After several years in development and a six-month delay from its originally scheduled debut to work out creative details, the musical based on Prince’s iconic 1984 film and album “Purple Rain” opened Thursday night for previews at the State Theatre in Minneapolis.
This is the world premiere for the show, which producers intend to bring to Broadway after its extended Minnesota run ends Nov. 23. With music by Prince, of course, the show’s book is written by Tony- and Pulitzer-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and the show is directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, a New York-based director whose previous local credits include the 2017 staging of “The Bluest Eye” at the Guthrie Theater.
Musician/songwriter Kris Kollins will play the Kid, a semi-autobiographical version of Prince, in the “Purple Rain” musical. Broadway vet Rachel Webb was cast as his love interest, Apollonia. (Courtesy of Jon Hanks and Shelby Griswold)
Like the movie, the “Purple Rain” musical will follow the Kid, a semi-autobiographical version of Prince played here by theatrical newcomer Kris Kollins, who’s trying to find his way in the Minneapolis music scene and win over love interest Apollonia, played by Rachel Webb.
“The truth and love of Prince’s music is so powerful that it is going to be the driving force, and all we have to do is…let the music do the work,” said music supervisor and arranger Jason Michael Webb, who has been working with longtime Prince collaborators Bobby Z and Morris Hayes on the project.
But like any adaptation, the “Purple Rain” musical is not a straight re-enactment of the movie, Jacobs-Jenkins said during a conversation at the State Theater about a week before opening night. The original screenplay by Albert Magnoli and William Blinn provides the “bones,” but there’s space onstage to explore characters and themes in fresh ways.
“Film and live performance are so different that no matter what you do, it’s going to be an original thing,” Jacobs-Jenkins said. “We can’t cut away; we can’t go to the edge of Lake Minnetonka and throw someone in the water after riding on a motorcycle. You have to find choices that work in the theater that honor those things but don’t necessarily try to re-create that realism.”
To put together the show, the creative team pored over Prince’s notebooks, talked to people involved in the original movie and read books on Prince to try to understand not just the story being told but the broader messages the musician and his collaborators were aiming to convey, too. In some ways, the film itself is an inescapably ’80s relic, Jacobs-Jenkins said, but its themes of discovering one’s own creative identity remain resonant.
“There’s so much power in ‘Purple Rain’ (to see) an artist who’s in the process of finding himself,” Blain-Cruz said. “What does it mean to be a human being? What does it mean to be in collaboration with people? What does it mean to live fully in ourselves? What does it mean to deal with our history and our past and reckon with where we came from and where we want to go?”
In choreographing the show, Ebony Williams is taking a similar approach, she said. Alongside choreography work for Broadway shows including “Jagged Little Pill,” Williams has also choreographed performances for Beyoncé, Alicia Keys and Doja Cat.
“Prince’s music makes you feel alive, and that resonates through your body,” she said. “He was rebellious in how he approached music, he was brave in how he approached music, and I want to find the soul of the music and embody it.”
Although preview performances begin Oct. 16, the show’s official opening night is Nov. 5. The preview performances before opening night give the creative team and actors a chance to fine-tune any remaining details: They are still polished full-scale productions but may vary slightly from the finalized show.
Limited tickets remain for many of the preview performances, but as of Wednesday, there’s more ticket availability for mid- to late-November shows. Tickets start at $87.50 and can be purchased at the State Theatre box office (805 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-339-7007) or at hennepinarts.org/events/purple-rain-2025.
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