Audiences are primed to like "The Color Purple" at the Hippodrome Theatre. After all, it's the inspirational story of a passive protagonist who must overcome racism, sexism and a host of other problems to actively realize her potential as a black woman in America in the early 20th century.

The Broadway musical version of Alice Walker's novel fortunately manages to overcome its own problems, which include hasty storytelling in the musical's book by Marsha Norman (" 'night, Mother"), who borrows from Steven Spielberg's movie version as much as from Walker's novel; over-the-top acting by a talented cast that's overselling the material; and a generic score by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray that agreeably dips into gospel, soul, pop, jazz and the blues without finding a distinctive sound of its own.

If this show seems to get better as it goes along, it's because the undeniable sentimental power of its story really kicks in during the second act. There is so much melodrama and metaphor packed into the plot that it's gratifying to see how everything plays out.

In the first act, our protagonist, Celie (Jeannette Bayardelle), is separated from her beloved sister, Nettie (LaTonya Holmes); forced as a teen mother to give up her two children; pressured into marrying a mean man known as Mister (Rufus Bonds Jr.); and subjected to so many other soul-smothering forces that it's pathetic to see how old and hopeless this young woman seems.

Although Bayardelle's central performance never lets us forget the essential seriousness of this musical's themes, the show's Broadway-scaled determination to please often tends to make that heartbreaking story resemble a live-action cartoon. Bonds plays his stage villain for every hiss he can elicit, and it's similarly fun watching the plus-sized, prototypical feminist Sofia (Felicia P. Fields) literally throw her weight around.

There's nothing wrong with emphasizing the humor that was such an important survival tactic within the Southern black community. Also genuinely entertaining is the bawdy lifestyle of Shug Avery (Angela Robinson), a torch singer who becomes intimately intertwined with both Mister and Celie.

And you'll also smile at a Greek chorus-evocative trio of prim-and-proper Church Ladies (Kimberly Ann Harris, Virginia Ann Woodruff and Lynette Dupree), whose gossip-laced commentary conveys a lot of small-town flavor.

The show's eagerness to please is pushed so far, however, that there are signs of creative strain in the unwieldy production by director Gary Griffin. Some dramatic scenes have all the nuance of a vaudeville skit, while musical numbers generally sound like the Deep South by way of Las Vegas, and Donald Byrd's suitably extroverted choreography ventures into a fantasized African tribal dance that seems to borrow from "Cirque du Soleil."

At least all those noisy trappings keep you alert. It will also prime you for the emotional fact that the humanitarian essence of "The Color Purple" survives everything piled on top of it.

Celie is a skillfully conceived, shy character whose eventual blossoming is an evolution you want to stick around to observe; and Bayardelle gives a relatively subtle performance that has you in her corner when the sullen Celie finally breaks into a smile.

Musically, the show also rises to the occasion. When Celie sings "Somebody Gonna Love You" and "I'm Here," the superficial score approaches spiritual substance; and when Celie and Shug Avery trade lines in "What About Love?," their powerful voices and Alice Walker's themes are beautifully fused.

"The Color Purple" runs through May 18 at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 N. Eutaw St. in Baltimore. Tickets are $34 to $125. Call 410-547-SEAT or go to www.BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com.

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