Kara DioGuardi talks 'Platinum Hit,' 'Chicago,' 'American Idol'

Kara DioGuardi credits "American Idol" with helping her come out of her shell, but there's nowhere she'd rather be than with her new reality series, "Platinum Hit." The Bravo show has DioGuardi, along with Jewel, mentoring songwriters through an "Idol"-like competition

So there's that. But DioGuardi also recently announced that she'll be taking over the role of Roxie Hart in the Broadway production of "Chicago" come September.

"This is so exciting," DioGuardi tells Zap2it. "For anyone who grew up in New York, it's always a dream to be on Broadway."

And she plans to seek advice from some of her previous collaboration partners, like Ashlee Simpson -- who herself played Hart twice, most recently on Broadway in 2009.

The former "Idol" judge (she sat behind the judges' table on seasons 8 and 9) credits the FOX competition show with helping her get over stage fright.

"Without 'Idol,' there's no way I could be doing this," she says.

But when we asked what she thought of season 10 and winner Scotty McCreery, she didn't have much to say.

"I didn't watch much," she says. "I did suggest Steven Tyler as a judge, though, when I left. I think he's done a fabulous job."

But DioGuardi is plenty busy with "Platinum Hit" and says she enjoys mentoring young songwriters. And she was able to do just that again in the yearly Folgers' Jingle Contest, which she judged. The winner was awarded $25,000, a music mentoring session and the chance to appear in a future Folgers Coffee commercial.