JENNIFER HUDSON, CYNTHIA ERIVO and DANIELLE BROOKS in
THE COLOR PURPLE
(New York, NY – June 30, 2015) – Tickets for THE COLOR PURPLE go on sale to the general public today, Tuesday, June 30, at Telecharge.com.
To celebrate the on-sale, a free download of Jennifer Hudson performing “Too Beautiful For Words,” one of the songs from the musical’s Tony-nominated score, is available at www.colorpurple.com. This special exclusive version of the song is produced by six-time Grammy Award-winner Harvey Mason, Jr.
A First Look video of the stars of THE COLOR PURPLE can be viewed at www.youtube.com.
Produced by Scott Sanders Productions, Roy Furman, Oprah Winfrey, David Babani, and Tom Siracusa, THE COLOR PURPLE will return to Broadway this fall in the acclaimed Menier Chocolate Factory production directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle. The highly anticipated staging will feature Grammy, Academy Award, and Golden Globe award winner JENNIFER HUDSON; CYNTHIA ERIVO, the breakout star from the London production; and Orange is the New Black’s DANIELLE BROOKS. All three women will be making their Broadway debuts.
THE COLOR PURPLE will begin previews on Tuesday, November 10th (originally announced for Monday, November 9th) at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 West 45th street). THE COLOR PURPLE will officially open on Thursday, December 10th.
CYNTHIA ERIVO is appearing with the support of Actors’ Equity Association. The Producers gratefully acknowledge Actors’ Equity Association for its assistance of this production.
ABOUT THE COLOR PURPLE
Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel and the Warner Bros. / Amblin Entertainment motion picture, THE COLOR PURPLE is adapted for the stage by Pulitzer Prize and Tony award winner Marsha Norman, with music and lyrics by Grammy award winners Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.
THE COLOR PURPLE is an unforgettable story of enduring love and triumph over adversity. With a fresh, joyous score of jazz, ragtime, gospel and blues, this stirring family chronicle follows the inspirational Celie, as she journeys from childhood through joy and despair, anguish and hope to discover the power of love and life.
John Doyle’s critically acclaimed production opened in summer 2013 in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Charles Spencer of The Telegraph said THE COLOR PURPLE, “BLOWS THE ROOF OFF THE THEATRE,” and Libby Purvess of The Times says, “IT ROCKS THE HOUSE. NEVER WAS THERE SUCH STAMPING, CHEERING, HOOTING, ROARING AND WHISTLING.” And Mark Shenton of The Stage called the production, “A REVELATION. SOMETHING TRULY EXTRAORDINARY.”
ABOUT THE CAST
JENNIFER HUDSON (Shug Avery) won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA Award for her performance as Effie White in Dreamgirls. Her breakout film performance also garnered a Screen Actors Guild Award and an NAACP Image Award. Additional film credits include Sex and the City, Secret Life of Bees, Winnie Mandela, The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete, and Black Nativity. Her highly acclaimed album, JHUD, dropped this past fall in the top 10 on Billboard’s Top 200. Just prior, she released singles including the recently Grammy-nominated “It’s Your World,” featuring R. Kelly; “He Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” featuring Iggy Azaelea; “I Can’t Describe,” produced by Pharrell and featuring TI; and “Walk It Out,” featuring Timbaland. Most recently, Hudson was featured on Gorgon City’s chart topping track, “Go All Night,” off their new album, Sirens.
Hudson’s 2008 debut album went Platinum and entered Billboard’s Top 200 at No. 2 thus marking the biggest first week sales for an R&B female entry since 2004. The album was nominated for four Grammys and won for “Best R&B Album.” In 2009, Hudson released her sophomore album, I Remember Me which debuted at No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200 and R&B Albums charts and has since been certified Gold in the U.S.
CYNTHIA ERIVO (Celie), one of the fastest-rising stars of British musical theatre, received an Evening Standard Theatre Award nomination for Best Musical Performance and a WhatsOnStage Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance as Celie in THE COLOR PURPLE. In 2011 Cynthia received her first big musical theatre break, in Kneehigh Theatre’s production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Gielgud Theatre, followed by the starring role of Deloris Van Cartier in the UK tour of Jerry Zaks’ production of Sister Act. Cynthia appeared in the West End as Chenice in Harry Hill and Simon Cowell’s critically acclaimed musical, I Can’t Sing, at the London Palladium and also played the leading role of Dessa in the European premiere of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty musical, Dessa Rose, at Trafalgar Studios.
A 2010 graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA), Cynthia’s many stage credits include Simon Stephens’ Marine Parade, which premiered at the 2010 Brighton Festival, John Adams’ experimental “song play,” I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw The Sky, at Theatre Royal Stratford East, and Dominic Hill’s The Three Musketeers and The Princess of Spain at Traverse, Belgrade and English Touring theatres.
This past fall, Cynthia returned to her classical roots in the Donmar Warehouse’s acclaimed all-female production of Henry IV opposite Dame Harriet Walter, directed by Phyllida Lloyd. She will soon star as Puck in the Liverpool Everyman’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, opposite Dean Nolan and Andrew Schofield, directed by Nick Bagnall. In addition to her stage career, Cynthia is a songwriter and wrote the song, “Fly Before You Fall,” for last year’s feature film Beyond the Lights.
A Young Hollywood Award Winner and a graduate of Juilliard, DANIELLE BROOKS (Sofia) stars as “Tasha ‘Taystee’ Jefferson” in Jenji Kohan’s Orange Is the New Black, a Netflix original series that follows the lives of prisoners in an all-women’s correctional facility and which recently returned for its third season. Brooks was born and raised in South Carolina before heading to NYC to attend Juilliard’s drama program. Brooks’ other credits include the Sony/Rovio animated feature, Angry Birds, alongside Maya Rudolph and Josh Gad; HBO’s Girls; the indie feature film I Dream Too Much, executive produced by Richard Linklater (SXSW); and Time Out of Mind, written and directed by Oren Moverman, starring Richard Gere.
ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM
JOHN DOYLE received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards as Outstanding Director of a Musical for his Broadway debut, Sweeney Todd. His production of Company won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival and he won UK Best Musical Awards for The Gondolier’s (West End), Fiddler on the Roof and Moll Flanders with nominations for other productions including A Catered Affair (Broadway) and Mack and Mabel (West End). Recent credits include The Visit starring Chita Rivera, Irma la Douce for City Center, Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show (Public Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory), Passion and Allegro for CSC, and the acclaimed revival of Merrily We Roll Along at the Watermill Theatre. John has been the artistic director of four prestigious UK regional theaters and has directed numerous new and classic plays and operas.
MARSHA NORMAN (Book) won a Pulitzer Prize for her play ‘night, Mother and a Tony Award for her book of The Secret Garden on Broadway. She also wrote the book for the recent Broadway production of The Bridges of Madison County. Ms. Norman is co-chair of the Playwriting Department at Juilliard and vice president of the Dramatists Guild of America. Her other plays include Getting Out, Traveler in the Dark, Sarah and Abraham, Trudy Blue and Last Dance. Her published work includes Four Plays, Vol. 1: Collected Plays of Marsha Norman and a novel, The Fortune Teller. She has numerous film and TV credits, Grammy and Emmy nominations and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters and the Fellowship of Southern Writers. She is a native of Kentucky who lives in New York City and Great Barrington with her two children.
BRENDA RUSSELL (Composer/Lyricist). Brooklyn-born singer/songwriter Brenda Russell’s music has touched fans on a global scale through millions of albums sold and songs heard on airwaves around the world. Author of “Piano in the Dark,” “If Only for One Night” and the anthem “Get Here,” Brenda has written for or collaborated with superstars such as Sting, Mary J. Blige, Stevie Wonder, Chaka Khan, Tina Turner, Donna Summer, Michael McDonald, Ray Charles, Earth Wind & Fire, Luther Vandross, Diana Ross, and Patti LaBelle, among many others. Nominated for three Grammys for 1988’s pop classic “Piano in the Dark,” Brenda’s compositions have also won Grammys for other artists. She has recorded eight solo albums since 1979, with her most recent, Between the Sun and the Moon, released in 2004. Brenda’s songwriting talent has been featured on television and in films such as How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Barry Levinson’s Liberty Heights. www.brendarussell.com
ALLEE WILLIS (Composer/Lyricist) has sold 50 million records, including Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September” and “Boogie Wonderland,” the Pointer Sisters’ “Neutron Dance” and Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield’s “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” Willis won a Grammy for Best Soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop and was nominated for an Emmy for “I’ll Be There for You,” the theme from “Friends.” She’s also an award-winning artist, set designer, interactive-multimedia artist, writer and director. Her new live shows, including sold-out runs of Ba-de-ya, Baby! and Allee Willis’ Super Ball Bounce Back Review, have drawn rave reviews in Los Angeles. Willis has also become a regular headliner at the legendary comedy review, UnCabaret. She returned to her hometown of Detroit for “Allee Willis Marches on Detroit,” an ongoing series of events and fundraisers dedicated to her beloved hometown, with an event in Detroit’s historic Fox Theatre with students from her alma mater, Mumford High, as well as a second “Marching on Detroit” event in 2012 when Willis staged the “Last Call Before The Wrecking Ball” concert at Mumford, just a month before the school was demolished. She has also consulted for Intel, Microsoft, AOL and Disney and addressed the U.S. House of Representatives on cyberspace. As her alter-ego, Bubbles the artist, Willis has sold more than 1,000 artworks. She co-created and designed two animated series, “Fat Girl” and “Driving While Black,” which contain the only previous scores of Russell, Willis and Bray. www.alleewillis.com
STEPHEN BRAY (Composer/Lyricist) made his Broadway debut with The Color Purple in 2005. After beginning music studies with private instruction in Detroit, Bray continued training at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. Working with Madonna, he wrote and produced many of her top-ten recordings, including “Angel,” “Into the Groove,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “True Blue” and “Express Yourself.” Performing with Breakfast Club, he earned a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist and top-ten single. He has composed and produced for multiplatinum artists including The Jets, Gladys Knight and Kylie Minogue. Film and television projects include Beverly Hills Cop II, Who’s That Girl?, All About the Benjamins and the theme for PBS’s “California Connected.” Stephen develops artists for his Soultone label and looks forward to more musical theatre.
ALICE WALKER (Original Author) won the Pulitzer Prize and the American Book Award for her third novel, The Color Purple, which was made into an internationally popular film by Steven Spielberg. Her other best-selling novels, which have been translated into more than two dozen languages, include By the Light of My Father’s Smile, Possessing the Secret of Joy and The Temple of My Familiar. Her most recent novel, Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, was published in 2004. Ms. Walker is also the author of several collections of short stories, essays and poems as well as children’s books. Her work has appeared in numerous national and international journals and magazines. An activist and social visionary, Ms. Walker has been a participant in most of the major movements of planetary change, among them the Human and Civil Rights Movement in the South, the Hands Off Cuba Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Native American and Indigenous Rights Movement, the Free South Africa Movement, the Environmental and Animal Rights Movement and the Peace Movement. Her advocacy on behalf of the dispossessed has, in the words of her biographer, Evelyn C. White, “spanned the globe.”
