"For Colored Girls ..." returns in powerful production of Ntozake Shange's groundbreaking masterpiece at Booth Theatre
NEW YORK -- Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf," a show some mothers, grandmothers and daughters delight in sharing with each other, has broad appeal, touching the hearts of anyone who sees it.
The groundbreaking show is back in a powerful production of Shange's work that overflows with exuberant, creative storytelling. This revved-up revival has the power to reinvigorate as seven women share poetry and passions, humor and heartbreak, CBS2's Dave Carlin reported.
At the Booth Theatre, some fans said they fell in love with the original Broadway production in 1976. Others are just discovering this trailblazing choreopoem.
"The message is still there. It's still very real, you know," one theatergoer said.
"I am a teacher and I was thinking I could take my students," said another.
"And we need to continue it on," another theatergoer said.
Kenita Miller plays the fierce and heartbroken Lady in Red.
"Seeing the joy through pain and showing how much strength we have as human beings ... ultimately the theme is resilience to me," Miller said.
"This show is life-changing. It's life-changing. It's so alive," said Amara Granderson, a Brooklyn-native playing Lady in Orange.
"I was eight and my mom's coworker had a poster of the show on her side of her cubicle, and I remember being so taken aback by the poster because it was this gorgeous poster, this colorful font, this, like, pseudo script watercolor rainbow font with this beautiful woman on the cover, and the title was so jarring and so somber," Granderson said. "So I remember just seeing that and kind of having a kind of dichotomy of feelings about it, and then years later in college I was fortunate enough to be in the play."
"The fact that five, however many years later, I am making my Broadway debut with this play that already is so impactful, is just beyond and such a treat so, I'm very, very thankful," Granderson said.
"Any Black woman that comes to see this is going to find some way in that makes her feel special, seen and that she matters," said Stacey Sargeant, Lady in Green.
This revival is expertly helmed by Camille A. Brown - the first Black woman to choreograph and direct a Broadway show in 65 years.
"The timelessness of Ntozake's writing, and just the sisterhood in the empowerment and how Black women hold space for each other," Brown said.
Shange died in 2018. She was 70. This revival of her masterpiece is a way of saying thank you, and it reminds us that living in and speaking truth can liberate us.
You can see "For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf" at the Booth Theatre through May 22.
