Saturday, September 12, 2009

Deborah Cox to play legendary entertainer, Josephine Baker, in Broadway musical

I saw the 1991 HBO movie, "The Josephine Baker Story", starring acclaimed actress Lynn Whitfield, which won her the Emmy for "Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Special". What a life Josephine Baker led! I've no doubt it will make for a great Broadway musical; the only surprise is that it hasn't already been done. Baker's life story is rich with history and drama. I hope the musical does her justice. More from CBC.ca:

Canadian R&B singer and actress Deborah Cox will play the lead role in a new Broadway-bound musical about Paris music hall star Josephine Baker. Cox's last Broadway appearance in 2004 was as the Nubian princess Aida, in a musical by the same name, produced by Elton John and Tim Rice, that was loosely based on the Verdi opera.

Josephine Baker was a celebrated singer and dancer known to the French as La Baker, and as the Créole Goddess to anglophones. She was a world-renowned entertainer and one of the first African-American women to be featured in films, such as Siren of the Tropics (1927), Zouzou (1934), Princess Tam-Tam (1935) and Moulin Rouge (1941). She is also remembered for her contributions to the civil rights movement, and for her assistance in the resistance movement during the Nazi occupation in France.

Full article at CBC.ca

I've seen the films Zouzou, Princess Tam-Tam and Moulin Rouge; they are a great record of her brlliance as a superb entertainer, and I highly recommend them.

Read the Josephine Baker Wiki biography here.