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Tribune News Service
Tribune News Service
Entertainment
Karu F. Daniels

Grammy and Tony Award winner Dee Dee Bridgewater to star in Ella Fitzgerald musical developed by Anna Deavere Smith

Ella Fitzgerald Anna Deavere Smith Tony Broadway

NEW YORK — The life and times of the First Lady of Song has been turned into a musical — with a powerhouse team developing it for Broadway.

Acclaimed playwright, author and actress Anna Deavere Smith has written a new musical about jazz icon Ella Fitzgerald that is currently being workshopped at Open Jar Studios in New York City.

Titled “Ella: An American Musical,” the work will portray the influential jazz icon — who died in 1996 — at different points in her life, drawing from her own songbook for the score.

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