Some may think the long and winding road to the musical stage production of "The Color Purple" began with the Oscar-nominated film. Still others may believe it all started with the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

They're all right -- in part.

But the eight-year journey to bring to Broadway this latest adaptation of what has become a classic tale begins with author Alice Walker.

"In all due respect to all of us, if we didn't have Alice's story and Alice's beautifully creative and written characters to start from, I don't know that we would have had the success," said lead producer Scott Sanders.

And the show has had plenty of success. The Broadway version -- "Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple" -- won a Tony for lead actress LaChanze, received 11 nominations and dramatically increased Broadway's African-American attendance over its five-year run. The national tour kicked off last year in Oprah's hometown, Chicago.

If the first step was with Walker approving the stage version, the next 10,000 steps belonged to Sanders, who spent nearly a decade nurturing his idea and pulling together the right creative team and cast. Not that he hadn't done this kind of thing before.

He'd spent 15 years as executive producer of Radio City Music Hall and later launched Mandalay Entertainment with partner and chairman Peter Guber, one of the producers of the film version of "The Color Purple."

Sanders was also the man behind the 2002 Tony Award-winning "Elaine Stritch at Liberty," which also became an Emmy-winning HBO special. And if that isn't enough, he produced Queen Latifah's first vocal album, "The Dana Owens Album."

But "The Color Purple," was special.

"I didn't want to be the one to mess it up," Sanders said. "It was clear to me that it needed to take what it needed to take."

Yet even with his impeccable entertainment credentials, he still had to woo Walker.

"I went into [Guber's] office and said, 'I've always wanted to produce "The Color Purple" for a new audience on the stage and I think that the story has music in its soul, and would you introduce me to Alice Walker?' "

Sanders was given Walker's phone number, and he called to make his pitch. "I started to tell her why I wanted to do it and how I thought it could sing on Broadway and how I thought it could reach a new generation in this new form," he explained.

"She was very reserved in her thoughts and ultimately said, 'I don't think I want to do this.' "

But Sanders was nothing if not persistent. "I just kept bugging her for a few months," he said.

Then he invited her to come to New York, where the two spent a week dining and attending Broadway shows.

On Walker's last night in the city, she gave Sanders her blessing. The next step was getting approval from Warner Bros. and Steven Spielberg, which took a few months.

Then all systems were go, kind of.

"I felt very much like the music had to have a unique sound," Sanders said.

Sanders spent a year and a half listening to music from Tony Award-winning composers and lyricists, but after 18 months, he was disheartened. "There was a moment I thought, if I can't find the right musical sound, I'm not going to do this."

Fate, as it would do several times during the course of the production, stepped in. A meeting with friend and Grammy-winning composer and lyricist Allee Willis resulted in Sanders meeting another Grammy winner, Brenda Russell. When Sanders began talking about his need to find the right sound for the musical, he thought he was talking only to Russell. However, Willis, Russell and a third composer, Stephen Bray, asked if they could submit songs as a group.

"I went home and about a month later they sent me a CD," Sanders explained. "I put the CD in my car and went for a drive. I nearly pulled the car over. I was listening to 'Shug Avery Is Coming to Town.' "

Sanders had found his composers/lyricists.

Then he brought in Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Marsha Norman to write the book, which brought things full circle, Sanders said. Norman had won a Pulitzer for her play " 'Night, Mother" the same year Walker received the Pulitzer for "The Color Purple."

Sanders still has The New York Times article about it.

While Sanders said he didn't attempt to put together such a diverse group of writers, including two African-Americans and three women, once it evolved that way, he was extremely proud. Quincy Jones, a producer on the film, also became a producer on this project.

As Sanders and his creative team began writing and developing the show, he tried to keep it below the radar. "I knew 'The Color Purple' was a beloved story and a beloved film and we were going to be under the microscope," he said.

In the early stages of the process he happened to find himself on the set of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with Diana Ross. Part of him wanted to approach Winfrey about the new production. "But my inner voice said, 'Don't do that, Scott, it's not time.' "

In the meantime, he continued the journey, developing the story, selecting the cast, the musicians.

"As all of that was going on, I will say that it was very challenging initially to raise the money to do this," Sanders said. "I think a lot of people did not feel 'The Color Purple' was a story on paper that seemed like it would sing and dance."

He said most of the musicals on Broadway since 9/11 were comedies. There was another factor that made some potential backers reticent: "There were some people who said black shows don't sell on Broadway, you don't make your money back," he explained. "I had someone tell me, 'I'll give you $1 million if Denzel Washington plays Mister.' Denzel Washington doesn't even sing."

When Sanders invited the press to watch a run-through of the play, Gayle King, Winfrey's best friend and the editor of her O magazine, was among the invitees.

Initially, King said she would only be able to watch the first act of the 2 1/2-hour production because she had a lunch date.

"At intermission I looked over and a tear was running down her cheek and she was typing on her Blackberry," Sanders recalled.

King, who ended up staying for the entire show, had just e-mailed Winfrey to rave about the show.

Several months later, Winfrey called to ask how she could help with the show. Sanders told her she could give it a big boost by being the presenting producer. Initially, Winfrey declined, not wanting to take any credit for Sanders' eights years of hard work.

"She said, 'I will only do this if I can invest,' " Sanders recalled. That's how Winfrey became the marquee producer of "Oprah Winfrey Presents The Color Purple."

"It has found its place, a very profound cultural significance in the canon of American musical theater. We're very proud of that," Sanders said. "We're very excited about the fact that this show, I believe in all humility, is more than just another musical. It's an incredible experience in the theater."