Jennifer Hudson will make her Broadway debut this fall, starring in the Oprah Winfrey-backed revival of The Color Purple.
This will be the Grammy, Oscar and Golden Globe-winner’s first foray in a Broadway production.
The Dreamgirls actress will take on the role of Shug Avery, a sultry blues singer, in the musical.
According to the New York Post, Winfrey reached out to Hudson personally to invite her to join the cast.
John Doyle, who received a directing Tony in 2006 for his own Broadway debut with Sweeney Todd, designed and directed this particular production of the musical, which first opened in 2013 in London at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
Music and lyrics are by Grammy winners Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray.
Because @IAMJHUD is everything… and she's Broadway-bound… And she's here.
http://t.co/IfpieG3xhk pic.twitter.com/deHi9zPrtS
— Playbill (@playbill) January 11, 2015
The musical is an adaptation of the Alice Walker novel of the same name, which was made into the 1985 Steven Spielberg film starring Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg.
Jennifer Hudson is making her Broadway debut this fall! http://t.co/jQ6wifM9Vl pic.twitter.com/xjNi1fAOFB
— New York Post (@nypost) January 10, 2015