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When Donald Jones Jr. auditioned for the North American touring company for “The Color Purple” in 2010, he was cast and just wanted to take a big step in his young career. He landed a role as a dancer in an ensemble and toured in production for a year and a half, including a hometown show his family saw at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts.
But after seven years in New York, where he appeared in the Broadway premieres of “Aladdin” and “Frozen”, he moved to New Orleans and used his experience with “The Color Purple” to work as a musical production director and choreographer. is. Opening this week at Le Petit Theater.
The show has been a career-changing experience for him in many ways, and he’s looking to share it with his local cast and audience.
“It was my first time working with an All Black cast,” says Jones. “It was nice to be surrounded by people who looked like me. We told stories that included our culture and our stories. We did that for a year and a half. I never got tired It has such a beautiful message in it Healing from your trauma, rising above and finding your own acceptance and self-love I just connected to it and that I knew that every time I did a show, someone in the audience would be affected and inspired to get out of any situation.
Alice Walker published The Color Purple in 1982 and won a Pulitzer Prize the following year. An epic story of Celie’s perseverance growing up in poverty in Georgia in the early 1900s. She has two children in her early teens and is married to Mr., a cruel man who cuts her off from her sister Nettie. Over time, she develops relationships with other women, including Mister’s son Harpo’s girlfriend, Sophia, and Mister’s mistress, singer Suge Avery.
The story was made into a 1985 film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Danny Glover. In 2005, a musical adaptation of the book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Ally Willis and Stephen Bray began on Broadway and ran for three years. , Jones worked with him on the 2010-2011 tour.
“Working with Donald Byrd, I felt like my dancing level was up,” says Jones. “‘The Color Purple’ was the first time I danced so technically.”
A Broadway revival began in 2015 and won several Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Musical.
Jones’ direction and vision for choreography lies somewhere in between Broadway productions.
“The revival took away too much,” he says. “I liked the revival because it was fast-moving, but it ruined all the dancing. It took away the movement and put it down to a musical play. I want to spice up that backup.”
He also works on original novels to add depth.
“In the musical, Squeak is kind of a mean character. She’s kind of a vagabond and a slut,” he says. “But in the books, she has a whole life that we miss[in the musical]. There are moments in the work where you try to see her story unfold a bit more.”
Dance skating, succubus and eternal love!
The musical is steeped in gospel and blues, and Jones hasn’t changed that, but the band is unmistakably a New Orleans outfit. formed. Jones brings the band onstage for a juke joint number, which is not part of the show’s normal set-up.
He also adds touches he says may have been missed by white directors in Broadway productions and those less familiar with the South.
“White directors missed black culture,” he says. “Especially in New Orleans, when you go to a place where there’s music and dancing, there’s also food. So Juke his joint his scenes have characters going around plates of food.”
He also uses an all-black creative team that includes a vocal director, costume and hair designer.
Much of the cast is of local origin, with Kadeja Wang, a New Orleans native, being a church soloist, a role she performed with Jones in a touring production.
Jones’ return to New Orleans coincides with a shift in focus from performance to directing and choreographic work. He directed his JPAS “God of Carnage” and choreographed part of his Tuskegee rendition of “Fly” on Airmen. He directed “Kinky Boots” at the Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts.
The move was also personal, allowing Jones to spend more time with his family. He is also working on the restoration of the Benjamin Center for Dance and Gymnastics in Gentilly . He danced there during high school, but it was not resumed after Hurricane Katrina.
But for now, he’s focused on “The Color Purple” and Celie’s story.
“Selie is doing her best to hopefully reunite with her sister,” says Jones. “We can find the strength to get out of situations only by believing that there is something better or better for us. That’s what applies to me in this story: Belief in something.
‘The Color Purple’ will run from Thursday to Sunday from January 12th to 29th at Le Petit Theater. Tickets are $20-$70 at lepetittheatre.com.
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