Prince’s Purple Rain Gets Stage Adaptation from Lileana Blain-Cruz and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

Purple Rain, Prince’s 1984 musical film, is being adapted for the stage with production details to be announced in the coming months. Based on the original screenplay by William Blinn and Albert Magnoli, who also directed the movie, the stage project will be directed by Tony nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz (The Skin of Our Teeth) with a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, whose play Appropriate is currently running on Broadway.

With music, lyrics and a story by Prince, Purple Rain follows The Kid (originally played by Prince in his film debut), an up-and-coming rock musician in the Minneapolis club scene, as he contends with a tumultuous home environment, a rival band and a budding romance.

Purple Rain won the 1985 Academy Award for Best Original Score, and in 2019, was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry. In addition to the famed title song, the soundtrack, featuring Prince’s band, The Revolution, includes the chart-topping singles “When Doves Cry” and “Let’s Go Crazy.”

Casting, venue and dates have yet to be specified, but producers have their sights set on a Broadway run. “We are thrilled with our Broadway partners and creative team, who are bringing a theatricality to the film’s original fictional story,” said L Londell McMillan, Chairman of The NorthStar Group, and Larry Mestel, Founder & CEO of Primary Wave Music, in a statement. “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.”