PHILADELPHIA — It was 20 years ago, Sheryl Lee Ralph recalled, when State Sen. Vincent Hughes gave the actor a gift in a not-quite robin's-egg blue box with a white bow that began their love story.
Like a punchline from "Abbott Elementary," Quinta Brunson's Philly-centric ABC sitcom on which Ralph plays the all-knowing kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard, the gift was ... a Pennsylvania almanac. Cue one of those deadpan reactions to the unseen mockumentary cameras that follow the teachers at Abbott, the underfunded fictional Philly public school that has captivated the nation.
"Inside of it he had written: 'So you will know more about all the things I truly love,'" said Ralph, 66, who was nominated for a Tony back in 1982 for her role as Deena Jones in the original "Dreamgirls" on Broadway.
