After years of putting her best foot forward, Toronto R&B recording artist Deborah Cox is taking a step or two back.

The first one takes her all the way back to the theatre stage. Teamed with Mel Jackson, Martha Wash and Lenny Williams, Cox hits the stage of the Elgin Theatre, March 27-29, in a show by David E. Talbert, titled Love On Lay-A-Way.

The Scarborough-born Cox, who released The Morning After, her third album, last November, isn't exactly a stranger to the theatrical stage, she reminds us.

"Early in my musical career, before I got signed," she says, "I used to do musicals and stuff like that. But to be at the Elgin Theatre is pretty big in comparison."

It may have been those early forays into theatre that prompted her to listen up when she was approached by Talbert with a view to doing this show.

"I was familiar with his work and I'd gotten a script from him," she says. "I thought: 'Well, this is really cool and again, it's something else coming my way.' "

They did some juggling with calendars, Cox got her album release out of the way, and January was spent in rehearsals in Los Angeles, followed by a Baltimore opening just in time to be shut down by the last winter storm.

But the Baltimore run was long enough to tell them they had something good on their hands.

"We had a really great response," Cox says. "The storyline is pretty universal. It just happens to have a black cast. It's a really nice mixture of great music with a great cast."

Overall, Cox is overjoyed to be reconnecting with her theatrical roots.

"I get to sing and act -- perform in front of a live audience," she says. "That's really what stimulates me and inspires me and keeps me motivated in the arts."

Mind you, not even a live audience is going to be able to keep her on stage much beyond the end of April, when the show is scheduled for L.A., even though its tour is slated to run through July.

By July, Cox will be heavily into another production, this one more personal than theatrical.

She and her husband are expecting their first child, July 4, she says: "A whole new frontier for me."

But while she's eagerly anticipating motherhood, she's not planning on throwing over her musical career.

"I'll probably stay home for a few months," she says, adding that she's got a mother and a mother-in-law who are both eager to help out.

"My plan right now is to take at least three or four months off and do the mommy thing," she says brightly.

By then, she's pretty sure it will be time to go back to work.

"I get very antsy when I'm not creative," she insists.

Sounds like she'll be back to putting her best foot forward before we even know she's gone.

For tickets to Love On Lay-A-Way, call 416-872-5555