Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ is becoming a stage musical
It has been reported that Prince‘s ‘Purple Rain’ is set to become a stage musical featuring some of the pop icon’s famous tracks.
The stage adaptation of Prince’s 1984 film will be produced by Orin Wolf – who previously led the Tony-winning adaptation of “The Band’s Visit” to the stage and is currently backing the theatrical adaptation of another music industry movie, Buena Vista Social Club – and will be based on the original screenplay which was written by Albert Magnoli and William Blinn.
American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is set to write the book for the musical. His play, Appropriate, is currently running on Broadway. It will be directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2022 for a production of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin Of Our Teeth.
It will also feature the tracks from the film’s iconic soundtrack which include ‘When Doves Cry’ and ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ – which both peaked at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts upon their release – as well as ‘Purple Rain’, which peaked at Number Two on the same chart. The soundtrack is certified 13× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold over 25 million copies worldwide. The film also won an Academy Award for best original song score.
In a statement to Variety, the show’s producers said: “We can’t think of a more fitting tribute than to honor Prince and the Purple Rain legacy with this stage adaptation of the beloved story.”
They continued: “We are thrilled with our Broadway partners and creative team, who are bringing a theatricality to the film’s original fictional story. 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 once again, this time live.”
A synopsis of the film reads: “A young musician, tormented by an abusive situation at home, must contend with a rival singer, a burgeoning romance, and his own dissatisfied band, as his star begins to rise.”
More information and details about the stage adaptation will be announced later this year.
In other news, last year, André 3000 revealed that Prince once called him to explain what went wrong with OutKast’s 2014 reunion performance.
“The very next morning I get a call from Prince,” he told GQ in an interview. “Which I don’t know him like that, I don’t know how he got my number. I do not know. And the first thing he says is, ‘You know what your problem is? You don’t realize how big y’all are.’ And then he was like, ‘You got to remind people who you are.’ And from that point on, I was like, Okay.”
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Anagricel Duran
NME
