The Color Purple coming to Broadway--as a musical

Variety reports that Alice Walker's lesbian-inclusive The Color Purple, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel previously brought to the screen by Steven Spielberg, is now being turned into a Broadway musical. Produced by Creative Battery--the company behind the current Elaine Stritch at Liberty--The Color Purple will have a book by Regina Taylor (Drowning Crow) and songs by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray, who have written songs for Madonna, Bonnie Raitt, and Luther Vandross, among others. Matthew Warchus, who directed last season's Follies revival, will direct.