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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By Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — There are times when you want a vacation that challenges you. But there are other times when you crave a familiar scene, a traveler’s version of comfort food.

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What is it that brings people back to the same destination again and again?

Charlotte Russell, a Manchester-based clinical psychologist and founder/editor of the Travel Psychologist blog, didn’t see value in visiting the same place twice when she was in her 20s, but as she got older, her opinion changed.

Now one of her most frequent destinations is Seville, a short, direct flight from her home airport. However, her travel cadence is strategic. “I don’t want to spoil the connection I have to the place by visiting too frequently,” she says. “For me, once every few years seems to be about ‘right.’” Once there, she savors “the beautiful buildings, the orange trees, the smells and flavors of the food,” enjoying the chance to get to know the culture more deeply than a one-time visitor might.

Then again, Russell acknowledges, maybe we can never truly visit the same place twice.

So says psychology professor Andrew Stevenson in his 2023 book “The Psychology of Travel.” In his view, “places change all the time, and so do we. Yes, we can visit the same location again, but are likely to experience it in a completely different way when visiting again, as the place becomes more meaningful, more full of memories, more vital, each new time we arrive.”

We asked Southern California readers to tell us about their most prized repeat destinations. The answers took us all over — Hawaii, Utah, Arizona, England and Hermosa Beach, for instance — for all sorts of reasons they share with us below.

London keeps calling

Tommy Bui of Pacoima studied in the United Kingdom as an undergrad — “a very impressionable and long influential time of my life,” he wrote.

“It was my first time away from home with veritably just a meagre bindle on my back. I was way out of my comfort zone and flung into the deep end on the other side of the pond. I floundered but eventually found my water legs and learned to love dear ol’ Blighty.” [That’s a slang phrase for Great Britain often used by British expats.]

So, Bui continued, “every year I manage to lumber my way back to London.” Aiming to “recapture that initial wonderment and whimsy,” he’s been going back for more than 10 years, always looking for “some kind of new and out-of-my-comfort-zone mischief.”

These adventures have included “running the 2024 London Marathon (whilst guiding a sight-impaired runner), riding a penny-farthing [Victorian-era bicycle] to Buckingham Palace, and cycling 100 miles from London to Essex to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society,” Bui wrote.

“What makes London special is that the magic of that first visit is undiminished with each subsequent visit somehow.”

Between California mountains and Mexican beaches

Brandon Luna of Long Beach wrote to say his family has been making repeat visits to two very different spots over the last eight years. One is Yosemite.

The waterfall is reflected in water in the meadow in the Yosemite Valley as the snowpact melts on Wednesday, April 26, 2023, in Yosemite National Park, California. (Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

“I grew up in Merced, the ‘Gateway to Yosemite,’ but had never visited the national park until I lived in Southern California,” Luna wrote. “It’s great to take my kids and pitstop in Merced to visit my family. We love staying at the Yosemite Valley Lodge. Its convenient location makes it easy for us to explore without driving. We were fortunate enough to get snowed in one year!”

His family’s other top spot: “La Costalegre in Jalisco is an area south of Puerto Vallarta,” Luna wrote. “It’s more of a locals’ (Mexican) tourist destination, with some visitors and expats from Canada and the U.S. We rent a car and drive from the outskirts of Guadalajara to the towns of Melaque/San Patricio. We love to hang out at the beach all day, hit the pool, and explore the local towns. The picturesque sunrises and sunsets create a calm, relaxing vibe. My kids enjoy buying fruit and ordering from the local restaurants while hanging out on the beach. They always ask why we don’t have those same types of offerings here in the U.S.”

Anniversaries on the Big Island

Joel Drew of San Clemente’s repeat destination is the Westin Hapuna Beach Resort on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island of Hawaii.

“It’s a beautifully understated resort along arguably the very best beach in Hawaii,” Drew wrote. “The grounds are beautiful and the ocean views are incredible. My wife and I have been returning to this location for over six years. We love sharing our anniversary dinner at sunset from here.”

Snowballs and wild turkeys in Utah

SPRINGDALE, UT – MAY 15: Hikers take pictures at the entrance of the famous Narrows hike, currently closed, along the North Fork of the Virgin River in Zion National Park on May 15, 2020 in Springdale, Utah. Zion National Park had a limited reopening Wednesday as part of its reopening plan after it was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

“Since I was 11, I’ve gone almost every year with my dad to Zion National Park in Utah,” wrote Joshua G. Baum of West Hollywood. “I’m 32 now, and the park has given us a lifetime of memories, from hiking the Narrows and Angel’s Landing to stargazing at Big Bend and spotting wild turkeys along the trails. We still go after my dad’s heart transplant, though he can’t hike like he once did, and I know we’ll keep returning. My favorite memory is a winter hike to Scout’s Lookout when I spent the entire climb up Walter’s Wiggles throwing snowballs at [my dad], and we still laugh about it today.”

Culture and cocktails on Maui

“Hands down, Napili Kai Beach Resort in Maui is our family & friends all time best vacation spot, year after year,” wrote Greg Vanni of Arcadia. “The resort honors the culture of the many Hawaiians who are a part of the staff by supporting the Napili Kai Foundation which, in part, provides higher education scholarships.”

The resort, Vanni wrote, “sits on one of the most beautiful spots in Maui: Napili Bay. It is all about family (ohana) at Napili Kai. Our family is not unique in having three generations of family staying there. It is a tranquil, old Hawaiian experience — each building is limited to two stories. The resort features an 18-hole putting green, which hosts a putting party for all guests every Monday” with 50-cent cocktails.”

Another attraction: the lush grounds, “lovingly overseen by Uncle Joe, who conducts a weekly walking tour. I can’t keep track of the dozens of milestone events we have celebrated at Napili Kai.”

Scribbling by a creek in Arizona

“We live in San Diego and every summer we head to Arizona,” wrote David Williams of San Diego.

“Yes. Arizona. In Summer. Our not-so-secret secret spot is deep in Oak Creek Canyon. Our base camp for our adventures is a five-bedroom house overlooking Oak Creek along AZ 89-A in between Sedona and Flagstaff.”

Every summer for roughly the last 20 years, Williams wrote, “we load the family, the dog, and a week’s worth of provisions (with re-supplies available in Sedona and Flagstaff) and head across the blazing desert to the forest sanctuary of Oak Creek Canyon.”

Each year, Williams continued, there are family excursions to local landmarks like Slide Rock State Park. And each year, adults and children alike are expected to write something in a volume known as the Creek House Book.

“We have now filled THREE complete books,” Williams wrote.

Food, drink and jazz in Monterey

“My wife and I go to the Monterey Jazz Festival every year,” wrote Richard Haro of Fort Collins, Co.

Saxophonist Charles Lloyd and The Marvels perform at the Monterey Jazz Festival in Monterey, California, on September 23, 2018. (Photo by EVA HAMBACH / AFP) (Photo credit should read EVA HAMBACH/AFP via Getty Images)

“With friends we usually rent a house in Carmel for the week before and do some things that have become a tradition. We go shopping in Carmel one day, we go have lunch at Nepenthe in Big Sur one day. We start our lunch with Champagne and French fries. … We go for a sunset on Carmel Beach. … We spend time with longtime friends that we love and basically eat and drink too much. And it all ends with a weekend of world-class jazz at the festival. We have been doing this since 1983. We plan on going for as long as we can.”

The sands of Hermosa Beach

“We have gone to Hermosa Beach, California, for my entire life. That is 66 years,” wrote Albro Lundy of Palos Verdes Estates. “Wherever we lived in the United States, we traveled to Hermosa Beach. My father was in the Air Force and we lived in many states, but when summer came, we got in the car and drove through [to] Hermosa Beach. The sand is the finest sand in the world and the beach goes on and on. … It is our home away from home.”

Winter at Mt. Baldy

“We head to the Mt. Baldy Lodge almost every December 23rd,” wrote Jennifer Nutting of Los Angeles.

“After getting married in 2015 at the Beverly Hills courthouse, we went to the Mt. Baldy Lodge just to mark the occasion, and it became a tradition.”

Each room has a fireplace, Nutting wrote, “and they decorate the rooms for the holidays. The restaurant has 2 crackling fireplaces, a few pool tables, and some good diner food. Sometimes it snows, and you wake up on December 24th to the church bells across the street playing Christmas Carols.”

©2025 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and SEUNG MIN KIM, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is showing little urgency to broker a compromise that would end the government shutdown, even as Democrats insist no breakthrough is possible without his direct involvement.

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Three weeks in, Congress is at a standstill. The House hasn’t been in session for a month, and senators left Washington on Thursday frustrated by the lack of progress. Republican leaders are refusing to negotiate until a short-term funding bill to reopen the government is passed, while Democrats say they won’t agree without guarantees on extending health insurance subsidies.

For now, Trump appears content to stay on the sidelines.

He spent the week celebrating an Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal he led, hosted a remembrance event for conservative activist Charlie Kirk and refocused attention on the Russia-Ukraine war. Meanwhile, his administration has been managing the shutdown in unconventional ways, continuing to pay the troops while laying off other federal employees.

Asked Thursday whether he was willing to deploy his dealmaking background on the shutdown, Trump seemed uninterested.

“Well, look, I mean, all we want to do is just extend. We don’t want anything, we just want to extend, live with the deal they had,” he said in an exchange with reporters in the Oval Office. Later Thursday, he criticized Democratic health care demands as “crazy,” adding, “We’re just not going to do it.”

Spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that Democrats must first vote to reopen the government, “then we can have serious conversations about health care.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune echoed that approach before leaving for the weekend, saying Trump is “ready to weigh in and sit down with the Democrats or whomever, once the government opens up.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., left, and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speak at a news conference as the government shutdown begins its tenth day, in Washington, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Still, frustration is starting to surface even within Trump’s own party, where lawmakers acknowledge little happens in Congress without his direction.

Leaving the Capitol on Thursday, GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski said, “We’re not making much headway this week.” For things to progress, Murkowski acknowledged Trump may need to get more involved: “I think he’s an important part of it.”

“I think there are some folks in his administration that are kind of liking the fact that Congress really has no role right now,” she added. “I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all.”

Trump has not been slowed by the shutdown

While Congress has been paralyzed by the shutdown, Trump has moved rapidly to enact his vision of the federal government.

He has called budget chief Russ Vought the “grim reaper,” and Vought has taken the opportunity to withhold billions of dollars for infrastructure projects and lay off thousands of federal workers, signaling that workforce reductions could become even more drastic.

At the same time, the administration has acted unilaterally to fund Trump’s priorities, including paying the military this week, easing pressure on what could have been one of the main deadlines to end the shutdown.

Some of these moves, particularly the layoffs and funding shifts, have been criticized as illegal and are facing court challenges. A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the administration from firing workers during the shutdown, ruling that the cuts appeared politically motivated and were carried out without sufficient justification.

And with Congress focused on the funding fight, lawmakers have had little time to debate other issues.

In the House, Johnson has said the House won’t return until Democrats approve the funding bill and has refused to swear in Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva. Democrats say the move is to prevent her from becoming the 218th signature on a discharge petition aimed at forcing a vote on releasing documents related to the sex trafficking investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

So far, the shutdown has shown little impact on public opinion.

An AP-NORC poll released Thursday found that 3 in 10 U.S. adults have a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of the Democratic Party, similar to an AP-NORC poll from September. Four in 10 have a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of the Republican Party, largely unchanged from last month.

Democrats want Trump at the table. Republicans would rather he stay out

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have said Republicans have shown little seriousness in negotiating an end to the shutdown.

“Leader Thune has not come to me with any proposal at this point,” Schumer said Thursday.

Frustrated with congressional leaders, Democrats are increasingly looking to Trump.

At a CNN town hall Wednesday night featuring Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, both repeatedly called for the president’s involvement when asked why negotiations had stalled.

“President Trump is not talking. That is the problem,” Sanders said.

Ocasio-Cortez added that Trump should more regularly “be having congressional leaders in the White House.”

Democrats’ focus on Trump reflects both his leadership style — which allows little to happen in Congress without his approval — and the reality that any funding bill needs the president’s signature to become law.

This time, however, Republican leaders who control the House and Senate are resisting any push for Trump to intervene.

“You can’t negotiate when somebody’s got a hostage,” said South Dakota Sen. Mike Rounds, who added that Trump getting involved would allow Democrats to try the same tactic in future legislative fights.

Trump has largely followed that guidance. After previously saying he would be open to negotiating with Democrats on health insurance subsidies, he walked it back after Republican leaders suggested he misspoke.

And that’s unlikely to change for now. Trump has no plans to personally intervene to broker a deal with Democrats, according to a senior White House official granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. The official added that the only stopgap funding bill that Democrats can expect is the one already on the table.

“The President is happy to have a conversation about health care policy, but he will not do so while the Democrats are holding the American people hostage,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Thursday.

A product of the Congress Trump has molded

In his second term, Trump has taken a top-down approach, leaving little in Congress to move without his approval.

“What’s obvious to me is that Mike Johnson and John Thune don’t do much without Donald Trump telling them what to do,” said Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., joined at left by Rep. Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., gestures as he answers questions during a press conference on day 16 of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

His hold is particularly strong in the GOP-led House, where Speaker Mike Johnson effectivelyowes his job to Trump, and relies on his influence to power through difficult legislative fights.

When Republicans have withheld votes on Trump’s priorities in Congress, he’s called them on the phone or summoned them to his office to directly sway them. When that doesn’t work, he has vowed to unseat them in the next election. It’s led many Democrats to believe the only path to an agreement runs through the White House and not through the speaker’s office.

Democrats also want assurances from the White House that they won’t backtrack on an agreement. The White House earlier this year cut out the legislative branch entirely with a $4.9 billion cut to foreign aid in August through a legally dubious process known as a “pocket rescission.” And before he even took office late last year, Trump and ally Elon Musk blew up a bipartisan funding agreement that both parties had negotiated.

“I think we need to see ink on paper. I think we need to see legislation. I think we need to see votes,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “I don’t accept pinky promises. That’s not the business that I’m in.”

Both parties also see little reason to fold under public pressure, believing they are winning the messaging battle.

“Everybody thinks they’re winning,” Murkowski said. “Nobody is winning when everybody’s losing. And that’s what’s happening right now. The American public is losing.”

—

Associated Press reporter Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this report.

As evidenced by 2012’s “Sinister” and 2021’s “The Black Phone,” director Scott Derrickson has a gift for blending realism with the supernatural — and for conjuring a sense of dread that the viewer can’t help but share with the films’ characters.

‘The Black Phone’ a satisfying slice of dread-inducing terror | Movie review

That gift is on display in the sequel to the latter, “Black Phone 2,” in theaters this week.

“Black Phone 2” is set four years after the events of its predecessor, which earned more than $160 million at the worldwide box office and has scored myriad fans since it landed on Peacock. The follow-up sees franchise villain The Grabber (Ethan Hawke) out to exact revenge on his slayer, the now-17-year-old Finney (Mason Thames), from, well, hell. It’s silly-but-standard-enough horror-movie stuff, and Derrickson and his filmmaking collaborators sell it well.

For a while.

That palpable dread — earned from myriad effective filmmaking elements, including cinematography (Pär M. Ekberg), production design (Patti Podesta), editing (Louise Ford) and the unsettling musical score (Atticus Derrickson, son of the director) — eventually give way to over-the-top horror spectacle as our heroes desperately attempt to accomplish the goal that somehow and for some reason will defeat the Grabber.

The director and his co-writer and producing partner, C. Robert Cargill, also deserve credit for straying more than you may have expected from the formula of “The Black Phone.” We see that titular, unconnected phone that was key to the 2022 film’s events, hanging in the basement where the Grabber held Finney hostage, but only a couple of times and only briefly.

“Black Phone 2” begins with a ringing black phone, but this rotary number resides in a booth in a snowy, mountainous part of Colorado. We will learn the identity of the girl who speaks into it soon enough.

We then cut to Denver in the movie’s present day, 1982, where and when Finney is introducing his fists to a schoolmate who’d razzed him about his experience with the Grabber — much to the disapproval of his younger sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw).

Refreshingly, the foul-mouthed 15-year-old takes center stage in this intermittently scary affair, the girl suffering from incredibly disturbing dreams, accompanied by sleepwalking, that connect to her family’s past.

Finney, meanwhile, is haunted by ringing phones, the young man repeatedly answering and quickly telling the person on the other lines that he’s sorry but that he cannot help them.

Eventually, Gwen, Finney and Ernesto (a returning Miguel Mora) — a goofy-but-sweet love interest for Gwen whose brother was one of the Grabber’s victims communicating with Finney four years ago — all end up at a winter camp that Gwen wants to investigate.

Of course, a blizzard that made it nearly impossible for them to arrive in one piece means that, for the time being, it’s just them and a few folks who run the Christian-focused camp, including its leader, Mando (Demián Bichir, “A Better Life”) and his capable niece, Mustang (Arianna Rivas, “A Working Man”). A camp is a classic horror-flick setting, and this one is home to the aforementioned, long-not-operational phone booth, which rings just about anytime Finney is within earshot.

As Gwen works to unearth the connection between the camp and her nightmares, the Grabber appears to have Finney where he wants him.

On the plus side, add to the list of strengths of “Black Phone 2” the performances by its leads, starting with McGraw (“Secrets of Sulphur Springs,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp”). She does a nice job as Gwen, who’s both vulnerable AND comfortable firing back at adults who question her with highly offensive phrases. Plus, she and Mora share an absolutely hilarious scene at night at the camp. (It feels a little wedged-in, honestly, but we get the need for a bit of levity at that point in the proceedings.)

And while he’s now more of a supporting player, Thames — turning in strong work earlier this year as the gradually heroic Hiccup in the live-action version of “How to Train Your Dragon” — remains compelling as Finney, who, despite his resentment over his father’s alcoholic past, frequently turns to marijuana to deal with his Grabber-related trauma.

A mention of the performance of Hawke (“Training Day,” “The Purge”) feels obligatory, but he’s asked to do one-note work here. The Grabber is little more than the embodiment of evil this go-round.

After the highly effective setup and a first major encounter with the vengeful Grabber, “Black Phone 2” begins to lose steam.

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While incorporating several ideas from Derrickson and Cargill — a tandem whose writing credits also include the Derrickson-directed “Doctor Strange,” a better-than-average Marvel Cinematic Universe entry from 2016 — “The Black Phone” was based on a short story by Joe Hill, son of horror great Stephen King. Lacking that type of foundation, the storytelling isn’t as compelling in its sequel, which loses more than the “The” from the first feature.

And the film’s frenzied climax, as the good guys fight the Grabber on two supernatural fronts, has too much going on, including — wait for it — ice skating. (We couldn’t help but think of a line spoken by Rick Moranis’ Dark Helmet from 1987’s “Spaceballs”: “Too bad this isn’t the ‘Wide World of Sports’!”)

“Black Phone 2” boasts enough reasons to answer its call, but as the powers that be seemingly could resurrect the Grabber anytime they like for what, you fear, could be increasingly unimpressive efforts, you may want to block its number moving forward.

‘Black Phone 2’

Where: Theaters.

When: Oct. 17.

Rated: R for strong violent content, gore, teen drug use, and language.

Runtime: 1 hour, 54 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.