Casting has been announced for Leicester’s Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome's upcoming production of the Broadway musical The Color Purple, which will tour England and Wales beginning September 13 at the Hippodrome.
The tour, which follows Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome's 2019 production and 2021 pandemic stream, will subsequently play Theatre Royal Plymouth (September 27–October 1), Royal & Derngate Northampton (October 4–8), The Lowry in Salford (October 11–15), Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff (October 18–22), Mayflower Theatre Southampton (October 25-29), and Norwich Theatre Royal (November 1–5).
Me’sha Bryan (Caroline, or Change, The Playhouse Theatre) will star as Celie with Bree Smith (The Wiz, Hope Mill Theatre) as Shug Avery, Aaliyah Zhané (The Comedy of Errors, Mercury Theatre) as Nettie, Ahmed Hamad (The Addams Family U.K. tour) as Harpo, and Jimand Allotey as Squeak, joined by original Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome cast members Ako Mitchell as Mister, Anelisa Lamola as Sofia, KM Drew Boateng as Pa, Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah as Darlene, and Karen Mavundukure as Doris and the alternate Celie.
The company also includes Kyle Birch, Kayla Carter, Joshua Clemetson, Esme Laudat, DeeArna McLean, Monifa James, Nathaniel Morrison, Alex Okoampa, and Neil Patterson.
The Color Purple will once again be directed by Tinuke Craig with Lakesha Arie-Angelo as revival director.
The creative team also includes musical supervisor Alex Parker, orchestrator Martin Higgins, choreographer Mark Smith, designer Alex Lowde, video designer Joshua Pharo, sound designer Tom Marshall, casting director Kay Magson, musical director Ian Oakley, associate designer Ricardo Pardo, and associate choreographers Gail Parmel and Iona Waite.
READ: Terrence J. Smith, Tiffany Elle Burgess, Aba Arthur Join Color Purple Movie Musical Cast
The musical adaptation of Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel (and the popular 1985 Stephen Spielberg film) features a book by Marsha Norman and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.
