Fantasia Takes on the Role of 'Celie' in The Color Purple on Broadway

She is an American Idol winner; R&B superstar; television actress; author and now the star of a Broadway musical. This week, beginning on Monday, April 10^th, Fantasia Monique Barrino is taking on Broadway as she assumes the role of Celie in the production of The Color Purple, according to TCP website. Her performance for the role is scheduled to run for six months.

The Color Purple is based on the Pulitzer Prize winning book by Alice Walker, who also wrote books such as The Temple of My Familiar and Possessing the Secret of Joy. The story is about an African American girl who is the victim of incest that results in a pregnancy in which she is forced to give up her children. She is also forced into an abusive arranged marriage that painfully tears her from her sister whom she is extremely close with. As she grows in her womanhood, however, she learns her own self worth, by observing the strength in two other women she befriends.

Made into a film in 1985, The Color Purple was directed by Steven Spielberg, and was nominated for 11 Academy Awards. The movie starred Danny Glover, Oprah Winfrey, and Whoopi Goldberg as Celie. Adding to the star line up in contribution was the award winning musician and producer, Quincy Jones, who scored the film.

Gary Griffin directs the Broadway production of The Color Purple. Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray scores the show, while Donald Byrd is the production's choreographer.

In 2004, after her American Idol victory over Diana DeGarmo (who went on to play Penny Pingleton in Hairspray), Barrino released her first album titled Free Yourself. Her autobiography, Life Is Not a Fairy Tale hit the New York Times Bestseller's list, becoming the basis for the Lifetime original movie, The Fantasia Barrino Story, directed by Debbie Allen, in which the singer played herself. In 2006, Barrino released her second album titled Fantasia, and is also on the Happy Feet movie soundtrack along with Pattie LaBelle and Yolanda Adams in a new version of the Stevie Wonder song, "I Wish."

On her website, Barrino says, "You can't hold on to the pain forever, so you have to lift your head up, say 'That's my past, now what's next?' For me, it's a brand new Fantasia: I'm here to tell everyone that dreams do come true, you can't give up... and me, hey, I'm gonna ride this train till the wheels fall off!"