MINNEAPOLIS — Lileana Blain-Cruz remembers dancing to “Kiss” by Prince in the club as a young adult; now she’s directing a musical about him.

“It’s going to be a party, I’m excited,” Blain-Cruz said.

She is directing Purple Rain, the musical adaptation of Prince’s 1984 film.

What she admired the most about him was that he was never afraid to be himself.

“One of the things that’s been so thrilling and looking at old concerts and the film itself is seeing what a live performer he was, like how theatrical he was,” she said.

Blain-Cruz is excited to bring something on screen to life alongside Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who wrote the musical.

“We heard through various people that at the end of his life he was actually considering making a musical; he loved the theater, you know, so I feel li

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