Broadway-Aimed Purple Rain Musical Finds Its Stars
The Prince film will come to the stage in a world premiere bow later this year.
The upcoming world premiere stage adaptation of the Prince musical Purple Rain has found its stars. The musical, based on the 1984 film, will perform at Minneapolis, Minnesota’s State Theatre October 16-November 16.
Starring will be Kris Kollins as The Kid and Rachel Webb as Apollonia—see the pair rehearse “Take Me With U” from the musical above. Kollins, a social media discovery and Washington, D.C.-based singer-songwriter, will make his professional stage debut in the project. Webb joins the cast after starring in the national tour and Broadway bow of & Juliet. Casting is by Taylor Williams.
The movie is coming to the stage with Pulitzer winner Branden Jacobs-Jenkins adapting Albert Magnoli and William Blinn’s screenplay. Seven-time Grammy winner Prince starred in the original film, which also featured a soundtrack of songs written and performed by the late artist. Those songs will become the score of the stage musical, shepherded by Tony-winning music supervisor, arranger, and orchestrator Jason Michael Webb, along with longtime Prince music collaborators Bobby Z and Morris Hayes as music advisors. Bobby Z was Prince’s drummer for almost a decade, while Hayes was his keyboardist for nearly two decades. Bobby Z also appeared in the Purple Rain film.
Purple Rain tells an original story of an up-and-coming Minneapolis rock musician. The movie was a hit with audiences upon release, though it is the film’s soundtrack—which comprises nine songs written and performed by Prince—that has been the most enduring. His work on the songs and score earned Prince Grammy and Academy Awards, and the album has since been certified 13-times Platinum. Among the songs included are “When Doves Cry,” “The Beautiful Ones,” “Baby I’m a Star,” and the title song. Prince died in 2016.
“The question asked of me the most since I began working on Purple Rain has consistently been, ‘Who’s playing the Kid?!’ And I’m so thrilled to finally be able to scream from the mountaintops, ‘Kris Kollins!'” says Jacobs-Jenkins in a statement. “From our first encounter with his original music and socials, we were absolutely floored by Kris’ gifts—his musicianship, his voice, his magnetism. It took a minute for us to convince him we weren’t stalkers, but I’m so glad we did. Over the past couple of years of building this show with him, we have been blown away again and again by the depths of his talent and dedication. He is clearly such a star, and we are so lucky because there are probably no bigger shoes to fill in the theatre right now. Kris is the real deal, and we can’t wait for audiences to see him bring The Kid to life.”
“When Rachel Webb walked into auditions for an early reading several years ago, she really blew us away. She is a stunning presence with an incredible voice, who inspired us to really reimagine what was possible for the role of Apollonia,” adds director Lileana Blain-Cruz. “This casting has been one of the unique joys of developing the stage adaptation of Purple Rain with Branden. We get to explore the world anew and be exhilarated by the passion and integrity of an artist like Rachel Webb.”
Blain-Cruz’s newly announced creative team also includes choreographer Ebony Williams, scenic designer David Zinn, video and projection designers Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom, costume designer Montana Levi Blanco, lighting designer Yi Zhao, sound designer Palmer Hefferan, and hair and wig designer Cookie Jordan. Amanda Spooner will be production stage manager. Orin Wolf is producing.
Visit PurpleRainBroadway.com.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source playbill.com ’
