Purple sequins. Purple blazers. Purple berets. In Minnesota, such a flourish of purple can only mean one of two things: a Minnesota Vikings football game, or a gathering of fans of one of the state’s most beloved sons: Prince.
“What else could I wear?” said Marie Finley, 27, whose lilac-purple dress was figured with gold shapes that she joked were raindrops, “at least for tonight.”
It was the perfect outfit for the show’s first preview last Thursday night of the new musical “Purple Rain,” a stage adaptation of Prince’s 1984 cult-classic film and the album of the same name. (The show, whose opening night is set for Nov. 5, is scheduled to run through Nov. 23.)
There was no better place to premiere “Purple Rain” than in the musician’s hometown, Minneapolis, where he was a visible member of the community and remains a revered figure. He died unexpectedly in 2016 at the age of 57.
“He is our saint,” Sonia Lovelace, 39, a lifelong Minnesota resident who wore purple from head to toe, said.
“Unlike Bob Dylan, who kind of burned us and moved out of Minnesota very quickly after he became successful, Prince stayed here,” she said. “He lived here. He created a compound here.”
While no Broadway run has been officially announced, that is clearly the goal of this musical, which gives fans (or as Prince called them, “fams”) a chance to connect with the artist they once knew, or wish they had known.
“I’m hoping for magic and community and just that glimmer of fun and hope and joy that Prince brought to Minnesota,” said Lovelace, as she and her mother waited in line beneath the glowing marquee of the State Theater, which is just a block from First Avenue, the music club that Prince once owned and the place where the “Purple Rain” movie was mostly filmed.
Prince was known for his reserved personality, but he would open his home and studio, Paisley Park, for impromptu concerts and jams that ran through the night and, at times, ended with a pancake breakfast.
“Who does that?” said Esther Ojeda, wearing a black leather jacket with the Prince symbol on the back. “Somebody on that level of stardom. Who does that? And he would be this close to you.”
For Ojeda, 62, that was part of the reason she moved to Minnesota 10 years ago from Gary, Ind., Michael Jackson’s hometown, a fact that probably would have made Prince grin given the musicians’ longtime rivalry.
“I was frustrated with missing everything at Paisley Park,” she said as she viewed pictures and posters from Prince’s career installed in the skyways that lead to the theater. It was the release of the film of “Purple Rain” that converted her when she was 21.
“That gave me a whole different take on him,” Ojeda said, referring to her appreciation of his musicianship. In the semi-biographical movie, a young, ambitious musician known as “the kid” tries to break through in his quest to achieve rock stardom. The album was a blockbuster hit and the soundtrack won an Oscar and two Grammys.
The show’s book is by the Tony Award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and it’s directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz. (Albert Magnoli and William Blinn wrote the original screenplay.)
Ojeda made her move north just a year before Prince died from an accidental overdose of the painkiller fentanyl. Other fans, such as Finley, were simply born too late.
“I remember begging my mom to go see him when they were going to Paisley Park and I was grounded that night,” said Finley, who was in high school when Prince died. “She’s like, ‘No, you have to stay home and do your homework.’ And then he passed away, I think, a few months later, and I was, like, ‘See!’”
As she entered the theater, Finley said she was looking forward to having fun, dancing and remembering a man she felt gratitude toward. “He did a lot of fund-raising for [my dance] studio, so I just have always been so grateful for him and what he’s done for the Minnesota arts community,” she said.
As the premiere performance began, there was a buzz as the theater filled with a rendition of the song “Let’s Go Crazy.” But after settling in for the nearly three-hour musical, the theatergoers mostly bobbed their heads to the music. And if there was any doubt about where the show was being staged, the crowd jumped in to holler whenever a Minnesota tie-in was mentioned.
For the “purple community,” the show’s run is just another stop on the Prince pilgrimage.
“He did so many things for Minnesota, and that’s why we named highways after him,” Lovelace said. “The night Prince died, I was out on the street downtown. It was four in the morning. There were women in their 70s just soaking wet with tears.
“Prince means so much to Minnesota,” she said.
The post Prince’s ‘Purple Rain’ Takes the Stage in Minneapolis appeared first on New York Times.
