Color Purple musical set to hit Broadway in early 2005

Variety reports that the stage musical version of Alice Walker's lesbian-themed classic novel The Color Purple will open on Broadway in early 2005 after a regional trial run in the fall of 2004. Scott Sanders, founder of Purple's production company, Creative Battery (Elaine Stritch at Liberty), tells Variety, "We'll make any creative changes during and after the one [tryout], but we feel real good about the creative direction." The company has acquired rights to both Walker's novel and the film version directed by Steven Spielberg. "Alice wrote it in a way that doesn't lend itself to linear storytelling," says Sanders, "so we have watched the film several times and may very well borrow from Steven's instincts about how to stage the novel."