Well, this is a little different. Toni Braxton, perennially bankrupt pop R&B star, is going to play Darlene Love in Oprah Winfrey’s TV Movie about the Phil Spector superstar. Darlene has had a Renaissance in the last year because of her participation in the Oscar winning doc “20 Feet from Stardom.”
Braxton is a little old to play Darlene during her Phil Spector days– she’s 46–but the magic of Hollywood will deal with that. Toni has a new album out with Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. And the two of them were just on Broadway in “After Midnight.”
It will be interesting to see if Oprah and OWN can get the rights to Darlene’s music with Phil Spector, back when she was the lead singer of the Crystals. I’m a little surprised that Toni was chosen, not just because of her age. Braxton is more of a ballads singer. Darlene is a power singer. We’ll see how that works out.
Oprah’s OWN also announced a bunch of new shows, including interviews with Justin Timberlake, Lionel Richie, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters, and Vanessa Williams on her “Master Class” shows.
