fans of the book.
Previews from Monday; nationwide 26 January