Broadway to Celebrate Prince’s Purple Rain with a New Musical
The legendary Prince and his groundbreaking Purple Rain are getting a musical makeover for Broadway. The Hollywood Reporter announced that the 1984 film and album, which showcased Prince’s musical genius and innovation, will be adapted into a stage production. The musical will feature Prince’s original score, as well as a book by Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, based on the Purple Rain screenplay. The director will be Lileana Blain-Cruz, a Tony nominee who has directed several acclaimed plays on Broadway.
Purple Rain is a semi-autobiographical story of Prince, who plays a young musician named the Kid, who struggles with his abusive father, his rival singer, and his budding romance with an aspiring singer named Apollonia. The film was a huge success, earning $70.3 million worldwide on a $7.2 million budget1. It also won an Oscar for Best Original Song Score, the only Academy Award that Prince received in his lifetime. The soundtrack album was Prince’s sixth studio album, and it sold over 25 million copies worldwide2. It featured some of Prince’s most iconic songs, such as “When Doves Cry”, “Let’s Go Crazy”, and “Purple Rain”.
The musical is still in development, so there is no official release date or cast yet. However, the producers of the musical, L. Londell McMillan and Larry Mestel, expressed their excitement and honor to bring Prince’s legacy to Broadway. “We are thrilled with our Broadway partners and creative team, who are bringing a theatricality to the film’s original fictional story,” they said in a joint statement. "We can’t wait for a new generation to discover Purple Rain and for lovers of the original film and album to experience its power again, this time live."3
What do you think? Are you looking forward to seeing Purple Rain on Broadway? Let us know in the comments below. Thank you for reading!
