VIDEO: Fantasia Barrino to Join COTTON CLUB PARADE; Announces Plans on TODAY!

Actress and singer Fantasia Barrino announced on The Today Show her plans to join Broadway's Cotton Club Parade this fall. Barrino also just released her fourth studio album, "Side Effects of You", which debuted at the top of the Billboard's R&B chart. Click below to hear what the American Idol winner had to say!

Producers Alan D. Marks, Barbara Marks, Wade Turnbull, Steve Hendel, Ruth Hendel, and Tom Kirdahy announced in January that Cotton Club Parade, the Encores! Special event that played two acclaimed runs at New York City Center, will arrive on Broadway this fall.

COTTON CLUB PARADE celebrates Duke Ellington's years at the famed Harlem nightclub in the 1920s and '30s, when the joint was jumping with shows featuring big band swing and blues music. The vibrant production features singers, dancers, and the world renowned Jazz at Lincoln Center All Stars, under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. The score includes songs by the greatest jazz composers of the time, including Jimmy McHugh and Dorothy Fields ("I Can't Give You Anything But Love" and "Digga Digga Doo"), a young Harold Arlen ("Stormy Weather," "I've Got the World on a String," "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,"), and of course, the legendary Duke Ellington ("Rockin' in Rhythm," "Cotton Club Stomp," "Black and Tan Fantasy," and "Creole Love Call").

COTTON CLUB PARADE is conceived by Jack Viertel, with direction and choreography by Warren Carlyle and music direction by Jazz at Lincoln Center Managing and Artistic Director Wynton Marsalis.