Theater groups sometimes forget to show audiences a good time. "The more that I've worked in the urban world and I've continued to watch regional productions, I realize that it's the entertainment value that's very different," says Johnson. "I think Broadway has it right; Broadway musicals are spectacles...I went to see Aida, and they had a fashion show in there that had absolutely nothing to do with nothing, but it tested well in the workshop, so they kept it, because it was highly entertaining. And they understand that people pay for entertainment."
Johnson is giving his audience a cinema/theater hybrid, complete with live music score, in which the audience is allowed to voice its approval or disapproval, always in respectable taste, of what is happening onstage.
Daniel Kramer
Je'Caryous Johnson brings movie and TV stars to Houston. And chances are, you've never heard of him — unless you're African-American
Photos Courtesy of I'm Ready Productions, Inc
I'm Ready Productions brings in big-name stars...
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In Whatever She Wants, Fox's character makes a direct statement that renders the conventions of theater null and void, and the audience has permission to break those conventions when she speaks the pre-intermission line, "I'm gonna close my eyes for five seconds, and if I see anybody still in here when I open them, you better call security, gather up all the ushers, turn on your cell phones and call the law, 'cause I'm gonna set it off up in this place!" The lights fade out to a musical break; the house lights rise, and the audience gladly takes a breather. If there're any interim-ditchers, in a space like the Verizon they're hardy noticed.
After the first scene of Whatever She Wants, in which Fox's character assumes the role, more or less, of motivational speaker, it's clear that we're in a kind of "secular church" territory, and the following scenes will play out like an urban parable: Vivian's elitism will get taken down a notch as she learns to take a chance on love again after being burned one too many times — her previous boyfriend left her to go back to "his baby's mama," whom Vivian had no inkling of, until she showed up at Vivian's house with "some matches and gasoline."
If some scenes in the show feel inspirational, others feel as if the audience has been transported to La Bare. Male characters appear bare-chested, flaunting a sexual attitude and playing to the heavily estrogen-enhanced audience presence. When Vivian asks her suitor, Julian Heaven (played by former male model Boris Kodjoe), "What do you want?" and he replies, "To dive into your eyes, swim down to your soul and handcuff myself to your heart," the audience breathes a vocal, collective sigh. Vivian responds with a dead serious "Be careful. If you go too deep you might not be able to come up for air." As the live music builds under the scene, Julian strikes back with, "That's all right. As long as I hit the bottom." Boom. The drums and a big bass note underline the cheesy melodrama as women squeal their approval. And it's a very funny moment.
Later in the scene, Julian has demonstrated he is fluent in both French and German. Vivian asks how many languages he speaks. Julian responds that he tries not to limit himself, that the tongue is the most versatile muscle in the body, and it's amazing the things you can do if you know how to use it. He then flicks his tongue, Gene Simmons-style, at Vivian. Another boom. And several women actually get up out of their chairs. Fox feigns fainting and howls in another pop-infused outburst, "Run, Carol Anne! Come into the light!" The crowd roars. Later, at intermission, one man is overheard wishing he'd taken notes. "Man, those were some fly lines," he says to his male companion.
Of course, with sex comes religion. And Johnson wants to level the field. "You can't do a play like everybody was doing in the old days where everybody would get saved in the play," he says. "Bottom line is, there's some saved folks; there's some unsaved folks. You represent the saved folks and you represent the unsaved folks, too." Johnson sees his work as opposite to the urban pieces that came before, because his plays focus on more complicated contemporary issues rather than flat-out, punch-to-the-gut morality tales.
I'm Ready Productions has transformed the so-called "gospel play" into something that threatens to give Tyler Perry a run for his money and push into an even more comfortable mainstream market. And the company is banking several million dollars on the transition. Granted, Perry can sell out a theater house or, now, a movie house, with a single e-mail, but so can Johnson.
I'm Ready's out-of-the-box approach and level of quality show that the bar has been raised. But can the genre truly cross over?
Johnson believes it can. "I believe we're at the point where things are about to change for black, white and indifferent, and we're on the edge," he says.
"Can't wait to jump off the cliff."
