Paul McGuire Grimes, creator of Paul’s Trip to the Movies, breaks down “The Color Purple.”

THE COLOR PURPLE (in theaters)

The Color Purple is a new movie musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel. By the time she was only 14, Celie was raped and abused by her father leading to two children who were taken away from her. She was then separated from her sister, Nettie, and sent to live and be married with the much older, Mister. Years pass by as Celie lives and takes care of her new family under Mister. She feels trapped by him, but it’s the arrival of singer/performer Shug Avery who becomes a beacon of light and hope for Celie. Their new friendship gives Celie hope that one day she can live an independent life and be reunited with her sister and children.

-Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P. Henson, Corey Hawkins, Colman Domingo, Halle Bailey, H.E.R, Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, David Allen Grier, Jon Batiste

-Both Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks starred in The Color Purple on Broadway in two different productions. Barrino played Celie back in 2007, while Brooks did the most recent revival in 2015.

-People may know Colman Domingo from his Emmy-winning work on Euphoria. He also appeared at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis back in 2010 in the Kander and Ebb musical, The Scottsboro Boys before the show went to Broadway. I showed him my program, and he signed that and my ticket from that night.

-The story of The Color Purple has now been told through multiple mediums starting with the 1982 novel by Alice Walker. It was made into a film directed by Steven Spielberg in 1985, the Broadway musical first opened in 2005, and now the movie musical.