Saturday, February 06, 2010

MADEA'S BIG HAPPY FAMILY


Last night I went to see Tyler Perry’s new stage play Madea’s Big Happy Family. It’s the first time Madea, in all of Tyler’s glory, has been on tour in five years. My baby sister gifted me with a ticket as an early birthday present. It was my first time seeing a Tyler Perry stage place that wasn’t on DVD and this experience was particularly touching because the show is dedicated to Tyler’s mother who passed away in December.

The evening itself was a great time and I walked away with knowledge of some new truths.

As a writer, when you find a formula that works for you, keep working it. Tyler has reinvented the same drama again and again and his audiences are absolutely enthralled each and every time like it’s their first experience with it. Tyler’s formula however will not work for everybody, so imitation would not serve another writer well.

Big, beautiful voices singing big, beautiful songs absolutely nourishes your spirit.

Tyler Perry is a man who is very secure with himself and very secure with his insecurities.

Theater seats, particularly those at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC are not particularly comfortable if you are carrying any excess weight at all.

Acting a fool in the front row will get you escorted out of a theater fast ‘cause Tyler don’t play like that. “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”, was how he put it. The man is a living embodiment of his faith in God. He will readily call on the name of Jesus and inspire those around him to do so as well. And I must make note that the woman who was escorted out was neither blind, infirmed, or from Haiti, ‘cause you know how folks do when they start telling stories.

Tyler’s success is a direct reflection of some serious hard work. Very few of us will ever work that damn hard and subsequently never know that kind of success.

I still have some serious issues with crowds.

And my sister still needs to test the waters even when I tell her she’ll get wet. It sometimes will not make for happy, family or otherwise.

New truths are always interesting.

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