Toward the start of Marsha Norman's musical version of "The Color Purple," Celie makes her "I Want" declaration, and her audience is her sister, Nettie: I want to sit and do nothing-- Fix you a new dress. Hope my babies are happy-- Some place God will bless. This seems like a small wish--if you compare it with "Wicked," or "Evita," or "Children of Eden"--but it's not small. It's not small because many people in Celie's world want her dead. She is raped by a man who claims he is her father; she is separated from her children; she is sent to live with a man who never bothers to disclose his own first name. She is beaten and abandoned (repeatedly). So it's sort of stunning that she does, ultimately, find a life where she can do professional sewing and spend time with a family. It's like conquering Argentina and launching a Rainbow Tour. In her various battles, Celie enlists help from two main allies. One--a friend ...