Purple Rain hasn't even made its pre-Broadway debut in Minneapolis, but it's getting an additional week of performances due to "extraordinary audience demand" according to producer Orin Wolf and Hennepin Arts.
Those performances were announced Tuesday, with the first show set for Thursday, October 16 running through Sunday, November 23 marking the final show in the 2024-2025 Bank of America Broadway on Hennepin season.
"This is huge," said Dale Stark, Director of Marketing and Communications for Hennepin Arts. "The show has been in town for several weeks getting things ready. Minnesota loves Prince, Minnesota loves theatre, so that translates into an extra week."
The stage adaptation of the 1984 film features Kris Kollins as The Kid and Rachel Webb as Apollonia. With just about a week left until the show debuts at State Theatre, there's still a lot of work left to get done.
"Lots of revisions, tweaking, changing things around, likely changing them back, and seeing what works and what doesn't," Stark said. "I was down in the house earlier this week and it's like NASA. There's so much going on. It's incredible to see."
Stark compares the buzz around Purple Rain to that of The Lion King which debuted in Minneapolis in 1997 before heading to Broadway.
"We've certainly launched national tours, but in those cases they're ready to hit the road. Something like pre-Broadway is exciting. There's a lot of unknown."
Tacking on an additional week of performances isn't an ordinary move.
"Most tours are one week and this like adding an entire new tour coming to town. That certainly resonates economically. It's just so exciting that sales are where they're at. There still plenty of seats available."
Tickets for the additional performances went on sale Tuesday afternoon.