![\"Sisters](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TFL-Z-PURPLE-2-01.jpg\")
Sisters Nettie (Cassidy Joseph) and Celie (Brooklynn Miller) in “The Color Purple,” playing at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center through July 3. (Trisha Rosales\/Courtesy)<\/p>\nIn these difficult times, Br\u00e9vo Theatre\u2019s glory-filled production of \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d digs inside your spirit and releases elation at the prospect of hope.<\/p>\n
Voices propelled by passion \u2014 almost pushing you back in your seat \u2014 deliver as solid a celebration as this musical is capable of.<\/p>\n
True, a few asterisks exist, but this relatively young company unquestionably succeeds in its most ambitious undertaking in scope and logistics, especially since one of its leads, South Florida actress Toddra Brunson, unexpectedly died. The company had a week to rehearse with her replacement.<\/p>\n
The artists\u2019 enthusiasm, on display through July 3 at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center, is infectious as heroine Celie wrestles with the existence of God and searches for her sense of self-worth.<\/p>\n
The 2005 musical is adapted, deeply abridged and somewhat softened from both Alice Walker\u2019s 1982 novel and the 1985 film. But its blend of jazz, ragtime, gospel, blues and African music engulfs and exhilarates the audience.<\/p>\n
Praise is certainly due to the verve of director Bryan Keyth-Wilson, the precise guidance of musical direction by Beau King, and the live eight-piece band under the baton of Damian Sanchez.<\/p>\n
But what you\u2019ll take home with you is the pure sound of three actresses with expressive phrasing and powerful belts that are forces of nature.<\/p>\n
As Celie, the rural Georgia teenager who evolves before our eyes and ears through a grueling marriage, Brooklynn Miller is simply stunning. The Miami educator was hired after being heard singing karaoke, but her vocal ability is equaled by her acting. Her face registers anticipation, love, fear, regret.\u00a0She captures us even during moments when Celie is protectively withdrawn.<\/p>\n
As Shug Avery, Celie\u2019s husband\u2019s dancehall mistress, Aria Hope pulls off a minor miracle. She was called in from Houston a week before opening to parachute into a role she has played before. Hope\u2019s Shug is a blistering, glowing energy working at some incalculable horsepower.<\/p>\n
As the defiant, self-assured Sofia, Alabama-based Ashley Nicole Portis is simply a mountainous life force whose thrilling numbers drive some of the highlights of the evening.<\/p>\n
No less effective are Cassidy Joseph as sister Nettie, Jamaine Benjamin Jr. as Harpo and Michael L. Wallace, who believably inhabits the cruel misogynist Albert \u201cMister\u201d and then makes his latter-day conversion credible. LaShondra Hood, Krystin Blaire and Samara Baptist are the superbly precise \u201cchurch ladies\u201d who entertain during scene changes.<\/p>\n
Sisters Nettie (Cassidy Joseph) and Celie (Brooklynn Miller) in “The Color Purple,” playing at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center through July 3. (Trisha Rosales\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n
Note that the entire ensemble, most of whom also play specific characters, are commendable, especially when their group numbers push out the walls of the auditorium in the gospel-tinged numbers. As the material pointedly hinges on the difference between physical beauty and inner beauty, the cast and the production encompasses, even welcomes, a wide range of body types.<\/p>\n
The talent displayed here, much of it from locals who don\u2019t often audition for other theaters, is worth a visit from artistic directors down here seeking diverse casting possibilities.<\/p>\n
No less memorable is the supple, smooth, slinky, swirling, spinning dancing with supple arms and legs airborne, fluidly choreographed by the company\u2019s producing artistic director Terrence \u201cTM\u201d Pride.<\/p>\n
One of the asterisks is that when most of the actors are projecting rage or unbridled passion at full volume blast and speed, some words get lost in a blur. Which is a tragedy, since these lyrics and dialogue are so evocative themselves.<\/p>\n
The sound by David Hart and lighting by Lauren Kennedi Ozie Dixon are first-rate, but there were a few missed cues during the opening matinee, and the actors need to learn to step into the lights. Sometimes we could see their bodies but not their heads.<\/p>\n
Harlan Penn designed an evocative environment, including a thrust into the black box theater that takes up some seating space but gives the company an acre to dance across. We\u2019ve never seen this venue used so well visually. Pride\u2019s costuming captured the rural working clothes, then later delivers a parade of African celebratory garb.<\/p>\n
The arc tracks Celie rejecting God, discovering bestowed beauty and finding the love she has always sought \u2014 inside herself. It\u2019s a comforting message that fills troubled hearts.<\/p>\n
We have to say, once again, we are worried that our credibility may be in danger because this season consistently and repeatedly has produced work worthy of such recognition. But trust us, Br\u00e9vo\u2019s \u201cThe Color Purple\u201d deserves to be on that honor roll.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Color Purple,\u201d presented by Br\u00e9vo Theatre, runs through Friday, July 3, at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center, 50 W. Atlantic Blvd. General admission is $55, with VIP tickets for $70. Visit BrevoTheatre.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n