AMERICAN IDOL - AMERICAN IDOL WINNER IN PURPLE ADORED BY VETERAN CRITIC

AMERICAN IDOL WINNER IN PURPLE ADORED BY VETERAN CRITIC

In an uncommon follow-up review, veteran theater critic Clive Barnes has extolled the performance of 22-year-old American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino in The Color People. "That she could sing, we knew," the 80-year-old New York Post critic writes in today's (Friday) edition. "But that she could act, and act so wonderfully, so tenderly, so touchingly, so effortlessly -- that came as a surprise." Barnes, who began his career as a critic in England in 1956, served as the New York Times' drama critic from 1967-77 and the New York Post's since 1978, confesses in his review: "I feel a lot in the theater -- I wouldn't stick in this business if I didn't -- but usually I don't cry. With this performance, I found tears running down my cheeks." He concludes, "If you haven't seen The Color Purple, see it now; if you have seen it, see it again. Something extraordinary is happening at the Broadway Theatre that is not to be missed."

18/05/2007