Lin-Manuel Miranda Joins Producing Team for Broadway’s PURPLE RAIN Musical
Broadway’s forthcoming stage adaptation of Prince’s PURPLE RAIN has added major theatrical firepower, with Lin-Manuel Miranda and his father, Luis A. Miranda Jr., joining the production team through their company, Viajes Miranda.
The pair will work alongside lead producer Orin Wolf as the musical prepares to begin performances at Broadway’s Majestic Theatre in March 2027. Their exact level of day-to-day involvement has not been detailed, and no separate writing, composing or directing role has been announced for Lin-Manuel Miranda. However, their arrival places one of Broadway’s most recognisable creative figures behind the ambitious Prince adaptation.
The new partnership follows the Mirandas’ previous collaboration with Wolf on BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB. Viajes Miranda served as a co-producer of the Broadway musical, which was directed by Saheem Ali, the newly appointed director of PURPLE RAIN. The company has also held producing credits on the recent Broadway revival of GYPSYand PROOF.
Luis Miranda confirmed the family’s involvement through social media, expressing enthusiasm for transforming Prince’s landmark album and film into a live theatrical experience.
Lin-Manuel Miranda brings considerable Broadway influence to the project. The writer, composer and performer won Tony Awards for the scores of IN THE HEIGHTS and HAMILTON, as well as the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for HAMILTON. The latter production also received the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Based on Prince’s Grammy-winning album and Academy Award-winning 1984 film, PURPLE RAIN will begin Broadway previews at the Majestic Theatre on 12 March 2027. Opening night is scheduled for 12 April, with tickets expected to go on sale through Telecharge in September. Casting for the Broadway production has not yet been announced.
The version arriving in New York will not be a direct transfer of the musical that received its world premiere in Minneapolis in 2025. That staging featured a book by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and direction by Lileana Blain-Cruz, but the production has since undergone an extensive creative redevelopment.
Ali, whose Broadway credits include BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB and FAT HAM, will now direct the musical, working from a new book by Peter Duchan, best known for DOGFIGHT. Ebony Williams will create the choreography, while Tony Award winner Jason Michael Webb will lead the music team as music supervisor, arranger and orchestrator.
Longtime Prince collaborators Bobby Z and Morris Hayes will remain attached as music advisers. Bobby Z performed as the drummer in Prince’s band The Revolution and appeared in the original PURPLE RAIN film, while Hayes spent almost two decades as a member of the New Power Generation and served as Prince’s musical director.
The earlier Minneapolis production was led by newcomer Kris Kollins, who made his professional stage debut as The Kid, alongside Rachel Webb as Apollonia. The engagement attracted considerable attention in Prince’s hometown and was extended following audience demand, although its subsequent creative overhaul means it remains unclear whether any members of that company will continue with the Broadway production.
Like the film, the musical follows The Kid, a magnetic but troubled young performer attempting to break through in Minneapolis during the rise of music television. His ambitions are complicated by a turbulent home life, rival musicians and an emerging romance, forcing him to confront his past before he can claim his place in the spotlight.
The score will feature more than 20 Prince songs, including When Doves Cry, I Would Die 4 U, Take Me with U and The Beautiful Ones. The stage production is expected to draw from both the original soundtrack and Prince’s wider catalogue while placing live music at the centre of the storytelling.
The addition of the Mirandas gives PURPLE RAIN another significant connection to the team behind BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, while also strengthening the production’s commercial profile ahead of one of Broadway’s most closely watched openings of 2027.
With its creative team now substantially rebuilt, attention will turn to casting and whether the production can find a performer capable of carrying the demanding role of The Kid without attempting a straightforward impersonation of Prince. Further announcements are expected before tickets are released in September.
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