Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family

Playwright Tyler Perry took a five-year break from live theater, but he has a lot to show for that time: He followed up his hit 2005 film debut, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, by writing and directing a whopping eight films, starring in many of them in drag as the saucy matriarch Madea, a role he also occasionally plays on his TV show “House of Payne.” Many of those projects have confounded critics outside of Perry’s intended black audiences, but Perry’s role in promoting the critical hit Precious affirmed his reputation as one of the entertainment industry’s most powerful (and prolific) moguls. For his latest play, Madea’s Big Happy Family, Perry dons his signature fat suit and returns to live theatersor, more accurately, gigantic arenasin a musical production that allows him plenty of room to ad-lib and break character.