Fantasia and Claire Danes star on Broadway, Beyonce visits fans in the hospital

Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Pittsburgh, PA, USA - She had her doubters, and we have to admit, we were among them.

But "American Idol" winner Fantasia has just been slaying them in the aisles as Celie in the Broadway version of "The Color Purple."

Word is she's in talks to stay on the Great White Way in a new show about our girl Ada "Bricktop" Smith.

Y'all don't know about "Bricktop"?

Well, it's about time you learn, 'cause Miss Thing was a bad mama jama and the toast of 1920s Paris. We know 'cause we read her published biography eons ago.

Raised in Alderson, W.Va. (yeah, that's where Martha Stewart did time), she headed to France and opened a number of nightclubs, including Chez Bricktop. And she knew everybody who was anybody at the time, including Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, Mabel Mercer and Bishop Sheen.