Variety is reporting that Danielle Brooks, best known for her role as Taystee in Orange is the New Black (OITNB), will be making her Broadway debut alongside Jennifer Hudson and British actress Cynthia Erivo in the musical version of The Color Purple.
The OITNB star will portray the role of Sofia in the latest Broadway rendition of the Alice Walker novel. The role was previously played by Oprah Winfrey in the film version of the novel, who is also on board as a producer of the project.
The author writes:
“Sofia is one of the three major female characters in the show, with Hudson on board as nightclub singer Shug and Erivo starring as protagonist Celie, a role she first played in London.
The actress expects to be filming the fourth season of ‘Orange is the New Black’ while she’s appearing in ‘Color Purple,’ which starts performances in November. The third season of ‘Orange Is the New Black’ launches June 12.’
Brooks expressed her feelings on her upcoming role in The Color Purple in an interview with Essence Magazine:
“The first thing I did was pray about it, and I just surrendered the same way that Oprah talks about it in her Master Class when she had to surrender for the same part. I said, ‘If it’s for me, it will be.’ And I’m so grateful—I’ve said that word a million times, but I am—that my will lined up with God’s, and here I am.”
Read more at Variety.
This post was written by Reginald Calhoun, editorial assistant for the Burton Wire. He is a senior Mass Media Arts major at Clark Atlanta University. Follow him on Twitter @IRMarsean.
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