Alicia Tries Different Key

Given all the awards her music has won, maybe Alicia Keys should set aside some space on the mantel in case her film career takes off the same way.

Keys, 24, recently won her sixth through ninth Grammys, including best R&B album for her 2003 release, "The Diary of Alicia Keys." Her first five Grammys came for "Songs in A Minor," the singer's 2001 debut.

Now she's on a tour that stops Wednesday and April 14 at Foxwoods Resort Casino, before she steps onto a movie set later this year to star in "Compositions in Black and White." The movie, produced by Halle Berry and adapted from Kathryn Talalay's book, recounts the life of child piano prodigy Philippa Schuyler. The biracial musician, daughter of African American author George Schuyler and white Texas artist Josephine Cogdell, began composing music at age 4 in the 1930s and struggled with prejudice in this country before achieving international fame in the '50s.

It's a story that has obvious parallels to Keys, who began developing her own musical talent at a young age. She started playing piano at age 7, wrote songs as a teenager, majored in choir at the Professional Performance Arts School in Manhattan and enrolled in Columbia University at age 16 before dropping out to focus on music.

Beyond that, though, Keys says she identifies with the idea of "trying to find where you fit in this world."

She says she is excited about the role.

"It's the humanness of the character that really talked to me, and I found it something that I would be really interested in," she says over the phone.

Just digging into the archival material on Schuyler has been a worthwhile experience for Keys.

"They have recordings of her when she was like 7, and I guess there were these construction workers in the house fixing something, and she wrote a song about these workers working," Keys says. "To be able to hear another perspective on the classical side of someone just creating from reality, that really connected for me."

Keys has another movie role in the works, too, though the deal isn't far enough along for her to talk about. It's a big move for her, in today's synergistic entertainment world where actors want to make records and singers want to make movies.

But what makes Keys think she can act? Mostly the fact that she started doing that at a young age, too.

"I acted from when I was little in all types of things that would probably embarrass me now," she says with a laugh.

Her mother, Terri Augello, is an actress, too, and Keys (born Alicia Augello Cook) remembers spending a lot of time at rehearsals as a little girl.

"She always dragged me to plays that she was rehearsing, and I fell asleep in too many theaters watching her," Keys says.

Despite the time her movie roles will demand, Keys says she doesn't expect to get too far away from music, particularly with the Schuyler role.

"It's looking like whatever movie I choose to do first, they will all allow me to express myself through acting, but also musically, because I will be heavily involved in the score and the music that is around the movie," she says. "I personally think that it's going to open me up in a whole new way that I haven't experienced yet."

In other news, Keys has added several additional dates to her SOLD OUT Diary of Alicia Keys tour. John Legend is the opening act.

Here are the remaining dates:
Sat, 04/09/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Hampton Coliseum
Hampton, VA

Sun, 04/10/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
The Liacouras Center
Philadelphia, PA

Wed, 4/13/05
7:00 PM Alicia Keys
Foxwoods Casino
Ledyard, CT

Thur, 4/14/05
7:00 PM Alicia Keys
Foxwoods Casino
Ledyard, CT

Sat, 04/16/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Dar Constitution Hall
Washington, DC

Sun, 04/17/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Dar Constitution Hall
Washington, DC

Wed, 04/20/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Radio City Music Hall
New York, NY

Fri, 04/22/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Radio City Music Hall
New York, NY

Sat, 04/23/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Radio City Music Hall
New York, NY

Sat, 04/30/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Chastain Park Amphitheatre
Atlanta, GA

Tue, 05/03/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Patriot Center
Fairfax, VA

Wed, 05/04/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Agganis Arena
Boston, MA

Fri, 05/06/05
09:00 PM Alicia Keys
Tropicana Casino
Atlantic City, NJ

Sat, 05/07/05
08:00 PM Alicia Keys
Tropicana Casino
Atlantic City, NJ

Sun, 05/08/05
07:00 PM Alicia Keys
Tropicana Casino
Atlantic City, NJ

Tue, 05/17/05
07:00 PM Alicia Keys
Santa Barbara Bowl
Santa Barbara, CA

She'll also be performing on VH1's Save the Music Concert next Sunday and at the Essence Music Festival in July.

I'm not a fan of her music, but those are really nice pictures of her. She looks like Lynn from Girlfriends in that 2nd one.

typo
[Edited 4/9/05 11:40am]