The Color Purple recoups its $11 million investment

The producers of the Broadway Musical The Color Purple have announced that in less than a year the production has recouped its entire $11 million investment.

The Color Purple, which celebrated its first year anniversary on 1 Dec 2006, has grossed over $60 million in ticket sales. The production has generated more than one million dollars in ticket sales in each of the last 50 weeks since its opening.

Based on Alice Walker's classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and the landmark film by Steven Spielberg, The Color Purple is the story of a woman, who, through love, finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discover her unique voice in the world.

The musical opened at the Broadway Theatre on 1 Dec 2005, following previews from 1 Nov 2006 and is currently booking to1 Apr 2007.

The show opened to mixed notices: The New York Times printed "Thanks to the cast's spirited way with a song, "Purple" strikes some sparks during its long and winding journey.� Star-Ledger said it "fails to click over into that higher artistic power that separates a hit from a near miss," and the Village Voice wrote "The feelings that The Color Purple may arouse in you don't disguise the fact that they've been gotten in a comparatively crude and unimaginative manner."
Click here to read more of what the critics said.

The Color Purple features Jeannette I. Bayardelle (Celie), Alton Fitzgerald White (Mister), Larry Marshall (Ol' Mister), Elisabeth Withers (Shug), Rene Elise Goldsberry (Nettie), Brandon Victor Dixon (Harpo), Krisha Marcano (Squeak), Jeannette Bayardelle, James Brown III, Eric L. Christian, Latrisa Coleman, Bobby Daye, Carol Dennis, Anika Ellis, Doug Eskew, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Zipporah Gatling, Charles Gray, Stephanie Guiland-Brown, James Harkness, Francesca Harper, Kimberly Ann Harris, Chantylla Johnson, Grasan Kingsberry, Corinne McFarlane, Kenita R. Miller, JC Montgomery, Angela Robinson, Nathaniel Stampley, Jamal Story, Leon Thomas III, Maia Nkenge Wilson and Virginia Woodruff.

Directed by Gary Griffin, The Color Purple features a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winner Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Grammy Award-winning composer/lyricists Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray with choreography by Donald Byrd.

The production features scenic design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Tony Award winner Brian MacDevitt and sound design by Jon Weston. The orchestrations are by Jonathan Tunick, Kevin Stites is the Music Supervisor and Linda Twine is the Musical Director.

The musical is produced on Broadway by Oprah Winfrey, Scott Sanders, Creative Battery, Roy Furman, Quincy Jones.