By Howard Pousner

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Fantasia Barrino, who stars as Celie in the North American touring production of “The Color Purple” that opens at the Fox Theatre on Tuesday, had never seen a Broadway show before she attended the musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel in New York in 2007.

“Blown away” by the play, the North Carolina native was then invited to dinner with lead producer Scott Sanders and others key to the staging. When the crafty Sanders held up a mock-up of the “Color Purple” marquee, with her name in big letters as the star, she didn’t get his power of suggestion.

The singer known simply as Fantasia said, “Oh, my God. That is so pretty. Can I have it?”

The producer responded: “You can have it if you’ll be my Celie.”

“I didn’t see it coming,” says Fantasia, a comment that could be applied to her entire career, starting with the 19-year-old single mother’s Season 3 “American Idol” win in 2004 over another now-celebrated singer Jennifer Hudson (a rise that began with an Atlanta tryout).

But there were some similarities between the character and the talented vocalist that made casting the novice seem not such an impossible stretch: an exuberant spirit put to the test by a hard life (which for Fantasia included being raped while in high school); sheer determination in an eternal battle with a shortage of self-esteem.

She made her Broadway debut in April 2007 and won mostly glowing reviews, though she recounts her nine months on the Great White Way mainly as a time of struggle. That included health issues that led her to miss nearly 50 performances and that, eventually, required surgery to remove a tumor on her vocal cords.

In a short but wildly rambling conversation from her home in Charlotte, which she almost lost to foreclosure last year, Fantasia says she’s enjoying the national tour in a way that was hard to as a green Broadway baby.

“I’m better and my vocals are so good,” the 25-year-old actress said. “And this time around with ‘The Color Purple,’ it’s very different.”

About taking the show on the road and into the South: “We’re going to Greensboro, which is my hometown. I know a lot of older [ladies] who tell me, ‘Baby, I can’t get on the bus, but I’d sure like to see you.’ Now they’re going to see me, and I’m excited about that.”

On what she gives and gets back: “I’m doing Broadway and let me tell you something, it ain’t no joke. I tell people every night that what we do is like a ministry. We’re kind of living somebody else’s life, and we’re telling the story. So it takes a lot of discipline, it takes a lot of sacrifice. A lot of people on the show, like myself, are away from family, away from children.

“But we dedicate ourselves to it. It’s gonna touch everybody, especially in these times because a lot of people are going through a lot of different things. When you leave out of the building, it’s one of those stories that leaves you feeling, ‘I know I can make it another day. I know I can keep on pushing. What I’m going through, it’s all right, it’s OK.’”

On her initial trouble separating Celie from Fantasia: “I’m a singer, that’s what I love to do. ... Anytime I can do singing, I’m there.

“But when I began to [play the role], I didn’t know how to come out of character. I’d walk around the building and ask people who’d been doing it for years [how they broke away from the parts they were playing]. ... I go and speak to them because this is another world for me, but I thank God I got to tap into that. And they seen something in me that I’d never seen in myself. And now I’m glad I’ve done it, I’m serious.

“Except in the beginning, oh my God, it was like, ‘How do I do this? I don’t even know who Fantasia is and I really don’t know where to start to find her.’ That for me was totally insane, like an out-of-body experience, and I walked into [Celie’s] shoes every day, all day long.”

On her health struggles during the Broadway run: “I was just super, super tired and super, super groggy. I’d get an IV — they thought I was dehydrated because onstage I’m a sweater. [Celie] never really goes offstage. She never gets a break because she’s telling the story. So I’d go get my IVs and try to drink a lot of water, and as soon as I was done with ‘The Color Purple,’ I told the young lady who was my manager at the time, ‘I want to go to the doctor.’ And I don’t like the doctor, I’m scared of the doctor.”

On how she’s feeling now: “I’m healthier, and I have a better team. At the time, I had a lot of legal situations going on, and I was carrying all of that. You know, I take care of my whole family [she shares her home with her 7-year-old daughter Zion, mother, stepfather, brothers and cousins], and that’s a blessing and something I always told God I would do if I could, would put my family in a home and live good. And that’s what I try to do, and it’s a lot at age 25. But I feel like, hey, God gave it to me, and as long as I keep God on my side. ...

“I always say to people, I don’t dot every ‘i,’ cross every ‘t,’ but I’ve got a special relationship with the master upstairs. He blesses me and allows me to do all these things that I never, ever, ever, ever thought I’d be able to do. I never thought I’d do Broadway and be acting.”

What she told her cast-mates at a dinner during the tour’s Washington run: “I told them I’ve had some ups and downs. I’ve had some trying days, lonely days, days where I thought, ‘Oh, no, I just can’t do this anymore.’ But I told them just spending time with them, I’ve learned so much, and [now I] realize that every day of life is a learning process and you’re going to go through some things. That’s life.”

On a famous audience member: “The other day, Stevie Wonder just gave it up for me. We were [onstage], waiting for the curtain to go up, and Stevie Wonder walked in the building. You would’ve thought it was the president [who had] walked in. ... I tell them not to tell me when [celebrities] come because I’d rather not know.”

On another famous audience member: “Alice Walker came to the show. She’s a beautiful woman [who] just walks with wisdom and speaks with wisdom. She told me she was very, very happy [with the performance], which made me feel very good. She has a beautiful story and when you play people’s stories, you can’t be half-stepping.”

Theater preview

“The Color Purple”

Tuesday through Sept. 27 at the Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree St. N.E. 8 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays, 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturdays, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sundays. Tickets, $29.50-$67.50, at Ticketmaster, 1-800-982-2787, www.ticketmaster.com.