When a new musical based on the life of BeBe Winans makes its world premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta this month, theatergoers will be transported back to the Reagan-era rise and scandal-riddled fall of televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story, cowritten and composed by the Grammy-winning R&B and gospel star himself, tells the unlikely story of how Winans and his sister CeCe were plucked by the Bakkers from teenage obscurity in Detroit to perform on the Praise the Lord Network.
The musical, which Winans and his cowriter and director Charles Randolph-Wright spent years fine-tuning, has already earned approval from Oprah, who led the audience in a standing ovation when she attended an early reading. Now Winans and Randolph-Wright are hoping that it will join the handful of productions, including the Tony-winning The Color Purple and Aida, that have made the jump from the Alliance’s stage to Broadway.
Read full article & interview
Showing posts with label oprah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oprah. Show all posts
Friday, April 22, 2016
Monday, April 28, 2014
Forest Whitaker, Idris Elba and Oprah May 'Shack' Up in Controversial Movie
The Tracking Board is reporting that a film based on the bestselling book The Shack will reportedly be directed by Forest Whitaker and may star British actor Idris Elba and tv personality Oprah.
As a religious film it will definitely be controversial, and with such big-name talent it is sure to get huge press.
In January, Deadline first reported that the Academy Award winner Whitaker, who starred in the 2013 film The Butler, was in talks to direct William Paul Young's book. It also suggested that Whitaker could be a supporting character in the story that chronicles a man grieving the kidnapping and brutal murder of his seven-year-old daughter, who encounters God in the shed where his child died.
Elba, who stars in the television series Luther and was recently seen in Thor: The Dark World could be cast as the lead. It did not specify which part Oprah could be given, although the main character, Mackenzie Allen Phillips, encounters three versions of God while in the shed, one of them Papa, an African-American woman.
The two other members of the Trinity who Phillips meets are Jesus, a Jewish Carpenter, and Sarayu, a woman of unclear Asian descent whom he later discovers is the Holy Spirit.
Shooting is set to begin on the $30 million film in Atlanta or Vancouver later this summer.
Not all Christians flocked to the message of The New York Times bestselling book, which sold over 18 million copies.
In 2010, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. described The Shack as a "wake-up call for evangelical Christianity," and that its story reflected "a theology that is unconventional at best, and undoubtedly heretical in certain respects."
He also blamed its popularity among Evangelicals on their ignorance of "basic theological knowledge."
Young, who originally wrote the story for his family without intending to publish it, defended The Shack's message and theology shortly after it was released.
"I absolutely am convinced that this is a God-thing, that God is the One stirring this all up, challenging us to rethink and entertain growing deeper in a relationship with Him rather than pursuing our independence," Young said in 2008.
In 2011, Young added that "part of my journey is to say that the soul of the human being must be a massively intricate, wonderful creation that God has a respect for in ways that we do not and that leaves a huge amount of space to go explore. He (Jesus) didn't come to start a new religion. Jesus is not the 'founder of Christianity.' He came to destroy religious thinking by introducing relationship – and relationship always moves you away from control, which is a major theme in both The Shack and Cross Roads, and into the mystery of relationship."
As a religious film it will definitely be controversial, and with such big-name talent it is sure to get huge press.
In January, Deadline first reported that the Academy Award winner Whitaker, who starred in the 2013 film The Butler, was in talks to direct William Paul Young's book. It also suggested that Whitaker could be a supporting character in the story that chronicles a man grieving the kidnapping and brutal murder of his seven-year-old daughter, who encounters God in the shed where his child died.
Elba, who stars in the television series Luther and was recently seen in Thor: The Dark World could be cast as the lead. It did not specify which part Oprah could be given, although the main character, Mackenzie Allen Phillips, encounters three versions of God while in the shed, one of them Papa, an African-American woman.
The two other members of the Trinity who Phillips meets are Jesus, a Jewish Carpenter, and Sarayu, a woman of unclear Asian descent whom he later discovers is the Holy Spirit.
Shooting is set to begin on the $30 million film in Atlanta or Vancouver later this summer.
Not all Christians flocked to the message of The New York Times bestselling book, which sold over 18 million copies.
In 2010, R. Albert Mohler, Jr. described The Shack as a "wake-up call for evangelical Christianity," and that its story reflected "a theology that is unconventional at best, and undoubtedly heretical in certain respects."
He also blamed its popularity among Evangelicals on their ignorance of "basic theological knowledge."
Young, who originally wrote the story for his family without intending to publish it, defended The Shack's message and theology shortly after it was released.
"I absolutely am convinced that this is a God-thing, that God is the One stirring this all up, challenging us to rethink and entertain growing deeper in a relationship with Him rather than pursuing our independence," Young said in 2008.
In 2011, Young added that "part of my journey is to say that the soul of the human being must be a massively intricate, wonderful creation that God has a respect for in ways that we do not and that leaves a huge amount of space to go explore. He (Jesus) didn't come to start a new religion. Jesus is not the 'founder of Christianity.' He came to destroy religious thinking by introducing relationship – and relationship always moves you away from control, which is a major theme in both The Shack and Cross Roads, and into the mystery of relationship."
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Oprah Winfrey Announces New Book Club Pick: Sue Monk Kidd's "The Invention of Wings"
Oprah Winfrey has chosen Sue Monk Kidd's "The Invention of Wings," coming out Jan. 7 as her next book club pick. An interview with Kidd will appear in the upcoming edition of "O: The Oprah Magazine," which arrives Dec. 17. A conversation with Kidd will air next year at a date to be determined on the talk-show host's Super Soul Sunday on OWN.
Kidd's novel, a 19th-century narrative featuring real and fictional characters, weaves together the stories of a slave girl and a slave owner's daughter. Like Kidd's million-selling "The Secret Life of Bees," the book is set in South Carolina, where the 65-year-old author lived for many years.
"The moment I finished `The Invention of Wings,' I knew this had to be the next book club selection," Winfrey said in a statement released Tuesday. "These strong female characters represent the women that have shaped our history and, through Sue's imaginative storytelling, give us a new perspective on slavery, injustice and the search for freedom."
Winfrey founded her book club in 1996 and quickly established herself as a reliable hit maker, whether choosing debut works such as Lalita Tademy's "Cane River" or old favorites such as John Steinbeck's "East of Eden."
Kidd's novel, a 19th-century narrative featuring real and fictional characters, weaves together the stories of a slave girl and a slave owner's daughter. Like Kidd's million-selling "The Secret Life of Bees," the book is set in South Carolina, where the 65-year-old author lived for many years.
"The moment I finished `The Invention of Wings,' I knew this had to be the next book club selection," Winfrey said in a statement released Tuesday. "These strong female characters represent the women that have shaped our history and, through Sue's imaginative storytelling, give us a new perspective on slavery, injustice and the search for freedom."
Winfrey founded her book club in 1996 and quickly established herself as a reliable hit maker, whether choosing debut works such as Lalita Tademy's "Cane River" or old favorites such as John Steinbeck's "East of Eden."
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Right Now (We Need One Another)
Grammy®-winning, multi-platinum-selling BeBe & CeCe Winans along with country superstars Vince Gill and Wynonna Judd came together and recorded "Right Now (We Need One Another)" a song they debuted today live in a post-election episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
The song is exclusively available on iTunes. The single will also be included on the untitled, anticipated, album by BeBe & CeCe which is sure to be a popular release in 2009.
A better name might have been "Right Now (We Need God), thanks to you Oprah" - in part because of the New Ager's support of Obama.
The song is exclusively available on iTunes. The single will also be included on the untitled, anticipated, album by BeBe & CeCe which is sure to be a popular release in 2009.
A better name might have been "Right Now (We Need God), thanks to you Oprah" - in part because of the New Ager's support of Obama.
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