I once heard that everyone has a Prince story. Of course, this is when I lived in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota.
I left Madison, Wisconsin when I was 18 years old, just after high school, to move to the big city to pursue a career in the performing arts. Being in a city with the most theaters per capita in the country next to New York City seemed pretty ideal at the time. I only had a 4 hour drive away back home. That was 2000. I lived in and around the metropolitan area for 19 years before I moved back to Wisconsin.
(I did recently visit New York City to see a show on Broadway for the first time. Read about that adventure here)
Last weekend, I did a quick 24 hour trip with my husband to go up and see the new musical Purple Rain at the State Theatre in Minneapolis. It’s based on the 1980s movie Prince starred in also called Purple Rain. We heard the musical has a chance to be on Broadway and were fortunate to see it opening weekend in the city Prince lived in for so long. I loved it. It was fantastic and I hope it makes it to Broadway.
Watch my Broadway audition for the Dolly Parton musical here.
When I first heard someone say that everyone has a Prince story, I was waiting to see what mine would be. I actually have a couple of Prince stories. I’ll share one of my own. But first another story, different from those, I heard secondhand. It goes like this…
A handful of classmates from my high school went up to the University of Minnesota like I did. One of the girls had an older sister in the dance program. I got accepted in the same dance program my sophomore year, after switching from being a theatre major to a double major, to then eventually designing my own major called music theatre. But that’s an entirely longer and different story altogether. Anyway, the sister of my friend once invited her to a party Prince was having over at Paisley Park. This is the estate he owned located in Chanhassen, MN south of the campus about 20-30 minutes depending on traffic.
Prince was known to have spontaneous sort of pop up parties, many times only known about by word of mouth or special invitation. This was before social media, so word of mouth meant word of mouth. Somehow her older sister was on the guest list and she was able to go with her. I don’t know much more about it, other than he was also known for making his guests things like pancakes and had a basketball court. Oh, and of course that it was very fun, for clearly a lack of a better word.
That was her Prince story. Here’s mine…
The last stage Prince performed on in Minnesota, in public before he passed away, was a stage I performed on for nine months. He was a long time resident of Chanhassen, where I worked performing in a four women show up to seven or eight shows a week called “Respect: A Musical Journey of Women.” This was in 2007-2008.
If you’re familiar with any other big news from the area during that time, in August of 2007 the 35W bridge collapsed. It was so devastating, and such a massive construction and structural catastrophe it made world news. I drove over that bridge on my commute every day to the theatre. I took a different way home that evening, thank God. That was right around the time we had our opening night.
Everyone at the Dinner Theatre knew Prince was our neighbor but also that he’d never stopped in. He was also known to patron local venues and businesses frequently.
In March of 2016 there was a Ray Charles tribute show going on in the Fireside Theatre that must have interested him. At the time, Prince was touring alone with his piano and I believe must have been sort of studying Ray’s music. He also had a few friends in the band. Anyway, a lot of the people that were there when I was working at the theatre were still there. I heard through social media posts and personal contacts that Prince’s people secretly called the theatre to see if he could come to a show. They had to keep it super undercover that day and only let a few people know. I believe I heard they also took down a wall in a little balcony spot just for him last minute. I remember the space and stage so well having been there for so many nights, and know exactly where he must have sat. The coolest thing is that he showed up and then waited in the wings, as I’m told, to perform a modest guitar solo partway through the show.
People in the audience couldn’t believe it was actually him, Prince! They even painted a purple star on the stage floor to honor him afterwards, and to remember that night he stopped by. (pictured below)
In the hallway, right outside the Fireside Theatre, there’s a beautiful framed write up and picture about that night as well. Now, a historical landmark for Prince fans.
I visited First Avenue for a concert, where Prince got his start, just before I moved back to Wisconsin. (pictured below) It was freezing that night!
February 2019
Sometime, I’d love to visit Paisley Park where Prince lived and recorded. My husband and I did just check out the movie Purple Rain from the library. We plan to watch it next, since we just saw the musical.
Do you have a prince story? Leave a comment below.
Here are a few pictures from seeing the musical Purple Rain (below). The lobby of the State Theatre had all sorts of Prince memorabilia, including the motorcycle.
Knowing Prince was standing on the exact stage I made my home for nine months, and stood night after night inspires me to no end, and that it was the last place he ever performed live in Minnesota, is my Prince story.
What’s my other Prince story? Maybe another time.
Watch the quick solo Prince gave during his last public appearance playing in Minnesota.
Contacts of mine who worked there were posting all over on social media about that night, and continued to years afterwards on the anniversary of the performance and his death on April 21, 2016.
One person wrote this: “Five years ago today, Prince played the guitar publicly for the very last time. He took the stage for the Ray Charles tribute at Chanhassen Dinner Theatres. March 12, 2016.”
Credits included in their post are as follows:
Prince (guitar) Mick Sterling (vox), Bobby Vandell (drums), Serge Akou (bass), Stephen Morgan (guitar), Scottie Miller (piano), Charlie Peterson (keyboard), David Eiland (sax), Peter Davis (trumpet), Larry McCabe (trombone), Fachon Barnes (backing vox), Sherri Makaila Orr (backing vox)
Video Disclosure:
I have rarely, if ever shared a video to something I did not record myself or have permission to share. (Full disclosure, I did not get permission.) But I did see this video on my personal feed from a personal contact of mine at the time it occurred as it was being circulated amongst many of my friends. My intent here is to share a piece of history I have a personal connection with in a format visible to folks without a social media account. The exact owner of the video is not clear to me at the time of writing this. I’m happy to update and give credit with gaining that knowledge. (please leave a comment) The link is here as well.
