Juan Winans as BeBe and Deborah Joy Winans as CeCe in Born for This: The BeBe Winans Story. (Photo by Greg Mooney, courtesy Alliance Theatre)

Musicals generally have a romance propelling them along, whether it’s someone the protagonist meets after moving to the big city or a longtime crush who is finally beginning to see the light. Born For This: The Bebe Winans Story, the musical now playing at Arena, certainly has a central love story, only it’s not romantic. The complex relationship between siblings BeBe and CeCe Winans takes center stage.

And, to kick it up a familial notch, BeBe and CeCe are played by their real nephew and niece—brother and sister duo Juan and Deborah Joy Winans.

“I think we’ve been auditioning for our whole lives,” says Juan.

Deborah Joy agrees. “Juan used to tell me what to do all the time and I used to listen to him,” she says with a laugh. “Of course there are similarities in our lives [with BeBe and CeCe]. It’s just real family stuff.”

Juan and Deborah Joy grew up as part of one of the country’s preeminent gospel families. By the time they were born, their dad and three of his brothers had already achieved fame as The Winans, a gospel quartet in the early 1980s (their dad is a character in Born For This). And their uncle and aunt, BebB and CeCe were even more successful, topping the charts and winning Grammys.

While Juan and Deborah Joy say their parents worked to keep them grounded as kids, they did have some singular experiences, like attending the Grammy awards or Oprah’s television show.

“I can remember going to church and having lunch with Stevie Wonder afterwards,” says Juan. “That’s probably not something every kid gets to do.”

Born For This: The BeBe Winans Story captures BeBe and CeCe’s move to North Carolina to be a part of the PTL (Praise The Lord) Club show, run by controversial televangelists Jim (Chaz Pofahl) and Tammy Faye Bakker (Kirsten Wyatt), and their subsequent career in the industry, including friendships with megastars like Whitney Houston (Kiandra Richardson). (Bebe told one of the anecdotes about Houston included the musical in his eulogy for her.)

BeBe co-wrote the musical’s book along with Charles Randolph-Wright, who directs the show, and penned new songs that are sure to make you smile. For a show written by the main character, it’s pretty balanced. While it occasionally veers into self congratulations, particularly in the second act, which loses steam when the Winans leave PTL, the show gives a warts-and-all look at BeBe.

In particular, BeBe fears that CeCe’s burgeoning love with her future husband will screw up their careers, and threatens not to go to her wedding.

But Juan isn’t judging. “The BeBe that I’m playing in some ways is similar to who he is now, but is in many ways different than the person who’s already made it,” he says. “I’ve been there and I’m still there, trying to achieve certain goals. It can seem like he’s being unfair to CeCe or the people around him, or he’s selfish. And maybe he is, but we all are. He’s someone trying to find himself and achieve his dreams.”

Even the Bakkers, who are often treated as a cultural punchline, get their due as complex, if hilarious, characters. Their protectiveness over the Winans shines through, even as their sometimes ham-handed attempts to promote them come off as patronizing. Nor does the musical shy away from Jim’s sex and money scandals. While Tammy Faye died in 2007, Jim remains a part of the Winans’ lives. He even came to the musical’s opening night in Atlanta, Juan says.

“The beauty of the story is that when these black teenagers came into Jim and Tammy Faye’s lives, they were willing to look at life from someone else’s perspective,” says Juan. “They made space for BeBe and CeCe.”

While this is Juan’s first time stepping into the role of BeBe, Deborah Joy played CeCe once before—for the Angela Basset-directed VH1 movie Whitney.

“That was really cool, but I didn’t have to do a lot,” she says. “This was the role where I really had to stretch myself. I had to understand [CeCe’s] movements. This is the first time that it’s been a challenge to step into her shoes and fill them to best of my ability.”

So are they worried that casting directors will only see them as Winans?

“I’m not concerned about being typecast,” says Juan. “I have great faith in whatever God’s plan is in my life. This is my first play and first musical, so I’m enjoying the ride.”

Deborah Joy, who also has a role on the television show Greenleaf, is still tickled that she ended up in a musical. “Acting is what I love, and so I would hope to be able to play all kinds of roles,” she says. “It’s funny because I said I would never sing and here I am, in this show and in Greenleaf as minister of music. Okay God, really?”

Born For This: The Bebe Winans Story comes as gospel is getting mainstream attention. Kanye West has said his most recent album, Life of Pablo, “is actually a gospel album with a whole lot of cursing on it” and Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book is also heavily influenced by the genre.

Juan and Deborah Joy haven’t been listening to those latest gospel salvos, but they’re glad to see the church’s continued influence on music as Juan works on a new album himself.

“Society is better off when God is in the conversation,” says Juan. “In all of us there’s a longing for something greater than what we see around us, for a deeper relationship, and that’s what God offers. We need more of these stories.”

Born For This: The Bebe Winans Story is playing at Arena Stage through August 28.