Fantasia Is Becoming In 'Purple'

The Musical Is Mechanical, But Singer Is a Revelation

Who knew?

Fantasia not only carries off the whole stage-acting thing in "The Color Purple," but also practically carries the entire lumbering musical on two solid shoulders. She is, in other words, a wonder -- a natural -- and ample reason to go and find the joy in the more satiny moments of a sometimes syrupy evening in the Kennedy Center Opera House.

Alice Walker's popular novel about the improbable triumphs of a bruised and abused woman in rural Georgia has been cranked up into one of those high-octane Broadway song machines, the type that relies more on spirit than inspiration. It's a quite literal translation of the novel, which means a lot of exposition is rolled out -- not all of it flowing seamlessly -- and it is embellished with a lively score that never quite delivers a knockout punch.

Fantasia plays Celie, the brutally mistreated farm girl who is wrenched from her adoring sister, Nettie (LaToya London), by just about the orneriest varmint in all of musical theater-dom: the vile Mister (Rufus Bonds Jr.), a misery who imagines that it is within his purview to constantly blurt at the woman who washes his shirts and endures his "lovemaking" that she is downright ugly.

You, of course, will recall Fantasia as the heart-on-her-sleeve winner of the third season of "American Idol" -- the season that Jennifer Hudson lost. And you would be forgiven for raising an eyebrow at her casting in the demanding starring role of a Broadway musical -- an assignment that might be even more fraught and grueling than trying each week to impress Simon Cowell.

As it turns out, however, you would be wrong to conclude that the casting is a stunt, a mere attempt to capitalize on reality-show renown. For Fantasia wears Celie as a heartbreaking second skin. (And believe me, even though I interviewed her a few weeks ago -- she's a hugger; I hugged back -- I haven't drunk the Kool-Aid.)

A see-through quality in the portrayal compels belief: When, for instance, Bonds's Mister metes out one form of Dickensian punishment or another, the look, first of shock and then pained acceptance, registers on Fantasia's features as absolute truth.

Heck, she even ages convincingly.

It's the musical that lets her down, rather than the other way around. Marsha Norman's mechanical libretto and, more to the point, the garden-variety tunes by songwriters Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray stingily hold Fantasia back. She does supply a thrilling rendition of Celie's breakout number late in Act 2, "I'm Here," but it's not the nuclear-level melodic moment that we're craving, or that the singer deserves. Was there any consideration given to writing her a better song, or maybe one coming earlier in the show?

Certainly, the idea here must be that the character doesn't explode in musicality until her troubles have been purged and she can view herself as truly free. And yet, in our awareness of what the performer is capable of, the majority of song fragments and duets doled out to Celie don't quite show us -- vocally, anyway -- all that Fantasia can do.

Surrounding the actress is an excellent cast, especially the comedically gifted Felicia P. Fields, who plays the unstoppable Sofia (Oprah Winfrey's part in the '85 movie) as if she were a bulldozer with a larynx. Fields originated the part in the Broadway production that closed last year, and her timing has gotten only that much better. She earns a laugh on every single "No!" in Sofia's signature number, "Hell No!," a funny paean to women everywhere who won't take guff from a man.

Director Gary Griffin has brought out the best in other members of the cast, from the hummingbird-like London -- an "Idol" runner-up in Fantasia's season -- to Bonds's admirably unlikable Mister. It's not this fine actor's fault that Mister must undergo an implausible overnight metamorphosis from callous and monstrous to humble and penitent. Angela Robinson's appealingly self-assured contribution as Shug Avery, the saloon singer fancied both by Mister and Celie, can be chalked up as an asset, too.

The production itself, with sets by John Lee Beatty that efficiently suggest the Georgia backwoods or an African savanna, plods from one fairly predictable scene to the next. Many of them conform to musical-theater moments you've seen before: There's a raucous gospel number in a church; a jazzy sequence in a juke joint; an African production number that invites comparisons to "The Lion King."

With her uncanny magnetism, however, Fantasia works her magic. She turns Celie into someone whose dignity we feel for -- and a so-so enterprise into something special. The performer has expressed herself on the topic of acting: She wants to do more of it, particularly in movies. It's hard to speak to her cinematic potential. But you know a singular stage presence when you see one. Could someone please find -- or better yet, write -- her next musical?

The Color Purple, book by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. Directed by Gary Griffin. Choreography, Donald Byrd; sets, John Lee Beatty; costumes, Paul Tazewell; lighting, Brian MacDevitt; sound, Jon Weston; hair design, Charles G. LaPointe; orchestrations, Jonathan Tunick; music director, Sheilah Walker. With Tiffany Daniels, Stu James, Kimberly Ann Harris, Virginia Ann Woodruff, Lynette DuPree. About 2 hours 45 minutes. Through Aug. 9 at John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Visit http://www.kennedy-center.org or call 202-467-4600.