An Alternate Film Version of 'For Colored Girls' Starring Patti Labelle?

Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls, meet your DVD predecessor.

Back in 1982, PBS produced a version of the famed play called For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide. This version of the stage choreopoem starred Alfrie Woodard, Patti LaBelle, Lynn Whittfield and even playwright Ntozake Shange herself.

This PBS version is now available by Kultur Video, and is also not a straight recreation of the stage work. Like Perry's feature film, this version directed by Oz Scott, also uses dramatic sequences and flashbacks with the poems interwoven with dialogue. It also features the women reciting the poems against a simple backdrop. And finally, for those who felt the feature film version of For Colored Girls had a male-bashing, negative and depressing slant, the PBS version has a more definite uplifting, positive and humorous tone, than Perry’s big screen interpretation. —Ronke Idowu Reeves

 Check out Kultur video’s website for more information: http://www.kultur.com/default.asp

So what do you think? Would you be interested in seeing this version of For Colored Girls? Does it sound better or worse than Tyler Perry’s version? Let us know what you think.