Deborah Cox to star as Josephine Baker in upcoming Broadway musical

Next spring, Deborah Cox will play Josephine Baker in the jazz legend’s Broadway musical adaption.

Deborah Cox as Josephine Baker

Playbill is reporting Deborah Cox has joined onto Josephine and the musical is set to debut in 2012.

The project has been in the works for years, but recently has been able to get off the ground.

Producer Kenneth Waissam stated:

“About 20 years ago Suzanne de Pass and Motown sent me an original copy of Josephine Baker’s biography, written by her manager. They wanted to option the biography for a Broadway musical starring Diana Ross. I said to Suzanne, I didn’t think Diana Ross would commit to 2 year contract, and ultimately she didn’t. 20 years later I am going through an old box and I re-read the biography and I saw how it could have life today as a Broadway show. And I said “Okay I’m gonna do this musical.”

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About Josephine:

inspired by actual events, and takes place in Paris between 1939 and 1945: Josephine Baker is queen of the Paris music halls, involved in a liaison with Crown Prince Gustav VI of Sweden and secretly serving her adopted country in the French Resistance. Her heroic work during the war brings her the self-worth she so vainly sought in fame, money and the arms of royalty.

Theatre won’t be new to the talented singer as Cox played the lead role in Aida in 2004.

The Josephine Baker story was first documented in a movie played by Lynn Whitefield in 1991. Much of Baker’s life had been much of exploitation over the years. The St. Louis native found fame in Europe and was an advocate toward stopping racism abroad and in the United States.