‘The Color Purple’ cast album wins Grammy
“The Color Purple” took home the Grammy Award for musical theater album Sunday during the pre-telecast ceremony in Los Angeles.
The cast album features Danielle Brooks, Cynthia Erivo and Jennifer Hudson — who played Sofia, Celie and Shug Avery, respectively, in the Broadway production — as principal soloists.
They take home the award along with producers Stephen Bray, Van Dean, Frank Filipetti, Roy Furman, Scott Sanders and Jhett Tolentino, as well as composer-lyricist team of Bray, Brenda Russell and Allee Willis.
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It’s a bit of history redeeming itself. “The Color Purple” cast album of the original Broadway musical earned a Grammy nomination in 2007; that year, the award went to “Jersey Boys.”
“The Color Purple,” based on Alice Walker’s novel about African American women living in rural Georgia in the 1930s, wrapped its first Broadway run in 2008.
Its recent revival, which launched December 2015, was directed by John Doyle and won the 2016 Tony for musical revival. Erivo took home honors for lead actress in a musical. It wrapped its run on at the Jacobs Theater in New York in January after 14 months; a North American tour is set to launch this fall and will come to the Hollywood Pantages.
The album from Broadway Records beat out cast recordings from “Waitress,” “Bright Star,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Kinky Boots” (London recording).
Last year, the award went to “Hamilton.”
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