'Color Purple' Broadway Play: Jennifer Hudson Talks Being Cast as Shug Avery

 Before you come to hear Miss Shug sing, meet @iamjhud. #TheColorPurple #broadway #quote #motivation #theater

A photo posted by The Color Purple (@bwaycolorpurple) on Oct 1, 2015 at 12:08pm PDT

The Color Purple has been a cherished novel, movie and play for years now. There are plenty of viewers who know lines and scenes by heart. Jennifer Hudson is one of many audience members who fell in love with the play. So much so that the New York Times reports she agreed to be cast in the Broadway play without knowing what role she would be filling. "I said, 'Sure. Yes. Great. Got it. Yup,'" she recalled. Only then did she wonder which role they wanted her to play. The answer: Shug Avery.

Avery is described as, "A voluptuous nightclub singer who awakens the musical's heroine, Celie, to love and sexual pleasure."

Not many would describe Hudson as a sexual vixen, not even herself. This was sort of a surprise to her, having watched the movie hundreds of times and seeing the production twice in New York and twice in Chicago she didn't believe that was the obvious role for her to play.

"But I had never imagined myself as Shug," she said. She thinks of herself as "the big girl with the big voice and the big personality. Not a Queen Honeybee." She's not a women who is described as "so stylish it like the trees all-round the house draw themselves up tall for a better look," but as time passed on she realized, "Okay, I think I got a bit of Shug Avery in me."

The Root reports, "Gradually, though, she began to see herself in the role, thanks to her friends and colleagues who kept pointing out that she and Shug share a degree of glamour. She's so fashionable and stylish; I guess I've grown into the role."

Every role Hudson has played has been sort of heavy; playing Shug Avery will be one of her first this year. This will be her first Broadway show, her first sexually overt character and the first time she is not carrying the emotional weight of the story in her character. "Everything else is normally kind of heavy and sad or emotional and I think it's a light character for me," she said.

#Repost @rubyrose with @repostapp. ・・・ You must see this. So proud of @daniebb3 .. Outstanding performance from @cynthiaerivo also!!! Many tears.. Many laughs. #thecolorpurple A photo posted by The Color Purple (@bwaycolorpurple) on Nov 30, 2015 at 1:46pm PST

Hudson's 2015 is set to end with a bang. Along with The Color Purple, which officially opens Thursday, Dec. 10, she will also be starring in the new Spike Lee film Chiraq – an adaptation of the Greek Comedy Lysistrata relocated to a violence-plagued Chicago – releasing in theaters on Friday, Dec. 4.

Catch a teaser of what to expect from Hudson as Shug Avery below.