Episode 6: Prince in Waiting

All the Worlds’ a Stage…and this week we’re in Minnesota’s Twin Cities. 

This midwest metropolis is known for many things, but one of its biggest exports for decades has been the music and legacy of the artist once, formerly and forever known as Prince. 

And this fall, Prince—the multiplatinum superstar of movies, Grammys and Super Bowl halftime shows—is poised to reign over another cultural realm, as his most iconic work has been turned into a Broadway-bound musical.  

“Purple Rain,” premiered October 16th at the Hennepin County Arts Center in Minneapolis—just blocks from the First Avenue nightclub where the 1984 movie was both set and filmed. 

Seeing this theatrical adaptation in the city where Prince was born and lived—his Paisley Park mansion nearby continues to be a tourist attraction long since his 2016 death—was part of the excitement of this “Purple Rain.” The packed audience at the matinee I attended was giddy and decked out in purple—and to many of the songs they gleefully sang along, both when they were asked to by the cast…as well as when they were not. 

In sports we call this the “home field advantage.” It was a smart move to do the out-of-town-run of “Purple Rain” here, but will the show fare when it moves to Broadway next spring? 

Wisely the Prince estate and producers have hired two of the smartest, stylish theater artists to adapt “Purple Rain” for the stage. Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is arguably the hottest American playwright alive today. His last work on Broadway, “Purpose” rightly won both the Tony award for best play and Pulitzer Prize for drama earlier this year. The director is Lileana Blain-Cruz, who has mounted a number of provocative theater revivals and opera premieres in recent seasons. 

Given their pedigree, one hoped that they would transform Prince’s classic album and film into something new and innovative; instead their theatrical “Purple Rain,” feels respectful and tentative—two things that one would never associate with The Purple One, who famously said “make the rules, then break them ‘cause you’re the best!” 

One of the problems with the show is out of the creators’ control: the impossibility of recreating Prince’s unique musical and performative skills—to say nothing of his smoldering sexuality—onstage. Kris Kollins has this thankless task, and he performs admirably. He’s adroitly capable of singing and acting like Prince, but he never becomes the artist, in the way that other actors (like say Zoe Caldwell or Audra McDonald) succeeded in inhabiting icons like Maria Callas and Billie Holiday. 

No, the standouts in this “Purple Rain” are Jared Howelton as Morris Day, Prince’s friend and rival in the movie, and Rachel Webb as Apollonia - the ingenue singer that Prince takes under his wing and baptizes in Lake Minnetonka. Webb shines in the musical numbers, especially “The Glamourous Life," and is commanding in her non-singing scenes too. She also looks great in Montana Levi Blanco’s costumes—her work is absolutely ready for Broadway even if one hopes other aspects of the production, especially the amplification of the singers, gets re-worded before its scheduled main stem debut next year. 

The bigger issue plaguing this “Purple Rain,” but one that could still be adjusted, is that the show—while certainly a celebration of Prince’s career— seems apologetic. The movie addresses Prince’s bad boy behavior and rock star excesses, but the play seems to stress them, making his childhood traumas more plot than subplot. This is no doubt an attempt to soothe audiences that they aren’t cheering on a predator. The “MJ” musical about that other androgynous eighties superstar proves that Broadway audiences are willing to overlook problematic personal habits. Prince’s pecidillos pail in comparison, but this is the world in 2025. I hope Jacobs-Jenkins can find a more artful balance in the biography of this unique American musician. Prince’s life and art deserves an operatic treatment; right now he’s getting a pretty conventional mainstream juke-box, bio-pic treatment. He—to say nothing of die-hard fans and Broadway audiences—will demand more. To all artists, His Royal Badness’ words ring offer a way forward: if the elevator tries to bring you down, go crazy, punch a higher floor! 

Purple Rain, the musical is expected to move from the Mini-Apple to the Big Apple sometime in 2026. 

Tune in again for another episode of All the World’s a Stage.