‘I never meant to cause you any sorrow’: World premiere of ‘Purple Rain’ musical in Minneapolis delayed
FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2007, file photo, Prince performs during the halftime show at the Super Bowl XLI football game in Miami. The music icon died of an accidental opioid overdose at his Paisley Park studio on April 21, 2016.[AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File]
The world premiere of the “Purple Rain” musical, based on the movie Prince starred in by the same title, has delayed opening by six months.
The show will now have its pre-Broadway world premiere at the State Theater, part of Hennepin Arts, in Minneapolis on Oct. 16, 2025. The production will run for about a month, through Nov. 16.
The show was originally slated for a month-long run from April, 10, 2025 to May 11, 2025.
The additional time is to allow more time for creative development, Hennepin Arts said.
The creative team attached to the show remains intact, with a book written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and directed by Tony Award nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Musical arrangments and orchestrations will be by Tony Award winner Jason Michael Webb, who will also serve as the music supervisor for the show.
Morris Hayes and Bobby Z, two musicians who worked with Prince as collaborators and bandmates, are music advisers for the stage adaptation.
The development of Prince’s movie into a musical was first announced in January, and a month later Producer Orin Wolf said the world premiere of the show would be in Minneapolis, Prince’s hometown.
The show, which is part of the Hennepin Arts 2024-2025 season subscribers ticket package, does not have single tickets on-sale yet, but Hennepin Arts said they anticipating them to go on sale sometime in the spring.
Season ticket holders and others who already had tickets have been contacted about the change which includes their same seats to the corresponding performance.
RELATED: Stage adaption of Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ film in development
The 1984 movie — which Prince starred in and wrote and sang the music for — is about a musician trying to make it in the Minneapolis music scene while navigating a difficult home life, a budding romance and a rival band.
The movie marked Prince’s film debut, and the music from it garnered him two Grammys, three American Music Awards, two Brit Awards, and an Oscar for Best Original Song Score.
The “Purple Rain” album put Prince on map as a major artist and was number one on the Billboard 200 chart for 24 weeks..
It remains his best-known work and an iconic album in pop culture.