Actor Randall Franks, left, and director Robert Townsend pause on the set of Robert Townsend's Music Theater of Hope in August in Newnan, Ga. Click to enlarge.
Actor/entertainer Randall Franks, returns to Gospel Music Channel in an encore performance of Robert Townsend's Musical Theater of Hope.
The encore airing of the first Musical Theater of Hope special including Franks’s co-starring role as attorney Alvin Potter is on Sunday at 9:30 p.m. following the premiere of an all new special featuring three uplifting stories at 9 p.m.
Mr. Townsend, who gave Beyonce' her first acting break and helped discover Chris Tucker, Damon Wayans and many others, spent weeks searching for talent, drawing several thousand people at casting calls and auditions in Los Angeles and Atlanta. Mr. Townsend serves as producer, director, writer and host of the special.
A few months ago Mr. Franks, after a hiatus from acting to care for his late mother, attended one of those auditions. His last role was with William Hurt for the CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame’s The Flamingo Rising.
“I really feel that God drew me back to television for this project,” he said. “When I took the audition stage under Mr. Townsend’s direction along with several of my fellow actors from Atlanta’s Houghton Agency, it was one of the most memorable auditions I have experienced in my career.”
Mr. Franks, who co-starred with the late TV legend Carroll O’Connor and the late Academy Award nominee Howard Rollins as Officer Randy Goode on TV’s In the Heat of the Night, said he knew from the moment he began working opposite Mr. Townsend in the audition, he wanted to work with him.
Mr. Townsend said he "was blown away by the quantity and the quality of the people who auditioned.”
It was a privilege to work with such a legendary talent as Mr. Townsend, said Mr. Franks.
“Since beginning a search for the right project to return to film or television, I wanted a project with meaning and a purpose greater than the show itself,” said Mr. Franks. “After hearing Robert’s vision and seeing his spirit, I knew this was the one.”
According to Gospel Music Channel, “Robert Townsend's Musical Theater of Hope” tells three individual stories through characters dealing with the challenges of life.
The special is designed to capture a theatre-like quality and was shot in front of a live studio audience and it shares vocal performances, delivered with an unexpected plot twist, climax each tale of ultimate triumph according to Jim Weiss, GMC’s press representative.
The stories were inspired by real life situations, current events and breaking news and they explore human fears but they ultimately provide hope and inspiration while renewing faith, he said.
“I am so excited to be part of this new and uplifting special which offers families both a positive message and some wonderful music,” said Mr. Franks. “It was a great honor to have the opportunity to join Robert Townsend and Bishop Eddie L. Long for their new project. I appreciate the faith that Robert placed in me to bring this dramatic character to life in one of these stories.”
Mr. Franks, who is an award winning Appalachian fiddler and singer, said he was pleased also to do a role that didn’t solely rely on his musical successes and allowed him to focus once again on acting.
His character pleads the case of Cora played by actress/singer Tameka Scotton in Cora's Release which tells the story of a woman who faces a court ruling about her freedom after killing the man who was molesting her daughter, he said.
According to GMC, the special also features two other stories. Howard Hewett, the former lead singer for the group Shalamar, delivers a performance of I Can Only Imagine and makes his acting debut in the role of David in David's News, which features a man who shares much anticipated news of his health with his family.
The other story, Sparrow Sisters Reunion, depicts a celebrated singing group of sisters who are brought together after years of separation by the death of their mother.