Gospel Music Channel Hits Positive Note With 'Hope'

It is not every day that you see a man who just been told he’s got only two months to live because of cancer breaking the news to his family in song. And it’s at least as rare on television.
But the music is the point in a surprising original special premiering Sunday on Gospel Music Channel. The spiritual sounds bring comfort and joy to those who believe that no matter what they may suffer on earth, wonderful things await them in heaven.
“Robert Townsend’s Musical Theater of Hope” tells three stories over the course of its 30 minutes. Townsend, creator of “Hollywood Shuffle” and “Five Heartbeats,” introduces each segment, outlining the challenges being faced by the characters.
In one segment, “David’s News,” Howard Hewitt, the former lead singer for the group Shalamar, plays the cancer victim. The faith that powers his song, “I Can Only Imagine,” encourages his family and friends.
In the second segment, estranged sisters who had once sung in a celebrated music group are reunited for the funeral of their mother. They regain common ground through gospel music.
The final segment features a woman who has been imprisoned for killing a man who abused her and molested her daughter when they were young. She’s gone to court to be freed because she has a fatal disease. Though the judge decides not to let her go, she knows her release is coming because, as she sings, “I know my redeemer lives.”
Gospel Music Channel says the stories were inspired by real-life situations, current events and breaking news.
In a statement, Townsend says he spent weeks searching for talent, drawing several thousand people at casting calls and auditions in Los Angeles and Atlanta.
“I was blown away by the quantity and quality of the people who auditioned,” Townsend says. “We drew so many talented people as good—if not better—than ‘American Idol.’ These inspiring new artists are the future of gospel music.”
Gospel Music Channel will be showing clips from the auditions and screen tests as interstitial programming on the network.
“Musical Theater of Hope” sure isn’t “Glee,” the feel-good musical hit on Fox. But it is certainly inspiring in its own way. Given the drama and the seriousness of the stories Townsend has decided to tell, his characters would be singing the blues if the weren’t for the hope that lives in gospel music.