The Nobody's Supposed to be Here hitmaker will hit the stage as the legendary performer in Josephine at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida in April (16).

The production is inspired by Stephen Papich's 1976 book, Remembering Josephine, and will focus on Baker's time as a performer at Paris' Folies Bergere from 1939 to 1945, her relationship with Swedish Crown Prince Gustav VI and her service in the French Resistance during World War II.

Cox says, "It's a whole lot in the story, but really, really compelling theatre... I have to really conjure up a lot of personal stuff in order to get to the ugly stuff that we don't necessarily want to face, a lot of the fears, a lot of the stuff from the past that we don't necessarily want to get into but, as an actor, you have to visit those dark places in order to get the story told."

In addition to her stint as Baker, Cox will step into Whitney Houston's role in The Bodyguard for a North American theatre tour next year as well.

She recently reworked Houston's hits for the soundtrack of TV biopic, I Will Always Love You: The Whitney Houston Story, which featured Yaya DaCosta as the tragic singer/actress.