Did you think you knew everything there was to know about Ray Charles thanks to epic 2004 biopic Ray? Well Charles, apparently, wants you to get to know him a little better. According to Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks -- whose new musical about Charles, Unchain My Heart, heads to Broadway this fall -- Charles came to her in a dream and said he was ready to bring his story to the world once again. And this time, on Broadway.

Parks has tried to differentiate the film from her musical, which I previewed last Thursday night. It takes place in Charles' recording studio with people from his life including his mother, brother George and wife Della Bea stopping by to sing his hits with him. At the preview Ray (played by Brandon Victor Dixon, from this Spring's hit off-Broadway musical Scottsboro Boys) even brought up movie -- perhaps to show the audience that producers were wise to the fact that movie was released only a few short years ago.

Dixon also plays a quirkier Charles, with much less of the smoothness that Jamie Foxx  portrayed the singer with in Ray, but I thought his voice was amazing. I was also happy to see one of my favorite Broadway actresses, Saycon Sengbloh, playing the sassy Mary Ann Fisher. (Although this means she must be leaving her current role as Sandra Isidore in Tony-nominated Fela soon.)

The number of musicals formed from legendary song catalogs is so great these days that two plays with a few songs in them are nominated in the best score category of this year's Tony's. The award requires that the songs are written for the stage, but Charles's songs were given some different and interesting arrangements here, so we'll see what happens by November when it's set to open.

Here's a photo of Brandon Victor Dixon. The new Ray Charles.