THE COLOR OF DESTINY MICHELLE WILLIAMS ALWAYS WANTED TO BE IN 'THE COLOR PURPLE'.

Byline: EVAN HENERSON

>THEATER WRITER

As an eighth-grader at her school's Creative and Performing Arts Program in Rockford, Ill., Michelle Williams auditioned to play Daisy Mae in "Li'l Abner."

"They didn't give me the part," says Williams, who would grow up to sell millions of albums as a member of the pop group Destiny's Child. "As you can see, I'm still scarred."

But hardly defeated. Her tenure with Destiny's Child having reached its end in 2005, Williams had a different kind of date with destiny.

Admittedly, joining the touring company of the Broadway musical "The Color Purple" -- which opens today at the Ahmanson Theatre -- was every bit a destiny of Williams' own creation. Forget the casting slights of her youth, Williams wanted this role in this musical.

During one of Destiny's Child's last appearances together on "The Oprah Winfrey Show," Williams made it known to Winfrey, the musical's producer, that she would be up for signing on with "Purple."

Several months later, when Williams heard through her mother that the national tour would launch in her hometown of Chicago, Williams called her agent and asked to audition for the coveted role of soiled songbird Shug Avery.

"The producers were like, 'We had no idea she was still interested,'" Williams, 27, recalls. "They sent me the script and the music right away. I went to New York, and I had one of the best auditions of my life."

Not that she has much basis for comparison. Williams' performance experience was limited to a few appearances on the UPN show "Half & Half" and a stint in the title role of Disney's "Aida" on Broadway in 2003.

She spent a couple of months studying with L.A. acting coach Ivana Chubbuck, and won the part. But even with preparation, the role didn't come easily, says "Color Purple" director Gary Griffin.

"She thought it would come faster than it did," Griffin says. "Ultimately, she realized this isn't something you nail in a week, and that's where we sort of built our relationship. Add this today. Add a few more layers tomorrow, and you'll get it.

"It's great to watch her through the run, how she's become more specific and simple and how the performance continues to grow," Griffin continues. "I think initially she thought there was magic to acting. She's embraced it and seen that it's something you build and reinvest in daily."

As it happened, Griffin was able to simultaneously rehearse Williams and another singer-

turned-actor -- Fantasia Barrino -- who was preparing to enter the show's Broadway company.

The pipeline between pop music and stage has been especially fruitful where "The Color Purple" is concerned. Barrino's fellow "American Idol" alum LaToya London is playing Celie's sister, Nettie, on the tour. In January, Chaka Khan will portray Sofia on Broadway.

"There's something about the piece that needs a raw kind of gut honesty that for some reason seems to work well with people who kind of connect with that," Griffin says. "It doesn't necessarily take a kind of polish or to be a seasoned actor. Shug is a singer and has kind of really been a survivor in the world of music. It's also something a lot of singers connect with."

Well and good, says Williams, but a Shug worth her salt still needs to have the chops and convince the skeptics.

"As far as a pop star coming in to try to do this show, I kind of felt the glares and those stares for a minute," Williams says. "But Gary pulled me aside and said, 'I need you to take risks.' After he told me that, the next day I came back ready to rumble."

Based on Alice Walker's 1982 novel (later made into a movie directed by Steven Spielberg), "The Color Purple" follows 14 year-old heroine Celie (Jeannette Bayardelle), as she loses her children and her sister and is ultimately sold into marriage to the abusive Mister (Rufus Bonds Jr.)

Shug Avery, Mister's lover, is not only the equivalent of a fallen rock star, she's also the instrument of Celie's salvation. Williams said she instantly understood the character.

"Shug has a good heart, and she's misunderstood," Williams says. "She came off church and started singing blues, and that's a background similar to mine. I started singing r&b from church and I don't know why, but I felt like I got a lot of flak for that.

"I could identify with her looking to be accepted regardless of what state she was in, regardless if she was with a woman," Williams continues. "I can identify with wanting to be accepted and understood and everybody shut up and let's all get along."

Shug's music -- written by Brenda Walker, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray -- is within Williams' range.

"The difference between live music on my own and doing Broadway is I have to stick to the sheet music," Williams says. "I can't do runs and riffs. I may sneak one in, but then the conductor knocks on my door and tells me, 'You got to calm it down.' I've got to save it for the studio, right?"

Ah, yes, her other career. With Destiny's Child, Williams, Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland sold more than 100 million albums worldwide. During her five-year span with the group, Williams released two solo albums, the gospel effort "Heart to Yours" (2002) and the follow up "So You Know" in 2004.

Her third studio album is due out in May, two months after her tenure with "The Color Purple" ends.

"I'm toward the end of it now, and everybody is sending me all these wonderful songs," she reports. "So it kind of changes the direction of the album."

In the meantime, Williams is singing eight performances a week and living with the accompanying sacrifices.

"I used to drink ginger ale every single day, and I would wonder why am I getting hoarse so much," she says. "When I stopped drinking it, I told Jeannette Bayardelle, 'Ever since I stopped, my voice is so much clearer.' She said, 'Girl, I could have told you that!"'

Evan Henerson [phone]

[e-mail]

THE COLOR PURPLE

>Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

>When: 8 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday; through March 9.

>Tickets: $30 to $150. [phone], www.centertheatregroup.org

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Photo:

(color) Jeannette Bayardelle, left, stars as Celie and Michelle Williams is Shug Avery in the musical "The Color Purple."

Paul Kolnik