Juan and Deborah Joy Winans to Star in Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story
(© John Bayley Photography)
The complete cast and creative team for the world premiere of Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story have been announced. The new musical will come to Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage this summer from July 1-August 28. The new musical is a coproduction with the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, where it will run from April 13-May 15, prior to the Arena Stage mounting.
Born for This tells the true story of six-time Grammy Award-winning gospel and R&B singer BeBe Winans’ journey to fame. Directed by Charles Randolph-Wright, the production features original songs and Winans family hits, with a book by Randolph-Wright and Winans. The musical is described as follows: "Detroit natives BeBe and CeCe Winans, youngest siblings of the Winans family dynasty, experience the ultimate in culture shocks when invited to join Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker’s television show Praise the Lord. The Winans teenagers become not only television celebrities, they also become like adopted children of the Bakkers, integrating TV evangelism. As BeBe and CeCe encounter fame, fortune and even a young Whitney Houston, BeBe must learn to balance his desire for success with his true calling."
Leading the cast as BeBe and CeCe Winans are Winans family members and accomplished performers Juan Winans and Deborah Joy Winans. Juan is a Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter and his sister Deborah Joy is currently filming Greenleaf, the OWN original TV series for which BeBe is an executive music producer.
The company also features Chaz Pofahl as Jim Bakker, Kirsten Wyatt as Tammy Faye Bakker, Kiandra Richardson as Whitney Houston, Nita Whitaker as Mom Winans, Milton Craig Nealy as Pop Winans, Dyllon Burnside as Michael Winans and Howard, Desmond Sean Ellington as Carvin Winans and Alvin, Brad Raymond as Ronald Winans, Michael Stiggers as Marvin Winans, Nick Morrett as Bob, Alison Whitehurst as Penny, Kurt Boehm as Jimmy Ray, and Gracie Jones in the ensemble.
The creative team includes choreography by Warren Adams, music supervision by Donald Lawrence, music direction by Steven Jamail, set design by Neil Patel, costume design by William Ivey Long, lighting design by Diane Ferry Williams, sound design by Jesse Stevens, and projection design by John Narun.
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