Fantasia And Danielle Brooks Cast In ‘The Color Purple’ Musical

Fantasia And Danielle Brooks Cast In ‘The Color Purple’ Musical

Fantasia Barrino and Danielle Brooks join the upcoming film adaptation of The Color Purple musical as Celie and Sofia.

As part of the reveal, Oprah Winfrey, who played Sofia in the original 1985 movie gave Brooks the news over Zoom.

“I am here representing all things purple to tell you that you are our Sophia,” Winfrey said. “I’m so happy to pass whatever baton from 35 — almost 40 — years ago to you. And I know you’re gonna kill it.”

Fantasia, who hit the scene as the American Idol Season 3 winner, will again play Celie who Whoopi Goldberg played in the film directed by Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film adaptation of Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

None of the actresses are strangers to the roles. Barrino played Celie in the original production on Broadway, replacing Kendra R.Miller during the spring of 2007. Brooks recently played Sofia in the Tony Award-winning revival, earning a Tony nomination for Best Performance By An Actress In A Featured Role In A Musical.

Previously announced Taraji P. Henson will play Shug Avery in the new film adaption. Henson will join the previously announced Corey Hawkins as Harpo and H.E.R. as Squeak. It was also reported that H.E.R. was working with the film’s creative team to write a new song for the film.

Blitz Bazawule will direct the movie with a script by Marcus Carley.

The story depicts the lives of African American families and relationships in early twentieth-century Georgia.

The film will be released in 2023.

We know its a classic, will you be watching?