Celebrity Mound

Alicia Keys’ upcoming stint as a Broadway producer is a “dream come true” for the R&B superstar – because she used to gaze at the theatre lights from her New York home as a child.

The singer, who was raised in the Manhattan district of Hell’s Kitchen, has signed on to produce Stick Fly, a play written by Lydia R. Diamond.

The story revolves around an African-American family at their vacation home in the picturesque retreat of Martha’s Vineyard, an island off the coast of Massachusetts, and Keys can’t wait for fans to see the work which has captured her heart.

In a blog post on her website, she writes, “Sometimes you come across that rare piece of art that gets to you – that takes you to a different place, and opens your eyes and your heart to a new horizon. For me, Stick Fly is that piece of art.

“Stick Fly is an incredible, moving and hilarious play, that I’m so honoured and excited to help bring to Broadway this winter.”

And Keys reveals her passion for Broadway is one she shares with her beloved mum, Teresa Augello.

She continues, “My mother’s greatest passion is the theatre and she introduced it to me very early in my life. I grew up right next to Broadway – I could see the glittering lights from our apartment. To produce a play like this is a dream come true for me. And to have the chance to share this play with an audience, night after night, in a beautiful theatre, on the streets that I walked everyday as a kid with only ‘a pocket full of dreams’… can only be described as modern-day magic.

“I hope if you’re in NYC this winter, you’ll have the chance to experience Stick Fly, and that it moves you as much as did me.”

Stick Fly, which first premiered in Chicago, Illinois in 2005, is due to begin previews on November 18, 2011 at the Lyceum Theatre.

Keys isn’t the first star to work on Broadway – her Empire State of Mind collaborator, rap superstar Jay Z, is one of the producers of hit musical Fela!.

Alicia Keys is following Jay-Z and Will Smith into the world of Broadway producers.

Keys, whose hits include “Fallin’” and “A Woman’s Worth,” will help produce Lydia R. Diamond’s play “Stick Fly” this fall.

The work is a contemporary comedy of manners revolving around an affluent black family whose insecurities gradually reveal themselves during a vacation to Martha’s Vineyard.

“I’m passionate about this play because it is so beautifully written and portrays black America in a way that we don’t often get to see in entertainment,” Keys said in a statement. “I know it will touch all audiences who will find a piece of themselves somewhere inside this house.”

The piece has been performed in Boston, Chicago and Washington, D.C. It’s set to begin performances at the Lyceum Theatre on 45th Street on Nov. 18 and officially opens Dec. 8.

The director will be Kenny Leon, whose Broadway production of “Fences” earned 10 Tony Award nominations. His other credits include “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Radio Golf.”

Diamond, a playwriting professor at Boston University, previously adapted Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” for the stage and has written “Stage Black” and “The Gift Horse.”

In 2009, Jay-Z, Will Smith and wife Jada Pinkett Smith joined the producing team of the musical “Fela!,” the show about Afrobeat superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.

The ‘Put It in a Love Song’ singer debuted the track – called ‘Speechless’ and dedicated to her son, Egypt, who was born in October – yesterday, through her husband, Swizz Beatz’, website.

The song, which features rapper Eve, was produced by Swizz and Alicia explained it in a post on her twitter feed.

She wrote: “Speechless is a little freestyle treat 4 the holidays. It’s not a new album, not a single it’s something special 4 U!

“My gift to you – a little song about my lil guy love to you – let’s make 2011 incredible!!!”

The ballad starts with Alicia saying: “I’m at a brand-new time in my life and a brand new feeling, and it’s like this little guy, man, he takes my breath away.”

The song samples Kanye West’s ‘Devil In A New Dress’ but was largely written by Alicia at her piano.

She said: “I always start writing at the piano, because I just feel like it’s the best way to get the song out. It makes me take everything else away, and it just makes me get into it.”

It’s a boy for Alicia Keys and her husband, music producer/rapper Swizz Beatz.

A representative for Keys said she gave birth Thursday night in New York. The couple have named their son Egypt Dean. It’s the first child for the 29-year-old superstar and the fourth child for Beatz, whose real name is Kaseem Dean. The couple was married July 31.

Swizz Beatz, 31, took time to tweet on Friday: “I’m so thankful for everything I been blessed with in my life.”