On Monday, August 5, The Source Magazine was on the red carpet for the star-studded New York premiere of The Weinstein Company’s highly anticipated film “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” at the famed Ziegfeld Theater presented by DeLeón Tequila. 

We caught up with Singer Fantasia Barrino, who will be returning to Broadway on October 18. The musical is called “After Midnight,” and will pay homage to the music of Duke Ellington.

Q: What can you tell us about your return to Broadway?

Fantasia: You know, this Broadway show is going to be totally different. I did Broadway one time before. I did “The Color Purple and I enjoyed it. It was a lot [more] grueling, you know, with the role that I was playing. But this one…I think is going to be a lot of fun because it’s going to give you that era of the Ella Fitzgerald’s, the Billie Holiday’s, the Josephine Bakers. And I actually love that type of music. I’m listening to it right now. You know, when they approached me about the Broadway play… I always say everything happens for a reason. And it was funny because I was listening to that type of music on the record players. And so I think that people are gonna enjoy it. It’s gonna take you back in time. It’s called “After Midnight,” so I think people are gonna enjoy it.

Q: Can you tell me about any of the music being featured?

Fantasia: I can’t tell you that now because we haven’t went into rehearsals yet so it’s all still new. But I know that it’s gonna be great because Wynton Marsalis is the music director so it doesn’t get any better than that.