With the massive influx of musicals based on movies (or even worse, TV shows) lately such as "Young Frankenstein", "Shrek", "Legally Blonde" and the upcoming "9 to 5", "Catch Me If You Can" and "Spider Man", one might think that the original American Musical is dead (or at least on life support). But let's look at some other recent additions, "In the Heights", "Wicked", and "Spelling Bee". These shows have proven to be wildly successful and give us all hope that we won't be reduced to "Speed - The Musical". And the show I witnessed last night gives me even more hope in that regard, "Memphis".
This show proves that you can take an original story and convey it quite well through song without the aid of flying people through the air or landing helicopters on stage. The show (based loosely on The Life of Memphis DJ, Dewey Phillips) tells the story of Huey Calhoon (Chad Kimball), a down on his luck schemer in the 50's who works his way up to become one the first white DJs in the south to play R & B or "Race Music" on a "middle of the dial" white radio station. He falls for Felicia Farrell (Montego Glover) after hearing her sing in her brother's bar down on Beale St . The music of the show rocks the house and fits perfectly in the era it's trying to convey while still moving the story along at a perfect pace. Most new musicals these days fall into the pit of dragging the show down with songs that don't lend themselves to the story but instead just take a break in it to emphasize what was just said. But the composer and lyricists, Joe DiPietro ("I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change") and David Bryan (songwriter and original band member of Bon Jovi) really understand how to incorporate the story into the songs. The songs in a musical come from the message being conveyed and can only be told through song when the emotion of the characters becomes too great. Finally, someone gets that!
The story is also moved along at a brisk pace by having a very simple set with different locations popping out of a large tiled wall and accompanied perfectly by projections of stills and video to establish a new locale. I especially liked the use of video cameras that were on stage when Calhoon was doing his eventual TV show and the cameras projected what they were filming on the back wall of the stage. Quite effective to give you the idea of what the black and white image people were seeing on their TVs without overpowering the action on stage by projecting it on a curtain covering the wall which diluted the image so it didn't always draw focus. Well done!
Furthermore the choreography by Sergio Trujillo was superb and full of wonderful energy. Really kept you engrossed in the era. Too often I see period shows using modern dance moves and it just takes you right out of the world, but no fear here.
Now to the cast. This show features some of the best talent that Broadway has to offer and not the same names we've seen on a million Playbills. The show is headed up by Chad Kimball ("Lennon") as Huey Calhoon. I cannot imagine a better and more focused performance than what I saw last night. His voice is amazing and he really inhabits the role. A lot of musical theater performers can sing but then cannot act or cannot carry their characters into their songs but Kimball manages to stay in his brilliant character throughout. He was a joy to watch and provided a solid and engaging through line for the entire show. Montego Glover ("The Color Purple") brings down the house several times as Calhoon's aspiring singer girlfriend and is no less than spectacular. Rounding out this fantastic cast is J. Bernard Calloway as Felicia's protective brother Delray who turns in a stellar performance. Cass Morgan (one of the original stars and writers of "Pump Boys and Dinettes") shines as Huey's Mama. And I must mention stand out performances from James Iglehart as Bobby who almost stops the show when he is forced to perform on Calhoon's TV show and Derrick Baskin as Gator who had the entire audience weeping with his heart tugging 11 o'clock number, "Memphis Lives in Me".
