Madea goes country!
Audience members of the Madea Farewell Tour were in for a treat on Friday night in Nashville when none other than country superstar Chris Stapleton made a surprise appearance.
The “Millionaire” singer sat in the audience of Tyler Perry’s hall-of-fame run of his Madea Farewell play, which is on the last leg of its tour. In a video posted by the Madea’s Family Reunion star, Stapleton, 41, emerged from his seat in the audience holding a microphone as the crowd erupted in excitement.
The country crooner — who was incognito wearing a cap and rocking his signature beard — belted his hit “Tennessee Whiskey” to a crowd of over 10,000 including Perry.
Perry, 50, stood on stage dressed as Madea, the muumuu-wearing matriarch, and applauded Stapleton’s performance along with the crowd before the Grammy winner took his seat.
After the performance, the actor and director thanked the “Fire Away” singer on social media. “Chris Stapleton at Madea’s Farewell Tour. Madea could not come to the end of the farewell tour and have @chrisstapleton in the audience in Nashville, Tennessee and not have him sing a verse of Tennessee Whiskey! And he KILLED IT!! Thank you Chris, blessings to you, your wife, and them babies!! #MadeasFarewellTour at @bridgestonearenaofficial.”
Perry’s beloved character made her first appearance on stage nearly 30 years ago in Perry’s first stage play, I Know I’ve Been Changed, and has since starred in 21 plays to date. Friday’s show was the first play to ever be performed at Nashville’s famed Bridgestone Arena.
Perry compares his widely popular on stage and on screen character to that of Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse, and says Madea paved the way for Tyler Perry studios which opened its new location — one of the largest production facilities in the country — in Atlanta in 2019.
