Big attendance at Ford Center for “The Color Purple”

More than 800 people were in attendance at the Gertrude C. Ford Center for the Performing Arts at the University of Mississippi to take part in the third national tour of the Broadway musical “The Color Purple” on Sunday.
“This is definitely one of the better-attended shows,” said Jonathan Whitmire, front-of-the-house manager of the Ford Center. “And it’s just a large show in general with the number of trucks, the set and the costumes. So it’s one of the bigger shows of the season for sure.”
The musical adaptation of “The Color Purple” has been nominated for 11 Tony Awards and was based on both the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker and the film directed by Steven Spielberg, which was nominated for 11 Academy Awards.
On its third national tour, the group now has the opportunity to lower costs and play smaller venues such as Oxford, according to Michael Heitzler, merchandise manager of “The Color Purple.”
“That’s part of the glory in making it small enough to go places like Oxford because typically these audiences would never see a show this size or caliber,” Heitzler said. “So it’s been a blessing and quite a journey. We’ve played everywhere from the biggest markets in the country to the smallest towns in the country that you’ve never even heard of.”
Heitzler said the quality of the performance has not been affected by downsizing.
“I think that this particular production company has done a stellar job of maintaining the artistic integrity,” he said. “Therefore, the performers, in my personal opinion, are just as astounding as they were on Broadway or in the first national tour.”
Nathan Ford, a sophomore musical theater major, said he was exposed to a story that he otherwise may not have been.
“I actually hadn’t read the book, seen the movie or anything like that, so it was fun for me to see a musical (of which) I was learning the story as it went along,” he said.
After performing a lead role in the Ole Miss production of “R.E.N.T.” this past fall, Ford said he was able to sit in the audience with a different perspective.
“It’s amazing to see their ability to project the kind of energy it takes to fill up a room like the Ford Center,” he said. “And to know that I was up there attempting to do that — I just wonder what the audience saw, because I know I wasn’t that good.”
For information about future events at the Ford Center, call 662-915-2787 or send an email to [email protected].