How did ‘Purple Rain’ do? What’s next for the Prince musical?

Downtown Minneapolis skyscrapers were bathed in purple lights. The Timberwolves celebrated Prince with throwback jerseys. And “Purple Rain” cast member Grace Yoo sang the national anthem at a Vikings game (not that it helped the players on the field much).

With the Hennepin County Library system even issuing a Prince library card, Minnesota kinda went gaga for the pre-Broadway world premiere of “Purple Rain,” the stage adaptation of Prince’s 1984 film. The musical played at the State Theatre for six weeks before packing up and putting its sets and props in storage.

How the show performed at the box office remains a burning question. Officials at Hennepin Arts, which hosts Minneapolis’ Broadway season, haven’t responded to Minnesota Star Tribune requests for that information.

Where the show goes from here also has stoked curiosity, and although there’s no announcement of a Broadway theater to date, the Star Tribune has some observations about both questions.

While attendance was strong early on, ticket sales flagged toward the end of the run.

Beginning with previews on Oct. 16, “Purple Rain” had a six-week run at the State Theatre, with a venue configuration that seated 2,103. In all there were 39 performances, with a potential capacity of just over 82,000 patrons.

The producers put show tickets on sale in coordinated tranches, with subscribers, group sales and those who registered early getting to the front of the line. Ticket resellers also snagged early tickets.

By the last week of performances, when “Purple Rain” had found something of a groove, the admission price had dropped to as low as $49.

Based on observations of ticket availability posted on the Hennepin Arts website, “Purple Rain” sold well for its first five weeks of performances — with virtual sellouts for the four shows in the first week, the six in the second and seven in the third week, nearly all of which were considered previews.

The two weeks of shows after its Nov. 5 opening — with eight performances each week — also sold relatively well, probably surpassing the 90% range — boffo numbers by almost any measure.

But tickets went begging that final week of added shows when there were only six performances.

Of course, box office is just one measure of success. Producer Orin Wolf, who has promised to take the show to Broadway, has made it clear that he had a bunch of priorities when he signed up to have this adaptation of a show by a Minnesota hero premiere in his hometown.

“Purple Rain” came a long way onstage in Minneapolis — from raw, messy splat with wooden star Kris Kollins in the Prince role of the Kid to a not-as-raw, not-as-messy final product with Kollins less wooden.

What that journey showed, and what the producers are banking on, is that the creative team led by playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and director Lileana Blain-Cruz can close the gap to solve the problems with the book.

It remains to be seen how much time they will need to do that and whether it can be achieved in previews on Broadway or if they need to go to another city for further development.

What’s happening on Broadway in terms of theater availability and the caliber of new shows also are big considerations. While it’s a strong year for plays in Times Square, including “Oedipus,” the same cannot be said for new musicals.

“The Queen of Versailles,” the glitzy, Titanic-sized behemoth starring Kristin Chenoweth, has announced that it will close Jan. 4 after a three-month run.

So, Broadway is hungry for a new, honking hit, and one that can fill out a Tony Award scorecard. “Purple Rain” would have to match such a schedule if it wants to be in the Tony running.