Fantasia defies doubters in lead in ‘Color Purple'

After it was announced that Fantasia would take over the lead role in the Broadway musical “The Color Purple,” she recalls her co-stars as being warm, friendly and supportive. Still, she knew in the back of their minds that they had doubt about her casting.

Perhaps for good reason. The former “American Idol” champ was taking over for LaChanze, who won a Tony for her portrayal of the downtrodden “Celie,” and the 23-year-old's acting experience had been limited to a saccharine Lifetime TV biopic in which she played herself - not exactly the most challenging of roles.

Since her arrival in April, she has done more than hold up the show. She's revitalized it. Fantasia has received rave reviews, boosted a box office that had started to slump and, some say, improved a successful commercial production that was lacking critically.

Michael Kuchwara, The Associated Press' drama critic, said Fantasia “gives the production new heart, soul and star power.” And The New York Times called her “so terrific that this earnest but mechanical musical is more effective and affecting than it was when it yawned open a year and a half ago at the Broadway Theater.”

“I think she's clearly given the show a new burst of energy that everyone is enjoying the benefit of,” says Scott Sanders, one of the show's producers.

Lisa Presley records song with her late father

Just as Natalie Cole did in 1991, Lisa Marie Presley has recorded a song with her late father.

Cole's effort was a duet with Nat “King” Cole on “Unforgettable,” a pairing that proved to be a huge commercial hit and went on to win Grammys as song and record of the year.

Now Presley has teamed with papa Elvis on his 1969 track “In the Ghetto.” One of the producers was David Foster, who also produced “Unforgettable.” “In the Ghetto” went on sale at iTunes on Friday, with all profits said to be going to Presley Place, a program designed to help the homeless.

Foxx to play Skid Row musical genius in film

Jamie Foxx will play a brilliant but mentally troubled musician in a movie based on the true-life friendship between Skid Row prodigy Nathaniel Anthony Ayers and Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez. The DreamWorks SKG movie, directed by Joe Wright, is scheduled to begin filming in January.

“Erin Brockovich” writer Susannah Grant has completed the screenplay, said Gary Foster, who is producing the movie with Russ Krasnoff. Lopez's role hasn't been cast yet.

Foxx won the best actor Oscar in 2005 for his portrayal of Ray Charles in “Ray.”

- From wire reports

Ayers was attending New York's famed Juilliard School on a music scholarship when he suffered a mental breakdown at age 20. A schizophrenic, he lived on the streets of Cleveland and Los Angeles for 35 years until Lopez saw him playing the violin one day near a statue of his musical idol, Ludwig van Beethoven.

Lopez did a series of columns on Ayers, and readers immediately responded, giving him musical instruments and inviting him to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to see the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

“A couple members of the orchestra started hanging out with him,” Lopez said.

The columnist, meanwhile, helped Ayers secure a modest downtown apartment where he now has a music studio.

Lopez's book about their friendship, tentatively titled “The Soloist,” is expected to be published next spring.

AP-ES-08-17-07 1520EDT