Menier Chocolate Factory stages European premiere of musical Color PurpleDate: 6 March 2013This summer the Menier Chocolate Factory will stage the European premiere of the Broadway musical version of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, Whatsonstage.com can reveal. Running from 15 July to 14 September (previews from 5 July), the production will be directed and designed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle, who previously directed Road Show at the Menier. The 1930s-set family chronicle centres on black teenager Celie, as she journeys from childhood through joy and despair, anguish and hope to discover the power of love and life in racially divided southern America. With a score of jazz, ragtime, gospel and blues, The Color Purple is adapted for the stage by Pulitzer Prize and Tony award winner Marsha Norman, with music and lyrics by Grammy award winners Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. The musical premiered in 2004, receiving its Broadway premiere in 2005 and going on to by nominated for ten Tony Awards. It ran until 2008 and has since been revived for several national US tours. Alice Walker is an internationally renowned author, poet and activist whose books include seven novels, four collections of short stories, four children's books and volumes of essays and poetry. With The Color Purple, which was published in 1982, Walker became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award. The Color Purple is being produced at the Chocolate Factory by special arrangement with Scott Sanders and Roy Furman. Tickets go on sale to Chocolate Factory priority bookers from midday on 22 April, and to the general public at 9am on 1 May. Casting will be announced shortly. Related Content
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