Jennifer Hudson and Cynthia Erivo sing ‘The Color Purple’ duet

Almost 10 years after Jennifer Hudson and Cynthia Erivo starred in the Broadway production of The color purple, the powerhouse vocalists sang a soulful duet during a Wednesday episode of The Jennifer Hudson Show. The two musicians riffed off each other while singing “What About Love,” a climactic song about a forbidden romance at the end of the production’s first act.

Hudson praised Erivo’s breakout performance as Celie in The color Purple during Wednesday’s shoot, adding that she performed with bravura every night and earned her flowers. Seam Evil star reflected on her Broadway run as Celie, she became emotional. While performing in a small theater in London, a producer approached her and asked if she would be in the Broadway production. Erivo said she didn’t believe the manufacturer until she had a plane ticket in hand.

“It’s been a really long journey and that young lady had no idea what was in front of her,” Erivo Hudson said of her role on The color Purple. “She tried to get through every show.”

The color Purple The Broadway production draws inspiration from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name and the 1985 Steven Spielberg film adaptation, which follows Celie’s life from a distressed child to a self-actualized adult. Along the way, viewers meet honky-tonk singer Shug, played by Hudson, who not only develops a budding romance with Celie, but helps her discover her inner strength. The coming-of-age story was also adapted into a musical in December 2023.

IN Evil, Erivo plays Elphaba alongside Ariana Grande’s Glinda, Jonathan Bailey’s Fiyero and Michelle Yeoh’s Madame Morrible.