Behind the ‘Color Purple’ music: How it danced from Broadway to the big screen
You might expect 2004 “American Idol” champ Fantasia Barrino, “The Little Mermaid” star Halle Bailey and five-time Grammy winner H.E.R. to bring the belting in “The Color Purple,” the new movie musical adaption of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that opens in theaters on Christmas Day.
But Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson also flexes some surprise vocal chops as blues singer Shug Avery.
And executive music producer Stephen Bray already envisioned the former “Empire” diva in the role when she came to see the “Color Purple” musical on Broadway in 2005.
“We were sitting together, and at intermission I said, ‘You know, you’d make a great Shug Avery,’ ” Bray — who co-wrote the songs for both 2005’s original stage production and its 2015 revival — told The Post. “And she said, ‘Oh no, no. I would love that. But I can’t do that eight times a week. It’s just too much.’”
But when it came time to make the jump to the big screen — with a big boost from O.G. Sofia Oprah Winfrey, now a producer — Henson was ready to take that leap.
“She’s musical-theater-trained from Howard [University], so she came to the table ready to go,” said Bray. “And she just worked so hard because, you know, she sings ‘Push Da Button’ like Bessie Smith!”
And Bray knows something about changing your lane when you’ve already had success in the game. As a writer and producer for Madonna in the ’80s, he collaborated on some of the seminal hits that helped the Queen of Pop begin her ascension, including “Into the Groove,” “Papa Don’t Preach” and “Express Yourself.”
But Bray, singer-songwriter Brenda Russell and the late hitmaker Allee Willis took their pop-schooled pens to Broadway for “The Color Purple.”
“None of us had any idea how to do it, so we got lucky,” he said. “We studied really hard. We watched a billion [Stephen] Sondheim musicals over and over and over again.”
But they got some key advice from the legendary Quincy Jones, who scored the 1985 film — and has served as a producer for all of the screen and stage versions of “The Color Purple,” including this one.
“He was always there, literally in our ears saying, ‘You know, you guys, the melodies have to be king,’ ” said Bray. “There’s a certain style of Broadway writing that doesn’t have strong melodies and that’s 100 percent about storytelling.”
While Barrino — who starred as Celie on Broadway from 2007 to 2008 — is back singing show-stopping tunes such as “I’m Here,” some of the numbers have been cut from the theatrical productions.
“The one I miss the most is ‘Any Little Thing’ that Harpo and Sofia sing,” said Bray.
But “She Be Mine” — which, although originally written for Broadway, never made it to the stage — has been revived for the screen, performed by Phylicia Pearl Mpasi as the younger Celie.
And back from the 1985 film are fan faves “Miss Celie’s Blues (Sister)” and “Maybe God Is Tryin’ to Tell You Something,” which were not included onstage. “What’s fun is that Blitz [Bazawule, the director] found a way to include both songs,” said Bray, adding that “Quincy is really happy” about the nostalgic nod.
Siedah Garrett — who worked with Jones when he produced Michael Jackson’s 1987 album “Bad,” co-writing “Man in the Mirror” and duetting on “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” — joined the tunesmith team after Willis’ 2019 death.
“When Stephen and Brenda asked me if I would be interested, I’m like, ‘Would I?!’ ” she said. “But when we started working, I got a little melancholy. I felt such pressure trying to fill Allee’s shoes.”
After they co-wrote about 10 potential tunes for the new movie, it was “Shug Avery” — performed by Fantasia and Colman Domingo (Mister) — that made the final cut.
But perhaps Bray’s favorite new number is “Keep It Movin’,” sung by Bailey — as the younger version of Nettie, Celie’s beloved sister — and Mpasi. “To have Halle contribute ‘Keep It Movin’ [as the song’s co-writer] … it’s like a handoff from the 1985 version,” he said.
And the all-star soundtrack — featuring everyone from H.E.R. and Usher to Alicia Keys and Mary J. Blige on songs that were inspired by the film — also gives the music a fresh spin with contemporary R&B.
For Bray, it was crucial that “The Color Purple” stay in tune with the times: “I think that it’s important that this generation claims this adaptation.”
