“The Color Purple,” playing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center through the end of this month, isn’t my favorite musical adaptation of a popular novel, and the road show version looks a little less sharp now than when I saw it a year ago in L.A. Still, there are some terrific voices in this cast and a morally uplifting message — though the first act, full of spousal abuse and despair, is as grim as musicals get.
Read my interview with Jeannette Bayardelle, who stars as Celie.
