Confirmed! Jennifer Hudson IS Coming to Broadway in The Color Purple, But Not as Celie

Jennifer Hudson is indeed coming to Broadway this year!  As previously speculated, the Oscar and Grammy winner will make her Great White Way debut in the John Doyle-helmed revival of The Color Purple; however, instead of playing Celie, as The New York Post mistakenly reported, Hudson will take on the role of Shug Avery.

Although further casting has yet to be announced, Broadway.com has learned that the show’s producers, including Oprah Winfrey and Scott Sanders, are in talks with Cynthia Erivo, who played the role of Celie in the 2013 staging at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory, to reprise her performance across the pond.

Hudson won an Oscar for Dreamgirls. Her additional film and TV credits include American Idol, Sex and the City, The Secret Life of Bees, Winnie Mandela, The Three Stooges, Smash and Black Nativity. She won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album for 2008's Jennifer Hudson.

The Color Purple features a book by Marsha Norman, lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray and music by Russell and Willis. Based on the novel by Alice Walker, the musical tells the story of Celie, a woman who, through love, finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discovers her voice in the world. Doyle’s stripped-down production opened in London on July 15, 2013. The new staging cuts approximately 30 minutes of material from the original incarnation.