Another year, another decade.

With the incredible wealth of theater in the area, it’s impossible to see everything. Before launching into another year of shows, let’s take a look back at some of the works that left a big mark—or smile—with this reviewer. Here are some of my favorites:

RICHMOND, Va. - The 1982 Alice Walker novel "The Color Purple" was introduced to a wider audience with the 1985 movie, starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey was among the producers who helped bring a musical based on the book to Broadway in 2004.  That musical is the latest offering of the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Fredericksburg. The theatre's producing artistic director, Patrick A'Hearn along with Kanysha Williams and Kadejah One, who play Celie and Sofia in the production are here to share about the musical and perform a song.

For some reason, stories about rape, incest, degradation, and spousal abuse don’t spring to mind when we think of plots for uplifting musicals. Nevertheless, such is the searing, epistolary story that forms the basis for “The Color Purple”, Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of 1983 which was quickly followed by a film in 1985. A musical version had to happen.

That Broadway hit, which ran from ’05 to ’08, garnered eleven Tony nominations and a Tony-winning revival that ran from late 2015 to 2017. Dramatically speaking, “…Purple” is gold.

That musical revival in all its scorching, heart-breaking glory awaits patrons at the Riverside Center through May 5. If you pick and choose which shows to see, see this one. If you’ve never been, but always meant to go, go now.

Alice Walker's Pulitzer-winning The Color Purple is one of the greatest stories of the last 50 years, and its musical adaptation is one of the most magical Broadway experiences of the last 20 years. Riverside Center for the Performing Arts has captured much of that charm in its moving production of The Color Purple, running through May 5 in Fredericksburg, Virginia.

One of Culpeper’s great musical figures is contributing his talents to a new production of “The Color Purple” at The Riverside Center for the Performing Arts in Stafford County.

C. Alexander Smith, music worship leader for Culpeper Baptist Church and director of the Blue Ridge Chorale, plays Grady in a show that features a cast of Broadway-caliber actors.

Magic. Magnificent. Marvelous. There are only so many superlatives I can muster in such a small space, but The Color Purple, now running at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts, is phenomenal. Director Amy Jones, Music Director and Conductor Garrett Jones, and Riverside’s Producing Artistic Director Patrick A’Hearn, who also produced the show, have put on the must-see show for this spring.

Over the past several months, the Riverside Center for the Performing Arts has brought an enchanting Disney tale (“Beauty and the Beast”), a rollicking Buddy Holly revue (“A Rockabilly Christmas”) and an endearing drag queen extravaganza (“La Cage aux Folles”). With its current offering and season-closer, “The Color Purple,” Riverside is going straight for the heart.

Audiences, be prepared to be put through an emotional wringer.

What is Fredericksburg’s favorite color?

Well, through early May, it’s shaping up to be purple.

“The Color Purple” made its regional début yesterday at Riverside Center for the Performing Arts and runs through May 5.

Listen to Kanysha Williams (Celie) and Nia Savoy (Shug Avery) preview our upcoming production of The Color Purple at Riverside alongside director and Riverside Center's Producing Artistic Director, Patrick A'Hearn and Town Talk's Ted Schubel (NewsTalk 1230 WFVA). 

Listen to Wendell Jordan (Mister), Kadejah Oné (Sofia), and Carl L. Williams (Harpo) preview our upcoming production of The Color Purple at Riverside alongside director and Riverside Center's Producing Artistic Director, Patrick A'Hearn and Town Talk's Ted Schubel (NewsTalk 1230 WFVA).