Fantasia Breaks Barriers!!!

Fantasia Barrino has become the first American Idol winner to prove her worth on Broadway.

Reporting on her success since taking on the role of Celie in the musical production of The Color Purple in April, the Associated Press observed today (Wednesday) that Fantasia has "revitalized" the show, "boosted a box office that had started to slump and, some say, improved a successful commercial production that was lacking critically."

Scott Sanders, one of the show's producers, told the A.P.: "When you bring in someone who is a household name, it brings out the cynics who think that it is just stunt casting and those who actually understand that she is a very talented woman who is going to take a big leap. ... It's turned out to be an incredible win for everyone."

Because she found playing her role so taxing, Fantasia told the wire service, she had been reluctant to sign on for an additional four months. She was persuaded to do so, she says, by the intervention of Oprah Winfrey, one of the show's producers. "She just began to tell me how much I touched her and all the things that she felt," she said.