Cast revealed for first UK tour of The Color Purple musical
Casting has been confirmed for the first UK tour of hit musical The Color Purple.
Leicester’s Curve theatre and Birmingham Hippodrome’s 2019 co-production will hit the road this autumn, opening at Birmingham Hippodrome 13 to 17 September 2022.
The musical will then visit Theatre Royal Plymouth (27 September to 1 October), Royal & Derngate Northampton (4 to 8 October), The Lowry in Salford (11 to 15 October), Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff (18 to 22 October), Mayflower Theatre Southampton (25 to 29 October), finishing its run at Norwich Theatre Royal (1 to 5 November).
The Color Purple tour cast
Leading the company as Celie is Me’sha Bryan (Romantics Anonymous, Caroline, or Change) with Shug Avery played by Bree Smith (The Wiz), Aaliyah Zhané (The Comedy of Errors) as Nettie, Ahmed Hamad (The Addams Family) as Harpo and Jimand Allotey as Squeak in her professional stage debut.
Joining them are Ako Mitchell as Mister, Anelisa Lamola as Sofia, KM Drew Boateng as Pa, Rosemary Annabella Nkrumah as Darlene and Karen Mavundukure as Doris and Alternate Celie.
Completing the cast are Kyle Birch, Kayla Carter, Joshua Clemetson, Esme Laudat, DeeArna McLean, Monifa James, Nathaniel Morrison, Alex Okoampa and Neil Patterson.
The Color Purple tour dates, venues & tickets »
The production is directed by Tinuke Craig, with Lakesha Arie-Angelo as Revival Director.
The creative team is completed by musical supervisor Alex Parker, orchestrator Martin Higgins, choreographer Mark Smith, designer Alex Lowde and video designer Joshua Pharo, sound designer Tom Marshall and casting director Kay Magson CDG, with Ian Oakley as musical director, Ricardo Pardo as associate designer and Gail Parmel and Iona Waite as associate choreographers.
Curve’s Chief Executive Chris Stafford and Artistic Director Nikolai Foster said: “We are delighted to announce our exceptional The Color Purple company, assembled by the brilliant Tinuke Craig. The Color Purple is very close to our hearts, and we cannot wait to welcome back familiar faces and new colleagues to take this award-winning Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome production on tour. We know this extraordinary team will create something truly special for audiences across England and Wales this Autumn.
“Our thanks once again to our friends at Theatrical Rights Worldwide and Arts Council England, whose support has made the tour of this production possible.”
Chris Sudworth, Director of Artistic Programme at Birmingham Hippodrome added: “We are delighted that our very special co-production of The Color Purple will open the musical’s first ever UK tour on the Hippodrome’s main stage, after such a fantastic response from our audiences in 2019. We are committed to making high quality work in the Midlands and delighted the show will be seen so widely thanks to the support of our partner venues and Arts Council England. We can’t wait to welcome this wonderful company to the Hippodrome for rehearsals next week.”
