The Color Purple - at Home: Cast Q&A with Jo Servi
Meet our The Color Purple – at Home cast members!
As we prepare to present streamed performances of The Color Purple – at Home, in association with Birmingham Hippodrome, find out more about our astonishing cast members in this Q&A series.
First up is Jo Servi, who plays both Grady and Preacher in the musical.
What does returning to Curve to create this show for people to watch at home mean to you?
This will be my second return to Curve, having performed there twice before and it has always been fun! I have been looking forward to returning for a long time and I am glad that I am able to, now although, it would be nice to be able to hang out with the guys in the crew and hug people. It will be very strange but to be able to create meaningful work is a blessing and privilege.
Favourite song?
Probably ‘I’m Here’, there are so many great songs in the show but this, particularly as sung by T’Shan is an incredibly moving account of life and the sorry story of so many women. To hear somebody accept what was, take control of what is and rejoice in it is a tribute to inner strength and that which comes from God. To know one’s self and be at peace, to be thankful, to appreciate what you have, rather than bemoaning what you don’t. It’s a wonderful lesson.
What do you hope audiences take from this production?
Hope, joy, resilience, especially now, courage. Things will get better but in their own time. We have to be strong, for ourselves and for those around us. There is hope, there is love.
The Color Purple – at Home streams 16 Feb – 7 Mar. Click here to find out more and book now.
About Jo Servi
Jo trained at Laine Theatre Arts.
Theatre credits include: Gentleman Starkey in Peter Pan and Robert Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor (The Maltings Theatre); Henry Davis in Street Scene (Opera North U.K. Tour); Crow/ Laplander/ Wallflower in The Snow Queen (Sherman Theatre); Preacher/ Grady in ‘The Color Purple (Curve/ Birmingham Hippodrome); Elnathan/ Benjamin/ Dwain in Barber Shop Chronicles North American & U.K. Spring tours; E.D. Nixon/ Freedom Four (Bass) in King (Hackney Empire); Hotel Manager in Chess (London Coliseum); Horace de Vil in The One Hundred And One Dalmatians (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); The Voice Of Oak King in Robin Hood: The Arrow Of Destiny (York Theatre Royal); Lacey in ‘The Life‘ (Southwark Playhouse); Tito in ‘Dirty Dancing‘ (UK Tour), Tumnus/ Maugrim in The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe (Birmingham Repertory Theatre); Gregory Piven in Sunny Afternoon (Harold Pinter Theatre); ‘Angel City Four’ Bass/ Del Dacosta, in City of Angels (Donmar Warehouse); ‘Witchfinder’/ ‘Chorus’ in Before The Dawn – Kate Bush (Hammersmith Eventim Apollo); ‘Emmanuel’ in Fast Cuts & Snapshots (Òran Mór); ‘Barberini/ ‘Ballad Singer’ in A Life of Galileo (Birmingham Rep. & U.K. Tour); ‘Marley/ Old Joe’ & u/s ‘Scrooge’ in A Christmas Carol (Birmingham Rep.); ‘Daddy Brubeck’ in Sweet Charity (English Theatre Frankfurt); ‘Grandfather’ in Ragtime (Regent’s Park); ‘Robin Starveling’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Regent’s Park); ‘Barry Belson’ in Jersey Boys (Prince Edward Theatre); ‘Spangler’ in The Human Comedy (The Young Vic & Watford Palace); Street Chorus Baritone in Bernstein’s Mass (Royal Festival Hall); ‘King Hildebrand’/ ‘Mr. Northwind’ in The Enchanted Pig (Linbury Studio Theatre – Royal Opera House, U.K. Tour and New Victory Theatre, New York); ‘Ace’ in It’s A Wonderful Life (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich); ‘Papa Ge’ in Once On This Island (Birmingham Rep., Nottingham Playhouse and Hackney Empire); ‘Mullins’ in Peter Pan – A Musical Adventure (West Yorkshire Playhouse); ‘The Voice Of Audrey II’ in Little Shop Of Horrors, (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich); ‘Masana’ in Rebellion (Hackney Empire Studio Theatre); ‘Dick Whittington’ u/s ‘King Neville’, in Stephen Fry’s Cinderella (The Old Vic Theatre); ‘The Man In The Saloon’ in Blues In The Night (New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich); ‘Lt. Brannigan’/ ‘Arvide Abernathy’ in Guys And Dolls (Piccadilly Theatre), where he created the roles of ‘Calvin’ and ‘The Greek’; u/s ‘Quickly Robinson’ in Jailhouse Rock (Piccadilly Theatre); ‘Marvin’ and u/s ‘Brutus T. Firefly’ in Oh! What A Night (U.K. & European Tour) ; u/s ‘Booker T. Washington’ in Ragtime (Piccadilly Theatre); ‘Sam’ in Whistle Down The Wind (U.K. National Tour); ‘Rhythm Boy’ My One & Only (Piccadilly Theatre); ‘Shenzi‘ & u/s ‘Banzai’ and ‘Ed’ in the original London cast of Disney’s The Lion King (Lyceum Theatre).
Recording credits include; “You’re Criminal”, “If We Try” Boyzone (Warners); “Running With Scissors” album, Janet Devlin (Insomnia Music Records); “Leanne Mitchell” album (Universal – Island Records); “Mercy” Marcus Collins (R.C.A Records); Sister Brother (Arista Records); The Foundations: Greatest Hits (Tring International); Saturday Night Fever (Italy); Bush Tales (Zorilla Entertainment), Morris: A Life With Bells On (Twist Films); Peter Pan – A Musical Adventure; Flashdance: The Musical; Zou (Disney Junior); Skins (E4), Disney’s Dinosaur; Hollywood Action Movie (Surface Films); Gophers! (Zenith/ Central Television, for Channel 4).
Film & Television credits include; Muppets Most Wanted (Disney); The Six O’Clock Show (Granada); The Royal Variety Performance (Granada); Errù Gæær’n (Rubicon TV/ TV2 Norway); Barrymore (LWT); Saturday Live (Triffic Films); Children In Need (B.B.C.)
Other credits include: The Southlanders Vocal Quartet; Honda: Dreamscape; Pumpkin Soup For The Soul, workshop (Stratford East); The Bet, workshop (Criterion Theatre).