If you ever wondered what it would sound like if the best soloists from church gathered under one roof to try to blow it off, "The Color Purple" is your chance to find out.

Opening the 80th season of the refurbished Paper Mill Playhouse, the revival runs until Oct. 21.

In these soaring voices, you feel the pain of abused black women. The men were also trapped in terrible circumstances, but they took out their frustrations on the women, making life that much more miserable.

Set in the Deep South over a few decades, the story follows Celie. We meet her as a girl, a child forced to be a woman, who gives birth to her second child. Her father is the father of these children. So the musical begins with the realization of rape and incest, of women being considered as no more than what their bodies can do for men. Yet they safeguard their souls, and some, like Celie, cling fast to faith. It is all she has.

And yet they survive and eventually flourish. Otherwise this work would not have had the run it has. And it has had quite a run; Alice Walker's 1982 seminal novel earned her the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Steven Spielberg directed the 1985 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover and Oprah, which garnered 11 Oscars nominations but was shut out.

As Sofia, Carrie Compere, plays a strong, sexy woman who is broken but finds herself again.

Yet the story continued in two Broadway revivals, earning 10 Tony nods and one win for LaChanze as Celie the first time around, and four Tony nominations and a win for Cynthia Erivo in the same role in the revival. There have also been two national tours. Jennifer Hudson is among those who have belted the songs.

And this is a musical completely reliant on voices. Dancing does not matter. Sets do not matter. There's not much dialogue.

"The Color Purple" is all about the song, and it requires strong, pure voices to tell it.

And they do, beautifully.

Adrianna Hicks as Celie is a joy to watch, especially when she bursts forth in the second act, transforming from subjugation to realization. She figures out who she is, whom she loves, what she is capable of and becomes an unstoppable force.

Initially, all Celie has is her sister, Nettie (N'Jameh Camara), and they are separated when their father pushes Celie off on a tyrannical man, known as Mister. It's a tricky role and Gavin Gregory is terrific, infusing him with the menace required of a man who uses his whip freely. Later, when Mister needs to be more reflective and a supplicant, Gregory also nails that.

As good as he and the other men are, this is a story about the women. They were of a class and time when women were too easily ignored. Yet Shug Avery (Carla R. Stewart) and Sofia (Carrie Compere) are only to be ignored at someone's peril.

Both women know how to stop a show by sheer force of voice, and Trenton's Compere owns Sofia even on a stage where a shrinking violet would be trampled. She steals every scene she is in.

Everyone falls in love with Shug, including that hideously matched couple of Mister and Celie. The love between Shug and Celie is powerful enough to survive a few random men, as is the love between sisters Celie and Nettie, even separated by continents.

When each woman takes her turn in the spotlight, the moment is spectacular. Still, that does not make for a perfect night at the theater. This could have used a few aspects that generally help a musical: choreography and better orchestration to complement the astounding talent on stage.

Wood chairs on stage and hanging from the backdrop are more of a distraction than an addition. Actors use the chairs, but they come to seem more like a prop in an exercise class than anything else.

Of course not every ballad calls for kicking up your heels, but the scene in the juke joint begs for real dancing.

For a musical built around the soaring voices of women who make us feel pain and joy, no show comes close. By the final curtain, it does feel as if you've been taken to church and reminded of the power of women, which in these trying times is a very good thing.

'The Color Purple'

Paper Mill Playhouse

22 Brookside Drive, Millburn

Tickets: $34 to $102, available online at papermill.org or by phone at 973-376-4343