The Cast of Broadway’s Hamilton and The Color Purple Honor Prince

As the world tried to grapple yesterday with the mortality of a performer who was always larger than life, tributes to Prince took place across the globe. Countless buildings in his home state of Minnesota were lit purple in his memory, Spike Lee held a Brooklyn block party in honor of his long-time friend and collaborator, and musicians and performers of every conceivable genre honored Prince during their respective shows.

Broadway was no exception, of course. Last night Lin-Manuel Miranda and the cast of Hamilton brought the house down with Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”:

Miranda credited the show’s musical director Alex Lacamoire on spending the entirety of yesterday orchestrating charts for the last-minute song.

The cast of The Color Purple also delivered an emotional performance of, natch, Purple Rain. Featured in the video are Jennifer Hudson and Cynthia Erivo (I knew Hudson would be incredible here, but holy cats Erivo is amazing).

If your emotions can handle it, other notable tributes to check out include a message of condolence to Prince’s family from President Obama, Pearl Jam’s take on Purple Rain, and NASA’s impressive remembrance of the fallen star. The variety of people commemorating Prince is an indicator of how versatile, undefinable, and magnetic he was as a performer. Talent like that doesn’t just dissipate. Prince left behind an invaluable legacy, one that I’m confident will continue to be honored by the generation of musicians he helped inspire.

(via Pitchfork)

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Carolyn Cox