{"id":291,"date":"2019-07-30T12:01:16","date_gmt":"2019-07-30T12:01:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alleewillis.com\/bio\/?page_id=291"},"modified":"2021-01-14T13:51:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-14T13:51:38","slug":"broadway-press-releases","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/broadway-press-releases\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Allee Willis – Broadway Press Releases<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

COMPOSER ALLEE WILLIS TONY\u00ae-NOMINATED FOR THE ORIGINAL SCORE FOR
<\/strong> THE BROADWAY SMASH THE COLOR PURPLE<\/em> — MUSIC & LYRICS WERE WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH BRENDA RUSSELL AND STEVEN BRAY<\/strong> <\/u><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In April, Willis became the\nfirst woman, and only one of 5 composers ever, to have written music for 2\nshows opening on Broadway in the same season<\/strong><\/u><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Los Angeles, CA, May 16, 2006<\/strong>: Los Angeles-based <\/strong>multi-media artist Allee Willis<\/strong>–a GRAMMY<\/strong>\u00ae-winning songwriter whose work has\nsold well over 50 million records<\/strong>–makes major news on the east coast this week with a Tony\u00ae\nAward nomination<\/strong>\nfor her work on the hit Broadway<\/strong> musical The Color Purple<\/em><\/strong>.  The nod was in the category “Best Original Score (Music\nand\/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre,” <\/strong>and recognizes music & lyrics Willis <\/strong>composed and wrote in collaboration\nwith Brenda Russell<\/strong> and Steven Bray<\/strong>. The honor was one of eleven nominations<\/strong> the attendance record-breaking\nshow received, including “Best Musical,”<\/strong> “Best Book of a Musical”<\/strong> (written by Pulitzer Prize<\/strong> winner Marsha Norman<\/strong>), and “Best Performance by a\nLeading Actress in a Musical”<\/strong> for LaChanze’s<\/strong> star turn as Celie.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer\nPrize <\/strong>winning\nbook, The Color Purple<\/em><\/strong> opened at NYC’s Broadway Theatre<\/strong> on December 2, 2005<\/strong>, and has been a sell-out ever\nsince, with a national touring company production already announced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bulk of their work was done in\nthe studio in Willis’ L.A.<\/strong> area home, famous for the themed A-list events she’s\norchestrated there over the years, and for its reputation as “the house of\natomic kitsch,” so-called because of the world-class collection of pop culture\nartifacts it showcases. Willis<\/strong> was raised in Detroit<\/strong>, where she was vastly influenced by Motown and\ngolden era soul music, and one of her most notable collections is of\nAfrican-American ephemera from the mid to late 20th<\/sup> century. Ms.\nWillis<\/strong> has said\nthat many of the objects helped inspire her, Bray<\/strong> and Russell<\/strong> during creation, and notes that\nwhen Alice Walker<\/strong>\nvisited the studio, she used a church fan from Willis’<\/strong> collection that was just like the\none she used growing up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willis, Russell<\/strong> and Bray’s <\/strong>final score for The Color\nPurple<\/em><\/strong> makes\nthe Broadway<\/strong>\nproduction as creatively transformational in its own way as the Steven\nSpielberg<\/strong>-directed\nfilm of the property was from Walker’s<\/strong> original novel. The show’s lead producer Oprah\nWinfrey<\/strong>, who was\nOscar-nominated for her role in the movie, said, “To present this Broadway<\/strong> production is a dream come true\nand a full circle moment for me.” It has proven to be one of the major\nhits of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allee Willis<\/strong> also made Broadway<\/strong> history this spring by becoming the\nfirst woman ever to have written music for two shows opening on the Great\nWhite Way<\/strong> in the\nsame season, a feat achieved by only four other people total: Irving Berlin,\nGeorge M. Cohan, George Gershwin<\/strong> and Marvin Hamlisch<\/strong>. Willis<\/strong> has accomplished it with The Color Purple<\/em><\/strong> and Hot Feet<\/em><\/strong>, the Earth, Wind & Fire<\/strong>-themed “jukebox” musical that\nopened at the Hilton Theatre<\/strong> on April 30<\/strong>. Willis<\/strong> has penned numerous smash hits for EWF<\/strong>, and among her compositions\nspotlighted in Hot Feet<\/em><\/strong> are “September,” “Boogie Wonderland” <\/em><\/strong>and “In The Stone.”<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prior to her Tony-nominated<\/strong> score for The Color Purple<\/em><\/strong>, Allee Willis’<\/strong> previous brush with Broadway<\/strong> was in the mid-1970s, when she was\na hat check girl at the fabled Manhattan<\/strong> nightspots Catch A Rising Star<\/strong> and Reno Sweeney’s<\/strong>. Willis<\/strong> has said it was “an amazing Broadway\n<\/strong>education,” and\nnow, having gone from watching the stars unwind after the show to helping them\nmake magic during it, she has indeed graduated with honors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allee Willis – Broadway Press Releases COMPOSER ALLEE WILLIS TONY\u00ae-NOMINATED FOR THE ORIGINAL SCORE FOR THE BROADWAY SMASH THE COLOR PURPLE — MUSIC & LYRICS WERE WRITTEN IN COLLABORATION WITH BRENDA RUSSELL AND STEVEN BRAY In April, Willis became the first woman, and only one of 5 composers ever, to have written music for 2 …<\/p>\n

read more »<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-291","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=291"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":661,"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/291\/revisions\/661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alleewillis.com\/bio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}