Lin Manuel-Miranda and the cast of “Hamilton” paid tribute to Prince by closing Thursday’s show with a performance of his hit song “Let’s Go Crazy.”
It started with Manuel-Miranda delivering Prince’s “dearly beloved” speech that opens the song on “Purple Rain” — and led into the cast dancing in their American-Revolution era garb — not unlike that Prince and the Revolution used to wear.
“Step away from your computer. Walk around, blast some Prince. It’s the only thing that has saved my day, it may save yours,” Miranda had tweeted earlier in the day.
Elsewhere on Broadway Thursday, Jennifer Hudson led the cast of “The Color Purple” in a rendition of “Purple Rain.”
Prince was found dead at his home in Minneapolis on Thursday at the age of 57. While the cause of death is not known at this time, Prince’s private plane made an emergency landing at Quad City International Airport in Moline, Illinois, last Friday morning, as the singer was en route home from a concert in Atlanta.
He was rushed to a nearby hospital and had apparently been experiencing flu symptoms, which worsened during the flight. He was released from the hospital after three hours.
Following news of the singer’s death, a flood of tributes emerged on social media, with Katy Perry, Dwayne Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Spike Lee and many others sharing their grief.
“Hamilton” won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the Columbia University-run organization announced on Monday. The prize is awarded “for a distinguished play by an American author, preferably original in its source and dealing with American life.”
In its citation, the Pulitzer committee described Miranda’s show about founding father Alexander Hamilton “a landmark American musical about the gifted and self-destructive founding father whose story becomes both contemporary and irresistible.”