Summer theater in the Lehigh Valley is heating up even as it winds down with the openings of three hit musicals.

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival continues with “The Color Purple,” Northampton Community College Bill Mutimer Memorial Summer Theatre closes it season with “Mamma Mia!,” and Sing For America will stage “Newsies: The Musical.”

Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival’s production of “The Color Purple” runs July 17 to Aug. 4, Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University.

The epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker comes to life in an emotional tour de force musical infused with a soul-stirring score of jazz, gospel, ragtime and blues.

Set against the backdrop of the American South in the early 20th century, the story follows the transformative journey of Celie (Jessica Johnson), a young African-American woman who courageously navigates a life marked by abuse, separation and discrimination to discover the strength to break free from oppression and find her own voice.

From the hauntingly beautiful “I’m Here” to the celebration of the title song, “The Color Purple,” the Tony Award-winning musical is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the enduring power of love.

“’The Color Purple’ is a story of an entire people, filtered through the life of one woman, named Celie, a woman who is abused by people who have been abused,” says director Amina Robinson.

“She is a woman who has no voice and struggles to find her worth in a world which seeks to silence her because they too have been silenced,” Robinson says.

Leading role actors are George L. Brown (Mister), Ta-Tynisa Wilson (Shug Avery), K. Bernice (Sofia) and Joel Oliver (Harpo).

The cast includes Jessica Money, Maya Marino Cappello, Maya Cuevas, Ken Boyd, Mikey Corey Hassel, Donnie Hammond, CaSandra Kay, Taylor J. Mitchell, Gabrielle Moseley, Lathan A. Roberts, Jacquelin Lorraine Schofield, Monique Streety, Denver Andre Taylor, Christopher Tipps and Sierra Wilson.

“’The Color Purple ‘is a testament to the exuberant sturdiness of black womanhood specifically and humanity universally,” Robinson says. “It is a celebration of growing into self-ownership and self-love.”

Robinson is the first black woman to win a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical for “The Color Purple” at Theatre Horizon, Philadelphia, in 2019.

Johnson won a Barrymore Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical for her performance as Celie in “The Color Purple” at Theatre Horizon.

At PSF, there’s an actors’ talk-back after July 25 and Aug. 1 performances.

There’s an audio-described and open-captioned performance at 2 p.m. July 27.

“The Color Purple,” 7:30 p.m. July 17-19, 24-26, 31; Aug. 1, 2; 2, 7:30 p.m. July 20, 27, Aug. 3; 2 p.m. July 21, 28, Aug. 4; 6:30 p.m. July 23, 30, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Main Stage Theatre, Labuda Center for the Performing Arts, DeSales University, 2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley. 610-282-9455, https://pashakespeare.org/

The final show of Northampton Community College Bill Mutimer Memorial Summer Theatre is “Mamma Mia!,” July 17 to July 28, Lipkin Theater, Northampton Community College, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township.

“Mamma Mia!” brings 22 of the greatest hits from 1970s’ Swedish pop-dance group ABBA to the stage in a funny and heartwarming story about a girl, her mother and three men, one of whom may be her father.

Set on a Greek island resort owned by former singer Donna Sheridan (Beth Linzer) and based on the book by Catherine Johnson, “Mamma Mia!” follows Donna’s daughter Sophie (Jenny Bianchini), who is searching for her birth father on the eve of her wedding to her fiancé Sky (Max Wetherhold).

With her wedding rapidly approaching, Sophie sets out on a quest to discover the identity of her father, bringing three men (Matt Michael, Daniel Arzberger, Will Windsor Erwin) from her mother’s past back to the island they visited 20 years ago.

The show features music and lyrics by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA, and some songs by Stig Anderson.

Songs include the title tune, “Mamma Mia!,” and “Voulez-Vous,” “Take a Chance on Me,” “Dancing Queen,” “Super Trouper,” “Knowing Me, Knowing You,” “Thank You for the Music,” “Money, Money, Money,” “The Winner Takes It All” and “SOS.”

The cast includes Rebecca Pieper, Andrea Marshall-Money, Mateo Villarreal, Calum Sullivan, Lydia Walker, Angelina Dries, Aidan Weller, Julio Hernandez, Jenna Williamson, Maria Alvarez-Pallete, Adrian Colon-Burgos, Anjelica Soto, Abby Arza, Yul Carrion, Isabella Awald, Isabella Ambroise, Zayne Thomie, Bowen Huang, Harrison Fox, Michael Guerriere, Julianna Domiciano, Danny Melo, Camilla Backman, Lyndsey Sommons, Deborah Katz, Cade Kocher, Connor Sternberg, Megan Wolfe, Brianna Gutierrez, Mina Price and Azelia DosSantos.

Clair M Freeman directs “Mamma Mia!” Tina Williams is choreographer. Chad Miller is music director.

“Mamma Mia!,” 7:30 p.m. July 17-20, 24-27; 2 p.m. July 21, 28, Northampton Community College Bill Mutimer Memorial Summer Theatre, Lipkin Theater, Northampton Community College, 3835 Green Pond Road, Bethlehem Township. 484-484-3412, https://www.ncctix.org/

Sing For America will stage “Newsies: The Musical” July 17- July 21, First Baptist Church of Bethlehem, Bethlehem.

The musical that was inspired by the 1992 film of the same title originally was only supposed to have a limited run on Broadway for 101 performances. But it drew such acclaim that it ran for 1,005 performances and set and broke seven Nederlander Theatre house records. It became the highest-grossing show from the 2011-12 Broadway season.

The Broadway show received eight Tony nominations in 2012 and won for best score and choreography.

The story was inspired by the real-life Newsboy Strike of 1899 when newsboys Louis “Kid Blink” Baletti, 18, and David Simons, 21, led a band of orphan and runaway newsies on a two-week-long strike against Pulitzer, Hearst and other newspaper publishers after the publishers jacked up the cost of the papers to the boys.

“The same people who used to buy papers off these boys stood by them and did their part, boycotting the papers and even tipping the strikers,” says Taryn Gilbert, a founder of Sing For America.

“They gained such traction that one of these rallies had 5,000 attendees. Once Pulitzer and Hearst’s collective sales were down by over half and they could no longer ignore the strike, a compromise was made.

“The World and The Journal [newspapers] would buy back what the boys didn’t sell. People finally started to open their eyes to the dirty business of child labor. What an incredible mark this strike has made on history,” Gilbert says.

The score, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Jack Feldman, won a Tony Award. The stage version features seven new songs by Menken and Feldman and includes favorite songs from the film, including “Carrying the Banner,” “Seize the Day,” “King of New York” and “Santa Fe.”

Sing for America was founded in 2003 by sisters Taryn, Tasia and Teara Gilbert; and brothers Jewel and Jorne Gilbert to raise money for local causes. The family has raised more than $62,500 for local causes to date. The siblings perform in, direct, choreograph and do costume and set design for the shows.

“Newsies: The Musical,” 7:30 p.m. July 17, 18; noon, 7:30 p.m. July 19; 2:30, 7:30 p.m. July 20; 2:30 p.m. July 21. Sing for America, First Baptist Church of Bethlehem, 3235 Linden St., Bethlehem. 610-417-2289, https://aosfa.com/

“Curtain Rises” is a column about the theater, stage shows, the actors in them and the directors and artists who make them happen. To request coverage, email: Paul Willistein, Focus editor, pwillistein@tnonline.com