Despite being dogged in the press for the amount of absences she had during her Broadway run in 'The Color Purple,' We have has learned exclusively that season three 'American Idol' winner Fantasia will return to the Oprah Winfrey-produced musical.
Beginning this summer, Fantasia will resume her role as Celie and embark on a three month run with the show, kicking off at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC on June 30.

She will also play dates with 'The Color Purple' when the show travels to Chicago and Atlanta as well.
A rep for the production would not confirm the casting news.
"I don't know anything about it, so I can not confirm this story," offered publicist Linda Stewart of It Is Done Communications.

Though news of Fantasia's return is apparently being kept under wraps – well, until now -- I'm told the producers of the show are eager to see the High Point, North Carolina native return to the production.
My source told me that the negative attention Fantasia received by the 'New York Post' in December of 2007 for missing 50 shows was unwarranted because the 24-year-old star single-handedly "made a truck load of money for that show."
(Incidentally, one-named actress LaChanze, who originated the character and won a Tony Award for playing Celie, missed more than 40 days during her year-long stint with the show.)
When it was announced that Fantasia would star in 'The Color Purple' on Broadway, the show based on Alice Walker's novel made more than $2 million in presale tickets before she even made her debut in April of 2007.

Though she originally only committed to a six month run on the Great White Way, Fantasia was asked to extend her contract because the $11 million production continued to sellout and make gobs of money during her tenure.
Fantasia left the show in January of 2008 and the show closed more than a month later after playing more than 900 shows and making $103 million.

In March of 2008, the day after performing at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party, Fantasia's doctor had discovered what she called in a recent interview a "throat tumor" on her vocal chord.

Since the condition had gone undetected for so long, Fantasia was told she may never sing again.
The physician further explained that the tumor was the reason she had been fatigued for months while doing 'The Color

Purple' and the grueling Broadway schedule had increased the severity of the polyp.
Fantasia's surgery was ultimately a success.