Deborah Cox to Star in New Musical About Josephine Baker

Multi-platinum recording artist Deborah Cox will star as Josephine Baker in the new musical Josephine, which is aiming to play Broadway during the 2010-2011 season. Joey McKneely is set to direct and choreograph.

The show will feature music by three-time Grammy-nominee Steve Dorff, lyrics by Oscar and Golden Globe-nominee John Bettis, and book by Ellen Weston and Mark Hampton. Inspired by actual events, the musical takes place in Paris between 1939 and 1945 when 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.

Cox made her Broadway debut in the title role in Aida. Her debut album achieved platinum status, and her singles include “Nobody’s Supposed to Be Here,” “We Can’t Be Friends,” “Absolutely Not,” a #1 cover of Phil Collins’ “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven,” “Beautiful U R,” and “Saying Goodbye.”