MEMPHIS - finally, an original new musical

“MEMPHIS”
It’s the 1950’s, Rock n’ Roll and Racism

Reviewed by: Sandi "D"
October 2009


Why would a cracker boy be wandering into an R & R, soul club below ground, namely Club Delray, on Beale Street, in the black part of town, Memphis, Tennessee in the 1950’s? No he’s not crazy, he’s possessed by the sound. . .it’s “The Music of My Soul” cries Huey Calhoun (Chad Kimball), a slippery, sometimes seedy, character who’s a quirky, smooth-talking dissenter of the times. The folks down there are ready to toss him out on his butt, until he sits down at the piano and knocks out a tune showing them he’s for real. The potential for love develops quickly when he hears Felicia (Montego Glover) wail and groove out “Underground.” From that moment, he has big plans to get Felicia heard and make her a star.

The score is smoothly written by Bon Jovi’s David Bryan with Joe DiPietro and is a compilation of rock n’ roll, blues, gospel with some soul for good measure. David Gallo’s sets have a multiplicity as they easily change from club to radio station to shabby living apartment.

Huey can’t read, he’s a school drop-out but all that aside, he’s clever and has a vision. A stock boy at a department store, he figures out a scheme to perk up sales in the record department (or lose his job), and as real life singing pop ups of white folks’ music - Perry Como and such, reinforce the status of things as they are, Huey sneaks on black folks’ music, making record sales fly thru the roof. However, he is fired from his job and looks for employment as a DJ at a local radio station. When the DJ leaves the booth, Huey quickly locks himself in and spins “race” records to a young white audience, previously listening to Patti Page and Roy Rogers, are hungry to groove. Station owner, Mr. Simmons (Michael McGrath) tells Huey to “get on the air, tell ‘em you’re white” as ratings rise and “Everybody Wants to Be Black on a Saturday Night.”

Needless to say, Felicia and Huey fall in love, but with times as they were in the south of the 1950’s, that was fodder for violence as racial laws and social injustice were not color blind. Felicia’s brother, Delray (J. Bernard Calloway), isn’t too fond of Huey either.
Huey’s Mama (Cass Morgan), a God fearing waitress, all but faints when she meets Felicia who she says “ain’t nothin’ but a colored girl.” By the second act, however, Mama is singing along with the black gospel choir as her boy, who she never thought would amount to anything, is rated numero uno, has his own TV show taking along Bobby (James Monroe Iglehart), the janitor at the radio station, who turns out to also be a singer and turns in one of the top performances both vocally and other with “Big Love.”

Huey buys Mama a house, introduces her on TV, where she no longer looks frumpy and seems won over by the new move for equality. This quick change brings up the book’s short comings and the amateurish approach to the entire race issue.

Finally, achieving his goal of Felicia singing live on his TV show, he commits the ultimate no,no; kissing her on TV, in front of all to see, in a world that hasn’t yet assimilated black and white. Felicia gets a big record offer in New York as Huey begs her to stay with him in Memphis where he’s happy doing his thing. Included in the book are the obligatory violence and pathos, sadness and tears.

Kimball’s slippery sloped, sweet talkin’ Huey works well as does his vocal prowess.
Glover is lovely as Felicia, with just enough rough girl attitude and a big, big voice to wow any audience. Costumes by Paul Tazewell are slick, colorful and pizzazzy, with terrific lighting by Howell Binkley. The choreography by Sergio Trujillo is inspirational and direction is well crafted by Christopher Ashley.

“Memphis” isn’t a new concept as it’s already had a pre-runner, “Hairspray,” albeit more caricature-ish. However, the theme, music breaks the color barriers and heals all, is always good reinforcement. No matter what the downsides might be, the audiences will like this show and from what I’m told, are giving it standing ovations.