‘Purple Rain’ Forecast For Broadway In Stage Adaptation By ‘Appropriate’ Playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins
08.01.2024 - 14:17
/ deadline.com
Purple Rain, Prince‘s smash 1984 music-packed film, is being developed for the stage by a Broadway producer, with a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and direction by Tony nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Jacobs-Jenkins’ Appropriate is currently a hit on Broadway and an all-but-certain shoo-in for multiple Tony nominations this year. Blain-Cruz was Tony-nominated for her direction of the Lincoln Center Theater’s 2022 production of Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth.
The stage adaptation will feature music and lyrics from Prince’s Purple Rain movie and album.
The project was announced today by Broadway producer Orin Wolf. Additional production details and timing will be announced in the coming months.
Although Wolf’s announcement did not specifically mention Broadway, instead simply saying the project is being developed for the stage, Broadway almost certainly must be on minds given the high-profiles and previous credits of the individuals involved, not to mention the ongoing popularity of Prince’s music.
“It’s been almost 40 years since Prince’s legendary film, Purple Rain, took the world by storm and 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,” said L Londell McMillan, Chairman of The NorthStar Group, and Larry Mestel, Founder & CEO of Primary Wave Music, in a joint statement. “We are thrilled with our Broadway partners and creative team, who are bringing a theatricality to the film’s original fictional story.”
They continued, “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.”
Jacobs-Jenk