RIALTO CHATTER: Lewis to Portray Mariah Carey in New Biopic Musical?

According to numerous published reports, Mariah Carey may be immortalized in a new musical about her life and, allegedly, the famous singer is hoping to be portrayed on Broadway by Leona Lewis. A spokesperson for Carey reveals: "Mariah is in talks for a Broadway musical to be made about her life in 2009."

The U.K. Mirror reports that: "Mariah's not sure if she'll star in it herself. If she doesn't, names being tossed around include High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens and Desperate Housewife Eva Longoria. But Mariah secretly likes the idea of Leona Lewis playing her...Not only is she exotic, she's the only one who they reckon would be able to tackle Mariah's eight-octave vocal range."

Additional details about the musical's content and a possible production schedule have yet to be announced.

Mariah Carey ecame the first recording artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Following her marriage to Mottola in 1993, a series of hit records established her position as Columbia's highest-selling act in the 1990s. Carey has sold more than 175 million albums, singles and videos worldwide. She was named the best-selling female pop artist of the millennium at the 2000 World Music Awards. Carey is also the recipient of the Chopard Diamond Award at the 2003 World Music Awards, recognizing sales of over 100 million albums worldwide. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, she is the third best-selling female artist and sixteenth overall recording artist with shipments of over 63 million albums in the US. She is also ranked as the best-selling female artist of the U.S. Nielsen SoundScan era (third best-selling artist overall). She has the most number-one singles for a solo artist in the United States (eighteen; second artist overall behind The Beatles). In addition to her commercial accomplishments, Carey has earned five Grammy Awards, and most recently received critical praise for her role in Lee Daniel's Oscar-nominated film, Precious.

Leona Lewis rose to fame in 2006 as the winner of the third series of the British television series The X Factor. Lewis has become a multi-platinum selling artist and three time Grammy Award nominee. She was proclaimed 'Top New Artist' by Billboard magazine in 2008. Lewis has released two albums to date, Spirit and Echo, in 2007 and 2009 respectively. Spirit became the fastest-selling debut album and the biggest seller of 2007 in both the United Kingdom and Ireland, and made Lewis the first British solo artist to top the Billboard 200 with a debut album. It has sold over 6.5 million copies worldwide. Lewis's debut single "A Moment Like This" became the fastest selling UK single after being downloaded over 50,000 times within thirty minutes of its release. Her second single, "Bleeding Love", reached number one positions in over thirty singles charts around the world. In November 2008 she set a record in the UK for the fastest selling download-only release with her cover version of the Snow Patrol song "Run" which sold 69,244 copies in two days. She is currently gearing up for a world tour that kicks off in the UK in May, 2010.