Fields Set for 'Purple' Tour; Williams is Sofia on Bway

Chicago native Felicia P. Fields will reprise her 2006 Tony-nominated role of Sofia in the national tour of the hit musical The Color Purple. 

Fields will return to her hometown of Chicago, where the tour kicks off at The Cadillac Palace Theatre on April 17, 2007.  She will play her final performance on Broadway on Sunday, January 28, 2007.  NaTasha Yvette Williams, who is making her Broadway debut, will assume the role of Sofia beginning Tuesday, January 30, 2007.

Fields makes her Broadway debut in The Color Purple.  Chicago credits include The Hot Mikado, Show Boat, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Dreamgirls, Hello, Dolly! and Sophisticated Ladies, for which she received a Jefferson Award.

Williams has been seen in national tours of All Shook Up, Seussical, Cinderella, Parade, The Goodbye Girl and Nahalia, as well as regionally in Crowns, Ain't Misbehavin' and more. 

No other casting has been announced for the tour.

The Broadway cast currently features Tony Award winner LaChanze as Celie, Tony Award-nominees Elisabeth Withers-Mendes as Shug Avery, Felicia P. Fields as Sophia, Brandon Victor Dixon as Harpo as well as Darlesia Cearcy as Nettie and Krisha Marcano as Squeak.  Also included in the cast are: James Brown III, Eric L. Christian, Latrisa Coleman, Bobby Daye, Carol Dennis, Doug Eskew, Bahiyah Sayyed Gaines, Zipporah G. Gatling, Montego Glover, Charles Gray, Gavin Gregory, Stephanie Guiland-Brown, James Harkness, Francesca Harper, Kimberly Ann Harris, Chantylla Johnson, Kenya Unique Massey, Corinne McFarlane, JC Montgomery, Angela Robinson, Kemba Shannon, Levensky Smith, Ricky Smith, Jamal Story, Daniel J. Watts, Maia Nkenge Wilson and Virginia Woodruff.

The musical is produced on Broadway by Oprah Winfrey, Scott Sanders, Roy Furman, Quincy Jones, Creative Battery, Anna Fantaci and Cheryl Lachowicz, Independent Presenters Network, Lowy Family Group, Stephanie McClelland, Gary Winnick, Jan Kallish, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Bob and Harvey Weinstein, Andrew Asnes and Adam Zotovich, and Todd Johnson.

The performance schedule is: Tuesday at 7pm, Thursday– Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday & Saturday at 2pm and Sunday at 2pm & 7:30pm.  Tickets for Broadway's The Color Purple are on sale via Telecharge.com/(212) 239-6200 or at The Broadway Theatre Box Office Tickets are scaled at $116.25 – $26.25.

Tickets for The Color Purple in Chicago range in price from $28 to $85 and are on sale at the Broadway In Chicago Box Offices (151 W. Randolph St., 24 W. Randolph St. and 18 W. Monroe St.), by calling Ticketmaster at (312) 902-1400, online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com, and at all Ticketmaster ticket centers (including all Carson Pirie Scott stores, Tower Records, Hot Tix, select Coconuts and fye stores).  Groups of 20 or more call (312) 977-1710.