Je'Caryous Johnson talks "NEW JACK CITY LIVE" stage play headed to the Orpheum on June 15th. He discusses his inspo behind recreateing this cult classic for the stage.
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(00:00):
Jakaris. You know that New JackCity the movie is such a cult classic.
What inspired you to make it intoa stage play? You know?
I was talking to Warner Brothers andwho owns the rights, that's where I
got the rights from, and theywere just saying that, you know,
Broadway was only interested in certain titlesand they thought their black titles didn't have
value. And I said, absolutelywronged about that, And I said,
(00:23):
the issue is that, you know, Broadway is not always for us.
So there's a Black way out here, which is I call it Black Way
across America, which is Black excellencein theater. Yes, And so I
said, well, look, letme let me take the charge of going
down your catalog and adapting these cultclassics that I know my culture loves,
(00:46):
understands and cherish, and let meshow you that there's a viable audience.
And so it kind of started withset it off. I'd license that from
and then uh, New Jack City. And so we've proven I mean New
Jack City is you know, hassold out in like thirty something cities and
folks are just raving about it.And I give you everything, all the
(01:07):
nostalgic events. You know, ifit's a quotable line that you could think
of it. It's in the show. I mean, I'm talking about cars
coming on stage or jeep and okay, okay, the real props. Yeah,
because it's funny you mentioned the linesbecause we actually, over the last
(01:29):
week or so, I had apole going on people's favorite lines for the
movie and kind of been playing withthe movie in a lot of different ways.
And there are a bunch of differentlines. You know that it's not
what you think it is not.It's all not all Rockaby Baby, but
that's hers and your favorite lines andfavorite scenes from the movie. And it's
incredible how that original movie touched somany people in so many different ways.
(01:55):
I mean, it really did,man. I mean, you know,
obviously it was it was it's aperiod piece about out of era in American
history. But it's just you know, it's spun off such iconic actors you
know from it as well that wecontinued and followed their career, and like
I said, Alan Payne is adear friend of mine. You know,
I've my first time I worked withhim was in like two thousand and two,
(02:19):
and and he's killing it. Andthe crazy thing is, I don't
know how to do just like timejust stopped on him. He just he
still looks like I said that whenI said, I can't that's gonna be
like his son. I had tocrush on him back when New Jack City
came out. Anyway, Yeah,the ladies were checking it. He was
(02:40):
still crushing on him today, trustme. Yeah, No, he he's
He's great. And like I said, I didn't know Flex was as talented.
Oh yeah, as he is.I mean, I knew he was
good, but flex Flex has arange that no one has ever seen because
he hasn't had the opportunity to showcaseit. And you're going to see that
in New Jaz. You're going tosee a skill that we're just like,
(03:02):
Okay, yeah, we know Flexto be funny. We know that,
but we didn't know. I didn'tknow until working with him, and I
told him, I said, like, he's he's probably one of my favorite
actors now that I'm serious, Like, oh man, he can do every
every physical comedy, punchline, comedy, drama, he could do everything.
And it's just amazing, you know, the talent that he has in Trench,
(03:23):
bringing that street credibility from naughty byNature and just kind of bringing hip
hop culture to it to it aswell and music to it. I mean,
I didn't know Trek could could handleme. No, So when I
talked to him and he was like, Yo, you got to give it
the party, you gotta give itfor I said, look, I said,
(03:44):
this is this is big shoes.I mean, you're talking about Wesley
shoes. But he's got that lookand demeanor, a battle load. You
know. Yeah, you got it. You got it right nail with him.
Oh no, I know, wewe got proof. But exactly what
I didn't know. You know,we got proved. Now you see him
when you see him, no,you you you're gonna love Dino and you're
(04:06):
gonna love the whole journey. Andplus I built a redemptive you know element
in the in the piece that wasyou know, kind of subtly in the
movie. It's a little more clearin the play. Okay, uh you
know, just you know, atthe end of the day, it's kind
of like Denzel and Training Day.You know. So if people do bad
things, still got to get theircome up and at the end, bring
(04:26):
on them all man, you willdo We don't want to wait to the
fifty week. You can just bringit on them all, mates, You
got now, I understand also wantto probably get a chance to talk to
some of the folks from the castnext week. Uh yes, you will
absolutely get Uh they will all bethey will all be in town and and
be up at the studio and uh, we're gonna put them all in there
and just let you feel that electricityin that fire and let the folks of
(04:47):
Memphis understand that one of the mostepic events in history is about to go
down New Jack City. If youdidn't know, you're about to find out.
Wow, well we already we aredefinitely ready here in Memphis. Jakarius
Johnson, thank you so much forcalling in this morning. We can't wait
to see the until next week ison. Thank you, thank you for
(05:10):
having me Memphis show up here.We come, They coming for you.
Jakaris. You know that New JackCity the movie is such a cult classic.
What inspired you to make it intoa stage play? You know?
I was talking to Warner Brothers andwho owns the rights, that's where I
got the rights from, and theywere just saying that, you know,
Broadway was only interested in certain titlesand they thought their black titles didn't have
value. And I said, absolutelywronged about that, And I said,
(00:23):
the issue is that, you know, Broadway is not always for us.
So there's a Black way out here, which is I call it Black Way
across America, which is Black excellencein theater. Yes, And so I
said, well, look, letme let me take the charge of going
down your catalog and adapting these cultclassics that I know my culture loves,
(00:46):
understands and cherish, and let meshow you that there's a viable audience.
And so it kind of started withset it off. I'd license that from
and then uh, New Jack City. And so we've proven I mean New
Jack City is you know, hassold out in like thirty something cities and
folks are just raving about it.And I give you everything, all the
(01:07):
nostalgic events. You know, ifit's a quotable line that you could think
of it. It's in the show. I mean, I'm talking about cars
coming on stage or jeep and okay, okay, the real props. Yeah,
because it's funny you mentioned the linesbecause we actually, over the last
(01:29):
week or so, I had apole going on people's favorite lines for the
movie and kind of been playing withthe movie in a lot of different ways.
And there are a bunch of differentlines. You know that it's not
what you think it is not.It's all not all Rockaby Baby, but
that's hers and your favorite lines andfavorite scenes from the movie. And it's
incredible how that original movie touched somany people in so many different ways.
(01:55):
I mean, it really did,man. I mean, you know,
obviously it was it was it's aperiod piece about out of era in American
history. But it's just you know, it's spun off such iconic actors you
know from it as well that wecontinued and followed their career, and like
I said, Alan Payne is adear friend of mine. You know,
I've my first time I worked withhim was in like two thousand and two,
(02:19):
and and he's killing it. Andthe crazy thing is, I don't
know how to do just like timejust stopped on him. He just he
still looks like I said that whenI said, I can't that's gonna be
like his son. I had tocrush on him back when New Jack City
came out. Anyway, Yeah,the ladies were checking it. He was
(02:40):
still crushing on him today, trustme. Yeah, No, he he's
He's great. And like I said, I didn't know Flex was as talented.
Oh yeah, as he is.I mean, I knew he was
good, but flex Flex has arange that no one has ever seen because
he hasn't had the opportunity to showcaseit. And you're going to see that
in New Jaz. You're going tosee a skill that we're just like,
(03:02):
Okay, yeah, we know Flexto be funny. We know that,
but we didn't know. I didn'tknow until working with him, and I
told him, I said, like, he's he's probably one of my favorite
actors now that I'm serious, Like, oh man, he can do every
every physical comedy, punchline, comedy, drama, he could do everything.
And it's just amazing, you know, the talent that he has in Trench,
(03:23):
bringing that street credibility from naughty byNature and just kind of bringing hip
hop culture to it to it aswell and music to it. I mean,
I didn't know Trek could could handleme. No, So when I
talked to him and he was like, Yo, you got to give it
the party, you gotta give itfor I said, look, I said,
(03:44):
this is this is big shoes.I mean, you're talking about Wesley
shoes. But he's got that lookand demeanor, a battle load. You
know. Yeah, you got it. You got it right nail with him.
Oh no, I know, wewe got proof. But exactly what
I didn't know. You know,we got proved. Now you see him
when you see him, no,you you you're gonna love Dino and you're
(04:06):
gonna love the whole journey. Andplus I built a redemptive you know element
in the in the piece that wasyou know, kind of subtly in the
movie. It's a little more clearin the play. Okay, uh you
know, just you know, atthe end of the day, it's kind
of like Denzel and Training Day.You know. So if people do bad
things, still got to get theircome up and at the end, bring
(04:26):
on them all man, you willdo We don't want to wait to the
fifty week. You can just bringit on them all, mates, You
got now, I understand also wantto probably get a chance to talk to
some of the folks from the castnext week. Uh yes, you will
absolutely get Uh they will all bethey will all be in town and and
be up at the studio and uh, we're gonna put them all in there
and just let you feel that electricityin that fire and let the folks of
(04:47):
Memphis understand that one of the mostepic events in history is about to go
down New Jack City. If youdidn't know, you're about to find out.
Wow, well we already we aredefinitely ready here in Memphis. Jakarius
Johnson, thank you so much forcalling in this morning. We can't wait
to see the until next week ison. Thank you, thank you for
(05:10):
having me Memphis show up here.We come, They coming for you.
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