Jennifer Hudson leads incredible ‘Purple Rain’ tribute to Prince on Broadway

Apr 22, 2016

On Thursday night, as the world mourned the loss of Prince, the cast of “The Color Purple” took the stage for an incredible tribute to the late performer after their on-stage performance.

“I did not expect to have to speak tonight, but God has his way. Tonight, we lost a legend who was a good friend of mine,” actress Jennifer Hudson told the audience.

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“He was writing his book and he told me you can bring your cast members along,” she continued. “We were honored to be in his presence one last time and we got to have that moment.”

“He said his music will live on and he will live through his music so we want to keep him alive today with this song,” she added.

The five-minute tribute was kicked off by Cynthia Erivo, who plays the character Celie in the musical. She blew away the audience with a version of “Purple Rain” while they cheered and clapped. Hudson asked the audience to join in the refrain saying, “I might not get through it! But I want ya’ll to help us out.”

D’Angelo, Maya Rudolph, more perform at Prince tribute

“The Color Purple” wasn’t the only cast who gave Prince some Broadway love. The crew from the hit show “Hamilton” did a dance rendition of “Let’s Go Crazy” to honor the late legend.