The Menier Chocolate Factory will present the European premiere of the Tony Award nominated musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple later this year.
Directed and designed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, Walker’s powerful tale of personal empowerment will play at the London Bridge venue from 5 July (press night 15 July) to 14 September.
Adapted for the stage by Marsha Norman, who won a Tony Award for her work on The Secret Garden, with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winners Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray, The Color Purple is a stirring family chronicle about a young black girl as she journeys from childhood – through joy, despair, anguish and hope – to discover the power of love and life.
The musical adaptation of Walker’s novel premiered on Broadway in 2005, when its producers included record producer Quincy Jones and influential talk show host Oprah Winfrey, and received two Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical.
An internationally celebrated author, Walker broke down barriers when she became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and National Book Award following the publication of her much-lauded novel in 1982.
The Color Purple will open at the Menier Chocolate Factory following Polly Findlay’s production of David Auburn’s Tony Award-winning play Proof, which plays from 14 March to 27 April.