Calhoun manages to put some color—literally—onto the radio dial and airwaves, promoting the “race mu

Written by David Bryan (Music, Lyrics) and Joe DiPietro (Book, Lyrics) Directed by Christopher discount college student broadway tickets Ashley discount college student broadway tickets at Marcus Center , 929 N. Water Street ( map ) thru Jan 13 | tickets : $30-$80 | more info Check for half-price tickets Read entire review
Considering discount college student broadway tickets all the advancements made in race relations since the 20th Century, Memphis is an entertaining yet nostalgic look back at when the racially segregated lines were drawn in the 1950s—geographically and otherwise when white folks and black folks kept to their own. That is until an energetic white upstart, Huey Calhoun, crossed those lines into the Beale Street Club based on the incredible discount college student broadway tickets singing and music he heard.
Memphis is also the Tony Award winning musical based around the life of Memphis DJ Phillips. Phillips actually championed "race music" and crossed lines to do so. And his onstage counterpart in the form of the Calhoun character gets the message across, loud and clear within discount college student broadway tickets his naïve huckster persona in getting everybody to just get along and celebrate the music.
Yes, we've seen all this done before (think: Hairspray in particular) and the music is a mash-up of blues, discount college student broadway tickets gospel and rock 'n' roll, of which the show proclaims to be the start of the movement. Despite some of the more than obvious clichés and derivative sounds, Memphis discount college student broadway tickets works—and grows on us in that "feel good, fight the good fight" feeling.
"Rock 'n roll is just black people's music sped up," says the black singer Felicia Farrell whose powerhouse vocals initially draw Calhoun into the club owned by Felicia's highly discount college student broadway tickets suspicious brother, Delray. However, these two societal outcasts later become lovers in hiding, discount college student broadway tickets which further reinforces the racially divided lines within Memphis .
The point is driven discount college student broadway tickets home right at show's start, quite humorously, when a white DJ announces the song he just played: Whitey White the White Tones with "Whiter than You. And the show's author Joe DiPietro discount college student broadway tickets ( I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change ) makes sure the audience understands just how whiter than white the music industry has been up to that point, with references to Perry Como and Patti Page. Okay. We get it. And we also know a change is gonna come.
Calhoun manages to put some color—literally—onto discount college student broadway tickets the radio dial and airwaves, promoting the "race music" he so passionately believes in. Once an outsider, he is soon welcomed into the circle of black singers and musicians who perform discount college student broadway tickets at the Beale Street Club. And Calhoun's character is pivotal to bridging the communities and making Memphis work. Fortunately actor Bryan Fenkart is well cast as Calhoun (he understudied the role on Broadway), a tricky role given that Calhoun is a sum total of the show's attitudes: idealism, innocence, courage and ultimately free thinker who helps others to do just that. It's also a physically demanding role given the singing and dancing, and Fenkart more than delivers.
His counterpart discount college student broadway tickets Felicia, expertly played to the hilt by Felicia Boswell , deftly balances the vocal and dancing chores with a sassy sexiness and, when needed, a vulnerability that makes the couple all the more believable.
discount college student broadway tickets DiPietro won Tony Awards for his book and original score (sharing lyrics with David Bryan of Bon Jovi, who handled the music duties). With song titles like the upbeat "Everybody discount college student broadway tickets Wants to be Black on a Saturday Night" to the anthemic "Love Will Stand When All Else Fails," the creators make sure to tug on all the emotions a musical can contain—and in Memphis , that's a lot.
And they make sure we get the musical markers along the path to "race music" becoming just "music": that guy with the duckbill top and fancy foot moves? A mix of Chuck Berry meets James Brown. The coy, flirtatious girl group sounds? discount college student broadway tickets A conjuring up of an early Diana Ross and the Supremes. Even Huey's mother's name is Gladys (a nod to the King, Elvis Presley whose mother had the same name).
discount college student broadway tickets At times, the music sounds more '80s than '50s (Bon Jovi's hey day?) but thanks discount college student broadway tickets to the cast and the high energy choreography by Sergio Trujillo , the show's momentum pulls us in as we root for the pair of racially segregated discount college student broadway tickets lovebirds, blurring the lines separating "race music" until the sounds become "one."
Director Christopher Ashley understands what makes Memphi s shine, and that's the singing and dancing. He keeps the show moving amid David Gallo 's smartly designed set of subterranean clubs to newly emerging TV studios, that complements the action, rather than overshadows it.
Memphis continues through January 13th at Uihlein Hall , Marcus Center for the Performing Arts , 929 N. Water Street ( map ). Tickets are $30-$80, and are available by phone (414-273-7206) or online through Ticketmaster.com (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com ). More information at MarcusCenter.org . (Running time: 2 hours 30 minutes, includes an intermission)
Felicia discount college student broadway tickets Boswell (Felicia); Bryan Fenkart (Huey); William Perry (Mr. Simmons); Bree Banker discount college student broadway tickets (Clara, White Mother); Peter Matthew Smith (Buck Wiley, Martin Holton); Austin Owen (Perry Como, Frank Dryer); Tami Dahbura (Mama, Gladys); Christopher Gurr (White DJ, Mr. Collins, White Father, Gordon Grant); Preston W. Dugger III (Black DJ, Be Black Trio); Horace V. Rogers discount college student broadway tickets (Delray); Rhett George (Gator); Will Mann (Bobby); Kent Overshown (Wailin' Joe, Reverend Hobson); Lindsay Roberts, Kelcy Griffin (Someday Backup Singers, ensemble); Naimah Saleem (Someday Backup Singer, Ethel, ensemble); Jarvis D. McKinley, Justin Prescott (Be Black Trio, ensemble); Jillian Mueller (Teenager, ensemble); Alexandar Aguilar, Adrienne Howard, Jill Morrison , Jody Reynard, Derek St. Pierre (ensemble)
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Christopher Ashley (director); Darryl Archibald (music discount college student broadway tickets director); Sergio Trujillo (choreography); Daryl Waters discount college student broadway tickets , David Bryan (orchestrations); David Gallo (set); Howell Binkley (lighting); Paul Tazewell (costumes); Ken Travis (sound design); Michael Keller (music coordinator); Paul Kolnik discount college student broadway tickets (photos)
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