“The Pastor’s Wife”, a night of pleasure

Sunday will be your last opportunity (unless they extend it, and they should) to attend the world premiere at the Alliance Theater of the musical “The Preacher’s Wife” (ends June 16), based on the popular film starring Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington. as good as anything you’ll see on Broadway now. When it comes to A-grade theater, the production ticks all the right boxes, from the acting and music to the direction and set design. Basically, it’s an Alliance home run.

The musical stars Amber Riley (Julia) as the preacher’s wife; Alan H. Green (Joe Hamilton, the developer) and Donald Webber, Jr. (Dudley) as the angel sent to help the preacher save his church and his marriage.

Speaking of Broadway, the production could very well debut there, but there is no official word that the musical is being developed for The Great White Way, according to actor and Georgia resident Brad Raymond (Deacon Johnson). Raymond, originally from Chicago and happy to call Atlanta home, now took a few minutes to talk about the production and his successful theater career in Georgia just before heading to the Alliance for this evening’s production. This is an edited version of our conversation.

The Atlanta Voice: Was it a culture shock for you when you first moved to Georgia?

Brad Raymond: It was a bit of a culture shock. I said, ‘Oh, I can’t fall asleep.’ There are no gunshots or sirens (laughs). Oh wow. Seriously, like this is way more than I’m used to. So the first year I went back to Chicago a lot, but then I really started to love it and Georgia became my home. I like solitude and calm. I love how lightened it is. I wish the politics were a little different, but it almost seems like they’re trying to change too.

AV: Have you played a lot in Chicago?

Brad Raymond: I did more as a teenager and child in college, then focused on teaching in my early adult years. I started as head of the music department at College Prep High School and then became artistic director of performing arts for charter schools. So they were very demanding tasks and I wasn’t able to perform as much as I wanted. But when we moved here, I took a year off, and after that I decided to focus mainly on performing and I’ve been doing that ever since.

AV: So what company did you first work with here?

Brad Raymond: I worked with a small community group called Onion Man, and actually the founder of that organization committed suicide last year.

AV: After Onion Man, where did you go?

Brad Raymond: .I have directed several productions at Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theater. The first show I did for True Colors was “Funk,” and we did that at the 14th Street Playhouse. They wanted to hire new faces who had never worked at True Colors before. It was a wonderful sight. We had a great time. It was well received by audiences and critics. It was an adaptation of the personal story that George C Wolfe had told.

AV: Is The Preacher’s Wife being tested for Broadway? (Several other plays have been workshopped at the Alliance for Broadway.)

Brad Raymond: It’s the buzz. There’s no official word on this yet, but it’s rumored. And they have a few New York producers involved, and that doesn’t usually happen unless they’re planning to try to bring the play to Broadway.

AV: So what do you like about this stage version of “The Preacher’s Wife”?

Brad Raymond: The focus is more on the women, on Julia and Marguerite and their real story. I think the movie is fantastic. I love it, but we need to hear the voices of black women louder. We’ve seen this change start to happen on television in a wonderful way. And I think film and theater are starting to catch up, where black women are leading big shows and black women are also writing and speaking with their own voices.

That’s why I think it’s great to have Azie Dungey, you know, writing this script, to be able to bring a black woman’s perspective to this main character, who is a black woman. So that’s one thing I really love about it. The other thing I love is how Tittus Burgess is able to write in such an eclectic style. He’s mastered all these different styles of black music and traditional Broadway music, and it’s a nice blend that you don’t find in most musicals today or ever.

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