By Verbal Adam | OBSERVER Correspondent
Stockton native Brandon Leake, who won season 15 of “America’s Got Talent,” made his stage acting debut opposite Brooklynn T. Solomon in the play “Mississippi Motel” on Dec. 15 at Sacramento’s Ooley Theater.
Written by Tim Foley and directed by Elise Hodge, the play is set on Christmas Eve in a cheap motel in Greenville, Mississippi. Dina, played by Solomon, is fed up with partying and doing drugs with singer-boyfriend Johnny Earl Duke (Leake). After running out of money, she decides to leave Duke and get her life together.
The character portrayed by Leake, is a sweet-talking musician who has lost his way in the fog of drugs and alcohol. As he struggles to regain past fame, he abandons his pregnant wife to go on tour, but ends up struggling with addiction and shut out of the recording industry due to his issues.
It’s the story of a toxic relationship that many can relate to, either having been in a similar situation or knowing someone who has.
Leake’s portrayal of such a character may surprise many of his longtime fans, as the character is essentially his opposite. Leake has been in a committed marriage for years and has stood very publicly against drugs and alcohol. He has performed in Sacramento since 2015.
Leake has been working with several schools teaching students poetry and writing. He will star in a one-man play, “Insomnia,” in 2023 and return to television in January as a contestant on “America’s Got Talent All-Stars.”