Loretta Devine, Amber Riley star in Alliance musical ‘The Preacher’s Wife’
Veteran Emmy Award-winning actress Loretta Devine and “Glee” star Amber Riley are starring in a musical version of the 1996 film “The Preacher’s Wife” at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre from May 11 to June 16.
Devine, 74, will play Marguerite Coleman, the mother of Riley’s character Julia Biggs, who worries about her husband Rev. Henry Biggs (Akron Lanier Watson). The preacher is struggling to keep both his marriage and his church together. An angel, played by Donald Webber Jr. (”Hamilton”), arrives to help the preacher out, but falls in love with his wife instead.
Athens native Tituss Burgess (Netflix’s ”Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) is scoring the musical version. The script was written by Azie Dungey, who worked with Burgess on “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.”
“I’ve been waiting a long time to give this to the world,” said Burgess in a press release. “I hope it brings audiences as much joy as writing it has brought me!”
In the movie, released 28 years ago and directed by Penny Marshall, Devine played Beverly, the sassy secretary of Rev. Biggs, who was played in the film by Courtney Vance. In the film, Denzel Washington was the Angel and Whitney Houston played the preacher’s wife.
About the Author
Rodney Ho writes about entertainment for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution including TV, radio, film, comedy and all things in between. A native New Yorker, he has covered education at The Virginian-Pilot, small business for The Wall Street Journal and a host of beats at the AJC over 20-plus years. He loves tennis, pop culture & seeing live events.
