Theatreworks Celebrates MEMPHIS' Tony Wins
By: Charlie Piane
Lat night's win of four 2010 Tony® Awards for the Broadway hit MEMPHIS, including "Best Musical," was cause for celebration at TheatreWorks, the Silicon VAlley Theatre company that gave birth to the musical. The show was developed at TheatreWorks' 2002 New Works Festival and received its world premiere in 2004 on TheatreWorks' Mainstage. Since then, MEMPHIS has been working its way to Broadway, where it made its debut last October.
In addition to receiving the American Theatre Wing Tony Award for Best Musical, it also received Best Book of a Musical (Joe DiPeitro); Best Original Score (David Bryan, Music and Joe DiPeitro, Lyrics); and Best Orchestrations (Daryl Waters and David Bryan). A collaboration with leading playwright Joe DiPietro and composer-keyboardist David Bryan of the Grammy-nominated rock band Bon Jovi, MEMPHIS is based on a concept by George W. George, chronicling the birth of rock 'n' roll and the deejay who first played the music of black and white America together. TheatreWorks presented the World Premiere of MEMPHIS on the TheatreWorks Mainstage in January 2004 (in a co-presentation with the now-defunct North Shore Music Theatre.) The musical went on to be staged by the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego from August 19 through September 28, 2008, and the 5th Avenue Theater in Seattle from January 27 through February 15, 2009. It opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on October 19, 2009 where it has grossed more than $21.3 million to date. Tickets are currently on sale through next January. A national tour will launch in September.
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