Theater Under the Stars officials were thrilled to greet country superstar Reba McEntire, who traveled to Houston to attend the performance of The Sweet Potato Queens musical at the Hobby Center Thursday night.
Afterwards, McEntire posed with the SPQ creative team, including Jill Conner Browne, who wrote the best selling books on which the musical is based, Melissa Manchester, who created the music, and Sharon Vaughn, who penned the lyrics, TUTS artistic director Bruce Lumpkin and TUTS associate artistic director Marley Wisnoski.
The group then hightailed it to Reef for dinner. McEntire ordered the restaurant's famous Milkshake No Minors, and after finishing it off, said she wanted another one.
The musical, part of the TUTS Underground series of new productions, has performed well at the box office (its last performance is Sunday) and is likely to travel to other Southern cities where Browne's books are popular. Observers wouldn't be surprised if it eventually ends up in New York, with McEntire attached to the project.
In interviews, Connor has said that McEntire should play her in a biopic "because she's tiny and redheaded and sings up a storm. She is everything I would have been had I gotten any of my druthers! "
McEntire will have to fit the project in amid a host of other things she has going on, including regular appearances with Brooks & Dunn at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and a lifestyle line including beauty products and luggage.
