Two of the stars of Tyler Perry's popular "Meet the Browns" -- both the movie and the television sitcom series -- will perform in Anchorage on Sunday. The promoter hopes that a good turnout will help persuade Perry himself to do a show here.
David Mann plays the leading character in the film and series. His Leroy Brown is the big-hearted, if thick-headed, patriarch of the clan and the next door neighbor of Madea Simmons, played in drag by Perry himself.
Tamela Mann, David's real-life wife, plays Cora, his daughter by Madea from a one-night stand some 50 years past. She supplies a caring but firm-minded link between the two families.
As a singer, Tamela Mann opened the Grammy Awards this year and presented several of the awards. Her CD "The Master Plan" is No. 2 on the gospel charts.
Dubbed "The Black Dresses and Pearls Gospel Concert," the Manns' Anchorage show will include both Christian music and comedy, with David Mann presenting material based on his Leroy Brown character and bringing members of the audience on stage with him.
The audience will have another role, said Selita Helm, the promoter. On entering the Alaska Center for the Performing Arts, they'll be ushered along a red carpet to a camera to "give a shout-out" to Perry, asking him to appear in Anchorage.
"We'll edit the video and, as soon as (the Manns) are done here, they'll be going straight back to Tyler with it," said Helm. "That's how I'm trying to court Tyler Perry into coming up here."
The Black Dresses and Pearls Gospel Concert will start at 6:30 p.m. Sunday in Atwood Concert Hall. The public is advised to show up early to film the shout-outs -- and to dress the way they want to be seen by Perry.
Tickets range from $45.50 to $65.25 and are on sale at CenterTix.net or by calling 263-2787.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com
Alaska Dispatch Publishing