Taraji P. Henson & Her 'The Color Purple' Costars Keep It Chic at LA Premiere

The movie musical The Color Purple opened in theaters on Christmas Day and the film earned the number one spot at the box office, blowing away expectations.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “The Color Purple,” a vibrant adaptation of the book-turned-beloved-movie-turned-hit-Broadway-musical, dominated at the box office on Christmas Day. The film has outperformed expectations with $18 million from 3,152 North American theaters. It’s the largest Christmas Day opening for a film since 2009, and the second-biggest Christmas Day opening of all time.

Oprah Winfrey, was even the Queen of Talk.And the very same year, Stephen Bray — executive music producer of the new “Color Purple” movie musical that opens on Christmas Day — scored his first hits with the future Queen of Pop, Madonna, as co-writer of both “Into the Groove” and “Angel.”But Bray and Madonna shared a different kind of rhythmic history even before that — when they were both living in Ann Arbor, Michigan.“I used to play percussion in some of the dance classes that she was in,” Bray told The Post. “And then she moved to New York and was playing drums for [the band] Breakfast Club in ’79.

The movie musical The Color Purple is now in theaters and you’ll be running to listen to “I’m Here” over and over after you see the film!

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Director Blitz Bazawule had a clear vision of what he wanted Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson) to represent in “The Color Purple.” She was a bold, sexy, beautiful and extraordinary woman, but she was also loving and nurturing to Celie (Fantasia Barrino) and Sophia (Danielle Brooks). “Those were her sisters and there was a bond there,” Tym Wallace, the film’s makeup and hair department artist explains.

The Color Purple is back on the big screen, this time as a movie musical, nearly 40 years after the first movie was released.

Angelique Jackson Turning 30 is always a memorable moment, but “The Color Purple” actor Phylicia Pearl Mpasi rang in her third decade with a birthday serenade from Oprah Winfrey. Coincidentally, Mpasi’s birthday (November 16) fell on another special occasion: the first screening of the musical reimagining of “The Color Purple.” The atmosphere was charged with anticipation since this was the debut of the film before critics and press, but the mood backstage was particularly jovial since it was the first time the cast — Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Taraji P.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Choreographer Fatima Robinson fused hip-hop, dance, African history, tap, jazz and even Jamaican moves as she crafted the musical numbers in “The Color Purple,” but there was one person in particular whose energy she wanted to capture: Beyoncé. Specifically, the energy of Beyoncé’s “Renaissance.” Director Blitz Bazawule blends Alice Walker’s text and the Broadway musical to reimagine the classic as a vibrant movie musical. “American Idol’s” Fantasia Barrino plays Celie, a woman who slowly finds her voice with Shug Avery’s (Taraji P.

The Color Purple often succeeds as a thoughtful fusion of two other adaptations of Alice Walker’s landmark novel that still confidently hums its own tune.In shakier moments, though, confidence gives way to nostalgia, when the film hammers home its reinterpretations of quotable scenes and dialogue from the Quincy Jones-produced, Steven Spielberg-directed 1985 adaptation with an insistence that borders on flashing “Hey, remember this?” in bold type onscreen.Creating and saying something new with such proven material, while also purposely coaxing audience sentiment for a beloved original, surely posed a formidable challenge for Bazawule and company. And having Jones, Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey — the big guns and big breakout from the 1985 film — onboard as producers must have eased and complicated the gig in unfathomable ways.Oprah and Jones also had a hand in the original Broadway musical adaptation, which has spun off its own lore and legacy, and adds another meta layer of pop-lit gloss to what this film aims to freshly reinterpret.The stage musical — with a book by Marsha Norman, and lyrics and music by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray — has amassed its own roster of breakout stars, including American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino, who made her 2007 Broadway debut stepping into the lead role of Celie, and Orange Is the New Black‘s Danielle Brooks, Tony-nominated for playing Sofia opposite Cynthia Erivo in the 2015 Broadway revival.Barrino and Brooks reprise their respective roles here with a lived-in grace and fortitude that does freshly illuminate Walker’s moving narrative, the lifeblood that courses through every iteration.

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Fantasia Barrino, “The Little Mermaid” star Halle Berry and five-time Grammy winner H.E.R. to bring the belting in “The Color Purple,” the new movie musical adaption of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that opens in theaters on Christmas Day.But Oscar and Emmy-nominated actress Taraji P. Henson also flexes some surprise vocal chops as blues singer Shug Avery.And Executive Music Producer Stephen Bray already envisioned the former “Empire” diva in the role when she came to see the “Color Purple” musical on Broadway in 2005.“We were sitting together, and at intermission I said, ‘You know, you’d make a great Shug Avery,’ ” Bray — who co-wrote the songs for both 2005’s original stage production and its 2015 revival — told The Post.

Taraji P. Henson is responding to the rumors that she’s in a feud with Oprah Winfrey, the producer of her new movie The Color Purple.

The Color Purple. This highly anticipated release promises to captivate audiences with its powerful storytelling, exceptional cast, and a vibrant celebration of the human spirit.The Color Purple started as an incredibly important book, and back in the ’80s, it was turned into an equally-as-meaningful movie. Then, years later, it found its way to Broadway as a musical.

Alice Walker started the phenomenon with her 1982 Pulitizer Prize winning book, and three years later Steven Spielberg turned it into a movie that won 11 Oscar nominations. In 2005 it took on new life as a Broadway musical, and in 2015 that musical got a Tony and Grammy winning revival.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Danielle Brooks is having one of the most significant moments in her career, playing Sofia in “The Color Purple.” It’s a role that she portrayed on Broadway and received her first Tony nomination — but it wasn’t easy for the critically-acclaimed performer to get here. As the spirited and no-nonsense wife to Harpo (Corey Hawkins), Brooks’ Sofia is positioned as the hopeful and joyous anchor in a narrative that, at times, carries a thematic weight, craving moments of levity.

No matter how you slice it, 2023 is arguably the year of Colman Domingo. Just this year alone, the Emmy-winning multi-hyphenate actor starred in the drama Sing Sing, summer blockbuster Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and animated comedy Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. However, it’s his two most recent and versatile roles as Mister, the meanspirited husband to Fantasia Barrino’s Celie in The Color Purple, and the gay Black Civil Rights icon Bayard Rustin in Rustin that has carried him over into the awards season.

In response to her Golden Globe nomination Monday for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy in The Color Purple, Fantasia Barrino starts the conversation with gratitude as she swore, after playing Celie on Broadway in the musical adaptation, she would never play the character again. 

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “The Color Purple” director Blitz Bazawule hesitated to take on the latest incarnation of Alice Walker’s sacred text. However, when he revisited the book, the first line (“Dear God, I’m 14 years old”) struck him as a way to navigate a familiar story and “keep expanding Celie’s imagination.” In the new musical movie adaptation, as Celie (Fantasia Barrino) is bathing Shug (Taraji P. Henson), an old record plays on a gramophone in the background.

Alicia Keys and Ciara had a special moment on the carpet at the premiere of The Color Purple!

Jeffrey Wright and Taraji P. Henson sit down to discuss their acclaimed performances — as cantankerous novelist Thelonious “Monk” Ellison in “American Fiction” and sensuous singer Shug Avery in “The Color Purple” — Wright is eager to address one topic first: their shared hometown. It turns out both acting titans hail from Washington, D.C.