Photo by Matthew Murphy

From its humble beginnings at the renowned and intimate off-West End venue that is the Menier Chocolate Factory in the Summer of 2013 to the bright lights of Broadway, opening to extremely positive reviews last December, what a journey this stripped-back and unapologetically honest production has made!

I had already followed the blossoming career of Cynthia Erivo in many of her West End and off-West End outings with sheer joy and had always said that this young lady truly deserves to be a global star. With her knockout Tony-winning performance as Celie in her Broadway debut, she is now well on her way.

With the addition of Heather Headley to the cast since May of this year, the production has benefited from a deeply artistic performance, full of nuance, in the difficult role of Shug Avery. I was fortunate enough to attend a performance and witness Ms. Headley's craft live at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre and was moved to tears over and over again! My experience of "What about love?" will surely remain with me for the rest of my days.

Overall, director John Doyle's stripped-back production lets us focus on the music, the characters and the message without the distractions of the reportedly over-cluttered Broadway premiere which opened in 2005. This is without a doubt a more authentically theatrical experience of The Color Purple and is completely deserving of its Tony win.

Click here for tickets to The Color Purple, which is currently booking through to 8 January 2017 at Broadway's Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

- by Tom Millward