Purple Rain becoming Broadway musical

Four decades after Purple Rain topped the box office, dazzled audiences with its epic soundtrack, and cemented Prince’s status as the High Priest of Pop, the classic film is getting a second life on the stage. A Broadway-bound adaptation of Purple Rain is in the works, based on the original screenplay by Albert Magnoli and William Blinn, and featuring the iconic music of Prince.

“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. 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.”

The stage version will feature a book by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, the two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist who made his Broadway debut this season with the blistering family drama, Appropriate, featuring Sarah Paulson, Elle Fanning, and Corey Stoll.

Lileana Blain-Cruz, the Tony Award nominee who recently oversaw Lincoln Center’s acclaimed revival of The Skin of Our Teeth, will direct the show.

[SOURCE: EW]

Lena Horne becomes first Black woman to have Broadway theater named after her

Lena Horne is now the first Black woman to have a Broadway theater named after her. On Tuesday, the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on West 47th Street was renamed the Lena Horne Theatre.

Broadway theater renamed in honor of James Earl Jones

Legendary stage and screen actor James Earl Jones received a rare honor Monday as a Broadway theater was renamed after him.

The Cort Theatre is now, the "James Earl Jones Theatre."

Phylicia Rashad Wins Second Tony Award

Phylicia Rashad has won the 2022 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for SKELETON CREW. She won for her performance as Faye in the play.

This is Rashad's second Tony award. She received her first Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, as Lena Younger in the Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun.

"You don't come to this place alone. You've heard it several times tonight, and it's true. It takes the work of many people," she said in her acceptance speech. "It's wonderful to be a part of this commiunity. It's wonderful to present humanity in its fullness and to feel it received. Thank you all so very much"

Her additional Broadway credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, August: Osage County, Cymbeline, Gem of the Ocean, Jelly’s Last Jam, Into the Woods, Dreamgirls, The Wiz and Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death. She has numerous directing credits, including productions of Gem of the Ocean at Seattle Repertory Theatre, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and Joe Turner's Come and Gone at the Mark Taper Forum and Fences at both the Long Wharf Theatre and the McCarter Theatre.

Broadway theatre to be renamed in honor of James Earl Jones

Regarded for his work onscreen and onstage, the legendary actor James Earl Jones is being honored in a historic way. The Cort theater, a 110-year-old venue is being renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre.

Thoughts of a Colored Man ends run on Broadway due to Covid-19

Thoughts of a Colored Man — the acclaimed play written by Keenan Scott II and produced on Broadway by a slew of stars including Grammy winner Kandi Burruss and actress Sheryl Lee Ralph — has officially ended its Broadway run due to the Covid surge.

Producers made the announcement in a post on Instagram, alongside a photo from the show of the play's seven stars facing the back of the stage.

"We are heartbroken to announce that performances have ended for Thoughts of a Colored Man as of Wednesday, Dec. 22," the caption read.

"We have tried our hardest to safely navigate the current, unfortunate health crisis, but ultimately we are unable to continue under the unfortunate conditions of COVID exposure in the city and country," it continued.

Starring Dyllón Burnside, Bryan Terrell Clark, Da'Vinchi, Luke James, Forrest McClendon, Tristan Mack Wilds, and Esau Pritchett, Thoughts of a Colored Man was the first Broadway show to be written by, directed by, played by, and lead-produced by Black men.

Writer Of Broadway’s ‘Thoughts Of A Colored Man’ Forced Into Action On Stage After COVID Sidelines Star

For some Broadway productions, even when the show goes on it does so without a full cast. That was particularly evident on Tuesday night, when Keenan Scott II, a playwright jumped in to take on a role of the play he wrote, ‘Thoughts Of A Colored Man’.

The Five Heartbeats is headed to Broadway!

The Five Heartbeats, Robert Townsend’s story about the trials and tribulations of a band of five talented guys in a musical group during the rise of Motown, is on its way to Broadway.

The story is loosely inspired by the behind-the-scenes rise of such groups as The Temptations and The Dells.

The Broadway play will “tell a similar story with music that people know from the movie, but there is a composer, Grammy-Award winner, a guy who has won some big awards who already said he will write an original song for us,” said Townsend. He told Deadline that he is in negotiations with a Broadway producer and is writing the Broadway play with Kennen Ivory Wayans,” his original partner on the The Five Heartbeats’ movie script.

Taking this story to Broadway will bring it full circle for Townsend, who started his acting career in theater — first in the Windy City as part of ExBag (which later become the Chicago Theater Company) and then in New York acting Off Broadway with Woodie King, Jr. and the New Federal Theater troupe.

[SOURCE: DEADLINE]

Cast of The Color Purple perform Purple Rain

Jennifer Hudson, Cynthia Erivo, and the cast of The Color Purple paid an amazing tribute to Prince at the end of Thursday Night's show. The cast performed an amazing version of "Purple Rain", a version so good that I believe it should be released as a single. Check it out below.