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For Easton, It’s ‘Sugar’ to Cervantes

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Linda Ronstadt did it. So did Sting. And now Sheena Easton is doing it.

After reaching the top of the pop charts with “For Your Eyes Only” and “Sugar Walls,” the Scottish-born Easton has decided to go legit. She’s playing the serving girl Aldonza opposite Raul Julia in the Broadway-bound revival of the 1965 Tony-winning musical “Man of La Mancha,” which begins Tuesday at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

“For the last couple of years I have been talking about wanting to do some acting,” says Easton, who’s previous acting experience consisted of playing Sonny Crockett’s ill-fated rocker wife on “Miami Vice.”

Easton, who also cavorted with good friend Prince in the “U Got the Look” video, wasn’t looking to do Broadway until her agent told her about “La Mancha.”

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“I loved the script so much that it got me really excited,” she says. “It’s so easy when you develop a certain level of success and comfort with what you are doing to stay there and not test yourself. I thought this was the time to do it.”

But the big hurdle for Easton was convincing the producers she wasn’t dreaming an impossible dream. “You mention my name to a Broadway producer and I’m not the first person he is going to think of,” she admits. “So they went, ‘Sheena Easton? Can she sing this kind of stuff?’ ”

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