Fantasia Barrino staging Broadway return

Fantasia Barrino is preparing to make her return to Broadway in a new jazz-age musical set during the height of Duke Ellington's reign at the famed Cotton Club in Harlem, New York.

The Grammy Award-winning star will lead the cast in After Midnight, five years after she trod the boards as the lead role in a musical version of The Color Purple.

Vocalists and dancers will perform the greatest jazz standards to the sounds of Wynton Marsalis' handpicked 17-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center All-Stars, while a narrative comprised of Langston Hughes poetry sets the scenes.

Barrino will be the first in a rotating roster of guest star headliners who will be taking on the hits of Lena Horne, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

Previews for After Midnight begin on 18 October (13) at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and Barrino will headline the show until next February (14).