"The Color Purple," a tale of abuse and oppression, of resistance and the power of friendship, is being retold as a musical period drama film that restores the intimacy and eroticism of the romance between two of the main female characters. It tells the story of Celie, a teenager with an abusive stepfather, who rapes her then takes away her two babies and forces her to marry an older farmer who misuses her as a maid. In this drama, set in rural Georgia in the early 20th century and adapted from