Diva relations in The Color Purple, the 2015 Broadway revival

Abstract The Color Purple’s 2015 revival departs from Broadway musical conventions by showcasing not just one singular diva, but by depicting the performative prowess of three different divas – Celie, Sofia and Shug – in relation to one another. The revival stages divaness as a liberatory mode of relations among women. Divas here act as facilitators of female relationships that are otherwise foreclosed by racism and patriarchy. Throughout the revival, expressions of diva virtuosity serve to forge and solidify – rather than isolate the diva from – liberatory female bonds. The production’s promotional materials and theatrical elements – including its conventional musical numbers, its unconventional trinity of diva performers and director John Doyle’s signature character-focused approach to ensemble acting, Brechtian staging and minimalist design – amplify the centrality of diva relations at the heart of story’s womanist aesthetics and upend traditional understandings of the Broadway diva by staging divaness as a mode of womanist relations.