This week's edition of UPFRONT/Inside the Entertainment Industry is a little bitter sweet.
In the first segment, host Ray Cornelius takes us back to the Alliance Theatre for the closing weekend of The Preacher’s Wife: A New Musical. Actor Akron Lanier Watson is here to chat about starring as “Preacher Henry Biggs.” The show is based on the 1996 hit movie starring Whitney Houston, Courtney B. Vance and Denzel Washington.
And in the second part of the show, Ray remembers the life of Atlanta playwright Shay Youngblood by revisiting his 2022 conversation with her and the cast of the Horizon Theatre production SQUARE BLUES. Youngblood passed away this week but leaves a legacy of amazing plays, paintings and novels about the Black experience for future audiences to enjoy.
UPFRONT/Inside the Entertainment Industry is produced and hosted by Ray Cornelius for Jazz 91.9 WCLK. The show re-airs on SiriusXM HBCU Channel 142 on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 6:30pm EST.