Broadway’s “Memphis” 10 Years Later...- Page 2

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 12:15am

I love Memphis, and watch it occasionally. I love that all of the principals (besides Chad who had to depart due to nerve damage) stayed the entire three year run. It was wonderful. I loved the sets, and lighting. Chad was in nearly every scene, and even though he was suffering for a lot the run, he continued to shine and just be brilliant in the part. Adam Pascal ruined it, even though he can sing, the fact that he refused to do any kind of accent, barely act, and annoyed the cast by going off script and really milking his songs was annoying.

HOCKADOOOOOOOOOOO!

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 1:32am

''Memphis'' never gets much love on this message board. Even when it was in previews in 2009, there were posts here that bashed it and predicted its early demise. But ''Memphis'' got the last laugh. In a season of nearly a dozen new musicals, this crowd-pleasing hit would outlast them all, running for nearly 1,200 performances (almost 3 years). Compare that to its fellow Tony nominees for Best Musical, which each ran for roughly a year: ''American Idiot'' (448 performances); ''Fela!'' (497), and ''Million Dollar Quartet'' (523).

Plus, ''Memphis'' had its share of rave reviews. Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press: "The exhilarating new musical shaking the Shubert Theatre is the very essence of what a Broadway musical should be." John Simon of Bloomberg News: "I guarantee you a rambunctious good time, highlighted by rousing music and singing, spectacular dancing, and a witty, moving story.''

''Memphis'' won the Best Musical triple crown from the Outer Critics Circle, the Drama Desk and the Tonys. It was also the rare Broadway musical to be shot on HDTV and shown in national movie theaters while the show was still running in New York. After this filmed live version of ''Memphis'' aired on PBS' ''Great Performances,'' it won an Emmy. And when the show played in London, it was a hit that picked up a couple of Olivier Awards.

A decade later, the ''Memphis'' legacy lives on, on today's Broadway. Chad Kimball, its Tony- and Drama Desk-nominated star, is enjoying a long run in ''Come From Away,'' directed by Tony winner Christopher Ashley (who directed ''Memphis'' ). James Monroe Iglehart, who played Bobby in ''Memphis,'' would go on to win the Tony as the Genie in ''Aladdin''; he's been a recent guest performer at ''Freestyle Love Supreme.'' And Derrick Baskin, who played Gator in ''Memphis,'' is starring in ''Ain't Too Proud''; this Temptations musical won a choreography Tony for Sergio Trujillo, who did the dynamic dances for ''Memphis.'' Hockadoo, indeed!

Updated On: 10/20/19 at 01:32 AM

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 1:46am

God, I love James Monroe Iglehart, my FAVORITE Lafayette/Jefferson since Daveed! What an incredible cast Memphis had. 

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 2:05am

I couldn't agree more. ''Memphis'' had an amazing cast that sang the hell out of Joe DiPietro and David Bryan's fun and infectious pop/blues/rock score. For me, it was always such joy to see Chad Kimball and Montego Glover lead the rollicking, incredible closing number, ''Steal Your Rock n Roll.'' The audience ate it up. Chad also knocked it out of the park, belting ''Memphis Lives in Me'' (especially earlier in the run), and Montego  ''killed'' with ''Colored Woman.'' Montego tied with Catherine Zeta-Jones for Best Actress in a Musical at the Outer Critics AND the Drama Desks, but she should've won those awards (and the Tony) outright. (See Zeta-Jones' lackluster rendition of ''Send in the Clowns'' at the 2010 Tonys. ) What a shame Broadway hasn't delivered Montego another starring role since to showcase her terrific talents. 

Updated On: 10/20/19 at 02:05 AM

[aj88]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 7:34am

I definitely didn’t care for MEMPHIS at all. I have to agree with the many others that felt it benefitted from being a nominee in a weak year.

Going even further than that, I honestly can’t think of another year where the show actually could’ve won...at least going back over the last 30 years. Perhaps maybe it would’ve had a shot over CONTACG or JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY but I just feel like I would’ve ranked it an easy third behind Fela and American Idiot...I really didn’t like Million Dollar Quartet.

Frankly, I would’ve given my vote to the not nominated EVERYDAY RAPTURE.

Back to MEMPHIS: My experience with it is later from the run when Chad Kimball seemed way more hammy and Montego Glover seemed more vocally tired. I think the score was mostly bland and forgettable while some moments just stood out as oddly written.

Steal Your Rock and Roll is fine I guess but it was just done to death and then the ending with Kimball addressing the audience before the button was like a direct ripoff of DREAMGIRLS.

Plus...the whole “white savior” complex doesn’t do it any more favors.

Ugh, I am glad this show has mostly faded into obscurity but I’m sure it’ll still get produced fairly often.

[MollyJeanneMusic]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 9:05am

aj88 said: "I definitely didn’t care for MEMPHIS at all. I have to agree with the many others that felt it benefitted from being a nominee in a weak year.

Going even further than that, I honestly can’t think of another year where the show actually could’ve won...at least going back over the last 30 years. Perhaps maybe it would’ve had a shot over CONTACG or JEROME ROBBINS BROADWAY but I just feel like I would’ve ranked it an easy third behind Fela and American Idiot...I really didn’t like Million Dollar Quartet.

Frankly, I would’ve given my vote to the not nominated EVERYDAY RAPTURE.

Back to MEMPHIS: My experience with it is later from the run when Chad Kimball seemed way more hammy and Montego Glover seemed more vocally tired. I think the score was mostly bland and forgettable while some moments just stood out as oddly written.

Steal Your Rock and Roll is fine I guess but it was just done to death and then the ending with Kimball addressing the audience before the button was like a direct ripoff of DREAMGIRLS.

Plus...the whole “white savior” complex doesn’t do it any more favors.

Ugh, I am glad this show has mostly faded into obscurity but I’m sure it’ll still get produced fairly often."

Would the white savior thing still hold up, considering he ends up as a nobody because of his actions and specifically doesn't get the girl, who ends up becoming a decent star in her own right due to her continued hard work?

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 10:24am

"Would the white savior thing still hold up, considering he ends up as a nobody because of his actions and specifically doesn't get the girl, who ends up becoming a decent star in her own right due to her continued hard work?"

Excellent point.

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 3:03pm

It never held up. Thank you for bringing that up.

Memphis won Tonys, it ran for years, and people loved it. 90% of shows never have any of that. 

[EdEval]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 9:06pm

If they do a movie version I'd like to see Hugh Jackman play the male lead.

[Wayman_Wong]

Posted: 10/20/19 at 11:25pm

For the record, Huey Calhoun, the protagonist of ''Memphis,'' was loosely based on a real-life rock 'n' roll pioneer: Dewey Phillips. He was one of the first white deejays to play black music in the 1950s. He featured lots of R&B, boogie-woogie and jazz. Phillips also championed white artists, and was the first one to play a young Elvis Presley's debut record, ''That's All Right''/''Blue Moon of Kentucky.'' According to Wikipedia, his on-air persona was ''a speed-crazed hillbilly with a frantic delivery and entertaining sense of humor.'' For nearly a decade, throughout the '50s, Dewey was the leading radio personality in Memphis; 100,000 listeners tuned in to his shows, and he received 3,000 letters a week. Like Huey in ''Memphis,'' Dewey also hosted an afternoon TV program where he played records and clowned around. A heavy drinker and drug user, he fell upon hard times toward the end of his career, working at smaller stations and seldom for very long. ''Memphis'' pays tribute to this colorful deejay who loved rock 'n' roll with all his soul.

Here's a short video about ''Memphis'' and Dewey Phillips' legacy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O52ns69cIcw

Updated On: 10/20/19 at 11:25 PM

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 1:50am

I didn’t care for the show. However I remember, at the time, the show had a lot of support within the community for being an original show with an original score. It was a weak year for musicals and only a couple of them had original scores. It was the only Best Musical nominee that had an original score. The Best Score category only had 4 nominees: Memphis, 2 incidental scores from plays (Fences and Enron), and the Addams Family (Broadway’s whipping boy of that season).

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 2:04am

If having an original score was so important, then why did Jersey Boys win Best Musical in 2006 over The Drowsy Chaperone and The Color Purple? I know The Color Purple had its detractors, but I always thought The Drowsy Chaperone was well regarded. The other nominee that year was The Wedding Singer, which I can see why it wouldn’t have won.

[zainmax]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 12:00pm

There are no rules.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 12:10pm

Obviously I know that. Just curious about NOWaWarning’s post about Memphis winning because it had original music. That’s all.

[trentsketch]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 12:15pm

I didn't dislike Memphis. The cast was great. I just preferred other shows that season. Fela! was wonderful and American Idiot was super polished spectacle. I even preferred Everyday Rapture. The revivals were great, too: A Little Night Music, La Cage Aux Folles, even the short runs of Ragtime and Finian's Rainbow were wonderful productions. Addams Family had its fans, too (not my favorite). 

The filmed stage production technically represents the show, but Kimball's performance at that point is much broader than what he started with. The score is a lot of high belting, so actors who stayed on from the beginning weren't as vocally pure as they were at the start of the run. It's great that we have a preserved recording, but it's a shame it couldn't have happened earlier in the run.

[Mike Barrett]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 1:18pm

I haven't watched the recording in quite some time so please correct me if anything I bring up in the show is incorrect. Spoilers ahead, of course. 

 

I did not see the show on Broadway, but rather the National Tour with Bryan Fenkart and Felicia Boswell. I remember these 2 performances being some of the BEST I had ever seen. Fenkhart was a drastically different portrayal than Kimbal's. Came off much more sincere, realistic (as could be with the book), and more passionate. Kimball from the recording seemed a little more all over the place to me. Besides that point, I'm not sure how Huey is a white savior considering he gets nothing he really wants in the end, the black woman made a choice completely on her own and what was best for her, became successful, and Huey was left with nothing for what we know. I don't see the show being that problematic other than the fact that its a show about race written by white people. Imo, everyone should just have that in the back of their head when seeing/watching the show. The score is also just pure fun and was electric to see live. I also saw this show 7-8 years ago so a lot of my thought process here is from that timeline. May watch this show again soon. I remember loving this show though

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 5:00pm

Mike Barrett said: "Besides that point, I'm not sure how Huey is a white savior considering he gets nothing he really wants in the end, the black woman made a choice completely on her own and what was best for her, became successful, and Huey was left with nothing for what we know. I don't see the show being that problematic other than the fact that its a show about race written by white people."

I really don't want to have to relisten to the Memphis cast album to have this argument. So I'll just say that the lyrics are ROUGH and definitely problematic aside from the fact that the show is written by white people. Also, most if not all of the examples on this page wouldn't be invalidated if the story didn't end successfully. Tropes are a simplification of a larger problem in storytelling. They encompass the subtleties and variations in tone, who the story focuses on (protagonist, who is included, who is not included), unfortunate implications throughout, etc. 

[Kad]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 5:27pm

It was an abysmal Broadway season that was right in the throes of the Great Recession (man, even looking at the Tony nominees that year is depressing). Memphis was an anodyne crowd pleaser with a score derivative enough of recognizable tunes that it hit a nostalgic sweet spot for audiences and a sappy inoffensive message of tolerance no one could really argue against. 

It lucked out. It's producible across markets (and gets produced). But you can say that about a lot of mediocre shows. 

And, although they flopped, Addams Family and American Idiot have ended up having a ton of staying power. Arguably more than Memphis. (I would probably also argue that American Idiot ended up being more indicative of the trends of new musical theater than given credit for, especially when compared to the paint-by-numbers Memphis).

Updated On: 10/21/19 at 05:27 PM

[NOWaWarning]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 7:30pm

If having an original score was so important, then why did Jersey Boys win Best Musical in 2006 over The Drowsy Chaperone and The Color Purple? I know The Color Purple had its detractors, but I always thought The Drowsy Chaperone was well regarded. The other nominee that year was The Wedding Singer, which I can see why it wouldn’t have won. 
 

I’m just saying that seemed to be the sentiment in that particular year. Comparing seasons is like comparing apples and oranges. No one was questioning whether original musicals were dying off the Jersey Boys year, whereas the Memphis year was a dire one for new musicals and especially original scores. And like a previous poster said, we were in the midst of the recession and it hit Broadway hard. Awarding and encouraging new works felt more important in 2010.

 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 7:38pm

I’d argue that American Idiot was exciting, original and new in a way that Memphis never could be.

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 9:29pm

.....Yet Memphis won the Tony for being exciting,original and new!!!  

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 9:33pm

I’m not sure that’s why it won, but even if it was, I’m under no obligation to agree with the voters anymore than they’re required to agree with me.

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 9:42pm

It won because it was the Best Musical. It's in the record books, they got to put it on their marquee, they got the most distinguished theater award one can receive and it recouped. Unlike the vapid American IDIOT. 

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 9:45pm

Updated On: 10/22/19 at 09:45 PM

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 10/21/19 at 10:08pm

Wayman_Wong said: "''Memphis'' never gets much love on this message board. Even when it was in previews in 2009, there were posts here that bashed it and predicted its early demise. But ''Memphis'' got the last laugh. In a season of nearly a dozen new musicals, this crowd-pleasing hit would outlast them all, running for nearly 1,200 performances (almost 3 years). Compare that to its fellow Tony nominees for Best Musical, which each ran for roughly a year: ''American Idiot'' (448 performances); ''Fela!'' (497), and ''Million Dollar Quartet'' (523).

Plus, ''Memphis'' had its share of rave reviews. Michael Kuchwara of the Associated Press: "The exhilarating new musical shaking the Shubert Theatre is the very essence of what a Broadway musical should be." John Simon of Bloomberg News: "I guarantee you a rambunctious good time, highlighted by rousing music and singing, spectacular dancing, and a witty, moving story.''

''Memphis'' won the Best Musical triple crown from the Outer Critics Circle, the Drama Desk and the Tonys. It was also the rare Broadway musical to be shot on HDTV and shown in national movie theaters while the show was still running in New York. After this filmed live version of ''Memphis'' aired on PBS' ''Great Performances,'' it won an Emmy. And when the show played in London, it was a hit that picked up a couple of Olivier Awards.

A decade later, the ''Memphis'' legacy lives on, on today's Broadway. Chad Kimball, its Tony- and Drama Desk-nominated star, is enjoying a long run in ''Come From Away,'' directed by Tony winner Christopher Ashley (who directed ''Memphis'' ). James Monroe Iglehart, who played Bobby in ''Memphis,'' would go on to win the Tony as the Genie in ''Aladdin''; he's been a recent guest performer at ''Freestyle Love Supreme.'' And Derrick Baskin, who played Gator in ''Memphis,'' is starring in ''Ain't Too Proud''; this Temptations musical won a choreography Tony for Sergio Trujillo, who did the dynamic dances for ''Memphis.'' Hockadoo, indeed!"

You said it all Wayman_Wong!!!